Three invaluable antiquities -a 9th-century Shiva Nataraja bronze, a 12th-century sculpture of Shiva and Uma, and a 16th-century depiction of Saint Sundarar with Paravai- are returning home to India from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, USA.
An agreement to this effect was signed by Deputy Chief of Mission Amb. Namgya Khampa and NMAA Director Dr. Chase Robinson, a post on Instagram from India” Ministry of Culture said March 28, 2026.
The artefacts, “were found to have been illegally removed from temples in Tamil Nadu decades ago” the GOI post said.
In January this year, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art announced its plans to return the three sculptures “following rigorous provenance research that documented that the sculptures had been removed illegally from temple settings.”
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In that agreement, the Government of India agreed to place one of the sculptures on long-term loan.The “Shiva Nataraja,” which is to be placed on long-term loan, will be on view as part of the exhibition “The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas.”
These sculptures were originally sacred objects traditionally carried in temple processions.
As part of a systematic review of its South Asian collections, the National Museum of Asian Art undertook a detailed investigation into the provenance of the three sculptures, scrutinizing each work’s transaction history. In 2023, in collaboration with the Photo Archives of the French Institute of Pondicherry, museum researchers confirmed that the bronzes had been photographed in temples in Tamil Nadu, India, between 1956 and 1959. The Archaeological Survey of India subsequently reviewed these findings and affirmed that the sculptures had been removed in violation of Indian laws.