500-year-old bronze statue stolen from Tamil Nadu temple to be returned by Oxford University

Chennai: Britain’s Ashmolean Museum at the prestigious Oxford University will soon return a 500-year-old bronze idol of Thirumangai Alvar, the last of the 12 Alvar saints, to India after the Tamil Nadu Police proved that the statue originally belonged to a temple in Thanjavur district and was illegally taken abroad.

A representative from the University in London, in whose premises the museum is located, recently visited Tamil Nadu and reviewed the evidence and testimonies provided by the Idol Wing Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and submitted a report to his higher authorities following which the decision to return the statue was taken.

The University has told the Idol Wing CID, in a recent communication, that they will repatriate the statue back to India and promised to cover all costs associated with transporting it to the Sri Soundaraja Perumal Temple in Kumbakonam, from where it is believed to have been stolen in the 1960s and sold to the museum in 1967.

In 2020, the Idol Wing CID registered a case acting on specific information over the theft of four valuable idols from the temple between 1957 and 1967. After scouring through the catalogues of various museums across the globe, the investigators traced the idol of Thirumangai Alvar to the Ashmolean Museum in London, and the statues of Kaalinga Nartha Krishnar, Vishnu, and Sridevi to various museums in the U.S.

Officials said efforts are on to bring the idol, which is worth several crores of rupees, within a month’s time. Explaining how the idol was traced, a senior official said the Idol Wing CID collected evidence in demonstrating the true origin of the idols and submitted a report to the University, which sent its representative to Tamil Nadu to review the documents in person.

“The strong evidence and witnesses convinced the Oxford University representative, who subsequently submitted a detailed report to the higher authorities at the University,” the official said, adding that the Council of the University of Oxford has admitted that the idol originally belonged to Soundaraja Perumal Temple.

The catalogue at the Ashmolean Museum says the statue is that of Thirumangai Alvar, one of the most famous Tamil saints and hymnists. He is considered one of the most learned Alvars, and the most superior in the context of composition of verses.

The investigation also revealed that, at present, only replicas of the four idols, including that of Thirumangai Alwar, are used for worship at the Sri Soundaraja Perumal Temple, while the original idols remain in foreign museums.

The temple in Kadichambadi village near Kumbakonam is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu.

Since 2019, the Idol Wing has recovered over 350 idols stolen from various temples in the state. The Idol Wing goes through several documents and consults experts to ensure that the stolen idols match with those found in auction houses or private collections across the globe.