500-yr-old Hanuman idol to be returned to India: All you need about statue and other stolen artefacts

A 500-year-old idol of Lord Hanuman that was stolen a decade ago from Tamil Nadu and smuggled abroad will be brought back soon.

The statue, which was built sometime between the 14th and 15th century to the Vijayanagara period, was recently found in possession of a private buyer in Australia.

“Five hundred-year-old Lord Hanuman bronze idol stolen from Tamil Nadu temple, to be repatriated back to India. The stolen idol retrieved by US Homeland Security was handed over to @HCICanberra by US CDA,” the minister said in a tweet.

500 year old Lord Hanuman bronze idol stolen from Tamil Nadu temple, to be repatriated back to 🇮🇳

The stolen idol retrieved by US Homeland Security was handed over to @HCICanberra by US CDA

Under the leadership of PM Sh @narendramodi the repatriation of our heritage continues. pic.twitter.com/851HaEkVXG

— G Kishan Reddy (@kishanreddybjp) February 23, 2022

On Tuesday, it was returned to Indian High Commissioner Manpreet Vohra at Canberra by Australian Chargé d’Affaires Michael Goldman.

Here is everything you need to know about the statue and other such instances when antique artefacts were brought back to India:

The idol of Lord Hanuman was burgled from the Varadharaja Perumal temple in Vellur village in Ariyalur district on 9 April, 2012.

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Two more idols of Sri Devi and Boodevi were also stolen from the temple on the same day.

According to the Indian Express, in March 2014, the idol was auctioned by Christie’s for $37,500 to a buyer in Australia.

Upon discovery and subsequent investigation, it was found to be the same idol that was stolen from India. The Tamil Nadu Police’s Idol Wing was assisted in the case by US Homeland Security.

The report said that the auction house and the buyer were unaware that the idol was stolen.

Other stolen artefacts from India

The government has retrieved around 212 artefacts, mainly statues made of metal, stone and terracotta, in the last seven years.

According to the Ministry of Culture, most of them have come from the United States, including the 157 artefacts and antiquities handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York in September last year.

While nearly half of the artefacts (71) are cultural, the other half consists of figurines related to Hinduism (60), Buddhism (16) and Jainism (9), an official statement had said at the time.

The list of 157 artefacts included a diverse set of items ranging from a one-and-a-half metre bas relief panel of Revanta in sandstone of the 10th CE to the 8.5 cm tall, exquisite bronze Nataraja from the 12th CE.

The bronze collection primarily contained ornate figurines of the well-known postures of Lakshmi Narayana, Buddha, Vishnu, Siva Parvathi and the 24 Jain Tirthankaras and the less common Kankalamurti, Brahmi and Nandikesa besides other unnamed deities and divine figures.

The culture ministry noted that the motifs include religious sculptures from Hinduism– three headed Brahma, chariot driving Surya, Vishnu and his consorts, Siva as Dakshinamurti and dancing Ganesha among others, Buddhism– standing Buddha, Boddhisattva Majushri, Tara, and Jainism– Jain Tirthankara, Padmasana Tirthankara, Jaina Choubisi, as well as secular motifs, including amorphous couple in Samabhanga and chowri-bearer female playing drum among others.

There were 56 terracotta pieces and an 18th CE sword with sheath with inscription mentioning Guru Hargovind Singh in Persian, it added.

Another artefact that went missing from Devisthan Kundalpur temple in Bihar about 22 years ago, the idol of Avalokiteshvara Padmapani (Buddha), was handed over to the Indian consulate in Milan last week.

The idol, likely to have been created between the 8th and 12th centuries, should reach India within a month.

In October last year, an 18th-century statue of Goddess Annapurna, which was stolen 100 years ago from Varanasi, was brought back from Ottawa, Canada. It is now installed at Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.

With inputs from agencies

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