Bhopal: The majestic ‘Parrot Lady’, a 12th century stone sculpture of a woman adorned in various ornaments conversing with a parrot, is all set to return to its original abode in Khajuraho, a tourist hub of Madhya Pradesh known for its temples decorated with erotic art.
This three-feet-long exquisitely carved sculpture has been retrieved in Canada in 2015 by the local government agency dealing with trafficked antiquities from a Canadian art collector and was later handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by his Canadian counterpart.
“The art piece will start for home in a month. The newly built museum of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at Khajuraho is ready to display of the exquisite art piece,” an ASI spokesperson told this newspaper here on Monday. The journey of the Parrot Lady to Canada still remained a mystery.
Earlier, D.N. Dimri ASI director (antiquity) through phone from Delhi had said, “There is no report of theft of the sculpture from the Khajuraho temples. But, the architectural style and the material (sandstone) of the artifact suggests that the sculpture belonged to Khajuraho temples.”
“We are still in dark about passage of the art piece from Khajuraho to Canada. All we know is that the statue was trafficked from Delhi to Toronto and then to Ottawa in Canada in 2011”, he said.
Some historians are of the view that the ‘Parrot Lady’ may be the queen of Khajuraho, the majestic ‘Abhisarika” or cupid-struck lady, always engaged in conversation with her pet parrot.
