Modi thanked President Joe Biden for his support in the return of these artefacts. He noted that these objects were not just part of India’s historical material culture, but formed the inner core of its civilisation and consciousness, the statement said.With this, the total number of ancient items recovered by India since 2014 has gone to 640, officials said, adding the number returned from the USA alone will be 578.This is the maximum number of cultural artefacts returned by any country to India.Some of the notable antiquities handed over to India include an ‘apsara’ in sandstone from central India belonging to the 10-11th century CE, a Jain Tirthankar in bronze belonging to the 15-16th century CE, a terracotta vase from eastern India belonging to 3-4th century CE, and a stone sculpture from South India belonging to 1st century BCE-1st century CE.Other prominent items include Lord Ganesh in bronze from south India belonging to the 17-18th century CE, standing Lord Buddha in sandstone from north India from the 15-16th century CE, and Lord Vishnu in bronze from Eastern India belonging to the 17-18th century CE.Apart from the current visit, the earlier visits of Modi to the USA have also been particularly fruitful in return of antiquities to India.Officials said during his visit to the US in 2021, 157 antiquities were handed over by the US government, including the exquisite bronze Nataraja statue from the 12th century CE.Also, a few days after his US visit in 2023, 105 antiquities were returned to India.
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