NEW DELHI: At least 488 artefacts, mainly sculpture and idols, have been stolen from monuments under the custodianship of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) in 19 states and three Union territories in the past six decades. Significantly, a majority of them are yet to be traced.
The states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh together account for nearly 65% of all recorded theft with 319 stolen artefacts.
According to the officials, the list—updated till 2024—comprises only reported cases. Records suggest that several theft cases happened frequently from temple complexes, forts, museums and sculpture sheds in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh between 1960s and the early 2000s. The oldest case dates to 1961, when 15 Buddha and Bodhisattva sculptures were stolen from the Nalanda Museum in Bihar. None has been recovered.
As per the list, while some recoveries have been made over the years, around 420 valuable sculptures, idols, architectural fragments and historical objects remain untraced or unrecovered. Notably, the ASI, which is the national watchdog of 3,697 monuments, does not have photographs of many of them.
The officials said that several sites under the ASI are spread over large areas, prone to theft. “No theft has taken place recently. Moreover, tracing and recovery is difficult without provenance and documentation. The government has been making efforts to retrieve stolen antiquities which were smuggled out of the country,” said Yadubir Singh Rawat, director general of the ASI.
Significant among the stolen artefacts are Lotus (ceiling of mandapa) of 10th century Sri Mallikarjuna Temple in Anantapur district (Andhra Pradesh), stone sculpture of Nandi from 10th century Ramalingeswara Temple Complex in Avani (Karnataka), Vishnu idol standing in samabhanga posture from Vriddha kaleshwar temple in Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh) and a dagger with Ivory handle of Mughal period from Indian War memorial (Delhi).