A stone statue of Buddhist goddess Tara Parvati, housed permanently at a museum at Yale University's Art Gallery in Connecticut, USA, is to be returned to Nepal.
The return of the statue to Nepal was announced after an agreement was made between the Nepali Consulate General in New York and Yale University Art Gallery.
The agreement was signed by Charge d'Affaires Bishnu Prasad Gautam on behalf of Nepal.
The argillite stone is said to have been made around the 9th or 10th centuries. The statue was acquired by Yale University Gallery in 2015 by a donor. The statue was researched separately in 2021 by the Department of Archeology of Nepal and the Yale University Art Collection.
At the signing ceremony, Nepal's Charg d'Affaires Bishnu Prasad Gautam thanked the gallery for researching the artwork and returning it to Nepal.
Stephanie Wiles, Director of the Yale University Art Gallery, described the study of the statue and the discussions about returning it to the Government of Nepal as fruitful.
Yale University Art Gallery, in coordination with the Nepalese Consulate General and the Department of Archeology, will return the sculpture to Nepal. Both the Nepalese Consulate General in New York and Yale University said they would like to work closely together for the protection and promotion of cultural heritage.
The idol was placed and was worshipped daily in the Bir Bhadreshwar Mahadev temple before it disappeared. It had disappeared from Golmadhi, Bhaktapur in 1975.
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