Prime Minister Narenda Modi's peculiar understanding of Indian history has yet again become grist for humour on social media.

On Monday, at a ceremony in Washington to mark the repatriation of Indian cultural property, Modi expounded on the country's heritage. According to the wire agency ANI, he said there are sculptures at the 13-century Sun Temple in Konark, Odisha, which show "figurines wearing what modern fashionable girl wear who wears skirts & carries purses".

...aur haath mei purse rakhti hai, unki murtiyan bhi banayi hui hai. Matlab us samay bhi ye cheeze maujood hongi: PM pic.twitter.com/vPl9WcDOWZ — ANI (@ANI_news) June 6, 2016

The prime minister is in Washington on the fourth leg of his five-nation tour. During his three-day visit to the US, Modi will meet President Barack Obama, address a joint session of the Congress, and meet business leaders.



At the repatriation ceremony at Blair House, the prime minister said he is very grateful to "the government of US and the president for returning a part of our culture. This heritage inspires us for the future".

While on the subject of heritage, Modi also spoke of medical discoveries in India.

Which means 700 years back surgery was done, much earlier than what our medical history goes back to: PM #ModiInUS pic.twitter.com/UQIg8SaK6w — ANI (@ANI_news) June 6, 2016

Twitter, predictably, couldn't help but see humour in Modi's understanding of history.

Where is the mini skirt & the all important handbag? #UdtaPM https://t.co/u4LZU2PFrp — swati chaturvedi (@bainjal) June 7, 2016

Hmm, matlab women in India are safe in a skirt only if they are engraved in stone. K. @ANI_news — Malay Desai (@MalayD) June 7, 2016

Konark Temple is 700 years old, not 2000 years. High on Weed Energy #UdtaPM pic.twitter.com/2CHy6Kz9if — Navin Khaitan (@navinkhaitan) June 7, 2016

Rare sculpture from Konark temple from 4000 years ago showing hipster Modi doing standup comedy with a straight face pic.twitter.com/xKShplyiFr — blank (@atlasdanced) June 7, 2016

Please PR guys, I know you have to work with a difficult ignorant ill-informed PM, but please do a better job prepping him. #UdtaPM — बाबा Manhattani (@BabaGlocal) June 7, 2016

@ANI_news Looks like Modi was very poor student of History, first he fumbled about Takshila, then about Gaya and now about Konark Temple. — Gautam Chopra (@gautamchopra) June 7, 2016

May be Modi is confusing Madam Tussaud museum with Konark sun temple :) @suhasinih https://t.co/NN2gchhuTt — Atul Agarwal (@Aga_Atul) June 7, 2016