Unchecked all the time, unnoticed at times, history is being stolen systematically

While digging a mound, a 10-year-old girl discovered a stone sculpture at Mard Khera village in Sangrur in 1980. Villagers placed it in a specially-built room and it soon became the centre of activities. Weddings, Hindu or Sikh, would not be solemnised without the couple bowing before the idol. It started figuring on the first leaf of wedding albums. A series of newspaper articles called it a rare 11th century idol of God Surya. 

In the 1990s, it caught the attention of archaeologists. A team from the Archaeological Survey of India also carried out excavation at the site. A few months after the “exploration”, the idol went missing one night in 2003. Rameshwar Dutt, a Sunam-based freelance archaeologist, remembers every detail. He had visited the village on the day the idol was found. Though Dutt doubts that the theft had anything to do with ASI’s visit, the villagers are sceptical.

With slight variances in the names of places and time of discovery of theft, this story is repeated in almost every town that had some ancient or medieval link. The deep-rooted nexus between antiques smugglers and the state Archaeology Department officials is once again in the spotlight after the former Director, Archaeology, Navjot Pal Singh Randhawa, confessed before the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence that he helped a smuggler buy Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanerette furniture. 

“It went on for decades,” says former Punjab Museums’ Archaeological Officer-cum-curator KK Rishi.

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An ASI official associated with the project tells on condition of anonymity that in museum after museum they were shocked to see that only replicas were housed. “This was true for all kinds of items, whether paintings or weapons... And there was no account of coins. We noticed precious stones missing from walls and floors of preserved archaeological sites,” he says. Like the many paintings at Qila Mubarak and Sheesh Mahal museums at Patiala. 

Sadly, the ASI neither brought anything on record, nor did it prepare any report about their authenticity. “We had documented just four aspects: size, colour, condition and features. 

So, we didn’t make any mention of originality in the report,” explains a senior functionary from the state Archaeology Department who was associated with the project. 

At the end, a total of 51,289 antiquities were documented in Punjab’s museums and sites. “Now we are not sure how many are original,” he says. Navjot Singh Sidhu, Punjab’s Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister, agrees. He says thefts that have taken place in Punjab’s museums have been brought to his knowledge. He cites examples of daggers and miniature paintings which were taken away in the past and replaced with replicas. “But we will bring the thieves of heritage to book,” he assures.

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