When will the British handover all the plundered items back to the respective countries..that sword has nothing to with the British history

Interesting design..I guess this one is just a ceremonial sword. Hilt design would make the sword inconvenient to hold the sword and use it with force. Position of rings also serve no purpose in a combat sword.

Shantanu, I believe they do that all the time. There is currently renewed pressure to return a lot of items. Do Egyptian artifacts have anything to do with contemporary Egyptian history? I mean, they've basically slaughtered the majority of Coptics, who are now a disenfranchised minority. The whole country is no longer the same ethnicity as it was thousands of years ago. One thing the British Museum does do, perhaps better than any other museum in the world, is share what it has. If all museums share, there is no ownership and no endless war over national rights. The citizens of Mumbai can view a lot of Egyptian and Greek items from the collection, the citizens of Abu Dhabi can view things from the Indian collection. A lot of these items would probably have been smuggled into the abyss by despotic rulers decades ago had they not had such a stable home, then nobody would be able to see them.

Jonah what ever it is i concur with Shantanu its about time now in a democratic world British should hand over what is not theirs to the respective countries especially India this is my personal strong belief .

Do we have anything of theirs here? apart from the old structures /tea and "Boss" they have left behind?

Well said Jonah Berlin! This is a very complex and sensitive issue no doubt. But you have explained the context and perspective with great maturity.

We India's are not united that's why our country and people have met with so many invaders and looters. And our own people have and are still bringing and helping the looters to loot our mother nation.

I'm sure much of it will be returned. There's probably no kind of person more sensitive to these kinds of things than a contemporary curator. I don't think it's a matter of simply putting everything on a boat destined for India. I also doubt that the average British person wakes up every morning thinking, "Thank God we still have the Koh-i-noor. I can sleep well tonight once again."

Wish we could see the full picture...

Im from Udaipur n when I see the city palace museum I think items are well preserved. Was in Chennai for sometime and travelled a lot around south ..used to wonder why there are no museums ..now I know. The British dint have much say in the Rajasthan region as the states has compromised with them so everything is intact. On other hand wherever British fought wars with regional kings they plundered and kept all these artifacts in their private collection and as they go bankrupt things keep coming out into Christy auctions. It's sick ..please tell me if the museums are supposed to keep them safely. What was tipu sultan sword doing in a auction

Well Said Shantanu!Admin its a pity you only see one side of the perspective and not the other .Jonah easy to be sarcastic but a little uphill to act .Please do introduce yourself as to how do you know much of it will be returned in the first place?

Karan Vir: I have stated my opinion more than once on this forum and I will repeat it again. Just like any other Indian... I too would want the great treasures of India to be returned back to this country. Easier said than done given the complexity and sensitivity of this issue. But before that is done... the government, the museums, the curators and caretakers and the people in general should learn to respect and value the tremendous heritage this country already has. As of today we have hundreds of thousands of historical monuments, artifacts, treasures and other items which lay in a state of utter neglect and apathy. It might not be an exaggeration to say that we might be losing something of historical importance every day. In such a dismal scenario... if the valuable treasures from the worlds museums are in fact returned to India... they would face a certain neglect due to the lack of infrastructure, funds, policy etc. etc... and we would then lose them forever!! Would you want such a thing to happen? Whereas the western nations have spent incredible amounts of money to preserve and conserve these items and have even exhibited them online for us to see, appreciate and enjoy. At least we have not lost them and are in no danger of losing them. Let us for now view them as caretakers of our treasures till we get our house in order... and prepare ourselves to receive them later. For every well managed museum in our country... there are ten which are decrepit and in a state of decay.

Agreed RBS, im not here to argue n blame you guys. It's the frustration to see items of historical importance lying in foreign countries. We have some temples who have Vedas or old religious manuscripts handed down to them from hundred and thousands of years which are being used, touched by humans every day but still intact. Can quote more examples on those lines in terms of how things have been preserved but cant deny that there are millions of other items n structures lying in neglect. But thats nature isn't it. When moguls/Muslims invaded India they destroyed so many temples which were of historic important in India that dint change anything in India. We continue to be what we are ...one of the oldest civilization in the world ...lets see when the British see it apt to return all items back to India ..

To be very honest, we Indians don"t care for our own culture, our own HERIGATE, buildings, artefacts, and our own country, thats why our country is so very durty, heritage buildings kept very poorly, it is not governments falut, "dirt & dust is become part and parcle of Indian life " it is not becuse of poverty, it just that we dont give a fu.k about our country. it is sad to say that all this artefacts are well preserved in foreign museums then in India it self.

