# India Pride Project

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**India Pride Project** (**IPP**) is a [grassroots](/source/Grassroots) group of art enthusiasts who use [open source intelligence](/source/Open-source_intelligence) to identify stolen religious artefacts from temples in India in order to facilitate their return. Co-founded in 2014 by two Singapore-based art enthusiasts, S. Vijay Kumar and Anuraag Saxena, it now has activist volunteers from all over the world.[1][2]

## Recovery Efforts

Through the work of the IPP, a 12th-century bronze Buddha statue stolen from the ASI site museum in Nalanda, Bihar, India nearly 60 years ago was identified in circulation on the European market and was successfully returned to India via London’s Metropolitan Police during a handover ceremony which coincided with India’s Independence Day.[3][4]

The group of volunteers have also contributed research crucial to other successful restitutions of objects of dubious provenance, such as a 12th-century Buddha stolen from a Bihar museum in 1961 and a 900-year-old [Natarajan idol](/source/Sripuranthan_Natarajan_Idol) taken from the Brihadeeswara Temple in [Sripuranthan](/source/Sripurandan_(North)), Tamil Nadu in 2006.[5]

IPP also contributed research that ultimately resulted in eight statues (including a 12th century [Chola](/source/Chola_dynasty) bronze figure of the dancing child-saint [Sambandar](/source/Sambandar)) and six paintings being arranged to be returned by the National Gallery of Australia to the Indian government. [5]

## References

1. ["Facebook sleuths bring home India's stolen idols"](http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/life-culture/facebook-sleuths-bring-home-indias-stolen-idols). *[The Business Times](/source/Business_Times_(Singapore))*. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-05.

1. Ganapathy, Nirmala (10 November 2018). ["Recovering India's stolen art pieces"](https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/recovering-indias-stolen-art-pieces). *[The Straits Times](/source/The_Straits_Times)*. Retrieved 11 November 2018.

1. [On Independence Day, India gets back its 12th century stolen Buddha statue, Aditi Khanna, PTI, LiveMint, Aug 15 2018](https://www.livemint.com/Politics/CQMHtZkX51woQKhGLHlmEO/On-Independence-Day-India-gets-back-its-12th-century-stolen.html)

1. [How the mystery of the Missing Buddha statue was solved, Bibek Bhattacharya, Aug 21 2018](https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/MitejLdBdImh1v8DIM3VWN/How-the-mystery-of-the-Missing-Buddha-statue-was-solved.html)

1. Gopinathan, Sharanya (2021-09-07). ["Meet the Amateur Art Sleuths Fighting To Bring Back India's Looted Cultural Heritage"](https://www.vice.com/en/article/india-pride-project-bringing-artefacts-back-from-colonisers-art-thieves/). *Vice*. Retrieved 2023-05-21.

## External links

- [Official website](http://ipp.org.in/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [India Pride Project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Pride_Project) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Pride_Project?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.