Stolen 11th-century Chola bronze of Kannappa Nāyaṉār returns to India from the Netherlands
Investigators used an AI tool to digitally strip the encrustations from old discovery photos and match them to the cleaned bronze on sale in Maastricht.
- The Hindu
A stolen 11th-century Chola bronze of Kannappa Nāyaṉār, looted from a temple in Tamil Nadu and later spotted at a leading European art fair, has been repatriated from the Netherlands, The Hindu reported on Tuesday. The bronze came back last week along with a set of 11th-century Chola royal charter plates relinquished by Leiden University Library, the newspaper said.
The idol was among 27 bronzes found in a buried hoard during excavation for an Appar Maṇḍapa at the Arulmigu Agneeswarar Temple in Tiruppugazhur, Nagapattinam district, and was stolen before its encrustations could be cleaned. It resurfaced, cleaned, at The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht, where art crime researchers Stefano Alessandrini and Ibrahim Bulut photographed it at the stand of Marcel Nies Oriental Art in March 2025.
The images reached S. Vijay Kumar, co-founder of the India Pride Project, who alerted the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing CID, and Additional Superintendent of Police Balamurugan traced the original FIR on the temple theft. To prove the encrusted find and the cleaned sculpture were the same object, Mr. Kumar used the project's AI tool, Ekalavya, to remove the encrustations digitally and compare contours and proportions, which showed strong correspondences.
The Idol Wing CID then worked with the Archaeological Survey of India to approach Dutch authorities, and Dutch police seized the bronze on 23 March 2025. The dealer later relinquished the sculpture voluntarily, clearing the way for its return, though Dutch authorities made no formal public announcement.
The recovery involved the Idol Wing CID, the ASI, Dutch authorities, the India Pride Project and the Association for Research into Crimes against Art. The bronze depicts Thiṇṇaṉ, revered as Kannappa, one of the 63 Śaiva saints, who according to the 12th-century Periya Purāṇam offered his own eyes to Lord Śiva.
Key data
11th-century bronze; one of 27 bronzes from the Tiruppugazhur hoard; spotted at TEFAF in March 2025; seized by Dutch police on 23 Mar 2025; returned last week with Chola charter plates from Leiden University Library.
Why it matters
A consecrated mūrti taken from a living temple is coming home, and the case shows that even cleaned and re-presented idols can be traced back to their shrines with old police records and new tools. It strengthens the case for returning every stolen deity still sitting in foreign galleries.
GK: did you know?
Kannappa Nāyaṉār is linked with the Śrīkāḷahasti temple in Andhra Pradesh, where tradition holds he offered his eyes to the Vāyu liṅga; he is counted among the 63 Nāyaṉmārs of the Periya Purāṇam by Sekkizhar.
