Amin Pillars
ali
Leftantiquity
2nd century BCEdate year when stolen
1967date of retrieval
1979-80heist tale
The chaotic narrative of the artefact’s discovery, theft, recovery, subsequent theft, and final restitution to the National Museum in New Delhi reveals a complex and turbulent history. This tale, marked by intrigue and relentless efforts by various stakeholders, underscores the challenges of preserving cultural heritage amid international looting and the eventual triumph of justice and cultural pride. The artefact’s journey, fraught with twists and turns, ultimately reflects the enduring significance of cultural patrimony and the resilience required to safeguard it.
In 1920, a farmer in a village in Haryana stumbled upon two carved red sandstone pillars while ploughing his field. Recognising the auspiciousness of the Yaksha-Yakshi figures, which symbolise fertility and abundance, the village authorities took possession of these pillars. They placed them in the Suraj Kund Temple in Amin village, District Karnal, Haryana.
In 1921-22, the Archaeological Survey of India thoroughly examined the pillars and subsequently published a comprehensive report edited by D. Brainerd Spooner. In July 1967, R.C. Agarwala further studied them and published a new report detailing their iconography. These studies played a pivotal role in bringing widespread attention to these artefacts. However, this widespread publicity of the artefacts also attracted the attention of thieves and smugglers.
On the night of 31 March 1967 and 1 April 1967, the pillars were stolen by Baliram Sharma and his two accomplices. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed in the Bhutana Police Station in Haryana. Upon investigation, the pillars were recovered on 2 May 1967 from Faridabad and were kept in the Strong Room (the ‘Maalkhana’) of the police station. On 6 July 1967, a team from the National Museum, New Delhi, examined them and traced their origins to the 2nd century BCE Sunga period. A criminal case was filed in 1967 against Baliram Sharma and two others in the court of Judicial Magistrate, R.K. Sen.
In February 1968, the Narang brothers, who had transitioned from being mere pavement hawkers to amassing wealth through the sale of priceless artefacts, learned about the pillars’ antiquity and significant value and hatched a plan to steal them. Of the three brothers, Om Prakash (also known as Omi Narang) had been residing in London with Manohar Lal (alias Manu Narang), while Ram Lal Narang remained in India.
During the ongoing legal proceedings against Baliram Sharma, Ram Lal Narang, accompanied by his family friend Narendranath Malik, travelled to Karnal. Malik deceptively posed as a research scholar and applied for the release of the pillars for private studies. Exploiting connections, Mr H. L. Mehra, the Chief Judicial Magistrate at that time, colluded with Narang and provided a false certification asserting Malik’s status as a research scholar. Mehra exerted his influence over Judicial Magistrate Sen to favour Narang’s cause. Consequently, the pillars were released to Malik after he executed a personal bond amounting to Rs. 20,000/-, with no objection certificates obtained from the Bhutan Police Station and the village panchayat.
The pillars were transported on a truck and initially taken to the Narangs’ residence in Defence Colony, New Delhi. Subsequently, these pillars were shifted to their factory in Kotla Mubarakpur, where sculptors Balkishan and Nathubai Rawal created three sets of replicas. On 27 May 1968, one set of these replicas was delivered to the court and placed in the Karnal Police Station. The police returned this set of pillars to the Amin village authorities, who put them back in the Suraj Kund temple. With the return of the pillars, the legal case against the thief, Baliram Sharma, and his associates concluded with their acquittal on 27 September 1968. Meanwhile, the original pillars were transported to Bombay by Manu Narang and smuggled out of India to London.
Ramlal Narang tried to ship another set of replicas abroad. However, the shipment was intercepted by customs in Bombay, which led to investigations in 1969. In 1970, an expert from the National Museum declared the pillars in the Suraj Kund temple in Amin to be fake. Malik was arrested on 8 May 1970, and in 1972, a chargesheet was filed against him and Mehra in the Ambala court.
The hunt for the originals involved several international agencies. It was only in 1976 that Scotland Yard, London, informed the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation about a set of two carved pillars found in the warehouse of M/S Spinks and Sons, London, and that Manu Narang was in the process of finalising a deal to sell them through some London broker to an American collector, Norton Simons, for nearly five hundred thousand American dollars. On 5 May 1976, the pillars were seized by the London Police and Manu Narang was arrested.
An expert from the British Museum examined the pillars and certified that these were original and dated back to 200 CE. In August 1976, an Indian expert who had travelled to London identified the pillars as originals. On 30 December 1976, the London Police handed them over to the Indian High Commission, and they were brought back to India on 7 May 1977. The pillars are now on display at the National Museum in New Delhi.
