A team of officials from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) checked the antiquity of the metal idols kept at the Big Temple at Thanjavur on Saturday. Accompanied by the Idol Wing CID personnel, the ASI team led by its Regional Director Nambirajan checked the antiquity of 41 idols kept inside the shrine.
The 15-member ASI team checked every idol minutely to ascertain its antiquity during the exercise that lasted over five hours inside the temple premises. Idol Wing CID police sources said the idols were brought to a mandapam to enable the ASI team to do its carry out their exercise.
Request from Idol Wing
This was being done as per the request of the Idol Wing which wanted to check whether any idol had been replaced.
The checks come in the wake of the recovery of two ancient bronze idols of emperor Raja Raja Chola I and his royal consort Lokamadevi of the Big Temple from a gallery in Ahmedabad in May 2018.
The ASI team later checked the antiquity of idols belonging to the Sri Mariamman Temple and Sri Kailasanathar Temple, both at Punnainallur near Thanjavur town. Around 25 idols were checked by the ASI team at Punnainallur. Some idols were suspected to have been replaced at the Kailasanathar Temple, the sources said.