Photographic evidence is stronger than anything else. This is proven by the recent restitution in the community of Dolakha, where two stolen statues of Akash Bhairav, known locally as Hāthwo Dyo, were returned to their ancestral home.

The story of their disappearance began decades ago. On 22 Falgun 2050, and again on 24 Falgun 2051, the two statues were stolen from the ancestral home of the Nakchhe Pradhan family in Dolakha. Although police reports were filed at the District Police Office in Dolakha and at Hanuman Dhoka in Kathmandu, the cases went cold. For nearly three decades, the statues remained in silence, their whereabouts unknown to the family and the community.

The turning point came on 20 Bhadra 2074, during the festival of Indra Jatra, when a local resident, Anil Chandra Shrestha, posted two photographs of the Hāthwo Dyo on Facebook. He captioned the post simply: “We can only see our Hāthwo Dyo in photos.”

The post remained largely unnoticed for five years. Then, in Bhadra 2079, the journalist Balkrishna Pasa wrote an article about the missing statues for Bāpijhyālā Media, using Mr Shrestha’s archival photographs. The article caught the attention of the advocacy group Lost Arts of Nepal. By tracing the images back to Mr Shrestha, the group began an investigation that quickly yielded results: within days, they located one statue at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York and the other at the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas.

On 2 Ashwin 2079, Lost Arts of Nepal made the findings public.

The next day, the journalist Devendra Bhattarai published the story in Kantipur Daily under the headline: “Lost Heritage of Dolakha: In Europe and America.”

Then the journey followed, with many people joining hands to bring them back. Yagya Kumar Pradhan and Anil visited the Department of Archaeology to file a formal complaint. The relevant officials were not there. They found Sanjay Adhikari, Secretary of the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign, and asked him to carry the process forward. He filed the complaint through official channels and took on the role of central coordinator for the repatriation effort.

On 4 Kartik 2079, Sanjay Adhikari, Yagya, and Anil sat together for a Zoom meeting with representatives of the New York Attorney General’s office. They met again on the 21st of Mangsir, this time with six representatives from that office.

In Magh 2079, archaeology officer Sarita Subedi travelled to Dolakha with the help of Shantkrishna Shrestha to photograph the inscription on the remaining ghānti, the neck piece still in Dolakha, as physical proof of the statues’ origin. The Department of Archaeology visited the ancestral home twice more to assess the custodial space where the statues would be kept upon their return.

The New York Attorney General’s office executed seizure orders against both museums. The statues were confiscated.

On 18 Mangsir 2080, the Attorney General’s office formally handed the statues over to the Consulate General of Nepal in New York. The Consulate then searched for an organisation that could help bring them home. After fifteen to twenty days, they contacted Vijayaman Singh, President of Newa Guthi New York, and Secretary Premgopal Maharjan. Newa Guthi New York agreed to cover the transport costs themselves, coordinated directly with the Department of Archaeology, and brought the two statues home to Dolakha.

On 17 Magh 2080, the Department of Archaeology held a press conference in Kathmandu to announce that the statues had arrived in Nepal. Yagya, Upendra Pradhan, and Anil travelled from Dolakha to attend.

From 18 Magh, the statues were placed on display at the National Museum of Nepal in Chhauni.

And then began the final phase. Yagya and Anil visited the Department of Archaeology dozens of times over the following years, asking, then urging, then pleading for the statues to be released to Dolakha.

On 4 Ashadh 2083, after nearly four years of effort, and thirty-three years after they were taken hostage, the two Hāthwo Dyo came home.

They are back in Dolakha. They are back where they belong.

This would not have happened without a photograph kept alive on social media for five years. It would not have happened without a journalist who thought the story was worth telling. It would not have happened without Lost Arts of Nepal and the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign, who navigated every step of the legal process from Kathmandu to the New York courts with patience and persistence. It would not have happened without Sarita Subedi at the Department of Archaeology, Hillary Chassey at the New York Attorney General’s office, or Vijayaman Singh and Prem Maharjan of Newa Guthi New York, who gave their own money and time to bring the statues onto the plane.

The timeline listed and recorded by Anil Chandra Shrestha.

The 1980s were a sorrowful decade in Kathmandu’s history, marking the beginning of the loss of countless sacred sites that vanished from the valley. Viharas, stone spouts, temples, sanctums, monasteries, and shrines witnessed their living heritage stolen, wounding locals’ centuries-old faith between deities and the communities that worshipped them daily.

Among these losses was the Akshobhya Buddha, a 15th-century stone statue from Nhu Chhen Baha in Ombahal, Kathmandu, stolen sometime in the 1980s. The sculpture eventually surfaced in the collection of Tibet House USA and, after decades of absence, was repatriated to Nepal in March 2022. Upon its return, the statue was temporarily housed in the repatriation room of the National Museum at Chhauni.

The earliest known documentation of the statue in its original setting comes from renowned art researcher Ulrich von Schroeder, who photographed it in situ in 1976 CE. The image was later published in his seminal work Nepalese Stone Sculptures, Volume 2, as Plate №256B. The statue bears an inscription in Sanskrit (ऊँ नम श्री ३ अक्षभ्याय। शाक्यभिक्षु श्री सर्वानन्द…….), transliterated as Om Namo Sri Akshobhyaya. Shakyabhikshu Sri Sarvananda…, identifying both the deity and its devoted patron.

In Nepal, heritage is revered. For the people of Nhu Chhen Baha, the loss of their Akshobhya Buddha was deeply painful. Yet the community creates a replica, allowing their faith and ritual to continue even in the deity’s absence.

On the auspicious occasion of the 2570th Buddha Jayanti, the day commemorating the birth of Sakyamuni Buddha in Lumbini, the original Akshobhya Buddha was finally reinstated in its rightful shrine. The reinstatement was made possible through the initiative of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, in coordination with the Ward №23 office. The Nhu Chhen Baha Kwapadya Guthi family, custodians of the shrine, expressed profound joy and gratitude as they witnessed their deity return home.

Thanks to Lost Arts of Nepal and Prof. Dr. Erin Thompson, Art Crime Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, for their continous support in provenance research and repatriation.