Bronze Idol of Nataraja

heist tale

The more than three-decades-long journey of the 1000-year-old Sivapuram Nataraj, from the fields of Tamil Nadu to the vaults of a foreign museum and back to its homeland, is a captivating odyssey, weaving through tales of theft, clandestine operations, and the eventual quest for repatriation, marking the sculpture’s resilient narrative that transcends borders and epochs.

The Nataraj sculpture, along with five other early Chola period bronze idols—depicting Shivakami Amman, Somaskandar, Gowri Amman, Thirugnananasambandar, and Vigneswarar—was discovered by Annamuthu Padayachi, a farmer. The artefacts were unearthed on 2 June 1951, while Padayachi was ploughing the fields of Kasturi Ranga Iyengar in the village of Sivapuram, located in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu.

Initially, the idols were handed over to the District Collector. However, Muthuswamy Mattiar, the temple trustee and priest of the Sri Shiva Gurunathaswamy Temple in Sivapuram, successfully petitioned the Collector’s office to retain possession, asserting his intention to consecrate and regularly worship the idols within the temple premises. Responding to both public pressure and support from officials at the Government Museum in Madras, the government directed the Collector to transfer the idols to the temple on 29 October 1953. Before their handover, P.R. Srinivasan, a curator at the Government Museum of Madras, photographed the idols.

Due to the extended period of the idols’ burial, the temple trustees decided to clean and repair them. In June 1954, they engaged the services of Ramasamy Sthapathy from Kumbakonam, a town known for its bronze craftsmanship. However, influenced by his friend Thilakar of Kuttalam and his brother Doss, Ramasamy succumbed to the unethical plan to substitute the original idols with replicas. He, along with his sons and employees, crafted replicas of the original idols, excluding the Vigneswarar idol. These fakes were then consecrated into the temple, unbeknownst to Muthuswamy Mattiar.

Simultaneously, Ramasamy sold the five original idols, including the Nataraj, to Thilakar and Doss. The latter, in turn, sold them to Lance Dane, a World War II Major of the British Indian Army turned art collector and curator, in Bombay for Rs. 25,000/- in 1954. Meanwhile, in April 1959, P.R. Srinivasan published photos of the idols in an article titled “Rare Sculptures of Early India” in the periodical journal published by the Lalit Kala Academy.

The theft came to light after a decade, when Douglas E. Barrett, a renowned authority on Indian and Islamic art and curator at the British Museum, published Early Chola Bronzes in 1965, in which he claimed that the Sivapuram bronzes he examined were undoubtedly forgeries.

Upon receiving this information, P.R. Srinivasan wrote a letter to the Director of the Government Museum, Madras, to verify the claim. The government dispatched one of its curators, Gnana Desikan, who confirmed that the idols were indeed fake. Subsequently, the Government Museum informed the authorities, prompting swift action. In 1969, an FIR was filed at the Nachiarkoil police station. The case was handed over to the Idol Wing branch of the state CID, led by U.C. Chandramouleeswaran, the Deputy Superintendent of Police.

Unfortunately, by this time, the Nataraj idol had already changed hands. Lance Dane had sold the idol to another Bombay-based art collector named Boman Behran in 1968, who, in turn, sold it to Manu Narang, who later sold the Nataraj to a New York-based art collector named Ben Heller, who was in India to attend the wedding of Manu Narang’s brother. Subsequently, in 1969, the idol was smuggled out of India aboard a Japan Airlines plane and returned to New York.

Meanwhile, in India, Ramasamy, Thilakar, Doss, and Lance Dane were arrested by the police. After interrogating them, the police learned that the statue was in New York. The Tamil Nadu Government granted permission to S. Krishnaraj, the then Deputy Inspector General of Police, C.I.D., to travel to New York, along with a CBI officer, to interrogate Ben Heller and trace the Nataraja Idol.

Despite assistance from Interpol and Customs officials in New York, Heller refused to divulge any information. However, rattled by the authorities, Heller hastily sold the Natraj idol to the Norton Simon Foundation for its new museum in Pasadena, California, for $ 1 million in 1973. Unfortunately, the foundation acquired the idol without conducting due diligence. At this point, the bronze idol was suffering from rust, prompting officials of the Norton Simon Foundation to send it to London for restoration by experts at the British Museum, as it was to be displayed at an exhibition of Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1973-1974. However, British officials recognised the idol, and Scotland Yard seized it and secured it in a bank vault. They informed the Indian Mission in London, which, in turn, notified the CBI in India.

In response, Norton Simon took legal action in a London court to reclaim the artefact from Scotland Yard. However, the lawsuit faced opposition from both the Deputy Director of the CBI and the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India. The visit of P.R. Srinivasan to London also played a pivotal role, as he provided crucial photographs of the Nataraj, which served as vital evidence in the case. The Government of India also initiated legal proceedings on behalf of the deity itself, highlighting its status as a ‘Living God.’

Amidst the escalating scandal, an out-of-court settlement was brokered between Norton Simon and his Foundation and the Government of India. While possession of the idol was returned to India, an agreement was reached to display it at the Norton Simon Foundation Museum on loan for 10 years, with the understanding that it would be returned to India thereafter. Simultaneously, Norton Simon pursued legal action against Ben Heller and Manu Narang in London, New York, and California. Ultimately, in 1986, the idol was ceremoniously handed over to Dr Nagaraja Rao, the then Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, marking the triumphant return of the artefact to its homeland.