UNITED KINGDOM, March 3, 2026 (Instagram): The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (part of the University of Oxford) handed over a murthi of Thirumangai Alvar at the High Commission of India in London. The murthi (consecrated statue) is returning to the Sri Soundararaja Perumal (Vishnu) Temple near Kumbakonam (Tamil Nadu), from where it was stolen. The Museum purchased the bronze cast murthi in 1967 from Sotheby’s, where it was sold by a private collector who had information as to the origin of the image. In November 2019 an independent French scholar informed the museum of a photograph of the same murthi that was taken in 1957 at the Soundararaja temple. In February 2020 temple authorities filed a complaint that the murthi of Thirumangai Alvar present was a modern replica and not the original from the 16th century. Old Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu are frequent targets of theft as they are home to centuries-old bronze cast murthies that are lucrative commodities in the illegal antique trade. Cases of theft often go unnoticed as these antique murtis are replaced with replicas, which was the case here.

Thirumangai is one of the 12 Alvars, mystics who composed Tamil devotional poetry that inspired the revival of Vaishnava Bhakti between 5th-9th centuries. Murthis of Thirumangai and the other Alvars are installed in the Vishnu temples of the Srivaishnava tradition, where their hymns are recited daily. In the same historical period lived the 63 Nayanmars who similarly revived Shaiva Bhakti through Tamil devotional hymns. The Divya Prabandham hymns of the Alvars and the Thirumurai of the Nayanmars are considered as sacred as the Vedas in their respective traditions. The Alvars and Nayanmars hailed from all social backgrounds and also included a number of women. Their lives are noted for challenging rigid social rules and uniting all sections of society to practice Bhakti.

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