{"id":89603,"date":"2020-09-18T15:27:37","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T13:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=89603"},"modified":"2020-09-18T16:06:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T14:06:07","slug":"stolen-deities-of-lord-rama-sita-and-lakshman-found-in-uk-reteurn-to-their-original-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=89603","title":{"rendered":"Stolen Deities of Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshman, found in UK, return to their original Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Three bronze sculptures stolen from a southern Indian temple more than 40 years ago were found in the UK, and returned to Indian government officials this week. Yogita Limaye reports on how the deities were discovered. <\/b><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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The bronze sculptures represent some of Hinduism’s most revered deities – Lord Ram, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman, all part of the same set of deities. <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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They belong to a 15th Century temple built during the Vijayanagara empire, located in Anandamangalam village in Tamil Nadu state, and were stolen in 1978. Vijayanagara was once one of the most important trading centres in the world.<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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It’s taken years of work by a group of art enthusiasts, investigations by police teams in two countries, and efforts from Indian diplomats in the UK, to help bring them back. <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Four years ago, a photograph of one of the sculptures was spotted on the website of the British Antique Dealers’ Association by a member of India Pride Project, which works to bring stolen deities back to India. <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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S Vijaykumar, who co-founded the project, says: “We identified it as a Vijayanagara bronze, but could not work out if it was an idol of Lord Ram or Lakshman, as there are subtle differences in the posture [of the deities].”<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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The group knew there were some historic temples in southern India that had similar sets of deities, with the sculpture of Lakshman missing. So, they set out to try and see if the photographed sculpture matched such a set. <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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“We got leads [which took us] to districts and temples with similar styles, but we could not come up with any firm matches for three years,” says Mr Vijaykumar. <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Then, last year, one of the group’s volunteers in London, while looking for Indian antiques on sale, found a grainy photo of a similar looking bronze, but with a different crown.<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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That’s when it struck them, that they might be looking at a case where the whole set of deities was stolen. <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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