From The New Yorker magazine - May 7, 2007
The Idol Thief
Inside one of the biggest antiquities-smuggling rings in history.
by Patrick Radden Keefe
"Early one morning in June, 2003, two dozen police officers drew their guns and prepared to raid a stately three-story brick-and-concrete home on a corner lot in Everest Colony, a quiet residential neighborhood on the outskirts of the Indian city of Jaipur. Several khaki-clad officers scaled the imposing stone wall surrounding the house, disarmed a guard, and opened the gate. Under the gaze of a security camera, the rest of the team filed silently onto the property. The raid was the culmination of a yearlong investigation and months of surveillance, during which officers had posed as vagrants and fruit peddlers. They had timed the strike for dawn, hoping to startle the inhabitants."
Read more at: http://www.newyorker...?printable=true
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The Idol Thief
Started by
dzibead
, Aug 15 2007 06:50 AM
1 reply to this topic
#1
dzibead
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Posted 15 August 2007 - 06:50 AM
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
#2
Hyderabadi
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Posted 15 August 2007 - 05:34 PM
In Andhra Pradesh (surely elsewhere too), the idol thieves are after the commercial (melting down) of the idols as well as antique value. The idols are usually made of Pancha Loha:
More at :http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/23/stories/2006122315360300.htm
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Panchaloha (also called Panchaloham or Panchaloha - literally, five metals) is a term for traditional five-metal alloys of sacred significance used for making Hindu temple icons (Murti).
The composition is laid down in the Shilpa shastras, an ancient Sanskrit text on icon making. It is traditionally described as an alloy of gold, silver, copper, brass and iron, but copper is the major constituent, making Panchaloga generically a cast brass or bronze.
Practical compositions are Cu, Au, Ag, Pb and Zn; Cu, Ag, Pb, Fe and Sn; and Sn, Cu, Fe, Pb, and brass. Because of the cost, Au and Ag are now omitted from general-purpose icons, where copper, brass, and lead in the ratio 29:2:1 are used.
Panchaloha (also called Panchaloham or Panchaloha - literally, five metals) is a term for traditional five-metal alloys of sacred significance used for making Hindu temple icons (Murti).
The composition is laid down in the Shilpa shastras, an ancient Sanskrit text on icon making. It is traditionally described as an alloy of gold, silver, copper, brass and iron, but copper is the major constituent, making Panchaloga generically a cast brass or bronze.
Practical compositions are Cu, Au, Ag, Pb and Zn; Cu, Ag, Pb, Fe and Sn; and Sn, Cu, Fe, Pb, and brass. Because of the cost, Au and Ag are now omitted from general-purpose icons, where copper, brass, and lead in the ratio 29:2:1 are used.
More at :http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/23/stories/2006122315360300.htm
