In
Tiruvarur, inside a Temple, found many idols of Perumal and from Shaivaite
shrines lined up – it would otherwise make an impressive golu – but it was
paining. Each temple, each sect have their own form of worship and rituals, and
it is imperfect to keep them all together and make offerings in common. When enquired the stock response, was those
idols that had been worshipped in smaller (!) temples had been taken away for
security reasons and kept in bigger temples.
What a
travesty ! – how is this a right action ?
Is not the Govt and more specifically, HR&CE Dept. that controls the
temple responsible for security and upkeep also. HR&CE derives crores of
revenue from some temples, the money is otherwise spent for non-religious
purposes too – but not on maintenance, upkeep and security of various temples
all over the place. If at all, there is
only one solace – it is the fact that some idols had been stolen, exported and
kept in Museums, private art galleries and other places abroad !
When the
Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, there were no alarms to sound. It
took 28 hours before anyone noticed it was missing at all, and even then no one
panicked because the museum was in the process of photographing its works. But
the painting hadn’t been removed for cataloging—it was stuffed under the smock
of a handyman and carried off through the back door. When the disappearance was
finally realized, the scandal flooded newspapers around the world. Suddenly,
mobs of people were clamoring to see the empty space on the museum wall. Up
until then, the painting was considered significant by art historians but
wasn’t well known by the general public. “[The theft] did make the work
extremely famous—more famous than it would have been had it not been stolen,” some
said. “The Mona Lisa was missing for about two and a half years, and during
that time the whole world was looking for it.” Finally, a man named Vincenzo
Peruggia was arrested after trying to sell the painting to a Florentine art
dealer with connections to the Uffizi Gallery. Though he was found guilty,
Peruggia only served eight months in prison. “He had misplaced patriotism,” “Da
Vinci had brought the painting with him to France, but this Italian man thought
it belonged in Italy. So he was seen as sympathetic and someone who loved his
culture.” On January 4, 1914, the Renaissance masterpiece was returned to the
Louvre with a newfound fame, and it is now valued up to $1 billion.
Almost a
decade ago in the Indian village of
Suthamalli, a Hindu priest climbed the stone steps of the Varadharaja Perumal
Temple to pray. But when he lit his candle, he discovered that all the ancient
idols were gone—the temple had been ransacked. India’s subsequent investigation
led to a well-known Manhattan art dealer named Subhash Kapoor, who was revealed
to be the mastermind of a $107.6 million antiquities smuggling ring for more
than 30 years. Through his Madison Avenue gallery, Art of the Past, Kapoor sold
the looted antiquities to major museums, including the Met, and auction houses
around the world. American authorities ultimately
seized
more than 3,000 pounds of
ancient contraband—a
staggering
2,622 items in total—making
Kapoor the
most ambitious antiquities
smuggler in US history. He is now serving a 14-year sentence in a Chennai jail.
News
& photo source : https://www.nyu.edu/ (rogue’s
art gallery). Now read this report in
Times of India of date titled : ‘For God's sake, save our idols from New York
Parties.
There
are some deeply disturbing photographs on the Face book page of Kapoor
Galleries, New York City. They show people holding a drink or two in front of
some bronze idols of Hindu gods and goddesses which should be in the sanctum
sanctorum of temples in south India. Then there is this Buddha statue made to
wear a Santa Claus cap. Not funny. In fact, it is quite painful for any devout
or just anyone who loves and respects antiques.
For the
uninitiated, Kapoor Galleries belong to Ramesh Kapoor, the brother of Subhash
Kapoor, who is cooling his heels in Puzhal Central Prison. Subhash, who was
arrested in Germany in 2011 and brought to India the same year, continues to
make news as his associates land in police net now and then. Surprisingly,
Ramesh seems to have a free run in New York, where his brother Subhash had a
gallery called Art of the Past. We are talking about the recently concluded
Asia Week in NYC -between March 9 and 18. Kapoor Galleries seems to be back in
the limelight, exhibiting two south Indian bronzes. I understand the bronzes
were under scrutiny earlier, but because India could not prove that they were
stolen, the sale could not be stopped.
This
shows a lack of understanding by ASI, the custodian of India's treasures, about
changing international practices and some inherent issues with Chola bronzes. Identifying
south Indian bronzes poses many peculiar problems. There are thousands of them
in thousands of temples across Tamil Nadu. The state is yet to have a
comprehensive archive of these bronzes, and even if it does have one it doesn't
have the resources to follow every auction and technical expertise to run a
match within its archive.
The
problem is compounded by the fact that thefts are hardly ever reported. Even
when they are reported, they are not publicised in public databases like the
Interpol's stolen works database. The larger issue, however, is that of buried
hoards. During the damaging raids of Malik Kafur, our ancients resorted to
burying the gods to save them from being melted for metal by the invaders way
back in 1314 CE. The fact that Tamil Nadu routinely throws up such bronze finds
is a testament to the will of our ancients who most likely gave up their lives
rather than reveal the location of the safe burial to the invading armies.This
is the only possible reason why the gods were not dug up and put back for
worship once the threat passed.
Today
only a scant percentage of such finds are reported, and due to the healthy
black market in illicit antiquities, most of the time such hoards are
clandestinely smuggled out of the country. This is not a recent problem; we have cases
from the colonial period like Norwegian diplomat Peter Anker's sleight of hand
through which he convinced the poor locals of Tranquebar to part with the bronzes
of the Masilamaninathar temple. Anker moved them to his personal treasures and
some of them are on display in the Dutch National Museum. Similarly the
celebrated Natarajas of Pathur and Sivapuram which were returned to the country
were buried hoards.
In this
regard, the ignorance of the Union ministry of culture and ASI is shocking.
Take the examples of Italy and Cambodia. In the recent years, these countries
have been aggressively pursuing their looted treasures, stopping auctions of
the artifacts and seeking proof that it was legally exported out of their
country, thus shifting the onus of proving the veracity to the seller and not
the source country. Most of the dubious art dealers peddle worthless paper
receipts as provenance-- some thing Kapoor too did. The ministry of culture
should immediately seek the stopping of this sale and scrutinise the paper work
supporting import of these objects into America.
( Mr Vijayakumar, the author of this article is a sculpture enthusiast who has been
instrumental in identifying and bringing back many stolen idols to India states
TOI)
Sad is
the plight !
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
21st
Apr 2017
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