Kathmandu, Feb. 13 -- Saraswati Puja on 14 February also marks the first day of spring on Nepal's lunar calendar. Schools hold special functions, students sing hymns, and children go to temples of the goddess of knowledge to write their first letters in chalk on the walls.

The belief that goddess Saraswati resides in books, musical instruments, even laptops and other devices for intellectual pursuit prevails to this day.

The most exquisitely carved figure of Saraswati in all of Nepal was in a temple in Pharping, 20km south of Kathmandu. On 11 November 1984 devotees were shocked to see that their goddess had been beheaded.

This was in the 1980s when idol theft in Kathmandu Valley was rampant. International traffickers in collusion with...