The idol wing CID in Tamil Nadu has formally communicated with a US-based museum and an auction company, asserting the state government’s ownership of two antique idols that were stolen half a century ago from a temple in the state. The investigation was triggered when three ancient metal idols, originally taken from the Arulmigu Vishwanatha Swamy Temple in Alathur, Mannargudi taluk, Tiruvarur district, were discovered at the LACMA Museum in Los Angeles by officials from the Idol Wing.
Preliminary findings indicated that the three metal idols were surreptitiously replaced with counterfeit ones at the temple. Further examinations suggested a similar burglary pattern involving the Somaskandar idol and Dancing Sambandar idols from the same temple. Due to the absence of official images of the stolen idols with the temple authorities, the idol wing sought assistance from the French Institute of Pondicherry (FIP), which provided documented images of the statues related to this temple.
Special teams were then assembled to search for the idols in museums and art galleries globally, including auction houses. Following an extensive search, the department identified the ‘Somaskandar’ idol on the website of the Freer Sackler Museum in Washington DC and the ‘Dancing Sambandar’ idol on the website of Christies.com. After a meticulous analysis, experts confirmed that the images retrieved from the US-based entities matched the original idols stolen five decades ago from the temple.
In light of these findings, the idol wing has prepared and submitted documentation asserting the Tamil Nadu government’s ownership of the idols. The papers are intended for transmission to the United States for the repatriation of the stolen artifacts to Tamil Nadu. The department is optimistic about the retrieval of the idols and aims to restore them to the Arulmigu Vishwanatha Swamy Temple in Mannargudi, Thiruvarur district, under the UNESCO treaty in the near future.