Context
A 10th century stone idol of Goat Head Yogini that had been illegally removed from a temple in Lokhari village in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh is being returned to India.
- The stone idol had been stolen in the 1980s.
- The Goat head Yogini received at the High Commission on the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti has been dispatched to the Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi.
About
- The sculpture is of a goat headed Yogini that originally belonged to a group of stone deities in sandstone and installed in Lokhari temple.
- Lokhari is a small village situated in the Mau sub-division in Banda district of Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh.
- Yoginis are a group of powerful female divinities associated with the Tantrik mode of worship.
- They are worshipped as a group, often 64 and are believed to possess infinite powers.
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The idol was also studied by Indian scholar Vidya Dahejia on behalf of the National Museum in New Delhi in 1986. It was later published under the title, Yogini Cult, and Temples: A Tantrik Tradition.
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