Australia's premier art galleries may not contest India's antique idols claim

MELBOURNE: Two of Australia's premier art galleries may not contest India's request for the return of a 900-year-old ' Dancing Shiva' statue and a stone sculpture of the god ' Ardhanarishvara' bought by them from a disgraced Indian antiquities dealer, an official said today.

Last month the Indian government formally requested the return of the 'Dancing Shiva' statue from the National Gallery of Australia and a stone sculpture of the god Ardhanarishvara from the Art Gallery of New South Wales ( AGNSW).

Tarun Kumar, a first secretary for India's High Commission, was quoted by the Canberra Times as saying that he expected a decision to be made regarding the return within a month.

That deadline has now passed and it has been reported that the National Gallery (NGA) will not contest the Indian government's request for the return, nor will the AGNSW.

Both artefacts were bought from disgraced antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor, currently on trial in India for looting and wanted in the United States for allegedly masterminding a large-scale antiquities smuggling operation.

The artefacts are in the care of the federal government under the Moveable Cultural Heritage Act, a law which allowed the galleries 30 days to challenge India's claims.

With those claims uncontested, the decision on the future of both statues rests with the Commonwealth.

The NGA paid USD 5 million for the 'Dancing Shiva' statue in February 2008.

The statue was one of 22 items it bought from Kapoor's Art of the Past gallery for a total of USD 11 million between 2002 and 2011.