Stolen Antique Idol Returns After Half a Century
The idols were suspected to have been stolen from the temple near Kumbakonam between 1967 and 1967.
Chennai: An exquisite sixteenth century bronze idol of Thirumangai Alwar, one of the 12 poet-saints of the Vaishavite tradition, which returned to Tamil Nadu from the Ashmolean museum in Oxford in UK, nearly half a century after it was lifted from the Soundararajaperumal temple near Kumbakonam, was presented before Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Tuesday by the DGP Mahesh Kumar Agarwal at the Secretariat.
While the temple authorities had complaint about the missing 60 cm tall idol of Thirumangai Alwar, along with three other idols – Kalinganarthanar Krishna, Vishnu and Sri Devi – on February 12, 2020, the idol wing CID of the State police swung into action and traced the idols before taking steps for their repatriation to India.
The idols were suspected to have been stolen from the temple near Kumbakonam between 1967 and 1967. The Idol Wing CID traced the main idol at Oxford University and the others at three different museums in the US - the Kalinganarthanar Krishna idol at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Sridevi idol at the Florida Hill Auction Gallery and the Vishnu idol at the Kimbell Art Museum at Fort Worth in Texas.
The Ashmolean museum in Oxford University had bought the idol, which was then with a private collector J R Belmont from Switzerland who had been in India in the 1950s, in good faith at a Sotheby’s auction in 1967.
To bring home the Thirumangai Alwar idol, the State’s Idol Wing CID took elaborate steps by producing credible and indisputable evidence of the idol’s origin to Ashmolean and made efforts through the Union Ministries of Home, External Affairs and Culture and the department of archeology. Finally, It was handed over to the Indian authorities on March 3 at an event held at the Indian High Commission in London.
Subsequently, the idol was brought down to Tamil Nadu on August 16 and was taken to the Secretariat on Tuesday by the DGP and Additional DGP, Idol Wing CID, D Kalpana Naik. After the completion of all legal formalities, the idol would be installed at the temple in Thadikombu