Author Affiliation: Archaeological Survey of India, India.
摘要
India is one of the richest countries in terms of archaeological heritage and antiquity and hence one of the most vulnerable to the theft of heritage property. Loss of Indian cultural wealth can be divided into two periods - 1) during colonial times, 2) post independence (post 1947). As a result of colonisation, many countries with old civilisations were confronted by organised looting on the part of the colonial powers, and India too faced a similar fate. It is now a matter of debate as to whether or not that looting should be considered a part of history which needs to be forgotten. In this article we shall analyse some of the issues related to these losses which occurred during colonial times. In addition, the post-independence period brought no respite from the loss of cultural heritage as the lawful and organised looting by the colonial powers changed to unlawful and disorganised looting which was possible because of the susceptibility of third world countries to the looters' power and money and also because of the lack of strong anti-smuggling laws in the former colonies. A strong change was expected with the entry into force of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property of 1970 ('1970 UNESCO Convention') and the enactment of the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972 in India. However, even these could not serve as a sufficient deterrent to the smuggling of antiquities out of India. Why this happened will be analysed below with light being thrown on the changing perspectives and the retrieval of Indian antiquities back to India. A hitherto somewhat unexplored aspect of the smuggling of antiquities is the presence of fakes or replicas in western collections. Much information has been acquired recently on certain such cases and that may be a cause for consternation for a number of Indian art collectors.
目次
ABSTRACT 101 INTRODUCTION 101 SMUGGLING OF ANTIQUITIES: THE WAYS AND MEANS 104 LOANING OF ANTIQUITIES TO FOREIGN INSTITUTIONS 108 THE ROLE OF THE ASI IN PREVENTING THE EXPORT OF ANTIQUITIES 100 FAKES AS ANTIQUITIES: THE CREATION PROCESS 111 RETRIEVAL OF ANTIQUITIES: A STUDY OF PROCESS AND INDIAN SUCCESS 112 FAKES AS ANTIQUITIES: SOME CASE STUDIES 118 I. PARINIRVANA RELIEF IN VARAHA TEMPLE 118 II. FAKE NATARAJA SCULPTURE IN ODISHAN STYLE 121 III. THE VAMAN NARAYAN GHIYA CASE 122
