At least something good has come out of this devayani saga!
Let us hope this trickle becomes a flood; vigrahas taken from live temples are returned and worship resumed. If ASI can make a list of religious and art works taken out of india and their current location, it will be a step in the right direction.
"The U.S. handover to India this week, of idols worth more than $1.5m stolen from temples in Rajasthan, and Bihar or West Bengal, marked what seemed to be a gradual thaw in bilateral frost following a month-long diplomatic crisis.In a repatriation ceremony at the New York Consulate of India, where the diplomat at the centre of the crisis, Devyani Khobragade, used to work, the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE)’s Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) on Tuesday returned two sandstone sculptures of “Vishnu and Lakshmi,” respectively weighing 159 and 272 kg.
The two antique carvings were said to have been purloined from the Gadgach Temple in Atru, Rajasthan, in 2009, following which the Archaeological Survey of India that in turn joined hands with ICE and Interpol in an investigation that is still in progress.
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A third, black sandstone sculpture of a Bodhisattava, a popular subject in Buddhist art, was also returned to the Indian government, and was said to date back to the 11th or early 12th century from either the Indian State of Bihar or West Bengal.
Return of stolen idols marks revival in India-US ties - The Hindu
Let us hope this trickle becomes a flood; vigrahas taken from live temples are returned and worship resumed. If ASI can make a list of religious and art works taken out of india and their current location, it will be a step in the right direction.
"The U.S. handover to India this week, of idols worth more than $1.5m stolen from temples in Rajasthan, and Bihar or West Bengal, marked what seemed to be a gradual thaw in bilateral frost following a month-long diplomatic crisis.In a repatriation ceremony at the New York Consulate of India, where the diplomat at the centre of the crisis, Devyani Khobragade, used to work, the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE)’s Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) on Tuesday returned two sandstone sculptures of “Vishnu and Lakshmi,” respectively weighing 159 and 272 kg.
The two antique carvings were said to have been purloined from the Gadgach Temple in Atru, Rajasthan, in 2009, following which the Archaeological Survey of India that in turn joined hands with ICE and Interpol in an investigation that is still in progress.
****
A third, black sandstone sculpture of a Bodhisattava, a popular subject in Buddhist art, was also returned to the Indian government, and was said to date back to the 11th or early 12th century from either the Indian State of Bihar or West Bengal.
Return of stolen idols marks revival in India-US ties - The Hindu
