A relic showing Gautama Buddha meditating under the tree of awakening was among the 45 antiquities that the Manhattan District Attor­ney’s office IN New York returned to the people of Pakistan this week.

The repatriated items include a Gandharan frieze featuring seven figures of Buddha beside a Bodhisattva Maitreya (a friendly Buddha), a Gandharan box of religious relics and a gray schist relief of Panchika and his consort Hariti Panchika. The relics also include a Hariti Stele, a gray schist head of Buddha below a bodhi, the tree of awakening, and a Gandharan head of Buddha under the bodhi tree — all dating back to the 2nd Century CE.

In a statement released on Monday, the DA office recalled that in 2015, they and the US Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) office had executed multiple search warrants and seized close to 100 antiquities from “Nayef Homsi, a known trafficker involved in the illegal looting, exportation and sale of ancient art from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and other nations”.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1588510/pakistan-receives-45-stolen-relics-from-us