The 500-year-old bronze statue stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu will be returned to India, Oxford University announced

Posted on 12th Jun 2024 12:08 pm by rohit kumar

Britain's prestigious Oxford University has agreed to return a 500-year-old bronze statue of a saint stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu to India.

 

A statement issued by the University's Ashmolean Museum said that on March 11, 2024, the Council of Oxford University supported the Indian High Commission's claim to return the 16th-century bronze statue of Saint Tirumankai Alvar from the Ashmolean Museum. The decision will now be sent to the Charity Commission for approval.

 

The 60 cm high statue of Saint Tirumankai Alvar was acquired by the Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford from Sotheby's auction house in 1967 from the collection of a collector named Dr. J.R. Belmont (1886-1981).

 

The museum says that in November last year, an independent researcher informed it about the origin of this ancient statue, after which it informed the Indian High Commission about it.

 

The Indian government has made a formal request for the bronze statue, which is believed to have been stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu and ended up in a UK museum through auction.

 

The museum, which houses some of the world's most famous art and archeological artifacts, says it acquired the statue in 1967 in "good faith".

 

There have been several instances of Indian artifacts stolen from the UK being restored to India, the most recent being in August last year when a limestone carved statue from Andhra Pradesh and a 17th-century "Navaneet Krishna" bronze statue from Tamil Nadu were handed over to the Indian High Commissioner in the UK following a joint investigation by Scotland Yard's art and antiquities unit.

Other news

IND vs SA: What did Rohit Sharma say after Virat Kohli's century? Arshdeep Singh reveals in video

India's run-machine Virat Kohli scored his 52nd career century in the first ODI against South Afr

India vs Bangladesh: Kuldeep Yadav was cheated again! Rohit Sharma surprised everyone with one decision.

Everyone expected that Rohit Sharma would give Kuldeep Yadav a chance in the playing 11 against B

Ram Gopal's postmortem report: More than three bullets were fired... did this before killing him, the real reason for death came to light

Different things are going on everywhere about the death of Ram Gopal, who was killed in the Bahr

'Coolie and Kabir' could not stand before Mahavatar Narsimha, earnings on Sunday were higher than Super

South cinema's animated film Mahavatar Narsimha surprised everyone with its out of the box succes

Ahmedabad Plane Crash: Made a video of the accident, gave testimony to the police, and was deeply shocked... the minor boy returned to his village, got a lifelong injury

The heartbreaking Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, Gujarat not only took away hundreds of live

Rohit Sharma: Not Virat-Bumrah, Indian captain Rohit Sharma gave credit to these three people for winning the T20 World Cup

Indian team captain Rohit Sharma said on Wednesday that former head coach Rahul Dravid, selection

'Some solution can be found in a week or two, ' Shashi Tharoor made a big claim amidst Trump's 'tariff war'

US President Donald Trump has announced that impose a 25 percent additional tariff on India. The

Congress: 'Will the government hold a debate on the issue of national security in Parliament', Congress asked PM Modi.

After PM Narendra Modi's meeting with the all-party delegation that returned from abroad, Congres

The weather department issued a yellow alert in Delhi, clouds will rain in UP and Bihar too; When will the Northeast get relief?

The weather is changing rapidly across the country. Monsoon has arrived in many states, while flo

Muslim employees got this exemption in Andhra Pradesh, uproar erupted in Telangana.

After the Congress-led Telangana government, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led NDA government in A