Two of 14 rare artefacts set to be returned by Oz’s nat’l gallery from erstwhile Hyd

Hyderabad: Two of the 14 antique and rare works of arts that the National Gallery of

Australia

(NGA) has proposed to return to India belong to the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad. These priceless objects were stolen out of the country over a period of time.

The two Hyderabadi antique pieces are a brass Alam or processional standard used during Moharrum and the original photograph of Maharaja Kishen Pershad, prime minister of the Hyderabad state under two Nizams — Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, Nizam VI, and Mir Osman Ali Khan, Nizam VII. The photograph was taken by Lala Deendayal, who was bestowed with the title Raja by the princely rulers.

This is the fourth time that the NGA is returning the artefacts stolen from India. In 2016, the NGA had returned a sculpture belonging to Amaravati. Named Worshippers of the Buddha, it is a 3rd century CE limestone sculpture. It belonged to the early Buddhist settlements in now what is called Andhra Pradesh.

The NGA described the Alam as a processional standard from Hyderabad, which was purchased in 2008. It dates the Alam to 1851 CE when Nasir-ud-Dowla was the Nizam IV of Hyderabad. However, city heritage experts and Shia scholars prefer to put the date of the Alam to early 16th century when the Qutub Shahi regime was at its nascent stage.

Mir Murtuza Ali Moosvi, custodian of the historic Badashahi Ashoorkhana built in 1594, told TOI that the make and intricate work and designs on the Alam reveals that it must have been made between 1519 and 1529 CE. “This Alam belongs to the Vijayanagar empire. It was handcrafted in Hampi, the capital city of Vijayanagar empire, now in Karnataka,” he said.

Murtuza Ali explained that the Alam had designs of lions and dragon-like figures. “It is priceless as it is one of a piece. Apart from its religious significance, the Alam has historic and cultural importance as it was crafted in a kingdom ruled by Hindu kings. This shows the cultural synthesis and religious tolerance in medieval India,” he said.

INTACH city convener P Anuradha Reddy said the Vijayanagar rulers had a vast number of Muslim soldiers, who guarded the capital city and the empire. “Even today we find the remains of the quarters of Muslim soldiers stationed outside Hampi,” she said, adding that the Alam must have moved out of the state during or after the Asaf Jah period.

“Several crafts and precious items of Hyderabad have been stolen or illegally sold. One of the top 10 costliest ever shoes in the world belongs to Hyderabad. The shoes of Sikandar Jah, who founded Secunderabad, is now in the Bata museum in Toronto, Canada,” Anuradha Reddy said.