Stolen Gods – Hindus’ anguish
There is a Tamil saying which goes “Do not live in a place which doesn’t have a temple”. A temple doesn’t necessarily have to be a grand place full of architectural wonders for a Hindu. Even a banyan tree or a pipal tree is sufficient to install Ganesha; a neem tree is enough to place the idols of Naga Kannikas or Sapta Matrkas. It is not about the architectural magnificence. It is rather about the God one so lovingly sculpts on stone, gold or just clay. It is the overflowing of the bhakti that manifests in the form of an idol and so it is placed in the temple to further nurture bhakti of one’s own and others. There were times when the murtis of our great living temples faced threats from the barbaric foreign invaders. At least then our ancestors knew the enemy and took measures to protect the Shila murtis from destruction at the hands of barbarians.
Namperumal, the utsava murti, of Srirangam and his consorts were smuggled out of Trichy with great difficulty and sacrifice of thousands of lives when Malik Kafur and Ulugh Khan’s invasion threatened the abode of Sri Ranganatha. The adventurous tale of Pillai Lokacharyar, a Srivaishnava acharya in the Srirangam temple, and his disciples carrying the murti from place to place on foot is a legend among the Vaishnavites. He was first taken to the Aanamalai hills and then Thirumaliruncholai (Azhagar hills) in Madurai only to move from there to Calicut. Pillai Lokacharyar, who was more than 100 years of age at that time, died in Madurai after instructing his disciples to protect the deity at any cost. From Calicut, the deity travelled to Melkote, Sri Narayanapuram and then to Tirumala. The murti of Namperumal was in exile for 48 years. After the Vijayanagara empire rose with the help of Harihara and Bukkaraya, the great warrior Kumara Kampanna reclaimed Madurai from Madurai sultanate. During this time Namperumal was brought back to Chengee to be returned to Srirangam by Gopanarya, a great devotee of him. But the sultanate was yet to be defeated. To keep the murti safe and bide for time, it was hidden at a village called Azhagiya Manavalam whose presiding deity is Sundararaja Perumal. After being brought away from Chengee till the day he returned to Srirangam, Namperumal resided in the abode of Sundararaja Perumal. The temple and village protected the deity at the height of barbaric rule. But under the so-called democracy, the Shila murtis of Sundararaja Perumal temple itself had to be kept in a bunker fearing thieves. Alas, the devotees didn’t know that the thieves would come in the form of the government. Officials from HRCE took the murtis saying they are not safe in the village. The villagers thought they’ve lost their deities when they couldn’t locate them after searching in various temples under HRCE management. They complained about this to the famous cop Pon Manickavel when he was at Tirupainjeeli, a renowned temple in the region of Mannachanallur. On the villagers’ request, he found the murtis and made arrangements to return them to the village temple. They were taken back for the Aadi Perukku festival (the 18th day of Aadi month is celebrated along the banks of Kaveri). However, the murtis were brought and taken back to the safety locker after the festival with heavy security as it is still believed to be unsafe to keep them in the village.
What has changed between the times when Ulugh Khan came to plunder the wealth of the temples on his way and the government that plunders the wealth of the temples it takes under its supervision in the name of secularism? With Ulugh Khan atleast, we were able to identify the enemy. Imagine having to go through what Pillai Lokacharyar went through to protect our wealth, the murtis of each and every temple, sculpted with brimming Bhakti that it pours out in the eyes of the murtis when you set yours on them. The fact is no Hindu can do that today given the kind of setup we have formed through the constitution to rule and administer us.
What is more, while Pillai Lokacharyar managed to save the Moolavar(presiding deity in the sanctum sanctorum) by building a wall in front of the sanctum sanctorum to create a fake one to fool the invaders, we have failed to save his legacy as it is now alleged that even the moola murti in Srirangam could be a fake one.
To give a perspective on what we are up against, this divine murti of Parvati Devi was given to a foreigner by so-called Mahatma, Gandhi himself. If the original Gandhi was this bad it doesn’t need to be said what the fake Gandhis could be up to.
All for what but to place the murtis in a corner of their grand houses as an artefact to showcase – as an object of pride. The murtis so lovingly bathed with milk, honey and turmeric, donned with first and best of silks weaved by the ever devoted weavers, decorated with Jasmine and Lotus lovingly made into a garland and fed with special Naivedyam, lie in a corner to satisfy the ego of a man with money. Isn’t it our duty to bring them back to their abode and get them restored back to their past glory? The American government repatriated 10 smuggled murtis to the Indian government on Independence day this year like the previous two years and the news was all over the media. But the detail that through ‘Operation Hidden Idol’ American Homeland Security had discovered 2,622 artefacts smuggled by notorious idol thief Subash Kapoor out of which only around 200 artefacts have been returned was lost amid the euphoria of getting back 10 more murtis.
Indian authorities are yet to show, if not the bhakti of a lay Hindu, the grit to get back what is rightfully ours. Most of the time it is a voluntary organisation India Pride Project, that takes pains to track, find and contact the art galleries and auction houses to prove the murtis – which effort is rightly named as ‘Bringing Our Gods Home’. As recently as this year’s January, we saw the National Gallery of Australia return two Dwarapalakas and a Nagaraja voluntarily due to the persistent efforts of India Pride Project volunteers way back from 2015. Retired cop Pon Manickavel who played an unimaginable role in bringing back the stolen treasures of Tamil Nadu exposed the complacency of the government as the legislators from both the ruling and opposition parties were involved in smuggling idols either directly or indirectly. He made a stunning allegation that the TN government wouldn’t open its purse for 330 days for the airfare to bring a 16th century Pandya era Nataraja murti from Australia after which he prayed the curator of the art gallery to bear the cost. The murti was brought back by Jane Robinson, the curator of Art Gallery of South Australia and handed over to the officials of ASI as per the procedures. Nataraja was returned to his rightful place in Kulasekaramudayar – Aramvalartha Nayagi temple after 37 years in exile.
An even more outrageous behaviour of the government was to not even provide a space to store the recovered murtis safely. Pon Manickavel spent from his salary to rent a place for murtis’ safety. Vijaya Kumar, the founder of India Pride Project, who has been tracking the idol smuggling activities for nearly 15 years estimates that around 1000 artefacts are smuggled out of India every year. For comparison on how complacent Indian government and its officials are in bringing back the stolen treasures, he observed during a book launch back in 2018 that ‘Italy was the frontrunner in protecting its artwork with tough laws which has helped recover 378,000 pieces since 2012 while India has rescued 27 pieces since 2012‘.
The Free Temples movement has garnered support all over the country to the extent that dharmikas have started questioning even the so-called pro Hindu political party when it comes to the administration of temple affairs. Likewise, it is essential that dharmikas raise their voice for the cause of bringing our Gods home and help amplify the efforts of the few individuals and organisations that have taken up the cause. It is as important to free our Gods and Goddesses from the shackles of art galleries, collectors and terrorists and restore them in their rightful place as gaining rights over temple administration. Let us remember the incident of Polla Pillayar eating the naivedyam offered by little boy Nambi to keep in mind that our gods are left to go hungry in a far off foreigner’s house or art gallery with even their identity being mispronounced.
