India Pride Project
Founded2014
FounderS. Vijay Kumar and Anuraag Saxena
TypeNon-governmental organization
Area served
India
Websiteipp.org.in

India Pride Project (IPP) is a group of art enthusiasts who uses social media to identify stolen religious artefacts from Indian temples and secure their return. Co-founded in 2014 by two Singapore-based art enthusiasts, S. Vijay Kumar and Anuraag Saxena, it now has activists from all over the world.[1][2][3]

Recoveries

A 12th century bronze Buddha statue stolen from a museum at Nalanda in Bihar nearly 60 years ago was returned to India by the London’s Metropolitan Police as part of a ceremony to mark India’s Independence Day through IPP work.[4][5]

They’ve contributed research crucial to several successful restitutions of objects of dubious provenance, such as a 12th century Buddha stolen from a Bihar museum in 1961 and a 900-year-old Natarajan idol taken from the Brihadeeswara Temple in Sripuranthan, Tamil Nadu in 2006.[6]

IPP also contributed research that ultimately resulted in eight statues (including a 12th century Chola bronze figure of the dancing child-saint Sambandar) and six paintings being arranged to be returned by the National Gallery of Australia to the Indian government. [6]

References

  1. "Anuraag Saxena: Returning stolen art to India". YouTube.
  2. "Facebook sleuths bring home India's stolen idols". The Business Times. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  3. Ganapathy, Nirmala (10 November 2018). "Recovering India's stolen art pieces". The Straits Times. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  4. On Independence Day, India gets back its 12th century stolen Buddha statue, Aditi Khanna, PTI, LiveMint, Aug 15 2018
  5. How the mystery of the Missing Buddha statue was solved, Bibek Bhattacharya, Aug 21 2018
  6. 1 2 Gopinathan, Sharanya (7 September 2021). "Meet the Amateur Art Sleuths Fighting To Bring Back India's Looted Cultural Heritage". Vice. Retrieved 21 May 2023.


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