Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The illicit trade in cultural property, including theft, fraud, looting, and trafficking, is one of the largest and most challenging criminal activities globally. Implemented on an international scale, the illegal trade in stolen art and antiquities is worth an estimated $6 billion annually. Although general art crime is often the third highest grossing crime (after money laundering and terrorist activities), it is confronted with only a fraction of the resources. Furthermore, national and international efforts to contain the practice struggle to be successful and the trade continues to be a growing problem. This paper explores the disturbing situation in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu, India, where looters and smugglers employ trickery to steal medieval-period bronze statues of Hindu deities from temples and to sell them to eager collectors and museums abroad, leaving police officers to rely on innovative ways to apprehend the thieves, and villagers—bereft of their gods—to find artful solutions to worship. In this account of thievery, museum purchase, detective work, and religious practice, the Hindu deity is a transforming embodiment of the divine, black-market commodity, an art piece, and criminal evidence, underscoring the multiplicity, adaptability, and inventiveness involved in Hinduism, its divinities, and their representations.