Kathmandu, June 3 -- Even though smuggled Nepali religious objects are starting to be returned to the country from museums and collectors in the West, gilded figures stolen from a temple in Patan 40 years ago are going up for auction in Paris this week.

The five gilded copper-bronze images ofNrityanath,Mahalaxmi,Chamunda,Shiva Gana (Bhairab), andPanchmukhi Hanuman (Hanu Bhairab) that were among 12 on a 16th century frieze at the south door of the Mulchok of the Taleju Bhavani Temple in Patan.

The objects which were individually wrenched out of thetoranain the 1970s and 1980s are now going under the gavel at the Art Bouddhiste et Hindou de l'Himalaya in Bonhams, Paris from 1-10 June through Himalayan Art Online. The asking price is from ...