The current about the three works of art, Shiva Nataraja (Chola dynasty, ca. 990), Somaskanda (Chola dynasty, 12th c.) and Saint Sundara with Shiva and Parvati (Vijayanagar period, 16th c.) is part of the accelerated pace of return of Indian art works from the US.
In 2021, as part of the special agreement between the two countries following the visit of Prime Minister Modi to the US, 157 works were returned to India, and some 562 items have gone back to India between 2021 and 2025, often following diplomatic agreements and criminal investigations into international smuggling rings.
This work is now encapsulated in the first ever “Cultural Property Agreement” in 2024, focusing on identification and return of stolen works and preventing their entry into the US market in the future. So, the return of the works in the current cycle is actually not as significant as it may sound.
By allowing the Shiva Nataraja sculpture to remain on view at the National Museum of Asian Art, the Indian government has acknowledged the power of art to connect and gone beyond the narrow question of ownership as the only way to define the legitimacy of art.
As important as it is to claim one’s own national heritage and ask for the rightful return of stolen property, it is time to also realise another power of art, its capacity to project its universal cultural heritage, a symbol of cultural diplomacy that can transform minds and inspire new cross-cultural understanding.
As we move forward with the return journey of artworks, let us hope that we can also acknowledge their potential for confident projection of the country’s millennial cultural heritage.
