A 16th-century bronze statue of Saint Tirumankai Alvar, taken from a temple in Tamil Nadu, is among several Indian heritage items that are being returned to India from the UK.
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford acquired the 57.5cm tall statue of the South Indian Hindu saint in good faith in 1967 and had it on display. According to Sotheby's, it was sold to the museum by the private collector, Dr J R Belmont (1886-1981). There is no information on how it entered his collection.
