Chennai, March 22 (BPNS)
The Tamil Nadu police idol wing has claimed that four of the twenty-nine idols returned by Australia are from Tamil Nadu. The idols were returned by Australia on Monday ahead of the virtual meet between the Prime minister’s of the two countries.
The Tamil Nadu idol wing claims that these four include one idol stolen from Myladuthurai in 1965. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi had thanked his Australian counterpart, Scott Morisson for taking initiative to return the idols. He also inspected the idols that were returned back to India.
According to sources in the Tamil Nadu idol wing of the four idols that they have staked claim one bronze idol of Shaivaite Saint, Thirugananasambandar in standing position, one bronze idol in his dancing position, another bronze idol of Chandeshvara Nayanmar, and one bronze idol of Lord Shiva. Thirugananasambandar was one of the 63 Shaivaite saints who were called Nayanmar and was one among the three who sang the hymns of ‘Thevaram’.
Idol wing police said that the bronze statue of Thirugananasambandar in the standing position was from Sayavaneswarar Temple in Sirkazhi in Myladuthurai and was made in 12th century AD. Sources said that this idol was reportedly stolen by a person named William Wolf and smuggled to Australia.
The idol wing officers said that the age and period of other three idols are not clear and that they are checking with the Tamil Nadu, HR&CE department in this regard.
The ADGP of Tamil Nadu idol wing, Jayanth Murali while speaking to IANS said, “ The Tamil Nadu government and the Tamil Nadu idol wing have taken great efforts to identify these idols and bring them back to India. We are yet to receive any official communication from the Government of India regarding these idols and once we receive them we would hand over to the HR&CE department and install them in their respective temples.”
It may be noted that the Tamil Nadu idol wing since it was constituted had done yeoman service to retrieve lost idols and had conducted several raids across the state and neigbhouring states to retrieve the lost idols. More than hundred valuable and precious idols were retrieved by the Tamil Nadu idol wing that is worth several crores and has already arrested several international smugglers who were involved in trading of stolen idols.
