900-year-old parrot lady relives journey from Canada

900-year-old parrot lady relives journey from Canada

Subject: History

Section: Art & Culture

Context: At Maharaja Chhatrasal Convention Centre, Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, an exhibition titled ‘Re(ad)dress: Return of Treasures’ was inaugurated.

More in the news:

• The exhibition is part of the first G20 Culture Working Group (CWG)
• The exhibition comprises 26 artefacts that have returned to the country after being stolen from India and smuggled abroad and their cultural biographies. The ‘Parrot Lady’, a sandstone sculpture from Khajuraho, is among the 26 artefacts on display.
• Others include: the 12th-century Dancing Ganesha, a stone sculpture from central India that went missing but was repatriated from the US in 2021; the 11th-century marble sculpture of Brahma and Brahmani from Gujarat, repatriated from the UK in 2017; and the Yaksha, Amin Pillar from 2nd century BC, which went missing from Haryana, but was later discovered in the UK and repatriated in 1979-80.
• The objective of the meet is to achieve a reduction in illicit trafficking of cultural property by 2030, strengthen regulation of online trading platforms and also create awareness about restitution laws and conventions and highlight successful case studies.
• The exhibition is conceptualised in six thematic sections: cultural heritage, repatriation of cultural property, historical precedents, conventions and guiding principles, global cooperation and glimpses of the return.

Concept:

• The ASI was also a nodal agency to retrieve stolen or illegally exported art objects. From1976 to 2001, 19 antiquities had been retrieved by the ASI from foreign countries either through legal means, indemnity agreement, voluntary action or through out of case settlement. But after 2001, the ASI had not been able to achieve any successdue to discretion and abuse in granting non-antiquity certificates for exports.
• India is a signatoryto the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (ratified it in 1977).
• Perhaps there is a need to sign the 1995 UNIDROIT(International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.
• Steps taken by India to preserve and conserve monuments and antiquities include:

1. Article 51 A (f)-“Its hall be the duty of every citizen of India to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.”
2. Article 49-to protect monuments, places and objects of national importance.
3. Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act of 1958
4. AAT (Antiquities and Art Treasures) Act, 1972– to effectively control movable cultural property consisting of antiquities and art treasures.
5. Antiquities Export Control Act, 1947 – regulate the export of antiquities
6. National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities, 2007– prepare a national register to document antiquities from different sources in a uniform format.
7. India Pride Project– Volunteer network spread across globe that tracks and brings India’s stolen antiquities and art treasures.