Stolen Chola period Lord Hanuman statue brought back from Australia, handed back to Tamil Nadu

A Chola Period statue of Lord Hanuman that was stolen from a temple in 2012 has been brought back from Australia and handed over to Tamil Nadu, the state where it originally belonged.

After being found, the sculpture was handed over to the High Commissioner of India in Canberra, Australia. The idol was returned to India in last week of February, 2023 and handed over to Idol Wing, Tamil Nadu as a case property on April 18, the Ministry of Culture said on Tuesday.

After this development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed the government's resolve to bring back lost national treasures.

In response to a tweet from Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy, who stated that the Indian Embassy in Australia had received a metal idol of Lord Hanuman, PM Modi tweeted, "We are constantly working towards ensuring our prized heritage comes back home."

According to an official press statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the government of India is trying to protect the nation's archaeological heritage within the country and has been helpful in recovering antiquities that were taken illegally overseas in the past.

The metal idol of Lord Hanuman had been stolen from a Vishnu temple of Pottaveli Vellur in the Ariyalur District. The idol belonged to Shri Varatharaja Perumal of the Chola Period (14th–15th century). In 1961, the "French Institute of Pondicherry" recorded its history.

The ASI reports that on April 9, 2012, this idol, along with Sri Devi and Boodevi idols, was stolen from the Varadharaja Perumal temple in Vellur village, Ariyalur district. This idol was sold at an auction in March 2014 to a bidder in Australia.

It was determined after its discovery and further research that it was the identical idol that had been taken from India. The US Homeland Security provided support to the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing. Both the Australian bidder and the New York-based auction firm that had sold the idol at the auction were purportedly ignorant of the statue's theft.

To date, the Indian government has successfully retrieved 238 out of 251 antiquities, belonging to India, from different countries, since 2014.