After a 1000-year-old Lord Ganesh idol, situated atop Dholkal hill in the Naxalite-plagued Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh went missing and was found 13,000 feet down the hill in pieces, many lost their hearts.
This Lord Ganesh statue was frequented by many devotees and was a sign of normalcy in the otherwise Naxalite bastion.
Tagged as the Dholkal Ganesh, the pieces of the statue is now getting examined by the restoration experts and the administration in now in consultation with the local residents to reinstate the statue!
Santosh K Misra, Secretary Information & Public Relations, Culture & Tourism, Government of Chhattisgarh, told the people that the police suspects that Naxals could be behind this dirty job as many people had started coming to this area and were thus disturbing their designs.
Restoration experts and the administration in consultation with the local residents is starting the Restoration work of #DholkalGanesh
— Santosh K Misra, IAS (@misra_ias) January 28, 2017
His words have brought relief to the people who used to frequent the area just to see this Lord Ganesh statue!
हजारों फीट ऊँचाई पर स्थापित गणेश प्रतिमा वास्तुकला की दृष्टि से अत्यंत कलात्मक है #dholkalproject pic.twitter.com/i2153RC4Gh
— Project Dholkal (@DholkalProject) January 31, 2017
Was there an attempt to steal the historic Lord Ganesh statue?
Unlikely, as the Lord Ganesh statue is said to be at least 4-feet and weighs quite a lot. Then it was situated on a steep vertical hill where it has stayed for many centuries and weathered many storms. Hence, it was obvious that the stealing part could be a little far-fetched.
Those who wanted a closeup image of 1000+ yrs old Dholkal Ganesh Statue in Chhattisgarh Dantewada #DholkalProject pic.twitter.com/QsNgS8YRLc
— Project Dholkal (@DholkalProject) January 30, 2017
There are no roads either here, and people have to walk with difficulty as the terrain is difficult, so considering these factors the ‘stealing’ angle is, again, being ruled out.
The idol is an archeological marvel and was made during the time of Nagvanshi dynasty in the 9th or 10th century and placed on a ‘dhol’ shaped mountain range. This is at least 450 km away from Raipur and is a dense forest frequented by the Naxalites.
