Oxford's Ashmolean Museum Returns 16th-Century Thirumankai Alvar Bronze to India

The Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford has handed back to India a 16th-century bronze idol of Saint Thirumankai Alvar.

• The idol originally belonged to the Shri Soundararaja Perumal Temple at Thadikombu in Tamil Nadu.
• Thirumankai Alvar is one of the Vaishnava saint-poets revered in Tamil devotional tradition.
• The repatriation adds to the list of stolen or removed Tamil Nadu temple antiquities that have been recovered from institutions abroad.