IIndira wept after seeing the 300 year old picture of the Bible. This was the first Tamil translation of the holy book that went missing from the Saraswathi Mahal Library Museum in Thanjavur 17 years ago.
“Everyone wrote it,” she said. “They said it was long gone, there’s no way to retrieve it.” Others told him not to touch the missing Bible case because technically “it was not an idol”.
But Inspector Indira did not give up. “It’s still an ancient one,” he said then. Though it disappeared almost two decades ago, Indira was handed over the case only last year.
It was a tough case and it took a year to crack it. His team circled the Saraswati Mahal Museum for six months, leaving no angles, no spaces, no people uncovered, examined nearly 45 witnesses, and combed through dozens of art brochures from international museums and auction houses. The Bible was eventually discovered at King’s College, London. On the website, the title page looked frayed, but is still well preserved for its age.
Inspector Indira is part of a team of officers making up the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID, an ongoing and ambitious operation to investigate a multi-million dollar global smuggling racket of antiquities theft from India. Tamil Nadu is the only state whose active idol wing was established in 1983. Kerala and Karnataka among others showed interest in creating their own idol wing. Since 2012, it has recovered more than 1,463 artifacts, including 878 stolen sculptures.
Antiquities stolen from Tamil Nadu are regularly funneled into a dodgy network ending up in upmarket galleries and museums in the West. The most famous and recent suspects, Subhash KapoorHe is currently in Trichy Central Jail after being charged by Manhattan prosecutors with dealing in rare stolen artifacts with American museums.
In recent months, the Idol Wing has been in the news for having recovered several sculptures from international auction houses and local art smugglers. In the last year alone, officials say they have brought back 10 statues: six from the US and four from Australia.
A Chola-era Parvati idol stolen 51 years ago was discovered at an auction house in London. A 19th century painting of Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji II was found in a museum in America. Inspector Indira is at the center of all this activity. She heads the Kumbakonam unit under the state’s central region, which is dotted with temples built by ancient Tamil kings and serves as fertile ground for smugglers.
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search for bible
The Bible case was lying in a file that may have had an invisible mark on it saying ‘Difficult Case’. This pushed Indira even more. In 2017, the idol wing dusted off the cobwebs and filed an FIR based on a complaint by activist Hathi Rajendran. But recently the new DGP K. It was under the leadership of Jayant Murali—and Inspector Indira leading the team—that they began to proceed with the case.
There was word on the street that in 2005 or even earlier, people from abroad, perhaps Germans or Danes, visited the Sarasvati Mahal museum, after which the Bible had disappeared. “We had a lead,” said Indira.
Indira and her team traveled to Tharangambadi, or the Danish trading port of Tranquebar, where the original translation of the New Testament into Tamil was carried out in 1715 by the Danish Christian missionary Bartholomew Ziegenbalg. “It was at his house that we found a photocopy of the Bible bearing the signature of Thanjavur King Serfoji. A copy made in Denmark,” she said.
The team began the work of putting the Internet on museum catalogs in Europe. “We began to explore the surroundings of Denmark… and landed at King’s College, London.”
When the signature matched the photocopy, tears flowed, she said. “The museum staff were very excited as they were facing a number of issues such as stalled promotions and disciplinary action since the disappearance of the Bible,” she said.
When the Bible was unearthed, the Saraswati Mahal Museum staff were excited. He called Indira and said that he would give her the party.
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Tracing of idols through old FIR
At the Idol Wing’s Chennai headquarters, DGP K Jayantha Murali said that ever since he took over in September 2021, the squads are removing old FIRs that have been gathering dust for years. “We have withdrawn all such FIRs while deciding to act against them.”
He said that there was a time when the idol wing was stuck in court cases. Now, Wing solves one case a week, sometimes up to three.
Murali said that there is a need to make all the agencies more sensitive to check idol theft. He describes the modus operandi for Chola bronzes, including the age-old trick of hiding in plain sight. Smugglers will buy nine fake idols from Emporium But makes a mold for the antique he’s trying to smuggle. He gets a certificate of export for the entire batch, and at the last minute, he removes the mold and replaces it with the original. “The customs will pass it as there is a certificate,” Murali said, underlining the need for experts to examine the artifacts before they are sent out of India.
