[Myanmar] Ancient Stolen Buddha Returned To Burma After 25 Years

It could be the screenplay for the next Indiana Jones movie. A statue made for King Kyanzittha in the 11th century and snatched from Pagan when the military crushed pro-democracy movements in 1988 has been returned to Burma. The statue was rescued from the auction block in the US and sent to Paris. Richard Cooler, the former head of the Burma Studies department at Illinois University, has now returned the statue to Pagan. Cooler said the statue “symbolizes the Buddha’s first and most important sermon … in which he shared his discovery of the path to Nirvana.â€