NEWS

PM Narendra Modi will bring home 157 artefacts and antiquities from the US, which were handed over to him during his visit. Modi and US President Joe Biden committed to strengthen their efforts to combat theft, illicit trade and trafficking of cultural objects. The list of 157 artefacts includes a diverse set of items ranging from the one-and-a-half metre bas relief panel of Revanta in sandstone of the 10th CE to the 8.5cm-tall bronze Nataraja from the 12th CE. “This continues the efforts by the Modi government to bring back our antiquities artefacts from across the world,” an official said.

The items largely belong to the 11th CE to 14th CE period as well as historic antiquities such as the copper anthropomorphic object of 2000 BC or the terracotta vase from the 2nd CE. Some 45 antiquities belong to the Before Common Era. While half of the artifacts (71) are cultural, the other half consists of figurines which relate to Hinduism (60), Buddhism (16) and Jainism (9).

The make of these items spreads across metal, stone and terracotta. The bronze collection primarily contains ornate figurines of the well-known postures of Lakshmi Narayana, Buddha, Vishnu, Siva Parvathi and the 24 Jain Tirthankaras and the less common Kankalamurti, Brahmi and Nandikesa besides other unnamed deities and divine figures.

The motifs include religious sculptures from Hinduism (Three headed Brahma, Chariot Driving Surya, Vishnu and his Consorts, Siva as Dakshinamurti, Dancing Ganesha etc), Buddhism (Standing Buddha, Boddhisattva Majushri, Tara) and Jainism (Jain Tirthankara, Padmasana Tirthankara, Jaina Choubisi) as well as secular motifs (Amorphous couple in Samabhanga, Chowri Bearer, Female playing drum etc).

There are 56 terracotta pieces (Vase 2nd CE, Pair of Deer 12th CE, Bust of Female 14th CE) and an 18th CE sword with sheath with inscription mentioning Guru Hargovind Singh in Persian).

(With inuts from agencies)

Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin pilot met Rahul Gandhi on Friday for the second time in 10 days, raising speculations that the party is finalising the changes to be made in the state.

Pilot was apparently called for discussions in which Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra both were present. A Cabinet reshuffle in the Gehlot government is pending for a while now. The state government is to be rejigged by including MLAs loyal to Pilot, while the party is also to appoint district presidents and chairmen of state corporations.

Since its  launch six months ago, the Central Government has been going all out to promote the showpiece initiative, Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, to mark 75 years of Independence next year.

But this has now led to questions being raised over the inclusion of ads for the event with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in emails sent to advocates by the Registry of the Supreme Court.

Several advocates confirmed to media that the images were included as part of email signatures — and said this blurred the line separating the judiciary and executive.

The Delta variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus is the most common in Delhi, although one the variant’s sub-lineages, the so-called AY.12 variant, is being seen in around 10% of the samples, according to a doctor at one of the four centres sequencing viral genomes in the Capital.

The numbers present a stark difference from national data (excluding Delhi’s) which show that another Delta lineage, AY.4, was seen in 53% of the samples sequenced by India’s genomic sequencing consortium, INSACOG. The increase was driven by AY.4’s presence in Maharashtra and Kerala, states that together account for nearly 34% of all the samples sequenced in the country till August.