Moodabidri
is a small town 37 km northeast of the city of Mangalore, in
Karnataka state, India. Because of widely grown bamboo crop here in
ancient days, this place got named as Moodabidri. During 14th–16th
centuries period, this town emerged as a center of Jain (Jainism is
one of the popular religions of India) religion, culture, art and
architecture. As many as 18 Jain temples, known as Basadis, were
constructed during this period. The most famous from these temples
are Guru basadi, Tribhuvana Tilaka Chudamani Basadi and Ammanavara
Basadi temples. Guru Basadi is one of the earliest Jain monuments in
Moodabidri and is also called as the Hale Basadi and Siddantha
Basadi. It is built of stone, the exterior walls of the Basadi are
covered with copper. A stone idol of Parshwanatha, about 3.5 metres
tall, is installed in the sanctum of this Basadi, which also houses
rare Jain palm leaf manuscripts of 12th century A.D. known as
‘Dhavala texts.' This black granite image of Lord Parshwanatha in
‘kayotsarga’ posture was installed here in year 714 by a Jain
ascetic. In addition, 64 nos. of Navratna idols of Tirthankaras and
the Dhavalas are preserved in the temple.
In the
wee hours of 5th
July 2013, 20 miniature idols were stolen from the Siddantha Darshan
block of Guru Basadi on the Jain Math premises. The idols, made of
precious stones, were three to four inches in height. Thieves
reportedly broke open a window of the Siddhantha Darshana Block using
gas-cutters. Within a month, Mangalore police managed to nab 4
suspects, including prime suspect Santosh Das, his wife Diptimayee
Mohanty, her father Digambar Mohanty and jeweller Rajaji alias Subash
Sancheti from Odisha all of whom were thought to be the thieves. They
also managed to arrest one Sandeep Sancheti, a resident of
Chhattisgarh town in central India. The prime acused had confessed to
the police that he had handed over 7 idols to this Sandeep Sancheti,.
Who runs a jewelery shop in Chhattisgarh town. Police also found
evidence that Santosh Das had visited the jewelery shop. Police had
also managed to recover from the suspects, three idols intact and
gold ingots done from five gold idols. However there was no trace of
remaining idols. They had just disappeared in thin air.
This
week, Mangalore's Police Commissioner Manish Kharbikar received a
post parcel sent on 2nd
November by speed post. On opening of the parcel by the police, they
were astonished to see 12 idols from Guru Basadi temple, neatly
packed inside the parcel. Police commissioner says: “This is the
first time that we have received stolen property in a parcel.”
Police soon called Jain Basadi representatives for identification of
the stolen goods. They visited the police station and confirmed that
all the missing idol were there with one idol damaged in transit. The
police however have refused to reveal either the name of the person
or the place from where the parcel has came and said that they are
collecting information and would soon find out, who had sent the
parcel. A place of dispatch has been mentioned on the parcel but it
was actually dispatched from a different place.
Guru Basadi temple, where the theft took place
However,
Mystery is still far from over. Police Commissioner Mr. Kharbikar
says that the number of idols received by him, were more than the
number of idols that were reported to have been stolen on 5th
July. This means that whosoever reported the theft, had willfully
reported a smaller number of idols as stolen, indicating a clear
insider help for the thieves. Police investigation is still
continuing.
8th
November 2013
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