History of theft of metal sculptures from temples of Kumaon

 (History of Kumaon from 1000-1790 AD)

       Characteristics of Chand Rule in Kumaon    

                          

History of Uttarakhand (Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar) - Part 243

                                              By: Bhishma Kukreti

             There were hundreds of metal sculptures made or erected in Chand period. Hundreds of sculptures were looted by Muslim attackers and tens of sculptures were theft by smugglers.

               Metal craftsmen of Nepal became famous for making mixed metal sculpture in twelfth century and their fame was intact till nineteenth century. Nepali metal craftsmen made many metal sculptures for Kumaon temples too. There is a Paunraja sculpture made of eight metals alloy in Katarmall temple. The height of sculpture is of 4’6”.  Paunraja is wearing a small Dhoti, upper garment, small cap and he is in Gyanmudra position shown by his left hand and right hand.

        Another type of Paunraja mixed metal sculpture was in Jageshwar temple. The sculpture was theft by smugglers in 1974 and was recovered from smugglers in Delhi in 1975. The height of this sculpture is four feet and weight is 112 kilograms.  The sculpture is supposed to be established by Purushottam Singh in twelfth century.

                                          Lost Sculptures from Kumaon

 Krishna Chandra Bhatt provides following information for thefts of sculptures from Kumaon –

Paunraja eight metal sculpture was theft in 1966-67

             The smugglers took away sculptures of Shiv, Parvati, Chamunda and Ganesh from Jageshwar Durga temple on 10^th July 1967.

          The half kilogram silver lotus, gold Janeu (thread), forty kilogram silver sculpture of Trimall Chandra with gems were theft on 28^th September 1968 from Jageshwar Jyotirling temple.

Six stone sculptures of Dandeshwar temple (near Jageshwar) were theft in 1967-68

In 1969-70, smugglers theft Ekmukhi Shivling and dancing Ganesha sculpture from Dandeshwar.

A Nanda Devi sculpture made by 200 gold coins was theft from nanda Devi temple of Almora in 1971.

             In 1972, the smugglers theft the Kali metal sculpture with valuable gems from Mahakali temple of Khaspadkhola.

On 6^th April 1977, Panchdhatu sculpture of Aditya , gold Janeu and silver ritual vessels were smuggled by smugglers from Bridh Jageshwar temples.

On 19^th April 1982, the Gun Aditya sculpture worth rupees forty lakhs was theft from  Rangod (Pali).

Smugglers theft Radha Krishna and Datatrey sculptures from Pinakeshwar temple in May 1982.

On 26^th September 1982, Thieves theft Vishnu sculpture from Pumaun (Salam) temple.

In October 1982, Smugglers smuggled sculpture of Rinmoksheswar from Moksheswar temple.

Copyright@ Bhishma Kukreti -bckukreti@gmail.com 10/1/2014

                                      References

Dr. Shiv Prasad Dabral, Uttarakhand ka Itihas Bhag 10, Kumaon ka Itihas 1000-1790

Badri Datt Pande, 1937, Kumaon ka Itihas, Shri Almora Book Depo Almora

Devidas Kaysth, Itihas Kumaon Pradesh

Katyur ka Itihas, Pundit Ram Datt Tiwari

Oakley and Gairola, Himalayan Folklore

Atkinson, History of District Gazette

Menhadi Husain, Tuglak Dynasty

Malfujat- E Timuri

Tarikh -e-Mubarakshahi vol 4

Kumar Suresh Singh2005, People of India

Justin Marozzi, 2006, Tamerlane: Sword of Islam

Bakshsingh Nijar, 1968, Punjab under Sultans 1000-1526 

The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume 13 page 52 

Bhakt Darshan, Gadhwal ki Divangit Vibhutiyan

Mahajan V.D.1991, History of Medieval India

Majumdar R.C. (edited) 2006, The Sultanate

Rizvi, Uttar Taimur Kalin Bharat

Tarikhe Daudi

Vishweshara nand , Bharat Bharti lekhmala

Aine-e Akbari

Akbari Darbar

Tareekh Badauni

Eraly Abraham, 2004 The Mogul Throne

The Tazuk-i-Jahangiri

Maularam- Gadh Rajvansh Kavya

Ramayan Pradeep

Annatdev’s Smriti-Kaustubh

Sarkar, History of Aurangzeb

Jadunath Sarkar, History of Aurangzeb

Sarkar, fall of Mogul Empire

Sailendra Nath Sen, 2010, An Advanced History of Modern India

Kanti Kumar Nautiyal , Archeology of Kumaon including Dehradun , Chaukhamba Prakash

Hema Uniyal Kumaon ke Mandir (Book and Cassette Disc)

Madan Jit Singh, Himalayan Arts

Krishna Chand Bhatt, Information about Thefts of Archeological Materials from Kumaon, Pahad

(The History of Garhwal, Kumaon, Haridwar write up is aimed for general readers)

                           

History of Garhwal – Kumaon-Haridwar (Uttarakhand, India) to be continued… Part -244  

History of Kumaon (1000-1790) to be continued….

Himalayan, Indian History of Chand Dynasty rule in Kumaon to be continued…

  (Himalayan, Indian History (740-1790 AD to be continued…)

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History Review of Metal Sculpture Art in Chand Period in Kumaon; History Review of Metal Sculpture Art in Chand Period in Pithoragarh Kumaon; History Review of Metal Sculpture Art in Chand Period in Bageshwar Kumaon; History Review of Metal Sculpture Art in Chand Period in Champawat Kumaon; History Review of Metal Sculpture Art in Chand Period in Almora Kumaon; History Review of Metal Sculpture Art in Chand Period in Nainital Kumaon;  History Review of Metal Sculpture Art in Chand Period in Udham Singh Nagar Kumaon; History of theft of metal sculptures from Katarmall  temple, Kumaon; History of theft of metal sculptures from Jageshwar temple, Kumaon; History of theft of metal sculptures from Dandeshwar  temple, Kumaon; History of theft of metal sculptures from Nanda Devi temple, Kumaon; History of theft of metal sculptures from Khaspadkhola temple, Kumaon; History of theft of metal sculptures from Pinakeshwar temple, Kumaon; History of theft of metal sculptures from Pumaon (Salam) temple, Kumaon;