In a major victory for cultural heritage restoration, the Cleveland Museum of Art has formally returned a collection of four rare 10th-century sculptures belonging to the Chandela dynasty. The artifacts, which include exquisite figures of Yaksha and Yakshini, were originally looted from temple complexes in the Bundelkhand region in the early 20th century.
The repatriation follows a two-year investigative process that utilized AI-driven provenance analysis to verify the sculptures' origins. The artifacts will be housed in a new state-of-the-art gallery in Madhya Pradesh, restoring a vital piece of Sanatan heritage to its place of origin.