Decades-Long Art Dispute: India vs. Pakistani Citizen in UK Court

In the noise of the Iran-Israel war and the Ukraine-Russia war going on before that, we missed some very important events. It is very important to take a look at them. The achievements of Indian painter Krishna Khanna, who has completed 100 years of his life, could not be discussed at the level they should have been. The painter born in Lyallpur on 5th July 1925 has received as many international honors as probably no other painter has. The sense of beauty with which this great painter depicted the chaos prevailing in the country even after independence was extraordinary.

At present, we have also seen the dispute going on for almost seven decades on a painting. We have not been able to give due importance to the case that has been going on for 70 years between India and Pakistan regarding Roerich's paintings.

You might have never thought that a court dispute has been going on for 70 years between the Indian government and a Pakistani citizen regarding two 'paintings'. Both these paintings were made by famous Russian artist Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) who settled in India. This dispute is still pending in a British court.

These two paintings of Nicholas Roerich, 'Himalaya Kanchenchungha' and 'Sunset Kashmir' were present with the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) located at Pusa Road till 2009. Suddenly one day in the same year, both the paintings were stolen. After a few months, both the artworks reached London's famous art auction house 'Sotheby's'. The value of both was estimated to be around 40 lakh pounds. Both these artworks were sent for auction by a Pakistani citizen Zahir Nazir. Zahir Nazir claims that both these paintings were gifted to his grandfather and a famous film actor of the Indian subcontinent, Nazri Ahmed Khan, by Nicholas Roerich's daughter-in-law and famous Indian actress of her time, Devika Rani.

Let's take a moment to recall Nicholas Roerich. This remarkable artist from his era was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1874. In his country, he was known as a painter, writer and a philosophical thinker. Gradually, his curiosity started moving towards spirituality and mysticism. The search for answers to some of these curiosities brought him to the Indian mountainous state of Himachal. His name was also proposed for the Nobel Prize many times. Apart from painting, he gradually started gaining fame in the field of architecture all over the world. He had prepared the designs of many religious buildings in Russia and Ukraine.

Around 1910, he was attracted to the Indian spiritual ideology 'Theosophy'. He was deeply influenced by the writings of Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekananda on Vedanta. He was also deeply influenced by Shrimadbhagwat Geeta and Geetanjali and some other poems of Rabindranath Tagore. Apart from Vedanta, his interest in Buddhism also started increasing. Under this influence, he wrote many poems and stories. Around 1917, he also participated in creative movements under the banner of 'Gorky Commission' and 'The Arts Union' along with Russian writer Maxim Gorky.

At the time of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, he was the president of the 'World of Art Society', but he was not much influenced by the Bolshevik Revolution and Lenin. He headed to Finland with his wife Helena and two sons. Roerich was not against the communist revolution, but he was against Lenin's repressive policies. In 1919, he went from Finland to London, where he came in contact with the leaders of 'Theosophy'. He became so engrossed in Theosophy that he invented a new ideology by the name of 'Agriyoga'. It was in London that Roerich came in contact with British Buddhist leader Christmas Humphrey, writer and thinker HG Wells and Rabindranath Tagore. After London, after running the 'Agniyoga Society' in America for about three years, Roerich planned a tour of Asia with his son George and six friends. In the first phase, this traveller travelled through Sikkim and later through Punjab, Kashmir (especially Ladakh, Karakoram mountain range), Tibet, Siberia etc. and after spending some time there, he returned to Moscow in 1926. Roerich wanted to establish the ‘Sacred Union of East’ based on the spirituality of the East. He also wanted the Bolshevik leaders to help him achieve this goal, but the Soviet leaders considered his idea to be futile and a product of pure idealism. They did not show any interest in this matter. Finally, Roerich and his idealistic friends and family members came here with the intention of settling down in India. Coming here, Roerich established the ‘Himalayan Research Institute’. In 1929, his name was also proposed for the Nobel Prize by the University of Paris. Similar proposals were received by the Nobel Committee in 1932 and 1935 as well. But he could not get the prize.

Meanwhile, this artist had become so famous that the treaty document signed by America and 20 other countries in 1935 in the White House for the protection of the world's cultural heritage is known as the 'Roerich Document'. Roerich was in India during the Second World War. In 1942, both Nehru and Indira Gandhi came to meet him at the Roerich residence in Kullu. Nehru mentioned Roerich several times in his memoirs and described him as an extraordinary person.

Roerich's talks about establishing 'an ideal world' had influenced many politicians of the world. Today the situation is such that there are 'Roerich Hall Estate' in Naggar village of Kullu valley, 'Shri Chitra Art Gallery' in Thiruvananthapuram and art centers dedicated to his name in some other Indian cities.

Nicholas Roerich's son Svetoslav Roerich also established himself as a great painter. His paintings made on Nehru and Indira are still displayed in the Central Hall of the Indian Parliament. This Svetoslav Roerich married the famous actress of his time Devika Rani in 1945. Roerich Svetoslav died in 1993. He was buried in Bangalore. He has a farm house outside the city on Kananpura Road. He lived there with Devika Rani. After the death of both of them, this great center of art and philosophical thinking is now embroiled in court disputes.

The Roerich family's residence in Manali is now a huge center of art works. It is run by the 'International Roerich Trust'. Now once again we return to the stolen paintings. Zahid Nazir, who handed over the artworks to Sotheby's auctioneer, claims that he has had both these paintings since the 1960s and they were hanging in his Lahore residence until he handed them over to 'Sotheby' in 2010.

Now, Indian institutions ICAR, IARI and CBI are running around internationally to investigate this controversy. The Delhi High Court had ordered the CBI to investigate this theft.