A historic bronze statue taken from a temple in Tamil Nadu is set to return to India after decades abroad. The 16th-century sculpture of Tirumankai Alvar was held by the Ashmolean Museum in the United Kingdom and is now being repatriated following research into its origins.
The statue, measuring 57.5 cm in height, represents the South Indian Hindu saint Tirumankai Alvar. The museum acquired the artifact in 1967 from private collector Dr J. R. Belmont (1886–1981). According to Sotheby’s, Belmont sold the sculpture to the museum, although there was no clear record explaining how the statue originally entered his collection.
The provenance of the object came under scrutiny in November 2019 when a French scholar alerted the museum to research showing that a photograph of the bronze statue had been taken in 1957 at the Soundarrajaperumal Temple. This discovery suggested that the statue had once belonged to the temple located in the village of Thadikombu in Tamil Nadu.
Following the discovery, the museum began investigating the statue’s origins. Although no formal claim had initially been made, the Ashmolean contacted the Indian High Commission in the United Kingdom on 16 December 2019 to request further information and expressed willingness to discuss its possible return.
On 11 February 2020, a temple executive officer filed a police report noting that the original bronze statue had been replaced with a modern replica. Soon after, the Indian High Commissioner formally requested the return of the artifact on 3 March 2020.
At the request of the Archaeological Survey of India, the museum also commissioned a metal analysis of the bronze and submitted the findings to support research on the statue’s provenance.
Commenting on the decision, Xa Sturgis said: “The Ashmolean is pleased to see this important object returned to India and we are grateful to the Indian authorities and scholars who have helped establish its provenance. The museum and University of Oxford are committed to ethical collections practices and continued research into our collections, their origins and history.”
The return of the statue of Tirumankai Alvar is part of a broader effort to restore important cultural heritage items to India.
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