"Stolen images, stealing a nation’s heart"
Ghanashyam Ojha
Though a small country, Nepal flaunts its pride with its multiple ethnic groups and many different cultures. Although fossils of Hominoid Ramapithecus, the earliest man dating back almost 16 million years have been found in various parts of the country, any concrete evidence of that civilization have not come to the fore yet.
Nepal’s history has been assumed to have taken its accurate shape only from the 5th century A.D. with the inscription of Mandeva in Changu Narayan about 15 miles Northeast of Kathmandu.
Stylistically, the earliest sculptures predating the Licchavi period (A.D.400-800) show their close affinity with the Kushana art of India. The Kushanas were a branch of the Yuet-chin tribe from Central Asia. Kanishaka, the greatest ruler was an ardent patron of Buddhism during the 1st century A.D. It is believed that Kanishaka spread the ideologies of Buddhism and made Buddhism popular in many parts of India.
With popular cults prevalent in those days marks the cultural wealth of our country. Images and relics are the true witnesses that help the study of ancient history and old civilizations. One of the attractions of Nepal is also its historical icons and relics found even to this day.
However, such significant images have been on their way to extinction. For a number of years, these invaluable images have been trafficked indiscriminately. Roughly the figures show that more than five hundred images have been stolen and the number is increasing daily.
Some of the stolen images:
1) Standing Buddha, Chabahil Deopatan, 5th Century A.D., stolen in July 1985
2) Seated Buddha, Kunti-bahi chaitya, Kumbhesvara, Patan, 6th Century A.D., stolen in April, 1985
3) Torso of a Female Divinity, Vatsalesvari, Pashupati, 2nd - 3rd century A.D., stolen in the late 1960s
4) Brahma, Mrigasthali, 12th centuryA.D., stolen in the early 1980s
5) Rama, Rudragadesvara, Pashupati, 10th - 11th century A.D., stolen in July 1985
6) Surya , Saugal, Patan A.D. 1083, stolen in May 16,1985
7) Uma-Mahesvara, Gahiti, Patan, 10th Century A.D., stolen in the mid 1960s
8) Uma-Mahesvara, Chupping-ghat, Bhaktapur, 15th century A.D., stolen in October, 1984
9) Ekamukha Shiva-linga, Rajrajesvari-ghat, Pashupati, 12th century A.D., stolen in January 1985
10) Uma- Mahesvara, Kumbhesvara, Patan, 14th century A.D., stolen in October 1985
11) Garudasana Vishnu, Hyumatol, Kathmandu, 10th century A.D., stolen in the late 1970s
12 Standing Vishnu, Panchadevala Pashupati, 17th century A.D., stolen in June 1985
13) Surya, surya - Kunda, Shikhara Narayana, Pharping 14th Century A.D., stolen in March 1985
14) Nagaraja, Kunti-bahi chaitya, Kumbhesvara, Patan, 14th century A.D., stolen in July 1985
15) Torso of Bodhisatva, Hadigaon 12th century A.D., stolen in late 1984
The above list gives only a brief glimpse of the images stolen.
Lain Sing Bangdel, an eminent artist and archaeologist says that the exact figure has not come to our notice, but that it must be more than this. "It is a matter of great surprise that the images ranging from 12 inches to 60 have been trafficked away". "How come our policemen could not nab them?", he questions.
Sukra Sagar Shrestha, chief Archaeological official, is alarmed and saddened by the trafficking of cultural property that has been hitting the country. He says that the government should implement ‘cultural punishment’ on the traffickers. At the same time, he strongly disagrees with the law introduced to punish the traffickers.
The "Ancient Monuments Preservation Law, 2013 (with Amendments)" in Article 12, ‘ga’ states, "If the archaeological goods are stolen, damaged, or changed , he / she has to pay the amount equal to the worth of the goods with a 50 thousand to 1 lakh fine or 5 years imprisonment or both".
According to Shrestha, the law is not strict enough to discourage the traffickers from changing their profession. There is much flexibility in the law so that any one can escape punishment. "There should be a separate cultural punishment to those traffickers", he suggests.
Traffickers have emerged as the most serious threat to our nation’s cultural assets.
Officials at the Archaeological Department put forward many measures in the past to bring this gnawing problem under control. According to them, they raised public participation with the view to preserve the cultural properties. But it was not totally successful. The public have their doubts. There have been incidents when many have been beaten and given death threats while being forced to disclose the names of the traffickers. So the general public hardly take part as caretakers of those images.
However, UNESCO (United Nations Education Social and Cultural Organization), in coordination with the Nepal Tourism Board and Archaeological department is readying a new programme to preserve the ancient images. According to Himalchuli Gurung, director of UNESCO, picture postcards of those missing images are set to be distributed within and outside Nepal to help the identification and retrieval of the missing images. "We hope we will be able to bring many of our missing images back after we send these cards to foreign countries", she says.
As the figures in the "Curio Test pass Department" shows, the number of stolen images later reported to the police comes below:
1980 to 1991- 857 nos
1992-1993- 28 "
1993-1994- 130
1994-1995-82
1996- 13
1997-74
1998-77
1999-17
1999-2000-12
2000-2001- 26
According to the above records, trafficking of images and icons saw a steep rise during the late 1970s and 80s. The above figures include only the reported cases. There are many images stolen which have not been reported yet.
Not only has the burgeoning problem of the trafficking of cultural property hit Nepal hard, but many other countries also suffer the same problem. They too are seeking seeking measures to curb it.
The figures below show the international trafficking of cultural property:
Niger: 90% of the Bura sites damaged by looting since 1994; Italy: 13000 Apulian vases looted or stolen with no information on their origin; Russia: 89 rare manuscripts with an estimated value of $ 100 million stolen from the Russian National Library in 1996; Iraq: nearly 4000 objects reported to have gone missing following the events in the Gulf in 1991; Peru: 100000 tombs, half of the known sites looted; United Kingdom: $1 billion paid by insurance companies in 1995 for stolen artworks; China: 15000 tombs of the Neolithic Hongshan Culture in Inner Mongolia robbed; France : 5988 thefts reported in 1999; Australia: 1654 thefts of 2074 objects reported in 1998.
The above figures paint a black picture. It is quite stunning to see this flow of stolen cultural property. Given the high rate of smuggling, none of the countries can seriously preserve their ancient civilizations.
Prakash Darnal, an archaeological official stresses on the need to create public awareness for gradual control of this problem. "Until and unless the general public are conscious and participate in saving our cultural property, the government alone cannot do anything", says Darnal.
According to him, the trend of images going missing is still on. An image of Bishnu in Shova Bhagavati, the statue of God Surya in Farping, the statue of Harmika, which have not been reported as yet, still remain missing.
The images are under threat not only from the traffickers’ eagle eye but the growing pollution and lack of preservation are other significant causes that erode the images everyday. A number of images have been waiting for preservation and conservation. Images flanked at the corners of the Kathmandu valley are seen either engulfed by slums or distorted beyond recognition.
Government efforts to preserve the images have not been sufficient. Public participation too is discouraging. It is high time that preservation and conservation techniques were used to save these invaluable images. Otherwise, our invaluable culture and civilization might get eroded forever along with the images.
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