Apr 28 2015 : The Times of India (Chennai) THE FRENCH ART OF EVIDENCE
Photos Of Idols By French Institute Of Pondicherry Are Now Part Of Probe Into Antique Smuggling As soon as the police found that six idols were miss ing from a Shiva temple in Thiruvadanai, Ramanathapuram, they knew where to look for photographs of those idols so that a proper investigation could be launched. Staff at the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) were able to flesh out the negatives of the idols from their archives -just as they did when the Subhash Kapoor case broke.IFP photographs of idols at a temple in Sripuranthan, Ariyalur, helped to establish that a Nataraja from the temple had found its way to Australia through art thief Kapoor.Accepting that the statue was stolen, Australia returned it to India last year.What was intended as a project to collect visual information about temple art in south India is now becoming a high-value source of evidence in cases involving art theft. Though incomplete, the IFP archive of more than one lakh photographs is often the only comprehensive visual record of many of the antique idols found in ancient temples across the state. US officials have used IFP photos to identify many of the thousands of stolen artefacts they seized from Kapoor's gallery and warehouse. It is expected that the investigation will continue and more stolen artefacts may be ferreted out in the US and IFP's archive will come in handy . Vouching for the evidentiary value of the photographs of Thiruvadanai idols, forensic scientist P Chandrasekaran says: “There are enough details in the photographs that can provide proof if these idols surface.“ Ironically enough, the project wasn't always appreciated by the people of the state. When IFP teams toured TN villages in the late 1950s, villagers and temple administrators were not forthcoming. Approvals from con cerned authorities were difficult to obtain. “There was not much awareness about the need for such a project. We had to come up with novel ways to overcome the challenges. We would offer to assist when the idols were taken out for cleaning once every year and in that process take pictures,“ recalls IFP archivist N Murugesan who was part of a team that took the Sripuranthan Nataraja's photo. IFP's collection of nearly 1.6 lakh photographs is classified site-wise and subject-wise, such as Siva and Siva-associated, Vishnu and Vishnu-associated, Brahma and Brahma-associated, Buddha, Jain and the epics. “The teams took photographs using a high resolution Hasselblad camera in large format (6cm by 6cm) on black and white negatives.These negatives can be enlarged to 40 inches by 40 inches,“ said Murugesan. While the IFP initiative is indeed commendable, it should serve as inspiration for a more comprehensive photo documentation project by the gover nment.Tamil Nadu was the first state in the country to launch such a project way back in the 1970s, says a historian and archaeologist who didn't wish to be identified. “We began the work through the archaeology department in the 1970s and did quite a number of temples.However the project lost steam. We need to complete the project,“ he said. Meanwhile, IFP has taken up the work of converting the negatives to positives and digitizing them so that they can be put online, in the public domain. Email us your feedback with name and address to southpole.toi@ timesgroup.com  http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/index.aspx?eid=31807&dt=20150428 |
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NaMo should ask all Museums of the world to return divine pratimaa which should be restored for worship in Hindu temples. Start with Dhar temple Sarasvati pratima in British Museum
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