Delhi Police have arrested a 45-year-old burglar and a woman for allegedly stealing an antique Ashtadhatu idol of Lord Shani and other brass items from a 104-year-old temple in Delhi's Chandni Chowk.
Four persons were arrested for attempting to sell the stolen idol and remanded before the additional chief judicial magistrate of Kumbakonam, the idol wing police said on Friday.
Sacred spots and soaring peaks: Bucket-listing across the heartland. Roopa Unnikrishnan and her father journey through the heart of India.
The United States has handed over to India 297 antiquities, which were smuggled out of the country, during the ongoing visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official statement said on Sunday.
A total of 89 items including 56 stone idols, 22 pillars and 12 metal statues were recovered from the house.
A trial court in Tamil Nadu's Kumbakonam on Tuesday convicted international antique dealer Subhash Chandra Kapoor and five of his accomplices to 10 years imprisonment in the Udayarpalayam burglary and illegal export of 19 antique idols valued over Rs 94 crore to the Art of the Past Gallery, New York, USA, the state idol wing CID said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday ceremonially hoisted a saffron flag atop the Ram temple in Ayodhya, marking the formal completion of its construction.
The efforts drew the spontaneous appreciation of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Devotees thronged the Khaggu Sarai area in Sambhal on Tuesday to offer prayers to an idol of Lord Hanuman that was discovered in the Bhasma Shankar temple, reopened last week after being shut for 46 years.
Ancient ashtadhatu idols of Lord Rama, Hanuman along with idols made of gold and silver of other deities worth crores of rupees were stolen by thieves from the Raghunathji temple at Sultanpur in RupiPalace at Kullu, police said on Tuesday.
The startling story of how a bitter ex-girlfriend helped capture artifacts raider Subhash Kapoor.
The two-and-a-half-foot idol was looted from the Sivan Temple in Tamil Nadu's Sripuranthan village.
Srinivasan had moved the court yesterday seeking anticipatory bail in connection with an idol theft case.
Justice GR Swaminathan of the HC bench in Madurai noted that Tamil Nadu was a land of temples where the shrines have played a central role in our culture.
A historic Chola-era idol of Shiva and Parvati, stolen from a temple in India and sumggled into the United States by notorious Indian art dealer Subhash Kapoor, has been recovered from a university in Indiana.
As Thalapathy Vijay embarks on a career in politics, Arjun Menon looks closer at his glorious filmography.
Believed to be of archaeological importance, the object was found in the Dikshit South area of Mohenjo-daro after a downpour on August 3, the Dawn newspaper reported.
The film's focus lies in humanising a larger-than-life star and breaking down his celebrity, aimed at a simplistic takedown of the 'superstar' myth, observes Arjun Menon.
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ram, Laxmi, stories from the Hindu epics are seen in carvings, paintings and murals, as well as recognisable figures from mythology, like Garuda, Sheshnag, Nandi and Apsaras, notes Deepa Gahlot, savouring the beauty of Cambodia.
'During the nine years of BJP rule, not a single temple has been reconstructed.' 'They might have constructed the Ram temple as it is an emotional issue. But they are not much interested in issues like heritage.'
The art dealer flees India, but is detained at Frankfurt airport.
Prime Minister Modi gave President Biden the unique sandalwood box sourced from Mysore with intricately carved flora and fauna patterns and handcrafted by a master craftsman from Jaipur during an intimate dinner at the White House on Wednesday.
'In China there is capital punishment for heritage theft. That is how they treat criminals, unlike us.' 'Here we treat them like it's a house-breaking theft.'
'Cultural property crimes have been linked, by the United Nations and others, to terrorism.' 'These links show the perpetrators to be associated with major criminal and terrorist networks like ISIS.
'Imagine how secure are our seaports and airports that 10,000 objects can leave every decade and our custodians are not even aware?' 'This kind of targeted looting when thieves pick and choose the best of Indian art and steal on an industrial basis will eventually impoverish our great land.'
'There are hundreds of items from Madhya Pradesh, Andhra, Rajasthan, Gujarat in Subhash Kapoor's loot. The Tamil Nadu Idol Wing wants to just prosecute Kapoor for three cases and close it. To me that's myopic.'
'It is time again for Durga Puja.' 'Time again to be struck by India's astonishing cultural irony, one where the female form is worshipped as divinity while millions of real women are forced to lead restricted lives,' notes Shuma Raha.
"For some, these artefacts may be measured in monetary terms but for us this is beyond that. It's a part of our culture and heritage," the prime minister said at the ceremony held at the Blair House.
'It was only relatively recently that Subhash Kapoor was able to secure the sources in India, Afghanistan and Cambodia, that allowed him to get the really highest level objects, and that helped propel him in recent years up the ranks.'
Federal authorities in the United States have seized two valuable artefacts stolen from India valued at about $450,000 (Rs 3 crore) from the premier auction house Christie's, just days before a scheduled auction of the items as part of planned festivities to celebrate Asia week.
A group of concerned individuals as the India Pride Project and the support of one man dubbed America's Indiana Jones has resulted in the return of India's heritage back to the country, says Vijay Kumar.
Ritika Kochhar finds out how Indian miniatures, which were once buried in manuscripts, ended up drawing collectors the world over.
'Sometimes the cast wouldn't come together; sometimes I wasn't in a position at the box office to make this film. But I didn't give up,' Sanjay Leela Bhansali tells Avantika Bhuyan after Bajirao Mastani won 7 National Awards.
'Babur has been facing gross historical injustice for the last two centuries, when he had no role either in the demolition of any temple or in the construction of the so-called Babri mosque at Ayodhya.'
'It is a diamond which has a very long competitive history.'
'I can tell you the case that hurts me the most is the one in which the little boy is forced to sign the Kohinoor over.' 'You take a mother away from a child, you surround him with grown ups speaking a different language, you tell him he must sign this over or else...'
