Chennai: The Idol Wing of CID Tamilnadu has traced a 300-year-old Missing antique Tamil Bible in a London collection of King George III. The New Testament was translated by a Danish missionary, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, in 1715. Bartholomaeus came to Tamilnadu's Nagapattinam district in 1706 and set up a printing press. He published studies on the Tamil language on Indian religion and culture. He translated the Bible into Tamil and published it in 1715.
The Idol Wing noted that the antique was stolen from Saraswathi Mahal museum in Thanjavur by a group of foreigners in 2005. A police complaint was filed on October 10, 2005 at the Thanjavur West Police Station alleging the theft, which was later closed stating the artifact was not traceable. More than a decade later, on October 17, 2017, the authorities received a complaint from one E. Rajendran, with the latter claiming to know about the disappearance.
A team, headed by Idol Wing Director General K Jayanth Murali and comprising IG R Dhinakaran and SP B Ravi, intensified the probe subsequently. The team looked into the visitor's register during the function commemorating Ziegenbalg in 2005. Herein the police said they noted the group of foreigners, who had arrived for the functions.
"Several days of browsing multiple websites of various museums abroad, we stumbled upon the collection of George III which included thousands of printed books, manuscripts and pamphlets, most of which are rare," the Idol Wing said. "The antiquarian Bible that was available on the website of the King's collection tallied with the picture of the stolen Bible and this was corroborated.
The Idol Wing hopes to retrieve the bible and restore it to the Saraswathi Mahal library under the UNESCO treaty soon," Jayanth Murali said. After Ziegenbalg's death in 1719, another missionary named Schwartz handed over the New Testament to Rajah Serfoji, the ruler of Thanjavur. After the establishment of Tamil Nadu Government, the book was featured in the Saraswati Mahal library. (Agency inputs)
