The idol of Ram Lalla sculpted on Krishna Shila by renowned Mysuru-based sculptor Arun Yogiraj, has been selected as Shri Vigraha of Bhagwan Shri Ramlalla Sarkar.
According to the General Secretary of the temple, Champat Rai, a new statue of Ram Lalla sculpted by Arun Yogiraj has been selected for installation at the Ram temple.
Yogiraj, along with two other skilled artisans from the country, Ganesh Bhatt from Bengaluru and Satya Narayan Pandey from Rajasthan, were entrusted with the responsibility of crafting statues depicting the child form of Lord Ram.
Yogiraj has used the unique Krishna Shila stone from Bujjegoudanapura village in HD Kote taluk of Mysuru district in Karnataka to sculpt the 51-inch idol along with his team.
The Mysuru-based sculptor has been working on the Ram Lalla statues for 12 hours a day for the last six to seven months in Ayodhya to finish it.
Who is Arun Yogiraj?
Arun Yogiraj, who has a lineage of five generations into sculpture, has also been carving since the age of 11 years. His father Yogiraj was also a skilled sculptor, while his grandfather Basavanna Shilpi was patronized by the King of Mysore.
Before coming full-time into sculpture, Arun Yogiraj studied MBA and also worked for some time in a private company, according to his website. However, he could not escape the skills of the sculpting profession and continued his carving career since 2008.
A 30-feet statue of Subhash Chandra Bose, installed behind the Amar Jawan Jyoti behind the India Gate, was also crafted by Arun. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2022 unveiled the statue at the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Yogiraj has also carved other statues including a 12 feet Adi Shankaracharya statue in Kedarnath, 21 feet Hanuman statue in Mysuru’s Chunchanakatte and 15 feet BR Ambedkar statue in Mysuru.
What is Krishna Shila Stone?
Most of the idols of Gods and Goddesses in temples across South India have been carved from Nellikaru rocks. These stones are referred as Krishna Shilas due to their identical colour as that of Lord Krishna.
Good quality Krishna Shila is available in abundance in HD Kote and Mysuru. The stone can be easily carved into sculptors due to its soft nature which consists mostly of lac. The unique property of the stone is that it is soft when freshly bought from the quarries, but becomes harder after 2-3 years.
The block of stone is first marked as per the design to be carved and it is shaped using chisels of different sizes to obtain the intricate patterns. Then the stone is carved into idols as rough and intricate carvings can be done using small number of tools of different sizes such as hammer, chisels-for fine detailed carving.
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