Ball State University has surrendered this ancient statue to federal authorities after learning it was looted from a temple in India. Staff photo by Corey Ohlenkamp
MUNCIE — Federal law enforcement officials have confirmed that a 1,000-year-old idol displayed at Ball State University's David Owsley Museum of Art had been looted from a temple in Southern India.
The university announced on Tuesday that it has transferred custody of the religious relic to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Until federal agents took possession of it on Monday, the statue had been on continuous display at the museum for a decade.
ICE is applauding BSU's surrender of the small bronze statue in a news release at the top of its website headlined, "ICE HSI Partners with Ball State University and the David Owsley Museum of Art to recover a Hidden Idol Stolen from India."
"The theft, trafficking and/or destruction of cultural artifacts is one of the oldest and most sinister forms of transnational crime," Glenn Sorge, acting special agent in charge for HSI New York, said in a prepared statement. "HSI's long-term goal is to reduce the incentive for this kind of criminal activity. Our partnership with institutions like Ball State University are instrumental to this effort. We hope that other collectors, institutions and museums will see this surrender as a successful example of a way to move forward when dealing with artifacts that might be of concern."
The Star Press reported in July that there was more than one reason to suspect the statue — which shows Shiva, one of the main deities of Hinduism, at the time of his marriage to Parvati, the goddess of love — was stolen.
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