The University of Oxford will not repatriate a medieval statue as no Indian museums have claimed the artefact.

Indian officials in London recently requested that the 11th-century sculpture of Shiva would be returned from Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum.

Yet it will remain in the English city as no Indian institution would claim the stature nor could any provide proof that it had been stolen from them to start with.

The Telegraph states that return deals “require a clear final destination for repatriated artefacts” which is typically a “museum of the temple or archaeological site they were taken from”.

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Radcliffe Camera at the University of Oxford.Radcliffe Camera at the University of Oxford. (Image: Newsquest)

It adds that the Council of the University of Oxford rejected a formal claim from the High Commission of India to return the statue.

This was because there was “no evidence to support the work’s previous ownership or its possible theft”.

Oxford has previously repatriated statues such as in June of this year when it was agreed that a 500-year-old sculpture of the Hindu holy man Tirumankai Alvar would be returned.

This item which was alleged to have been stolen from a southern Indian temple did have an intended final location, the temple of Sri Soundararaja Perumal, Tamil Nadu.

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A 14th-century sword was among the first repatriated objects last year when the Glasgow Life museum group in Scotland signed off on the return.

The Oxford Mail has approached the University of Oxford and the Ashmolean Museum for an updated comment on this.

It comes after Oxford University handed back a sculpture on display at the museum to India earlier this year.

The statue depicting Tirumankai Alvar, had been claimed by the Indian High Commission.

Tirumankai Alvar was a Tamil poet and saint from south India.

It is believed the bronze may have been looted from an Indian temple.

A statement for the Ashmolean said at the time: “On March 11 the council of the University of Oxford supported a claim from the Indian High Commission for the return of a 16th-century bronze sculpture of saint Tirumankai Alvar from the Ashmolean Museum.

"This decision will now be submitted to the Charity Commission for approval.”

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