In May this year, seven bronze icons were stolen from the 14th century Varadaraja Perumal temple at Kadalangudi in Nagapattinam district. An immediate alert on the grand theft should have been put out, but it took hours even to arrive at descriptive identities of the icons. What was available was a cursory record of the precious idols.
Documentation is the first line of defence against the rogue insider.
The police recognise this, but lack of transparency in the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department and resistance from temple orthodoxy has blocked any potential engagement between the custodians and scholars with documentation expertise.
At the Tiruvarur icon vault, cataloguing of idols is restricted to low resolution colour photography. The front and rear views of the icon and physical profile are recorded. Videography was proposed, but that plan is in limbo following concerns over the bona fides of videographers.
Moreover, bronze dating would depend on officials from the Department of Archaeology who are often ill-equipped for the task.
“The difference between a ninth and tenth century bronze is stark. But, when scholars with credentials are denied a glimpse of icons, reckless classification sets in,” says R. Kalaikovan, Director, Dr. Rajamanickanar Centre for Historical Research, Tiruchi, who was also a member of the Inscription Research Committee of the State Government in 1997.
Chola icons are primarily bronze. Yet, every stolen icon is recorded as panchaloha (amalgam of gold, silver, copper, zinc and tin) by officials and the media, creating a larger motive for the stray thief, says Dr. Kalaikovan.
When it comes to securing priceless icons, security and surveillance systems have to depend on temple resources. Alarm systems linked to the temple office and the local police station are reserved for the Sapthavidanga sthalams in Nagapattinam. They house the priceless maragada lingams (emerald Shiva). These lingams are guarded in the vault inside the sanctum sanctorum of the presiding deity, along with other bronze icons that belong to temples of the surrounding areas.
Yet, the lingams of Thiruthuraipoondi and Nagapattinam temples were stolen a few years ago. Burglar alarms can fail due to recurrent power cuts, and false alarms are triggered off by rodents or bats which reduces their value in a genuine incident, says an official. Ex-servicemen and home guards were recently posted at a few big temples. But then, recent heists were not from famous temples but from decrepit, ‘nonliving’ ones that lacked a sturdy grill for the safe.
To HR and CE officials, the solution lies in securing icons in the vault centres and returning them for temple festivities.
Such a move often evokes negative emotions among people who are opposed to the deities being taken away; this was witnessed recently at Elumeshwaramudayar temple, Vedaranyam.
When six of its icons were stolen in April this year, the remaining ones were shifted to the Tiruvarur vault. A new vault was recently set up in Kumbakonam to ease the pressure on Tiruvarur vault built in 1986.
For Dr. Kalaikovan, a central vault negates the idea of an icon. “The aesthetics of an icon should not be locked up. Icons vaulted-up in the same piece of cloth are consumed by metal cancer.” Instead, the department should invest in securing temples, as they are sites of history and archaeology, besides religion.
