From the temple of Gateshwar in Baroli in 1998, the statue was brought to the United Kingdom (representation)
London:
An ancient and priceless statue of Lord Shiva, stolen from a temple in Rajasthan and smuggled into the UK, is about to be returned to its rightful place in India.
The 4-foot-tall statue created at the end of the 9th century in Rajasthani ‘Prathihara’ style was said to have been stolen from the Gateshwar temple in Baroli, Rajasthan in 1998.
It later emerged that the statue had been brought to the UK where it was discovered among the collection of a wealthy private collector.
Following the combined efforts of British authorities and Indian officials, the statue was voluntarily handed over by the collector to the Indian High Commission in London in 2005.
Since then, the statue of Shiva – striking a “chatura” pose with Jatamakuta and Trinetra – has held pride of place in the grand and historic India House in the heart of London.
In 2017, officials from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) were asked to inspect the statue, confirming that it was indeed the statue stolen from the Baroli temple.
The statue is now ready to be returned to its original home in Rajasthan.
It is the latest in a series of priceless artefacts and antiquities taken from India and which have been tracked and traced in operations carried out by the Indian government and its counterparts in the UK, US, Australia , in France and Germany.
Among the most prominent examples is the famous Brahma-Brahmani sculpture which was stolen from the Rani-Ki Vav World Heritage site and returned to ASI in 2017.
The following year, a 12th century bronze statue of Buddha Bhagavan was returned to the High Commissioner by the London Metropolitan Police. This was presented to the Minister of State for Culture by the Minister of Finance in 2019.
On August 15, 2019, two more antiques – a 17th century bronze idol of Navanitha Krishna and a 2nd century limestone carved pillar motif were returned to the High Commissioner by the United States Embassy.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
