My mind is still reeling, hours after I’ve finished reading this book. The sheer scale of looting that has been going on in our temples is mind boggling. Billions of dollars are spent on ancient Indian art - idols, sculptures, paintings, without bothering about how it got to them.
This book reads like a fast-paced thriller, even though it’s non-fiction. A must read for everyone who is proud of their culture, heritage, ancestry and history, to understand how our national treasures are being looted and smuggled out of the country into greedy hands of museums and private collectors.
It also pains to see how indifferent Indian authorities are towards these crimes and how unconcerned they are about catching the criminals.
The author Vijay Kumar has been closely involved in efforts to bring at least some of the idols home. A blogger keenly interested in Indian temple art and iconography, he has built an invaluable community and database which is helping enormously with this effort.
Why is it so important to bring the idols back home to their temples? What is the problem if they’re sitting inside glass cases in museums or private homes for people to ogle at? This paragraph I’ve reproduced here from the book explains why. Our gods are connected to us in a very personal, emotional way and in my opinion, there has been no better description of what these idols mean to us…
“First, idols were not created as just pieces of art but as representations of god meant to be housed, taken care of and prayed to inside temples… The technical brilliance and the artistry of these idols is meant to be experienced inside a temple, at the intoxicating confluence of spirituality, art and aesthetics. They are meant to inspire awe and devotion. They are meant to be seen at the same time as you hear the ringing of bells, the chanting of shlokas and mantras, the beating of drums. They are meant to be seen in the light of oil lamps or on magnificent chariots on festival days. They are meant to be seen when your senses are consumed by the smells of ghee and incense and fresh flowers and camphor. They are not meant to be seen behind cages of glass, inside sterile museums or galleries that cannot even begin to recreate the unique sensation that overtakes you when you view temple art while it is in its womb, in and around the temple's sanctum sanctorum.”
So go read this book. Learn, understand. The more people are aware and are talking about it, the better the chances for more of our treasures to come back home.