Tracking India’s Smuggled Art Heritage - The Case Of Veeracholapuram

The Nagareshwara temple at Veeracholapuram in northern Tamil Nadu must have seen better days in its more than 900 years of life. The temple had been built during the times of the great imperial Cholas, by perhaps the descendants of Raja Raja.

The temple, which desperately needs maintenance, has been in the news recently. Like dozens of temples across South India, this temple too is a victim of art and idol smuggling that has seen priceless centuries-old idols being smuggled out of India, almost always illegally.

India Pride Project, a volunteer network spread across the globe, has traced some of the idols that were smuggled from this temple to museums in the West.

Swarajya spoke to Vijaykumar from the India Pride Project to understand how they were able to trace the idols and more.