Steps on to get back 500-yr-old temple idol from Oxford museum

Trichy: Idol wing CID (IWCID) of Tamil Nadu police is working to bring back a 500-year-old antique metal idol of saint poet Thirumangai Alwar of Soundararaja Perumal temple in Sundara Perumal Kovil village near Kumbakonam, from Ashmolean Museum of Oxford University in the UK. ADGP Shailesh Kumar Yadav of the idol wing said on Saturday that they have been closely tracking the case to bring back the idol to India after filing a first information report (FIR) in 2020. The idol wing has established contacts with officials at the museum. Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), New Delhi, and Indian High commission in London are coordinating with IWCID in this regard.“A team from the museum had visited Tamil Nadu a few months back and verified the pictures that we have got as evidence to prove the provenance of the Thirumangai Alwar temple. The process is on the right track,” Shailesh Kumar told TOI. An article in The Telegraph of UK had stated that the 16th century idol was sold to Ashmolean Museum by Sotheby’s in 1967 with little knowledge about its provenance before the sale. Antiquities expert Vijay Kumar of India Pride project who alleged the idol was stolen from the temple had found it displayed on the websites of Ashmolean Museum. “The residents of Sundara Perumal Kovil have something to cheer now,” he said. “It has been six years. We saw Covid delays and procedural drama between British and Indian authorities on what should have been an open and shut case. But we have been voicing our opinions on social media and we are almost there,” Vijay Kumar told TOI. Interestingly, the Kumbabhishekam of Soundararaja Perumal temple is scheduled to be held on June 16. “There is an idol of Thirumangai Alwar in the temple now. We suspect that it is a fake one,” said a source at the temple.

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