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| Shri Rajesh Pande (Right) with the Buddha Statue. |
The
Buddha statue (9th-10th CE) that was stolen from Lohajarā village (Wazirganj block in Gaya
district) in 2014 was brought back to its findspot finally on 30th January
2017. The statue was recovered from a house in Sithaurā village in Nalanda
district in August 2016 by the Nalanda police.
People of Lohajarā had very little hope of finding the stolen
Buddha statue. Their apprehension was not without reason -- thousands of
ancient statues went missing from the villages of Bihar in the past few
decades, of which very few were recovered. This particular statue from
Lohajarā, fortunately, was documented in 2011 by me. When
the statue was stolen, without wasting any time, I registered the theft in the
Art Loss Register, London. The registration of the theft played a key role in
its recovery. The complete story of the statue's recovery can be found on my blog (Recovery of stolen 'Lohajarā Buddha' Sculpture).
After recovery, the statue was kept in the Rajgir police station.
Villagers of Lohajarā produced the all the evidence required to claim
that the statue belonged to their village. However, since the statue was
stolen from in Gaya district and recovered from the Nalanda district, to get
possession of the statue, the villagers of Lohajarā needed permission from
the District Court of Nalanda. Hence, restoring the statue was a complex
procedure taking up to several months because it involved the
authorities of both Gaya and Nalanda districts.
Shri Rajesh Pande, a heritage volunteer from Lohajarā took the
initiative and pursued the matter with the concerned officials in both
districts. On 30th January, after submission of all the
requisite permissions, the villagers of Lohajarā finally received the lost
statue and brought it back to their village. The villagers realize that
safeguarding the Buddha statue is very important. They now plan to build a temple
where the ancient statue can be housed. They hope to find some
Buddhist donors who would contribute in the making of the temple.
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| From Telegraph, Patna edition, 1st February, 2017. |
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| Dainik Bhaskar, 1st February, 2017. |
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| Dainik Bhaskar, 31st January, 2017 |
3 comments:
Great!! The exemplary efforts put in by you are finally paying off. Great effort on part of the community as well. Keep up the good work.
Surinder M.Talwar
Great!! The exemplary efforts put in by you are finally paying off. Great effort on part of the community as well. Keep up the good work.
Surinder M.Talwar
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