India Steps Up Diplomatic Push To Bring Goddess Vagdevi Idol Back From UK

More than a century after a idol of Goddess Vagdevi from Dhar was transported to Britain, the demand for her return is moving from the courtroom and the politically sensitive Bhojshala complex to an international diplomatic forum.

The possible repatriation of the historic idol associated with Dhar's Bhojshala will form the most significant Madhya Pradesh backdrop to discussions on the return of cultural property at the BRICS Culture Working Group and Culture Ministers' meetings being held in Bhopal. India is expected to use the four-day deliberations to push for stronger cooperation among BRICS countries on the recovery of idols, sculptures and antiquities stolen, smuggled or removed during the colonial period.

But for Madhya Pradesh, the larger global debate has an immediate and emotionally charged local focus. Can the idol revered as Goddess Vagdevi finally return from the British Museum in London to Dhar?

Union Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal said the Centre had already opened sustained communication through diplomatic and institutional channels after receiving a request from the Madhya Pradesh government. "Immediately after I took over as secretary in the Union Culture Ministry, the Madhya Pradesh government wrote to us seeking the repatriation of the Goddess Vagdevi idol housed in the British Museum. Since then, we have been continuously working through diplomatic channels as well as at the museum level," Aggarwal said.

According to him, multiple written communications have been made, particularly through India's diplomatic channels in the United Kingdom.

The discussions began well before the Madhya Pradesh High Court's important May 15 judgement on the disputed Bhojshala-Kamal Maula complex. The court declared the disputed portion of the complex a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati or Vagdevi and cancelled the Archaeological Survey of India's 2003 arrangement permitting Muslims to offer Friday prayers there. It also asked the government to consider representations seeking the return of the idol from London. 

The white-marble sculpture dates to the Paramara period and carries an inscription linking it to 11th-century Dhar. It stands approximately 1.28 metres tall and weighs an estimated 250 kilograms. The museum records Major-General William Kincaid as the source from whom it was acquired and notes that it formally entered the collection in 1909. 

The Third BRICS Culture Working Group Meeting is being held in Bhopal on August 5 and 6. It will be followed by the BRICS Cultural Festival on August 6 and 7 and the Culture Ministers' Meeting on August 7 and 8.  Ministers, deputy ministers and delegates from 10 of the 11 full BRICS member countries are expected to participate, with Saudi Arabia being the exception.

India will enter the discussions with a significantly expanded record of recovering its cultural heritage from overseas.

Official figures released in May stated that 653 antiquities had been repatriated since 2014, compared with only 13 recovered before that period. Another government release placed the total number of repatriated antiquities at 666, including 653 since 2014. 

The recent returns include important Chola and Vijayanagara bronzes from the United States. The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art returned a 12th-century Somaskanda sculpture and a 16th-century image of Saint Sundarar with Paravai, while a Chola-period Shiva Nataraja is to return after the completion of a temporary display arrangement. 

Australia has also agreed to return three Tamil Nadu antiquities: a stone Nandi, a metal trident bearing the image of Bhadrakali and a six-headed stone Kartikeya. Their voluntary return was welcomed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's July visit to Australia.