Devotees light earthern lamps during Ganga 'aarti' at Dashashmedh Ghat, ahead of the foundation laying ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, in Varanasi.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mysuru: While preparations for inauguration of Ayodhya Ram Temple is going brisk, Mysuru-based Arun Yogiraj Shilpi completed the work of statue of 'Ram Lalla' which is likely to be installed at the temple four days before the event.
Arun was one among the three sculptors from the country, including G L Bhat from Bengaluru and Sathyanarayan Pandey from Rajasthan, who were given the work to sculpt the statues of Ram Lalla.
Speaking to DH, Arun said, "It took six months to complete the statue. It is 51 inches tall from foot to forehead. The entire statue is over eight feet tall and three-and-half feet wide including the 'Prabhavali'. It is the statue of Lord Ram as a five-year-old child, holding a bow and arrow. One of the three statues would be chosen for final installation at the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya," he said.
If this statue is finalised, it would be the third one of Arun to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Earlier, statue of Sri Adishankaracharya installed at Kedarnath and statue of Subash Chandra Bose installed at India Gate or Kartavya Path in Delhi, were inaugurated by the PM.
Arun is one among the 2,000 dignitaries who have been invited for the inauguration of the Ayodhya Ram Temple on January 22, 2024.
Meanwhile, Arun also informed that he has received a work order from the Department of Justice to come up with a statue of B R Ambedkar to be installed in the Jaisalmer house in Delhi. He has already started working on it, and he has been asked to complete the work by February end.
The statue is likely to be inaugurated by Union Home minister Amit Shah on April 14 to mark 133rd birth Anniversary of B R Ambedkar, he said.
A fifth generation sculptor, 40-year-old Arun, who has done MBA, had quit his corporate job to continue the tradition of sculpting statues in 2008 and has come up with more than 1,000 statues. He inherited the art of sculpture from his forefathers.