A 12th century statue of a Buddha stolen from India in 1961 is to be returned to the country after a police investigation. The bronze effigy is one of 14 statues that were taken from a museum in Nalanda, Eastern India.
The Buddha had several owners before arriving at a London dealer for sale. Vijay Kumar from the India Pride Project, which works to return plundered artefacts to the country, and Lynda Albertson, of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art, identified the stolen statue at a trade fair in March. Once the dealer and owner were made aware of the theft, they co-operated with Police and agreed for the piece to be returned to India. Michael Ellis, Minister for Art, Heritage and Tourism said, ‘as we celebrate India’s Independence Day, I am proud to highlight the latest example of the UK’s cultural diplomacy in action’.