By Binu Shrestha

Kathmandu, Aug. 13 : The stolen stone idol of Himalayan Abode with Ascetics of 10th century is returning Nepal from the New York of United States of America.

The sculpture was discovered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The museum has issued 45-days public notice as per the deaccessioning plan of the idol from the museum on June 14, 2021.
During that period, no complaint claiming the idol was registered, so it has built legal base to return the sculpture to its country of origin, Nepal.

Sarita Subedi, chief of the Curio Department and archaeological officer of Department of Archaeology (DoA) said that museum had send a letter to Nepal government saying it would return the idol to Nepal.

The museum has expressed its willingness to return the idol through the email, and the museum has accepted the proposal to pay for the transportation and insurance costs, she said.
The idol was stolen from the premises of Kankeshwori Temple (Kanga: Ajima) of Ward No. 19 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

Curio chief Subedi said that earlier idols of several gods and goddess were placed on the eastern, western, northern and southern part of the temple’s compound wall, which got destroyed in 2015 earthquake but now has been rebuilt.

The locals don’t know the actual year when the idol was stolen. Nor do they have any idea about its original place. But it is believed that the idol was placed in the western part of the wall.

Page 134 of the book by Lain Singh Bangdel ‘Inventory of Stone Sculptures’, published in 1995, along with the recently submitted photographs by Maxwell K Hearn, mentions that 10th-century sculpture of Shiva standing between the saints was also placed on the wall of Kankeshwori Temple, she added.

It seems that the idol was stolen shortly after 1995, because it was recorded in the 1995 book, she added.