How a Chola era bronze idol was retrieved from the U.K.

Archaeologist R. Nagaswamy’s testimony helped conclude that the artefact was stolen from Thanjavur

Thirty years ago, the return of a bronze idol of Lord Nataraja, belonging to the 12th Century CE, from London, after a protracted legal battle created a sensation in Tamil Nadu. It was the first time that a State had won a case in a foreign court. It was in this case that veteran archaeologist R. Nagaswamy, who died in Chennai on Sunday, appeared as a special witness before the High Court in London.

His testimony was one of the factors that led the Court in April 1989 to conclude that the idol from the Chola era was stolen from the Kasi Viswanatha temple at Pathur in Thanjavur district. The trial judge, Ian Kennedy, also went on to describe Nagaswamy as “an unequalled expert in his subject” and “an acknowledged expert in the field of Chola bronzes,” according to The Hindu’ s archives.

The idol, which was smuggled from the country in 1976, was found with a Canadian company which, according to an order of the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) of England and Wales in February 1991, bought the idol in “good faith” from a dealer in June 1982.

Subsequently, the Scotland Yard had seized the idol from the company. From then on, the legal battle began with the private company suing the Scotland Yard and charging it with illegal seizure of the idol. It was left to the British police agency in association with the Government of India and the Tamil Nadu Government to establish the origin of the idol as Pathur.

After the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by the Canadian firm, the matter went to the House of Lords, the highest court of appeal in Britain.

In May 1991, the House too refused the company leave to appeal against the judgment. Later, Bhaskar Gorphade, a London-based barrister who fought the case on behalf of India, had even declared that the people of India should now claim other such objects lying in Britain.

In August 1991, the statue was formally handed over by then High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom L.M. Singhvi to then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at Fort St. George. The barrister, Nagaswamy, Gorphade, and Pakkiriswamy Chandra Sekharan, then Director of Forensic Sciences, were among those who were honoured on the occasion.

Speaking at the function, Singhvi, a leading jurist and the occupant of the post of High Commissioner during 1991-97, pointed out that the litigation represented the “composite culture of India” — it was instituted at a time when a Muslim (V.A. Seyid Muhammad) was the High Commissioner (1980-84) and nurtured subsequently by a Christian (P.C. Alexander - 1985-87), apart from himself (a Hindu).

Unimpeachable proof

In December 1991, Singhvi, while receiving the honorary degree of D. Litt at the Tamil University, Thanjavur, said not only scholars of the art history but also termites made an unforgettable contribution to the success of the case.

The insects had used soil from Pathur to build their nests at the bottom of the idol. The evidence provided by the termites in the British court was unimpeachable and established the origin and identity of the idol.