From Gateshwar temple in Baroli in 1998, the statue was delivered to the UK (Representational)
London:
An historical and priceless statue of Lord Shiva, stolen from a temple in Rajasthan and smuggled to the UK, is ready to be returned to its rightful place in India.
The Four-foot tall statue created within the late ninth Century “Prathihara” fashion of Rajasthan is alleged to have been stolen from the Gateshwar temple in Baroli, Rajasthan in 1998.
It later emerged that the statue had been delivered to the UK the place it was found amongst the gathering of a rich personal collector.
Following the mixed efforts of the British authorities and Indian officers, the statue was voluntarily handed over by the collector to the Indian Excessive Fee in London in 2005.
Since then, the statue of Shiva – hanging a “chatura” pose with Jatamakuta and Trinetra – has taken delight of place on the historic and grand India Home within the coronary heart of London.
In 2017, officers from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have been invited to examine the statue, confirming that it was certainly the statue stolen from the temple in Baroli.
The statue is now all set to be returned to its unique residence in Rajasthan.
Its the most recent in a string of priceless artefacts and antiquities taken from India and which have been tracked and traced in operations carried out by the Indian authorities and its counterparts within the UK, USA, Australia, France and Germany.
Among the many outstanding examples embrace the well-known Brahma-Brahmani sculpture which was stolen from the World heritage web site Rani-Ki Vav and returned to the ASI in 2017.
The next 12 months a 12th Century Bronze statue of Bhagawan Buddha was restituted to the Excessive Commissioner by the London Metropolitan Police. This was handed over to the Minister of State for Tradition by the Finance Minister in 2019.
On August 15, 2019, one other two antiques – a 17th Century Bronze idol of Navanitha Krishna and a 2nd-century limestone Carved Pillar motif was returned to the Excessive Commissioner by the Embassy of the US.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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