London: India has urged the University of Oxford-based museum in London to return a stolen 15th-century bronze statue from a temple in Tamil Nadu. The statue of Saint Tirumankai Alwar was obtained from the auction house of Sotheby's in 1967 by the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford University. This statue was in the collection of a collector named J. R. Belmont.

The museum says that the original location of the statue was told by an independent researcher in November last year. After which he informed the Indian High Commission about this statue. A statement from the Ashmolean Museum states that research in the photo archives of IFP-EFEO shows the same bronze in the temple of Sri Soundarajperumal Kovil in Tamil Nadu in 1957. The statement said that the museum officially reported the matter to the Indian High Commission on December 16 last year, warning of other information, including possible police records, that would help them prove their work.

The Indian High Commissioner in the UK Ruchi Ghanshyam soon approved the "active" move of the museum and took the matter forward to Indian authorities, with a formal request for restoration of the statue sent to the museum earlier this month I went. The Ashmolean Museum says it is under investigation. Only after investigation will something be clear.

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