Taking “Looting” to A Whole New Level: Vaman Ghiya

There’s the makings of a nice suspense novel in a recent New Yorker piece on one of India’s greatest — and most evil — contemporary antiquities smugglers, Vaman Narayan Ghiya. Ghiya operated a transnational smuggling network out of Jaipur, which included three Swiss shell companies that bought and sold smuggled vast quantities of Indian antiquities, ultimately so the priceless works could be acquired by London auction houses — and “legally” sold at Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

Ghiya, who was extremely cautious in his business operations, was brought down by a dedicated police officer, Anand Shrivastava, who essentially dedicated years to learning about the workings of the international antiquities market in order to better understand the criminal side of it. Almost miraculously, Ghiya wasn’t able to bribe his way out of prison, nor was bail allowed in his case — and his case is currently in process. Just to give you a sense of scale, here’s what the police found when they raided Ghiya’s house and his various warehouses:

Then Superintendent Shrivastava and his men searched the house, spending hours rummaging through the elegant rooms. Behind the wood panelling of Ghiya’s private study, the officers discovered a set of secret cupboards, which held hundreds of photographs of ancient Indian sculptures: graceful stone figures of the deities Vishnu, Shiva, and Parvati and Parvati’s elephant-headed son, Ganesha; Jain Tirthankaras and Chola bronzes; dancing goddesses with many arms and melon breasts, festooned with delicately rendered ornaments. The photographs were color snapshots, and the objects pictured sat outdoors, in patches of grass or mud. Many evidently had been roughly pried away from temple walls and were missing limbs or heads. The police also discovered sixty-eight glossy auction catalogues from Sotheby’s and Christie’s in London and New York.

This stash seemed to confirm Shrivastava’s suspicion that Vaman Ghiya operated one of the most extensive and sophisticated clandestine antiquities rings in history, and that he had grown rich in the past three decades by smuggling thousands of Indian antiques to auction houses and private collectors in the West. The police found no sculptures in Ghiya’s home. But, in the days that followed, Shrivastava’s men raided half a dozen properties that Ghiya owned around Jaipur, his farm outside the city, and various godowns, or storage facilities, in Mathura and Delhi. They discovered antique paintings, swords and shields, marble panels, stone pillars, three hundred and forty-eight pieces of sculpture, and a dismantled Mogul pavilion the size of a small house. (link)

Ghiya was able to operate for so long partly because he had a legitimate crafts shop as a front in Jaipur. Ghiya was also helped by India’s notoriously “flexible” customs system:

Ghiya’s handicrafts business had many hallmarks of a front. India’s Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, passed in 1972, is a particularly stringent measure, which requires that any privately owned work of art that is more than a hundred years old be registered with the government. Since it is generally illegal to export such objects, to be an antique dealer in India with an international clientele is also arguably to be a criminal. But Indian customs officers are required to check only ten per cent of any large shipment of exports, and smugglers frequently bury a single priceless statue in a giant case of bric-a-brac. (link)

Alongside Customs, Ghiya’s business was facilitated by India’s underfunded Archeological agency, the Archeological Survey of India — which has never even fully indexed all of India’s major archeological treasures, much less employed staff to protect and maintain them. Ghiya also had an ingenious system, where he would commission the production of fakes of particularly important works he stole, and have the ASI officially certify that the fakes were in fact fake. He would then attach the “This is not an original” slip to the original he had stolen, so there wouldn’t be a problem at Customs.

Of course, part of why Ghiya’s crimes are particularly troubling is the fact that many of the stolen religious sculptures were in fact still being actively worshipped:

For religious Hindus, images of the gods are not merely representational; they can be inhabited by the deity they depict. The faithful anoint the statues with oils, camphor, and sandalwood, garland them with flowers, and make offerings of food, incense, and music. (The word “idol,” though largely abandoned by Western academics because of its perceived pejorative connotation, remains in use in India to describe these objects.) When, in 1986, the Indian government sued for the return of a twelfth-century bronze Shiva that had been looted from a village in Pathur, it did so on behalf of the offended god himself: Shiva was named as a plaintiff in the case. “In the south, people still don’t tell lies in Shiva’s temple,” Ashok Shekhar, a former state arts and culture official in Rajasthan, told me. “These are very hotheaded deities.”

This aspect of Hinduism seems not to have bothered Ghiya, who was more concerned about how much his western buyers were willing to pay than whether his actions constituted desecration on an extaordinary scale.

Of course, Ghiya is not the first to pillage India’s treasures — this goes back to the British Raj (and perhaps before; but let’s not get into Vijayanagar again…). But this is fresh pillaging, and in some ways worse: what’s striking is that western buyers, which includes museums such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the British Museum, as well as smaller museums (the Cleveland Museum) continued to buy “newly discovered” antiquities from India even after it was made perfectly clear that the export of such antiquities was forbidden by modern Indian law. Are any of these museums planning to return the stolen antiquities now that Ghiya has been arrested and his network exposed?

