Who will look after Nepal's returned gods and goddesses?

Send us Fan Mail Undoubtedly the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign has been a success. In less than five years it has led the identification and return to Nepal of about 160 religious icons — statues, paintings, and more. These were stolen from this country and displayed or stored in public museums and private collections globally since Nepal opened to the world in the 1950s. Now what? The aim of the NHRC is to have these gods and goddesses (devi-devta in Nepali) returned to their communities, we learn in today’s chat with Alisha Sijapati, a founding member and former director of the campaign. Some have made that journey, such as the Lakshmi-Narayan statue taken from Patko Tole in Patan in 1984, but most have not. Blocking their way is a lack of resources and underpinning that, an absence of understanding of the importance of heritage to the health of this country, she adds. Today’s episode is an update to our conversation in October 2021 with NHRC member Rohan Mishra, titled Recovering Nepal’s Stolen Art and Restoring its Culture. I encourage you to search for it wherever you’re listening now. If you want more of these interviews, sign up to be a supporter wherever you’re listening by clicking on the Support the Show link . For those of you in Nepal, the NHRC will take another step towards raising the profile of the living heritage of the stolen gods and goddesses in an exhibition at Patan Museum from July 31st to August 4th. Resources Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign Previous episode - Recovering Nepal’s Stolen Art and Restoring its Culture Lain Singh Bandel Juergen Schick Support the show Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media: LinkedIn Instagram BlueSky Facebook Music by audionautix.com. Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

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Who will look after Nepal's returned gods and goddesses? is an episode from Nepal Now by Marty Logan.

This episode is 41:12 long.

This episode was published on Jul 8, 2025.

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