Chennai: A 500-year-old idol of Lord Hanuman, which was stolen a decade ago from Ariyalur district and smuggled abroad, will be brought back to India soon.
Carved between the 14th and 15th centuries, during the period of the Vijayanagara empire, the statue was recently found in possession of a private buyer in Australia.
Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy tweeted, ‘Five hundred-year-old Lord Hanuman bronze idol stolen from Tamil Nadu temple, to be repatriated back to India. The stolen idol retrieved by US Homeland Security was handed over to @HCICanberra by US CDA.’
On Tuesday, it was returned to Indian High Commissioner Manpreet Vohra at Canberra by Australian ChargĂ© d’Affaires Michael Goldman.
An official in the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), said: ‘This Anjaneyar idol was burgled along with Sri Devi idol and Boodevi idol from the Lord Varadharaja Perumal temple in Vellur village, Ariyalur in 2012.’