Three antique idols repatriated from Australia to be displayed

New Delhi, Jan 16: The Union Ministry of Culture will showcase at the tiol Museum here three of India’s antique idols which were illegally exported to Australia and brought back recently, it was announced on Monday. A stone image of Buddha from Mathura region, a marble stele showing devotees of Buddha from Andhra Pradesh, and stone image of Pratyangira from Tamil du were moved back to India on December 7 from Australia, the Ministry of Exterl Affairs said in a statement. Except Pratyangira, other two antiques are presently kept at the Central Antiquities Collection, at the Pura Qila here. The Pratyangira idol is a case property of the Tamil du Police and will be handed over after the temporary display at the tiol Museum. The tiol Gallery of Australia (NGA), which was in the possession of these antiquities, returned them in a repatriation ceremony to the Indian Ministry of Culture on September 19 at Canberra, Australia. All three statues were found to be genuine, after a team from Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) visited the NGA last year for inspection. The Buddha image is carved in red sand stone, representing him in Abhay Mudra and belongs to the early Kusha period in the last quarter of the first century CE. The marble stele depicting the worship of Buddhist symbols is a remarkable example of Andhra school of sculptural art and belongs to the third century CE, during the Satavaha regime. (IANS)