Oh No!!

One of India’s greatest treasures, the 2200-year-old Lion Capital which King Asoka erected at  Rampurva, has been broken at the Indian Museum in Kolkata while being moved from one place to another. The Lion Capital is the brother of the Sarnath Lion Capital, India’s national emblem. Although the breakage apparently happened last week the museum has so far not reported it. The governor of West Bengal,  M. K. Narayanan, who is chairman of the museum’s board of trustees, has denied any breakage, saying:  “Nothing has broken as far as I know”  But pictures and documents have been leaked confirming the breakage. Meanwhile, the museum has put the statue back together but, experts say, in a hasty and haphazard way, putting the parts together with epoxy glue and painting over the cracks. India is in the forefront of those countries demanding that art treasures taken by former colonial powers be returned. But its record in preserving the treasures it has in its care is very poor. If  things go as usual with this latest disaster, the denial will continue until it is impossible to keep it up, then there will be a clamour of buck passing,  this will be followed by someone else being blamed, probably foreigners, and finally the whole matter will be swept under the carpet.