Return of the natives

India has been successful in bringing back artefacts stolen post independence, but there has been little luck with those looted before

- MANDIRA NAYAR

Lord Ram vanished from Ananthamangalam in 1978. He had remained at Sri Rajagopalaswamy Temple for five centuries till one day he went missing. His disappearance was more an act of fate, not faith.

An FIR was filed, but decades rolled by and his exile continued. The idols came home two years ago when the pandemic shut the world. His homecoming was not after triumphing evil in Lanka, but from across the continent— from Britain—after being kidnapped.

This is not the only idol reunited with the original worshippers. In the past five years, India has got 36 artefacts back from Australia. One of the biggest pieces is a Chola Nataraja—over 900 years old—and priced at $5.1 million. The statue had found its way to the National Gallery of Australia, and was handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot in 2014. In 2021, in reply to a question in Parliament, then culture minister Prahlad Patel offered details of the 36 items recovered. Spanning centuries—from the Mauryas (321 BCE185 BCE) to the Cholas (9th century CE to 13th century CE)—and from across the country—Andhra Pradesh to Kashmir and West Bengal —the idols, returned voluntarily, offer a glimpse into the sheer magnitude of the loot that goes out.