DT Next

After Alwar, lens now on 3 other idols taken to US

CHENNAI: After successful­ly tracking down Tirumangai Alwar, a 500-year-old idol that went missing from a temple in Tamil Nadu, to Ashmolean Museum in Oxford University, India Pride Project founder S Vijay Kumar said he has found three more idols that went missing along with it to various locations in the US.

Speaking to DT Next, Vijay Kumar said he has tracked four bronze idols that were last photograph­ed in June 1957 at Sundaraper­umal Temple in Thanjavur. “The idol of Vishnu is now in Kimbell Art Museum in Texas; the Kalingana Narthana Krishna idol was traced to the Asian Art Museum, SFO, San Francisco; and the idol of Sri Devi was auctioned by an auction house in the US,” he said.

Citing the broken upper right hand of the Vishnu idol in Kimbell museum, he said these bronze idols might have been given to some local Stapathi to repair minor damages, and the person could have switched them with fakes.

“Considerin­g they showed up in the US around 1965-70, we can only guess that they were switched and smuggled sometime between 1957 and 1965,” he said.

Explaining the repatriati­on process, Vijay Kumar said once he identifies and matches a stolen idol, the informatio­n is provided to ASI, diplomatic missions and the Idol Wing of the State police. India can seek the return of the artefact under the 1970 UN Statute if the theft happened before 1970.

But the ASI, Ministry of Culture and the law enforcemen­t agencies often misunderst­and that it is difficult to bring back idols stolen before 1970, he said. “We have repeatedly proven that common law still applies even if theft happened before 1970. India has to take proper legal action in filing lawsuits if soft diplomacy doesn’t help,” Vijay Kumar, added.

India has successful­ly sued even in foreign courts but there seems to be lack of will to do so now and instead rely more on soft diplomacy, he said.

India Pride Project works with law enforcemen­t worldwide on a pro bono basis for restitutio­n claims not just for India but also for countries like Nepal and Cambodia, too. Since 2012, the team’s work for India has crossed more than 2,000 objects, Vijay Kumar said.