Bhubaneswar/ Jajpur: An astadhatu idol of Maa Kotrakshi, an incarnation of Goddess Chamunda, stolen two years ago from a temple in Odisha’s Jajpur district, will be reinstalled there soon.
The idol, considered an antique, was stolen from the temple at Darpangarh village in January 2021 and was recovered by the customs department sleuths from the airport in New Delhi while attempts were made to export it.
The assurance for its reinstallation was given by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, whose attention was drawn by Union Education and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in July this year.
Pradhan sought her help for the idol’s return to Odisha.
The local police had failed to locate the idol.
After the idol was recovered it was examined by the Archaeological Survey of India, which found it to be that of Maa Kotrakshi, the presiding deity of Darpangarh. After it was recovered, the idol was kept in the custom commissioner’s office of New Delhi Air Cargo.
Sitharaman in a letter to Pradhan said that Delhi Customs has been recommended to return the idol to the Maa Kotrakshi Temple in Jajpur district.
“As the investigation lodged in Odisha at Badachana police station, regarding the idol missing from the temple is also being undertaken by the police authorities of Odisha, the Central Bureau of Indirect Taxed and Customs has requested the Director General of Police, Odisha to adopt a suitable procedure for establishing the identity of the seized antiquity and to obtain decision in law regarding return/restoration of said idol to the temple,” her letter said.
Pradhan informed Sitharaman that there was demand from local people to bring back the stolen idol. They had installed another idol of Maa Kotrakshi seven months after the theft.
“The repatriation of the Maa Kotrakshi idol to its rightful place holds immense cultural and emotional significance for the villagers,” Pradhan said.
It is a symbol of the faith of the villagers, their heritage and community spirit, he added.
Village head Niranjan Senapati said the 26-inch idol weighs 38 kg and is over 100 years old.
PTI