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The Idol Thief

4.5, 16 Ratings 4 Reviews

Soon after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India in 2014, Tony Abbot, the Prime Minister of Australia, returned two precious tenth and eleventh-century sculptures of Lord Nataraja and Lord Ardhanarishwara that were once stolen from Tamil Nadu and bought by galleries in Australia unknowingly before they reached the National Gallery of Australia. During Modi’s visit to Canada in 2015, the then Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Herper returned another idol of ‘lady with the parrot’ stolen from Khajuraho that had made its way to Canada. In October 2015, German Chancellor Angela Markel returned a precious idol of goddess Durga as Mahishasura Mardini on her visit to India. In 2016, Modi’s visit to the United States of America yielded the return of several more ancient sculptures that were stolen and smuggled out of India. Former US president Barack Obama’s government was more than glad to return them to where they belong. News was that all these were being returned to India. However, not all of that seen in the press returned to India. The process was and is not so easy either. As late as a few months ago the tenth-century idols of emperor Raja Raja Chola and his consort were brought back to the iconic Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur with much fanfare. The whole case of theft and return took several decades to crack through. What looks easy on the outside isn’t as easy after all. The amount of time, the people behind every acquisition and the numerous stories each of these idols carry will make for tomes of interesting historical material. To know how all this, or at least a part of this, works, The Idol Thief: The True Story Of The Looting Of India’s Temples, published by Juggernaut Books is a great starter. It is one such story, and possibly the biggest one in recent times, narrated in a long time. Authored by S Vijay Kumar, the book is unputdownable in one word. But who is Kumar and why is he doing this? More about him later in this review. Book review here below in Swarajya Magazine : https://swarajyamag.com/books/our-gods-are-coming-home

225 pages

Original Title : The Idol Thief
Publisher : Juggernaut
Genre : Freedom Struggle ,
ISBN : 9386228823 (ISBN13: 9789386228826)
Edition :1st Edition
Language : English
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35.5 pts

Guruprasad rated it

August 05, 2021

My humble pranams to shri vijay kumar for writing this Informative book and sharing his experience in getting our gods and heritage artifacts back home safely from the looters den. Book Starts with the vishwakarmas who are molding the statue of Nataraja form of Bhagawan Shiva as per the wish of a devotee who is eagerly waiting for the good news of birth of his son and then comes the scene where our Ancestors performing the last pooja and hiding the Utsava murthis of Shiva and his family so that it doesn’t come under assault of the invaders w ... more My humble pranams to shri vijay kumar for writing this Informative book and sharing his experience in getting our gods and heritage artifacts back home safely from the looters den. Book Starts with the vishwakarmas who are molding the statue of Nataraja form of Bhagawan Shiva as per the wish of a devotee who is eagerly waiting for the good news of birth of his son and then comes the scene where our Ancestors performing the last pooja and hiding the Utsava murthis of Shiva and his family so that it doesn’t come under assault of the invaders who nearing their doors and even sacrificing the life to protect the deities from the loot. Here we are in the modern world and under the rule of government according to constitution where we have dissolved fully functioning system of Temple Management where every person in the society of believers had a role to perform to rigid and rule following system of governance of the temple where temple is being treated as treasure for the government to loot or tourist spot to showcase the world . In this world of rigid and lethargic system our temples have been depleted and gods have been kept in bad condition and making it golden opportunities for the looters like Subhash Kapoor, Sanjeev, Deendayal , Prakash families to plunders the temples and sells the artifacts to the museums and the private collectors across the globe. In the era of IT revolution State and Central Government’s departments of External affairs, Home Ministry and ASIs failing to keep track of the idols of the deities in the temples and museums and not able to follow up with the foreign countries respective departments in getting back the idols stolen from our country is worrisome and breaks our heart when they make shady deals with these looters just because they returned 1 out of 20 artifacts they have looted. We need more people like Vijay Kumar who as a common citizen did tremendously work in their personal capacity in tracking the Idols and Artifacts which hav

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190 pts

Ashish Iyer rated it

September 14, 2019

Next time you are in any museum and see an exquisite vigraha or murty (idol) of a Hindu/Jaina/ Buddha gods on display, always ask where it came from. Try to go back into its past and see how it journeyed to the museum. Every displayed idol has an interesting story to tell. Idol thieving is a bane of our country with looteras and plunderers having a field day on our land. Legacy continues. If you are remotely interested in Indian history, temple iconography, art world and our heritage, this book will give you some basic idea about it. If you wan ... more

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