Express News Service
NEW DELHI: An ancient idol of Goddess Annapurna, which was smuggled out of the country around 100 years ago, has been brought back and it will be installed in Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, where it was originally placed.
The statue reached Delhi on October 15.
The idol of Goddess Annapurna retrieved from Ottawa, Canada has been received by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and it will be taken to Varanasi, union culture minister G Kishan Reddy said on Tuesday.
In November last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the idol was being brought back.
It was stolen and taken out of the country around 1913 said Modi during his monthly radio programme –Mann Ki Baat.
According to the culture ministry, since 1976, 55 idols have been returned to India — nearly 75 per cent of them were retrieved during the tenure of 2014-2020.
Out of the 55 antiquities, 42 were returned after 2014 with the Annapurna Devi being the last addition to this, said the ministry.
The idol of Annapurna idol will be first taken to Aligarh on November 11 then Kannauj and reach Ayodhya on November 14. It will reach its final destination Varanasi on November 15 where it will be placed at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple after the appropriate rituals.
“The ministry of culture is working closely with the ministry of external affairs to repatriate the antiques which hold heritage value and have local importance. The faith and confidence in people from whom their ancestral heritage was taken will be reimposed,” said the ministry.
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