Nataraja at the British Museum
I am so behind on posting – I still have some things that I want to write about my trip to London. On this trip we visited the British Museum, and they now allow visitors to take photos without flash.
I took a number of photos in the India and Sri Lanka galleries, where there were a number of Murtis. It was quite sad that they are in a case in a museum rather than in a temple. I felt that guardian devas were still present. I wondered about whether devas have karma, and what it would mean for their murtis to be displayed in a museum, and I performed the Namaskara Mudra.
Sri Ganesha
As I did this I felt that I received a blessing. As I continued my darshan, looking round the gallery two young children came up to the case pictured to the right, happily calling “Ganesha, Ganesha”. I know that the devas were as happy at this as the children were seeing our beloved elephant-faced God.
I have put some more pictures here, not all of them are very clear because it was quite dark and difficult to take pictures without using the flash.
Western Hindu 
Had the Murtis been taken from a temple etc? I wasn’t sure if they were Murtis (having been installed with pooja ‘Pranapratishta’ etc) or statues.
Nice photos. I miss England.
Paul
That’s a very good question, I don’t know. Seeing the detail and care with which they were made I can’t believe that they were not objects of devotion.
Aum Shivaya
Tandava
At least one was from a temple. Thaindian News says:
Loot pilfered by the Raj no doubt?
Yes, certainly some of it is.
The debt is yet unpaid, the sin’s of the past always leaves a mark.
http://ajitvadakayil.blogspot.com/2010/12/british-museum-house-of-stolen.html
More comprehensive information is available in Ajit Vadakayil Blogs about the truth of the world, more specifically Sanatan Dharma.
He is a Captain of a Chemical tanker in India, he is from Kerala. His blogs will give you a deeper insight to the past.
Namaste brothers and sisters.
First of all, this is a great blog. Great work, Chris. 🙂
As you may know, there isn’t a single English translation of Vedas that are accurate (the translations by muller and griffith are known to be intentionally mistranslated to undermine Vedic Dharma as they were christian missionaries in disguise). So to learn Vedas, the best thing to do is to learn Sanskrit.
Or, you could read the Satyarth Prakash by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, who was one of the world’s greatest Vedic scholars, which is a summary of Vedas in English:
http://aryasamajjamnagar.org/satyarth_prakash_eng.htm
The following site is also a great resource for Vedic Dharma as it factually analyses Vedas:
http://agniveer.com/
I hope someone finds these resources useful. 🙂
OM
This is a nice insightful post and the comments too are enlightening.
Great blog, keep up the good work.
Have a nice day:-)
Tandava Thanks for this sensitive piece on the Stolen Treasures. Glad to know that The Sraswathi of the Bhoj Temple is still Extant.
FYI, the Temple where She was Consecrated has been taken over by the Muslims & made into a Mosque,though they open it up for the Hindus on VijayaDasami & Vasanta Panchami,Days when Saraswathi is worshipped Especially[court injunction]It is also among the Temples being asked back by Hindus from Muslims,the others being the Ayodhya,Mathura[Krishna Janmasthan] & Kashi -Viswanath’as temple[the original one.What is there now seems to have been rebuilt,later.].There used to be riots ,too,when they refused.But that is also laid at our door,as we shouldn’t be asking to worship in a Temple.I had thought that The Idol had been Broken down,totally.
It seems that this temple was built in BhojaRaja’s time[not sure when] & the Idol was of a magnetic material & that it floated above ground in a very precise way.
The Natrajas were definitely stolen for temples which did not realise they have to be under lock & Key.Now a days ,many temples put the Utsava Murthies in an Iron room. are taken out only on special occassions.
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