Tamil Nadu Idol Wing Writes To US-Based Organisations To Recover Stolen Idols

According to a letter written by the Tamil Nadu idol wing CID sent to a US-based museum and an auction house on Tuesday claimed that the two antique idols that were taken from a temple in the state fifty years ago are now the property of the state government. The burglary was discovered when the Idol wing officers discovered three old metal idols that had been taken from the Arulmigu Vishwanatha Swamy Temple in Alathur, Mannargudi taluk in Tiruvarur district at the LACMA Museum in Los Angeles.

As per the examinations, an official release said that the Somaskandar idol and the Dancing Sambandar idol of the temple appeared to have been burglarized similarly. Initial investigations revealed that the three antique metal idols at the temple had been replaced with fake idols.

The idol wing sleuths asked the French Institute of Pondicherry (FIP) to supply photographs of the statues because the temple administrators didn't have access to any official idol images. According to the announcement, the FIP shared pictures of the idols that they had taken and recorded in relation to this temple.

To search for the idols in museums and art galleries around the world, including auction houses, special teams were organised. The department conducted a thorough search before discovering idols like "Somaskandar" on the website of the Freer Sackler Museum in Washington, DC, and "Dancing Sambandar" on Christies.com.

After conducting a thorough investigation, experts determined that the photographs acquired from the websites of US-based organisations were identical to the original idols that were seized 50 years ago from the temple and were, in fact, those idols.

Furthermore, in accordance with the UNESCO treaty, the department aims to soon recover the idols and return them to the Arulmigu Vishwanatha Swamy Temple, Alathur, in Mannargudi, Thiruvarur district.