UK asked to return 15th century idol of Tamil saint

The statue of Saint Thirumangai Alwar was acquired by the Ashmolean Museum from Sotheby’s auction house in 1967 from a collector JR Belmont. The museum says that it was alerted to the origins of the ancient statue by a researcher in November last year, following which it alerted the Indian High Commission.

“Research in the photo archives of the IFP-EFEO appears to show the same bronze in the temple of Sri Soundarajaperumal Kovil (Alagarkoil) in Tamil Nadu in 1957,” Ashmolean Museum statement said. The Ashmolean was informed that the bronze is one of a number of bronzes in collections in Europe and the US identified by this researcher through the IFP-EFEO archive.

Although there was no claim, the museum officially brought the matter to the attention of the Indian High Commission on December last year. “We were open to holding further discussions around the possible repatriation of the sculpture,” it said.

Indian High Commissioner in the UK Ruchi Ghanashyam acknowledged the “proactive” move of the museum soon after and the matter was forwarded to the Indian authorities for follow up, with a formal request.

“After we provided them the police report along with the formal request for restitution, Ashmolean have informed that they are now carrying out further due diligence with an official from Ashmolean also scheduled to visit India shortly. We have requested them to expedite the same,” she said.