An idol of Goddess Annapurna that was stolen from the Kashi Vishwanath temple and smuggled to Canada over 100 years ago was on Thursday handed over to the Uttar Pradesh Government, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said in a statement.
Union Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy handed over the 18th Century stone idol to the U.P. Government at a ceremony held at the National Gallery of Modern Art here. Mr. Reddy said the idol had been returned to India with the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said more than 40 antiquities had been retrieved from abroad since 2014. The Centre would hand over two retrieved idols to Tamil Nadu and one each to Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, he said.
The ASI had received the idol on October 15 after it was handed over to the High Commissioner to Canada last year.
“The stone idol measuring 17x9 x4 cm had been stolen from Kashi and smuggled to Canada over a century ago. Devi Annapurna, as its name suggests, is the goddess of food and nourishment…The 18th-century idol was in the University of Regina’s collection at its Mackenzie Art Gallery when it was handed over by the university to India’s High Commissioner to Canada last year,” the ASI said.
It said 55 idols had been returned to India since 1976 of which 42 were returned after 2014.
In a tweet, Mr. Reddy said: “This Murti [idol] will be taken in a procession to the Kashi Vishwanath temple where the pranaprathista will be performed, thereby reinstating the spiritual & divine grace of Maa Annapurna Devi. Blessed to have the Murti brought back to her rightful place (sic).”
