ADDRESSING THE VICES OF COLONIALISM - REPATRIATING STOLEN HERITAGE, ONE TREASURE AT A TIME.

India's story was one of millenia of foreign rule, invasions and colonialism. The latter half of the 20th century marked the beginning of a new chapter in this saga; one that India would author herself.

The plague of colonialism brought unprecedented evils- famines, massacres and endemic poverty. There remain, however some colonial truths that run deeper than all of this- cultural bereavement and appropriation of wealth, art and culture. Here is a list of artefacts and objects of national cultural importance that the British stole from India and other colonies-

1. The Kohi-noor Diamond.

2. The Ring of Tipu Sultan.

3. Shah Jahan's wine cup.

4. The Rosetta Stone.

5. Seeds of Hevea Brasiliensis

6. The Benin Bronzes

7. Ethiopian Manuscripts.

[ This is apart from every ancient manuscript they burnt and temples, mosques and sculptures that were destroyed]

Colonizers the world over stole wealth from their colonies. But they also stole art and in doing so, our stories. Allowing stolen pieces to remain in foreign museums furthers injustice. It gives the impression that colonialism was ultimately a means justified by the end. It pushes the question of taking back control of our stories to the back burner. The British built an empire on the backs of a million Indians. The beginning was bloody, no doubt. What was to come, was worse.

A direct conseqeuence of colonialism was cultural bereavement. Indians were made to feel inferior on the grounds of culture. They didn't stop at this. Cultural appropriation is an extension of racism. It is the ideology that the colonies' [in this case] culture was for the taking. It reinforces discrimination. It exacerbates the power dynamics between the oppressors and the oppressed.

India is a success story. It is on track to become the world's third largest economy. Th British stole nearly 4.5 trillion dollars from India- an amount three times Britain's present GDP. We have defied expectations and emerged victorious in spite of unspeakable atrocity. But this by no means justifies their iniquity.

The government and private organisations like the APP are working tirelessly to document and estimate the number of artefacts that were stolen from India. It is a long process but one that is overdue and absolutely necessary.

It is time now to right the wrongs of the past century. Healing from the depravity of colonialism calls for the uprooting of cultural appropriation. The process must begin with the recognition of what has been perpetrated and not by whitewashing it. Repatriating stolen art is a way to take control of our stories and rectify the way they are told.