While police suspect a crime, they also said that the temple priest had found cracks in the idol a few days ago.
An idol of the goddess Dakshina Kali was found broken and its parts torn down at the Doddagaddavalli Chatushkuta Temple in Hassan in Karnataka on Friday morning. The broken idol has led police to suspect foul play, and they say they could be treasure hunters. The temple dates from 1113 CE, built by the Hoysalas. It was one of many proposed to become UNESCO world heritage sites.
In the early hours of Friday, Venkatesh, the temple priest who lives in front of the temple, noticed that the idol was broken. He went to the temple at 6.45am on Friday to light the lamps and noticed that the idol was broken.
The idol was broken into many pieces and the torso was split in two. According to the police, the priest took photographs and placed the torso in position.
The idol is made of black granite and Hassan SP Srinivas Gowda said that the priest, who lives with his family, closed the doors of the temple on Thursday night and went home. “He and his brother Balakrishna claim that they did not hear any noise at night. The idol is very heavy and would have made noise when it broke, ”he added.
He said that the investigation is ongoing and that it could be an act of vandalism, as many believe that there is a treasure hidden within the idols at the Hoysala temples. “But it could also be a lack of adequate security and negligence on the part of caregivers,” he added.
Srinivas Gowda said the temple lacked adequate security and is one of 12 Hassan monuments that is being preserved by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). He said that the temple priest had complained to ASI and Taluk officials in Belur that the idol had supposedly been shaking and was unstable.
According to The Hindu, ASI officials said Venkatesh had pointed to cracks in the idol and that it was, in fact, shaking. The SP said that the ASI and the Muzrai Department should deploy security guards to ensure that such an incident does not happen again.
