Buddha idol Avalokiteshwara stolen 22 years ago, set to return to India
NEW DELHI: Another quintessential antiquity, Avalokiteshwara Padamapani, the idol of Buddha is set to return to India soon. The statue installed at Devisthan Kundalpur Temple in Bihar had gone missing more than two decades ago.
The officials of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) said that the idol had been handed over to the Indian consulate in Milan last week and would reach Delhi within a month.
According to the Survey, the deity was sculpted sometime between the 8th and 12th centuries, which was stolen and smuggled out of the country around 2000.
“The statue made of black stone depicts Buddha holding the stem of a blooming lotus in his left hand with two women attendants sitting at his feet. The figurine briefly surfaced in the art market in France before it was finally traced in India with efforts of India Pride Project, Singapore and Art Recovery International, London,” said an official.
The retrieval of the 8-12th century idol of Buddha is another milestone in the efforts being made by the Government to bring back rare and precious antiquities taken out of the country illegally over the years.
It has gotten back about 200 artefacts, mainly statues and idols made of metal, stone, and terracotta in the last seven years.
According to the culture ministry, the majority of them (178) including 157, which were handed to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York, have come from the United States.
The 18th-century statuette of Goddess Annapurna, stolen 100 years ago from Varanasi was brought back from Ottawa, Canada in October.
It was installed at Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi a month later. Homecoming of the Yogini idol is another major repatriation.