Caught in the procedural wrangling between the Centre and the Rajasthan Government, a precious antiquity- a 10th-century-old stone sculpture, Varah, which was stolen from an Indian temple two decades ago, is still stuck in Switzerland which had agreed to return it last year itself.
The treasured stone sculpture-- depicting Varah as a theriomorphic boar was stolen from the ruins of the Gargach temple in Atru town, a little-known site in Baran district, close to the Rajasthan-Madhya Pradesh border way back in 1987. Atru site alone has nine temples, including Gargach, Ganesh, Shitalamata and Nagdev Jain temple, all under the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).
An official from the Union Culture Ministry said that last year the Swiss officials had contacted the Indian Embassy there regarding its possession with a private person who offered to donate after it became known that it was stolen and clandestinely smuggled out of the country.
“They (the Swiss Government officials) asked us to produce the documents so that procedure for formal retrieval of the antiquity can be initiated,” said the official.
He explained that since the sculpture was stolen from the temple in Rajasthan, the ASI on behalf of the Ministry has been asking the State (Rajasthan) police to furnish the documents such as FIR and relevant papers to expedite its retrieval. An FIR with the district police was registered on July 31, 1987 regarding the theft of the heritage item.
“But despite several reminders to the Rajasthan police, there has been no movement in the case. Sometimes they say that concerned officials have been transferred sometimes they make excuses that papers were being collected,” rued the official.
The Gargach temple from where the idol which has images of lord Vishnu engraved all over is an ASI protected monument. In Rajasthan, 162 monuments are centrally protected under the ASI.
However, Varah is not the only antiquity that has been stolen from the country.
As per the ASI, at least 31 ancient items have been brought back from countries like America, Australia, Canada, Germany and Singapore among others between 2014 and 2017. India is a signatory to the 1970 UN Convention on Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the illicit Trafficking in cultural property.