Murali said that in the case of Parvati idol, the temple and the complainant did not have the picture of the idol. It was here that the French Institute in Puducherry played a role. In 1959, he had taken a picture of the Parvati idol indicating the name of the temple. The team took that photo and began systematically visiting museum catalogs online: Smithsonian, Asian Museum of Art, Victoria and Albert.
When they failed to make any progress with museums, they turned to auction houses. “Look and behold, we found it listed at Bonhams in London,” he said. The team sent the image from the auction company and the image from the French institution to an expert, who said it was a match. “We have done this in a short span of last one month,” Murali said. He opens his iPad to show the statue to ThePrint at Bonhams, the image of the French institution and the expert’s certificate dated 3 August 2022.
But getting an idol back in India involves a complex Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) according to a mountain of paperwork and multiple messages sent to various domestic and international government agencies. Once back, they are handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which deals with antiquities.
“usually they” [ASI] Inform us, we go to get the idol, it is sent back to the court, the court gives back the idol and we give it to the temple,” Murali said.
Of the idols ‘recovered’ in the past one year, two cases are still in court, but eight idols have been handed over to the respective temples. The temple authority also conducts ceremonies before accepting the idol.
Murali said that sometimes it is not possible to trace the temple from where the idol was stolen. In such cases, the idol moves to an ‘icon centre’ – a temperature controlled location in Kumbakonam where it is joined by other lost idols. The keys are with the District Magistrate.
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Antiquities Act of India
Vijay Kumar and his team at the India Pride Project, a team of volunteers who banded together and worked closely with the Idol Wing to locate stolen artifacts in 2006, called Chola bronze the highest watermark of Indian art. is believed.
This systematic loot of priceless artifacts can be traced back to the colonial era, with not only the British, but also the French and Dutch sending pieces of India’s history to Europe. “These are colonial loots, but we also came to a point in the 1920s when Indian art was visible abroad because of what was being taken back during colonial loot,” Kumar said.
Today, in India, they say the situation is dire. No central agency has been assigned the task of bringing back the idols. For a few years now, Kumar has been writing opinion articles calling for attempts by “collecting lobby cabals” to dilute the Antiquities Act of 1972.
Originally, the Antiquities Act, 1972, required the registration of any artwork that was 100 or more years old. Once registered, it does not become exportable but remains available for trade within India. After an artwork is registered, the registering officer of the ASI has to conduct an inquiry – how and where it is registered. But if the government considers it to be of national importance, it can acquire the artwork at market rates.
In 2019, amendments to the 1972 Act were proposed. The draft bill allows anyone to import an antique by uploading its details on the web portal. In addition, it proposes to establish a domestic business network and eliminate any licenses that are now required for the sale of antiquities.
In a 2019 article, Kumar argued that this would make India a source country as well as a destination for the art of smuggling. Unlike other source countries such as Egypt or Italy, India does not have dedicated law enforcement agencies that can deal with art piracy, he wrote.
“ASI considers itself only a custodian and not the enforcer of the Act. The only dedicated agency in the country is the Murthy Branch in Tamil Nadu, treated as a sentencing posting and understood chronologically,” Kumar wrote in 2019 piece, “In many cases FIRs are not registered, let alone action.”
“Though this new amendment has been approved, it has not come up for discussion in Parliament. Even if the government opens it for a small window, it will be free for all,” he told ThePrint.
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‘God’s work’
Vijay Kumar is a firm believer in the power of proper documentation and encourages explorers to hand over artifacts. He said that this would curb theft of artefacts.
For Indira, however, “a compassionate approach” goes a long way. “People don’t really know who should keep the artifacts and who shouldn’t, it’s up to us to explain it to them in a way,” she said.
In his last posting in Trichy, he had to maintain law and order in one of the busiest tier-II cities of Tamil Nadu. A job that requires a different set of skills. Now, it’s a compassionate approach to explaining to people why their heritage is important and how they can personally contribute to preserving it.
Last week, the idol wing found two ancient statues of Hindu deities and Ganesha in museums in the US that were stolen from a temple in Nagapattinam 40 years ago. As work continues—physical raids in Tamil Nadu, Internet searches on vulnerable networks—the search for artifacts continues, with plans to bring back more Chola bronzes and Buddha statues.
“Nobody in the idol wing behaves like a cop in a movie,” laughed Indira. It is about creating awareness. “After all we are doing God’s work.”
(Edited by Ratan Priya)