Britain’s prestigious Oxford University has agreed to return to India a 500-year-old bronze statue of a saint, which is believed to have been stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu.

“On 11 March 2024, the Council of the University of Oxford supported the Indian High Commission’s claim for the return of a 16th-century bronze sculpture of Saint Tirumankai Alvar from the Ashmolean Museum. This decision will now be submitted to the Charity Commission for approval,” said a statement from the university’s Ashmolean Museum.

The 60 cm high statue of Saint Tirumankai Alvar was acquired by the Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford from Sotheby’s auction house in 1967 from the collection of a collector named Dr. J.R. Belmont (1886-1981).

The museum said it had informed the Indian High Commission about the origin of the ancient statue after an independent researcher tipped it off in November last year.

The Indian government made a formal request for the bronze statue, which is believed to have been stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu and ended up in a museum in Britain through an auction.

The museum, which houses some of the world’s most famous art and archeological artefacts, says it acquired the statue in 1967 “in good faith”.

There have been several instances of Indian artefacts stolen from the UK being restored to India, most recently in August last year when a limestone carved sculpture from Andhra Pradesh, and a 17th century “Navaneet Krishna” bronze sculpture from Tamil Nadu were handed over to the Indian High Commissioner to the UK following a joint US-UK investigation involving Scotland Yard’s arts and antiquities unit.