It is a moment of bliss for the devotees of Ugratara temple in Guwahati who had their stolen divine artefact recovered by a team of Golaghat police on Tuesday evening, but little do people know that a goldsmith in Assam’s Golaghat deserves the credit for the recovery of the 17th century relic.
The discovery of the stolen ancient idol, worshipped by lakhs of devotees at the ancient Ugratara Devalaya located in city’s Jorpukhuri area, was initiated when an anonymous person approached a goldsmith in Golaghat district to sell a ‘piece of gold’.
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“The goldsmith, whose name is not divulged due to security reasons, looked at the artefact and suspected it to be part of some relic,” said a senior Assam police official on Wednesday.
“He refused to buy the artefact and, in turn, informed the police who later caught the person,” the police official added.
The police also mentioned that based on the goldsmith’s lead, the police team intensified the operation and arrested the gang.
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“The relic was recovered from a village in Nalbari district last night by a team of Golaghat police,” said the officer while adding that a delegation of the temple authorities including the priest have already identified the relic.
The idol was stolen on the night of November 15 last year from the temple. The idol is an ‘ashtadhatu’ idol (an alloy of gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, tin, iron and mercury). The temple authorities, however, have said that the value of the idol could not be ascertained.
Meanwhile, the recovery of the idol is no less a miracle for the devotees. Hundreds of devotees thronged the temple on Wednesday morning after the news of recovery of the idol spread in the city.
The temple authority was planning to install a new identical idol in place of the old one during a ceremony that was to be held on Thursday. The new idol, modelled on the original one, was cast at Santiniketan in West Bengal by city-based artist Robin Bor.
“I believe in the divine power. Every one of us here knew that ‘Mother Tara’ will return to the temple,” said Kailash Sarma, a member of the temple management committee referring to the recovered ancient idol of the temple.
“Even last night I prayed to ‘Mother’ pleading her to return as we were planning to install another idol in her absence. And today, she proved her power by deciding to return to the temple,” added Sarma.