CHENNAI: Two antique idols that were stolen 50 years ago from a temple in Tiruvarur district have been traced to a museum in the US by the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID. The wing has submitted documents seeking the return of the idols.
The idols, of Yoganarasimha and Ganesha from Venugopala Swamy temple in Alathur, were traced to the Nelson-Atkins Museums in Kansas City, Missouri. They were stolen from the temple about 50 years ago and replaced with fake idols, the wing claimed.
“Based on the findings of our investigation, we have submitted papers proving the State’s ownership of the idols to the government for onward transmission to the USA for repatriation of the same to Tamil Nadu,” Idol Wing DGP K Jayanth Murali said.
Murali and Idol Wing IGP R Dhinakaran thanked heritage enthusiast Vijay Kumar for the initial inputs which led to the retrieval of the idols. The IFP (French Institute of Pondicherry) had pictures of the idols. “Based on them, we started looking for the idols on websites of various museums,” the press release said.
The Idol Wing came across photos of idols from the Venugopala Swamy temple displayed at the Nelson-Atkins Museums, it added, and said experts conducted a thorough study and concluded that the antique Yoganarasimha and Ganesha idols at the museum were the same ones that the IFP had pictures of.