The Amaravati Development Authority chairman Veeranjaneyulu Jasti has written a letter to TN Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa seeking transfer of 400 odd cultural and heritage structures and monuments related to Amaravati from the historical Egmore Museum, Deccan Chronicle reported.

According to the report, the letter claimed that the transfer would help restore the dignity and culture and elevate the self-esteem of Andhra people and said that the archaeology department of the British Government unearthed about 400 ancestral monuments and sculptures in Amaravati around 1797 and moved them to the National Museum at Chennai.

According to a report in The Hindu, the sculptures, dating between 2 BC and 2 AD were believed to have been carved during King Ashoka’s rule. The British brought the sculptures to Chennai in 1856, where it lay unattended in the museum for years. 

Some of the sculptures were also taken to Britain and stored until 2008, when the renovation of the Amaravati Art Gallery in Chennai began after the 100-year-old gallery’s walls began to give in to seepage. 

A senior officer told DC that there have been earlier cases in India, where museums do give away their possessions to other states, depending on the demands, while other claimed that only a part of the monuments would be given to Andhra.