Governance

Vigilant Idol Wing DGP in TN prevents auctioning of Nataraja in France

By IndianMandarins- 16 Dec 2022
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Chennai (16.12.2022): Swift action of Tamil Nadu Idol Wing DGP, Jayanth Murali against the auction of a 500-year-old stolen Nataraja idol from the state prevented the selling by the French auction house, Christies. When the idol was being put on sale in a price band of Euros 2,00,000 to Euros 3,00,000 (Approximately Rs 1.76 crore to Rs 2.64 crore), the idol wing DGP tweeted, "STOP AUCTION, Return it to us This is stolen from India, TN". The Idol wing established communication using diplomatic channels to prevent the auction.
Jayanth Murali also tagged "Antiquities Coalition" in his tweet that runs an international campaign against cultural racketeering and the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). Immediately after the police informed the state government, the message was passed to the Union Home ministry which took up the issue with the French authorities through the Indian embassy in Paris.
The 500-year-old Nataraja idol belongs to Sri Kothanda Rameswara Temple at Kayathar in Thoothukudi district and was stolen in 1972. The bronze idol, according to the ASI belongs to the Vijayanagara period (15th to 16th century) The idol wing officers after identifying that the idol was being auctioned cross-checked the images of idols at the Indo-French Institute, Puducherry, and found that the images of the stolen idol and on the records of the institute were similar. It was established that the stolen Nataraja idol and the one that was being presented for auction were one and the same.

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