Ancient idol of Lord Krishna stolen

Lalitpur, December 23:

An idol of Lord Krishna was stolen from the Radhakrishna Temple at Swotha tole, Patan, last night. The temple was constructed during the Malla period.

The two-feet-long stone-idol was an imitation replaced a decade ago after the original one had disappeared.

The incident came to light after priest Dhana Raj Kanta Rajopadhaya reached the temple this morning for morning rituals and noticed that the west door of the temple was broken and the idol was stolen.

Apart from the idol, parts of finely carved wooden tympanum (toren), lintels, sills and wooden idols placed on walls are also missing.

Following the theft of the idol, locals of Swotha and priests of the temple have filed a complaint at the Guthi Sansthan, Lalitpur, and at the Department of Archaeology, Lalitpur.

Ten days ago, two-feet tall dwarpals of the temple were also stolen. Two stone idols of Radha and Rukmani were also stolen from the same temple on August 19.

It is said that the temple premises has become a meeting point for outsiders during evenings and nights.

Earlier, locals of Swotha used to guard their area at nights fearing thieves may steal idols from temples.

According to Pujan Amatya, a local of Swotha, locals started keeping vigilance in the area when the thieves attempted to steal idols from the Swotha Narayan temple of Lichhivi period. “We had continued to keep vigil of our area for four months with seven person from seven different households staying awake each night, where 70 households had participated. But we could not continue vigil for more than four months,” Amatya said.

The shikar style, three-storey temple is under the care of Guthi Sansthan, Lalitpur, where priests have been traditionally performing their ritual duties every morning.