"When moguls/Muslims invaded India they destroyed so many temples" It's interesting Shantanu, because I believe much of the British Museum's collection comes from the Mughal Dynasty and other "invaders" of India. At what point does a place call itself a nation united by a common history? Do the antiquities of the entire Roman Empire belong to Garibaldi's Italy alone?

Here's an interesting argument by museum authority types along the lines of this thread: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2010/10/20101022140412aidan0.7519953.html#axzz2YfuEIUUx

Those interested in swords of this period, mughal period & much earlier days, are advised to visit Rampur Raza Library, a 3 hour drive from Delhi, to see the collection of the Rohilkhand nawabs. Its as good a collection of arms as the Jaipur museum & a more comprehensive collection of Indian arms than the British museum's collection. But a specialist needs to come & help the museum curator at Rampur, who has no information on the subject apart from their vintage ( marked 100 years back). A treasure awaits documentation & photography. Any one keen to help this central govt. run beautiful museum with their knowledge, can have the first rights to photograph & share the collection with RBSI. The director will certainly agree.

is that copper? then its got to be a ceremonial sword. decidedly unergonomic hilt, too, i'd say...

Yes Ratnesh, I did visit it a couple of years back. Learnt about it after India Post brought out a commemorative stamp. Was impressed with the majestic building which boasts of possessing a rare earliest Quran written 1400 years back. Though considered a national heritage, the upkeep left lot to be desired.

The building & the collections are in excellent shape now. No budgets (unlike British library) for air-conditioning but the high victorian era ceilings designed by english engineer/architect, WC Wright help. Library was free floating for a few years without leadership. Dr Azizuddin who has taken charge 18 months back, has done a fine job. Barely got 800 visitors over the past 12 months. Mostly researchers of persian/arabic/pushto documents. Hazrat Ali's quran is up on display through the month of Ramzaan. Come visit. The masterpiece for me though, is the oldest "complete" illustrated Panchatantra ( Kalilah-wa-Dimnah version) & the oldest "complete" illustrated Tutinamah. The older Kalilah-wa-Dimnah versions lying at Topkapi, Istanbul, Gulistan, Tehran & Cairo, have several illustrations missing. Its only when benchmarked with the 1540 AD Rampur version, that the famous 100 year older versions of topkapi, gulistan & cairo ones can be imagined for their glory. And Tutinamah illustrated - Akbar's illustrated version lies split between Cleveland museum, British museum & Vienna. Even reprints of cleveland museum's tutinamah book of 1974 ,are so hard & expensive to get. And here in Rampur, I've discovered a complete 400+ years old illustrated version in excellent shape. Its never been photographed. No entry tickets at Raza library. CRPF security sucks but I guess its necessary to protect the treasures inside. ( see - http://razalibrary.gov.in/Razalibnew/index.html )

Wow! Thanks Ratnesh! Great insights of treasures in our own land. We first need to focus on preserving what we have and try to bring about an abiding awareness towards preservation and conservation of these treasures before directing our energies overseas.

The great, if largely absurd, " give it all back " saga continues... As Mr Berlin has attempted to point out in his comments above - the real question is - " to whom" precisely ? A point that has been extensively debated at this site on numerous previous occasions. Be that as it may - many members of the RBSI will no doubt recall that the British Prime Minister paid a visit to India earlier in the year - on which he was accompanied by the usual phalanx of diplomats and business leaders... He was, however, also joined by representatives of the British Museum - an institution that has been facilitating cross-cultural links and exchange programmes between the U.K. and the sub-continent for many years. The upshot of this latest visit was the announcement that the British museum in co-operation with the Indian government will continue to offer training courses for the next generation of Indian curators - along the lines detailed in the link below. The longer term goal of this project is not only so that we might see an improvement in the ability of Indian museums to adequately protect and preserve the artifacts for which they are already responsible - but to increase the likelihood of Western museums ' loaning ' (if not in due course ' returning' ) certain parts of their collections to institutions in various parts of Asia. A practise that is already common place in Europe and North America. http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/news_and_press/press_releases/2012/future_cultural_leaders.aspx

@Suburaj... Who cares? I tried that the Indian Government buys Tagore and his elder brothers 14 letters to Moriz Winternitz from an antic book shop in Austria. It took one year, but my correspondence stood still like a stone.