Lakulisha Murti (Idol) Stolen from Almora Jageshwar Temple Returned after 60 years

Lakulisha Murti (Idol) worshipped in the Almora Jageshwar Temple was stolen in the 1960s. The murti was recently returned temple by the Archeology Survey of India. Lakulisha is a manifestation of Shiva.

India Today reports 

The 9th-10th century stone sculpture was recovered from the US in the late 90s by the Archaeological Survey of India's antiquity section. But the idol, which is 52 cm in height and 32 cm in width, has been brought back home only now. 

The stolen idol was part of a cluster of 124 large and small stone temples dating back to 9th to 13th Century in the late 60s. After it was stolen from Almora's Jageshwar temple, which is an ASI-protected monument since 1915, the sculpture reportedly ended up in New York's Metropolitan Museum. The museum agreed to return three sculptures - idols of Lord Lakulisha from Almora, Lord Vishnu from Madhya Pradesh and Lord Buddha from Bihar to India in the late 90s. 

But now the idol is back to where it rightfully belongs and the local residents are rejoicing. The local staff of the Archaeological Survey of India had recently visited their headquarters in New Delhi to take possession of the rare Lord Lakulisha idol. 

The ASI museum in-charge at Jageshwar, Manoj Joshi, said, "We will be displaying the Lord Lakulisha sculpture at our site museum soon. We collected and brought the idol to Jageshwar on October 4."