In 1976, a case was registered against Ram Lal Narang, his brothers, and others involved in this conspiracy. While Ram Lal was apprehended in India, his other two brothers were extradited from the UK in 1977. First, Narendranath Malik, and later H. R. Mehra, were pardoned after they gave confessional statements and became approvers.
iconography
In the village of Amin lies a large mound measuring 650 x 250 metres, with a maximum height of 10 metres, believed to be the remains of the Chakravyuha, the military formation described in the Mahabharata. The labyrinth formation, constructed by the Kauravas, is where Ahhimanyu, the son of Arjuna, one of the five Pandavas, was killed. It is also believed that the name Amin derives from Abhimanyu, as the site was formerly known as ‘Abhimanyukhera.’
The two inscribed red sandstone pillars found here belong to the Shunga period (2nd-1st century BCE). Carved on all four sides and without sockets for crossbars, they appear to have supported some platform. The inscriptions, in Kushan-period Brahmi characters, are pretty short, merely naming their donor.
The Shungas succeeded the Mauryas and continued the tradition of building and sculpting with the same vigour as that of their predecessors, but with some significant changes. In contrast to the massive free-standing sculptures of the Mauryan period, Shunga art focused on relief sculptures of life-sized figures, most of which were frontally conceived and adorned with heavy ornamentation and drapery. The carvings on the Amin Pillars display striking similarities to the relief figures carved on the railing pillars of the Bharhut stupa, which are characteristic of the art of this period.
1. Amin Pillar (A): This sculpture depicts a couple (Yaksha and Yakshi), also known as Yaksha Dampati. Considered among the earliest representations of a pair in Yaksha iconography, Yakshas are demi-gods found in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain theology. As a popular motif in Indian art, they have been represented since ancient times.
This pillar measures 15 inches in height and 17 inches in width. The Yaksha-Yakshini couple is carved in a niche on the front, flanked by beautiful floral motifs featuring rosettes. The lower portion of the pillar is fitted with railings with decorative crossbars. In contrast, the upper portion has a simple railing motif, topped by stepped merlons alternating with Srivatsa-type symbols in a single row. The male is on the left, and the woman is on the right. They stand, clasping each other’s shoulders. The woman’s left foot is bent at the knee, and, turning towards the right, it rests on a small pedestal. While the woman’s right arm dangles at her side, the man holds a wine cup or a ‘Madhu Patra’ in his left hand and places it near the spouse’s left breast.
The Yaksha figure wears a stylistic turban with a central knot, typical of the Sunga style. He is dressed in a ‘dhoti’ or lower garment that reaches the knees. It is tied at the waist with a sash, the tassels falling between his legs. He wears ‘prakara vapra kundalas’ or square-shaped earrings, a four-stringed necklace that hangs down his chest, bracelets, and anklets. The Yakshini, too, wears a headdress and a lower garment tied at the waist with a thin sash, the ends of which fall to her legs. She is adorned with earrings, a three-stringed necklace, bangles covering the entire forearms, reaching up to the elbows, a three-stringed beaded girdle around the waist, and multiple anklets. The folds of the garments are visible.
The left side of the pillar has lotus creeper motifs that emerge from the mouth of a crocodile and encircle four lotus flowers, beautifully carved in a single row. The right side has a lotus border, within which is carved a lotus stalk, emerging from the mouth of a seated Yaksha and encircling the lotus flowers. The back side has fully carved rows of four design types. The top row has the palmette, the second has blue-lotus creeper, the third has lotus petals, and the last has the palmette design.
The pillar has an inscription in the Brahmi script with 15 letters and records the donors’ names. It reads as ‘Bhikunika Potasa Rasimitra Matu danam’. Thus, the pillar was gifted by the mother of a person named ‘Rasimitra,’ the grandson of a lady called ‘Bhikunika.’
2. Amin Pillar (B): This pillar is about 46 inches in height. The upper part has two lotus flowers carved just above the figure’s turban, while the lower part is plain. The figure of a Yaksha carrying a lotus flower or a Padmapani Yaksha is inscribed inside the niche of this pillar. The standing male figure holds the stalk of the lotus flower in his right hand. The left hand is bent at the elbow and holds the left end of the waistband. He wears an ornamental headdress with a high knot in the centre. He also wears a knee-length lower garment, tied at the waist. He is adorned with a beautifully sculpted four-stringed necklace, a turban, a scarf on the forearms, and round earlobes.
The left side of the pillar has a lotus stalk coming out of a crocodile’s mouth, encircling two lotus flowers. The right side features a vase-and-foliage motif, symbolising abundance and prosperity. It consists of a creeper emerging from a pot, a ‘Ghata’, or a ‘Purna-Kalasa’ and encircling three lotus flowers, carved one over the other in a single row.
This pillar bears an inscription in Brahmi script, composed of several small letters, that records the names of several donors.
materials
Red Sandstonemode of retrieval
Following a court case in India, the pillars were seized by the London Police and handed over to the Indian High Commission, London.place of origin
Suraj Kund Temple, Amin, Karnal District, Haryanapresent locations
National Museum, New Delhiretrieved from
M/S Spinks and Sons, United Kingdomsource by
Image Source : Archaeological Survey of Indiathumbnail image 1