Sotheby’s London at least has been deeply affected by Ghiya’s arrest. Ghiya’s contact at Sotheby’s was a dealer named Peter Watson, who was forced to resign once it became clear that he had been extensively engaged in acquiring smuggled goods from Ghiya. Eventually, it spread: Sotheby’s entire antiquities wing in London was forced to shut down.

The law itself might be part of the problem. Japan, which has also had its share of looting and pillaging, has what might be a better system:

The antiquities law has many critics. “The law as it stands doesn’t benefit anybody,” said the scholar and curator Pratapaditya Pal, who came to the United States in the mid-nineteen-sixties and built several renowned collections, including Norton Simon’s. The law is self-defeating, Pal believes, because it makes no distinction between a masterpiece and any generic antique. The result is a black market that the government lacks the resources to control. Pal prefers the model adopted by Japan, which identifies art works of national significance and keeps them in the country, while allowing everything else to be sold on the open market.

Yes — taxes could be extracted on the sale of works deemed not of national significance, and those taxes could be directly channeled to the ASI, which would then be better able to protect and maintain the artifacts that are of national significance.

And there are many other issues raised by this article, which I unfortunately don’t have time to get into at present. I would strongly recommend readers to check out Patrick Radden Keefe’s whole article — journalism like this pretty much justifies my New Yorker subscription.

29 thoughts on “Taking “Looting” to A Whole New Level: Vaman Ghiya

  1. just finished reading this article in my copy only to see you blog about it here… pretty interesting read. makes me think twice about the various art houses i visited in bangalore and mysore when i was in india a few months ago.

  2. The word “idol,” though largely abandoned by Western academics because of its perceived pejorative connotation, remains in use in India to describe these objects.

    Amardeep,

    The writer errs. Some Western scholars of the 17th-19th centuries came up with the term Idol to describe what is called the murti or vigraha Sanskritically. In Tamizh the murti is simply referred to by the name of the deity it represents, and not silai, which approximates to statue. So in Tamizh you wouldn’t say that “The xxxx of Murugan/Ganapathy has been statue” You would simply say, “Murugan/Ganesh has been stolen from the kovil.” Many Hindus in India and abroad continue to use the term idol when communicating in English without realising what it means.

    We are not likely to see any satisfactory end to this dispute in our times, as long as the larger museums are unmoved about their plunder. What about Lord Elgin’s booty and plunder that adorns the British Museum and the 100s of otehr wrks of art from around the world at other museums?

  3. We are not likely to see any satisfactory end to this dispute in our times, as long as the larger museums are unmoved about their plunder. What about Lord Elgin’s booty and plunder that adorns the British Museum and the 100s of otehr wrks of art from around the world at other museums?

    Shiva, on this point, I think we can draw a distinction between works that were stolen in the context of contemporary (post-colonial) international laws and treaties, and works that were plundered earlier. They might both have the same moral status in the end (and in an ideal world, all of it would be returned, reinstalled, and adequately maintained in its native environment). But as I understand it, they have a different legal status; the British plunder of India, China, and Egypt during the colonial era did not break today’s laws.

    p.s. We discussed some similar issues at SM about a year ago, here.

  4. Some of these museums are notorious. They are just starting to have this dialogue, though, and things, albeit minor, seem to be happening. The Getty returned 26 objects to Italy that they knew to be stolen. There is, by now, a tradition of sorts of returning art stolen by the Nazis that ended up in various museums. Then of course there’s the issue of the Elgin Marbles

    Additionally, the image accompanying the article made me cringe a little.

  5. In Tamizh the murti is simply referred to by the name of the deity it represents, and not silai, which approximates to statue. So in Tamizh you wouldn’t say that “The xxxx of Murugan/Ganapathy has been statue” You would simply say, “Murugan/Ganesh has been stolen from the kovil.”

    Shiva, isn’t idol/statue an accurate word? It’s true that the Christian context for Christian scholars have made it into a pejorative term. But that’s because of their own issues.

    Many Hindus in India and abroad continue to use the term idol when communicating in English without realising what it means.

    I think they know exactly what it means. They just don’t see it as a negative thing like many Westerners do. Or maybe they don’t and still don’t give a damn.

    On the other hand, the use of “deity” to refer to the vigraham is inaccurate. This is very common usage in India and also among desis here, probably in reaction to the negative perception of the word “idol” among Western (Abrahamic-influenced) audiences.

