Idol Wing CID Police has begun its probe to trace who stole an exquisite sculpture of Chola queen Sembiyan Mahadevi, nearly a century ago, from a nondescript village temple in Nagapattinam district, where she is worshipped as God. The special unit of police has initiated steps to recover the piece that was spotted at Freer Gallery in Washington D.C., USA, and a complaint was taken up for investigation. The existing sculpture in the temple was found to be a replica.
Director General of Police, Idol Wing CID K.Jayanth Murali told The Hindu, "Freer Gallery of Art purchased the Sembiyan Mahadevi sculpture from Hagop Kevorkian in New York in 1929 for an undisclosed price. Hagop Kevorkian, an art collector died in 1962. We have begun to probe into the theft of the sculpture; how Hagop Kevorkian acquired the idol; and the price he paid for it. We have also sought assistance from Homeland Security to unearth his links with other art collectors since he had sold several antiquities and artefacts from India and other countries."
The probe began after Elephant G.Rajendran lodged a complaint in 2018 after he visited Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M.Sackler Gallery in December 2015, where he saw a lot of antiquities belonging to various countries, particularly from the Chola dynasty. One of the collections which drew his attention was a metal sculpture with a note below the pedestal recorded as "Sembiyan Mahadevi, Chola dynasty, 10th century,Tamilnadu, India”. It was about 3.5 feet in height.
On his return from the US, Mr. Rajendran learned about Sembiyan Mahadevi village, about 25km from Nagapattinam. He visited the Kailasanatha Swamy Sivan Temple in the village and his enquiries there revealed that it had a copy of the Sembiyan Mahadevi sculpture. The locals apparently worshipped Sembiya Mahadevi as an avatar of Parvathi, he learnt. This copy was commissioned in 1959 by the then executive officer (EO) of the Department of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments(HR&CE). He lodged the complaint alleging that the original panchaloha sculpture belonging to the temple was stolen/criminally misappropriated by the then EO in league with other locals many decades ago.
There was not much progress in the investigation after lodging the complaint. The Idol Wing Officers reviewed the case and expedited the investigation. Investigation officer Indira got the stone inscriptions in the Kailasanatha Swamy temple deciphered through the Epigraphy branch of the Archaeological Survey of India. She further enquired from the temple staff who had worked there for over 60 years. She said after the original antique used as urachavar was stolen, a new creation was commissioned by the EO, copying the image Moolavar Sembiyan Mahadevi Adigalar and that is still in worship now.
The investigation of the idol wing further disclosed that the sculpture at Freer Gallery of Art was probably that of Chola queen Sembiyan Mahadevi, whose husband reigned between 949-57 AD. She was widowed at an early age and was a highly respected patron of the arts who devoted most of her life to temple commissions. During her lifetime, special celebrations marked her birthday in the Shiva temple in the town of Sembiyan Mahadevi, named after her, and a member of the royal family, probably her son, presented the metal portrait in her honour.
“The image seen here is probably that same sculpture. The archakars treated her as Parvathi and the sculpture was draped in silks, precious jewellery, and flower garlands and was carried in processions during the temple utsavams. This highly stylised image could be an example of the blurring of lines between royal and divine in ancient Indian art,” Mr. Murali said.
"Our investigation reveals that the theft of the sculpture from the temple by unknown miscreants occurred before 1929. . The imputation of the complainant that the idol got stolen/criminally misappropriated by the then E.O. of HR & CE in league with other locals about 30 to 40 years ago does not appear to be accurate, since the department did not exist before 1929. So, the involvement and role of the HR & CE department in the theft have been ruled out, he explained.
“Our investigation also confirms that the existing sculpture of Sembiyan Mahadevi of one and a half feet at the temple is fake," said Mr. Murali adding that the Idol Wing wing has initiated steps to repatriate the stolen antique from the US gallery have it re-consecrated at the temple at the earliest.
Hagop Kevorkian (1872–1962) was an Armenian-American archaeologist, connoisseur and collector who completed excavations in Asia and was praised as world-renowned as a specialist for his collections of Near Eastern art, particularly Islamic and Persian art.
S. Vijay Kumar, art enthusiast and co-founder of Indian Pride Project said, " However, there is no clarity on the legality of his collections and currently we are working on quite a number of artefacts that he has sold to the prestigious museums including the Penn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum. Our research shows he was meticulous in his paperwork and often shared spots where it came from (like the Karnataka Chalukya Brahma he sold to the Penn museum) in his documentation. We are happy that the Idol wing has correctly rebutted the very obvious discrepancies in the original case filing and hope the Freer Gallery will cooperate to disclose any provenance paperwork it has from Kerkovian and more importantly return a valuable deity back to the temple for worship."
