All images: Actual photographs of the building housing the Sikh Museum in the Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, during the June 1984 military attack. This building was plundered and looted, and then damaged, long after the cessation of hostilities.
Art
Was Sobha Singh Painting Stolen From Amritsar's Sikh Museum in 1984?
Based on News Report by DHARMENDRA RATAUL
Eyebrows have been raised regarding the history of the Sobha Singh portrait of Maharaja Ranjit Singh which was recently auctioned at Sotheby's for Rs. 10.4 million (US $ 236,500).
Questions are being asked if the art piece is the one that was stolen from the Sikh Museum in the Golden Temple in 1984. There were reports that the painting was secretly removed during Operation Blue Star, the military attack on the complex under orders from Idira Gandhi.
Regarding the possibility that this is the same art piece that was taken away from the Sikh Museum, SGPC Secretary, Dalmegh Singh, said he had heard such talks but no inquiry was ever conducted. "The museum was badly damaged during Blue Star. However, we are not sure if the portrait was taken away from the museum," he said.
Dr Hriday Pal Singh, Secretary, Sobha Singh Memorial Art Society, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, said they had received information from Sotheby's regarding the action. "We got an e-mail recently that the painting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh by Sobha Singh will feature in the auction. They also asked if we were interested in it, but we want that the authenticity of the art piece is confirmed first," said Hriday Pal, who is also Sobha Singh's grandson.
Hriday Pal Singh said he had seen the portrait on Sotheby's website and to his surprise the signature of Sobha Singh had been erased.
"Though I am sure the portrait is the one made by my grandfather, his missing signature is surprising," he said, adding that the 39/29-inch oil-based portrait shows the Maharaja seated on a silver throne, wearing jewelry and a diamond on his turban, with his famous sword resting on his legs.
"There were many replicas of the portrait made and one of them is available with us at our gallery at Andretta village near Palampur," said Hriday Pal Singh.
Apart from this portrait, the Sikh Museum also had a portrait of Guru Nanak commissioned in 1969 on his 500th birth anniversary.
This portrait is also missing.
"We had requested the SGPC to set up a separate section in the museum in the name of Sobha Singh and place his 50 rare portraits there, but there had been no response," said Dr Hriday Pal Singh, adding that such a separate section had been built in the Chandigarh Museum.
[Courtesy: Indian Express]
April 5, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Satpal Singh (Pune, India), April 05, 2011, 10:27 AM.
I think its the same painting which was in the Sikh Museum before the Operation "Blue Star". After the attack on the Darbar Sahib, the government explaination was that the military assault was to remove the militants/ terrorists (to use the government's terminology), but can this government then explain us the reason why the museum - and the great Sikh Reference Library too! - were looted and then damaged? All these criminal and illegal actions are clearly part of the ongoing anti-Sikh policies of the Indian government.
2: Sunny (London, United Kingdom), April 06, 2011, 9:34 AM.
What chance is there that such relics, treasures, paintings, historic documents, etc. will be returned, when the SGPC's own secretary isn't sure what went missing and what didn't? Sounds awfully fishy ...
3: N. Singh (Canada), April 06, 2011, 9:39 PM.
Not satisfied with trying to re-write our history in their favour, the Hindu majority Government of India tried to rob the Sikhs of their heritage. Theft of any Sikh history, literary, academic or physical artifacts is a theft against the Sikh Nation! These things rightful belong to us and, through us, to our children and future generations to come. They must be handed back to their rightful owners ... the Sikhs!