  6. The sad truth is that many Indians are just not concerned about looting at all…they don’t see what is plainly going on around them…when I went to archaeological sites (Ranakpur area, Gwalior) there were people milling about and breaking off stones, while others were relieving themselves right on the site itself…until NRIs or Indians educate the masses to show what is going on right under their feet and force them to take action instead of just shrugging their shoulders and being fatalistic, this evil won’t stop… More blame should go to private collectors and auction houses for they basically launder the goods and provide false provenance for the museums…it’s better to protest the private holding companies in Switzerland etc. before the dealers and middlemen can create fraudulent provenance. The middle classes could provide funds and resources to help the government increase its policing and make sure that Looting is a Top Five government priority (along with water, education, etc.) I am surprised that the rebuilding of the Bamiyan statues is not a priority for many Indians…it shouldn’t be too hard to create a conservation trust and pool fund from private companies and the government to rebuid a significant artwork of cultural importance from India’s past.

  7. Thanks for reminding me to renew my New Yorker subscription. I’ll have to read the full thing again.

    It’s a tough balance, I think, between wanting to educate and highlight other cultures significant work and keeping the works in the right places. It would be best, obviously, to return various important pieces to their home countries and hope there can be some “sharing” or “loan” deal so the rest of the world can also experience these important pieces. Obviously statues that are actively worshipped and stolen from temples are excluded from this, but generally speaking about other non-modern-day-stolen antiquities, like British Raj loot.

  8. Amardeep,

    But as I understand it, they have a different legal status…

    I agree, that’s the bitter truth, sadly.

    Kurma, idol isn’t an accurate equivalent of murti. Idol refers to an image or a representation of some sort of being, and more or less a false god – and yeah, therefore the devil – and simply a form with no substance. And which is why the term idol came to be used to refer to murtis. And no not many Hindus in India or abroad understand this very well. It is better to use the term murti.

  9. journalism like this pretty much justifies my New Yorker subscription

    Amardeep, I hope you can live throught the profile of Paulo Coelho in this weeks NYer.

  10. Additionally, the image accompanying the article made me cringe a little.

    Agree. Esp, since the author says his subject is “handsome”. They could have had him posing with one foot on a stone lion or the police sahib posing with his foot on the culprit’s neck.

  11. I just finished reading William Dalrymple’s book about the sacking/looting/massacre at Delhi in 1857-58, brought about entirely by Indians being more than willing to destroy other Indians. This is just a modern version of the same thing– total lack of pride in Desh. Of course Christie’s and Sotheby’s have no qualms about being parties to the plunder– what else is new?

  12. I think when it comes to art there are lot of double standards. The Cleveland Museum of Art (which is not a small museum by any measure, as mentioned above) returned art seized by Nazi without any protest but strongly protects its collection from other countries using PROVENANCE which means the art has been out of its original place for 100 years, despite purchases from dubious sources and a lack of paper trail of previous ownership.

    The illegal trade is generally facilitated by well connected art dealers not by auction houses like Sotheby’s. Only way to curb the illegal international international trade will be to demand better standards of previous ownership, at every point transaction and display, and also subjecting art dealers to mandatory FBI clearance.

  13. There is a picture of one of Ghiya’s smuggled antiques out here, a very pretty one too. There is also an outdoor photograph of some images out here, but I don’t know what it actually is (the article has been pulled).

    With the introduction of Italian food in India, there have been alarming incidents of theft of spaghetti. I hope they will name the Flying Spaghetti Monster as plaintiff in these cases. Theft of spaghetti, particularly cans, is considered especially sacrilegious in our belief system.

  14. Additionally, the image accompanying the article made me cringe a little.

    Definitely cringe-worthy. Restitution can happen in many different ways– we’re just beginning to see the possibilities.

  15. Anyone ever notice the ubiquitous ‘Kashmiri Arts Emporiums’ in just about every Indian towns? Most of them are located in expensive malls manned by guys in their 20’s and 30’s and who don’t seem to be selling much and just lounge about all day? My guess would be they make their money by dealing in illegal antiques/drugs/or run by ISI as a cover for intelligence activities.

  16. G-Dawg Now that you mention it – it is kind of strange how these Kashmir Emprium guys just hang around the whole day. I am sure they make a killing when anyone walks in. But most of the time the people who work there are kind of stoned – so maybe thir main business is something else?

  17. There are a lot of warehouses in Jaipur which are as big as football fields selling mostly antique reproductions. Many of them from outside do not look that big until you go inside. Mostly they only allow you in if you show a foreign business card. Amongst all the statues, huge haveli type doors, pillars, etc, you will definitly find some real antiques. With so many people in this business there, I would not be surprised if some compititor with connections got this dealer in trouble. These kind of raids happen all the time, depending which politician is in power and who did not get his bribes on time.

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