Culture
Here's All About Arun Yogiraj: The Sculptor Of The Ramlalla Idol At Ayodhya Mandir
Arun Yogiraj with PM Narendra Modi and a smaller version of the Netaji statue at Kartavyapath.
The face of the murti of Ramlalla that would be installed in the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya on 22 January was revealed today.
The murti, made by sculptor Arun Yogiraj from Mysuru, depicts Lord Ram as a five-year-old child in a standing posture holding a bow and arrow.
When asked about his vision for the murti, Yogiraj had said, “The idol should be of a child, who is divine too, because it is the statue of the incarnation of God. People who look at the statue should feel the divinity.”
Yogiraj is not your typical sculptor, though he has a family background in the art.
Having excelled in his studies, Arun hadn’t fathomed that he would continue the saga with stones, and had obtained an MBA from Mysuru University in 2008, and joined a private company.
But the prophesy of his grandfather was destined to come true, he says. “Although I was a toddler, he had said that I would be the one picking up the tools and be the one to carry forward his legacy and bring glory to his name” remembers Arun, saying "it is finally coming true after almost 37 years".
Arun quit his job, which he says "was not his cup of tea", picked up his tools and has been a full time sculptor since 2008.
His father, Yogiraj Shilpi, was among the eight children of B Basavanna Shilpi, a Mysuru palace artist and Yogiraj, one among his 17 grandchildren. His grandfather had worked on the Gayatri Temple, the Bhuvaneshwari Temple and similar tasks commissioned by the palace.
The idol of Kaveri on the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam was also a creation of his grandfather.
Basavanna Shilpi was among the first students of Shilpa Sri Siddhalinga Swami, sculptor to the royal family of Mysuru, who among others has also designed the domes of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.
Yogiraj had earlier created the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose that has been installed at the India Gate.
Earlier in 2021, he sculpted the statue of Adi Shankaracharya which has been installed at Shri Kedarnath dham in Uttarakhand.
Among his other well known works are the Mysuru’s famous 14.5-feet white marble stone sculpture of the Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar in Mysore, and the life-size White marble sculpture of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
His greatest work though, awaits consecration on the 22nd.
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