TN idol wing traces antique statues stolen 40 yrs ago to US museums
The Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID has traced two antique idols of Hindu deities Devi and Ganesha, stolen 40 years ago from a temple in Nagapattinam district, to museums in the United States of America. The idols, which were among 12 artefacts stolen from the Parameswara Swamy Temple in Pannatheru, were reportedly traced after someone filed a complaint over the missing statues. A press release issued by the Idol Wing CID said that they traced the statue of Devi to the Indian and Southeast Asian Works of Art, New York, and that the museum had acquired the idol between 1970 and 1973.
The release also said that the Vinayagar or Ganesha idol was traced to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, Dt Next reported. The idol came into the possession of the museum in 1972. Images of both the idols were present in the Indo-French Institute in Puducherry, which helped the Idol Wing trace the idols, the press release added.
Earlier on August 24, the Idol Wing had said that they had initiated measures to retrieve six stolen idols from the US. The six bronze idols are from the Chola-era, stolen from the Nareeswara Sivan temple, Veeracholapuram in Kallakurichi district in the 1960s. The idols were traced to the US with the help of the images available at the Indo-French Institute, Puducherry (IFP), which had documented nine bronze sculptures in 1956. Of them, seven were stolen five decades ago. The institute had provided images of antique Panchaloha idols of Tripuranthakam, Thirupurasundari, Nataraja, Dakshinamurthy Veenadhara, and Saint Sundarar with his wife Paravai Natchiyaar.
On August 8, the Idol Wing announced that a Chola-era idol of goddess Parvati that went missing from the Nadanapureshwarar Sivan Temple at Thandanthottam in Kumbakonam about half a century ago, has now been traced to New York. The idol was found at the Bonhams Auction House.