Ram Lalla idol: ‘Shyam’ or ‘shwet’? Most trustees back Arun Yogiraj’s sculpture
Yogiraj of Mysuru used shyam shila or bluish-black stone to carve 51-inch idol
4 min read
Sculptor Arun Yogiraj, whose idol of Lord Rama has been selected for installation at the Shri Ram Janambhoomi in Ayodhya. (PTI Photo)Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi on January 1 said on social media that the idol of Ram Lalla carved by Mysuru-based sculptor Arun Yogiraj will be installed in Ayodhya. He may be right, but for now there’s an impasse which will be resolved soon.
While a majority of the 11 members of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust gave the highest rating to Yogiraj-sculpted “shyam rang” (dark coloured) Ram Lalla idol on December 22, the preference for a “shwet” (fair coloured) Ram by a senior trustee, resulted in an inconclusive meeting.
A source said, “The number one rating for the Yogiraj-sculpted idol will not change.” Another source said the final decision is likely to be announced by the Trust latest by Makar Sankranti i.e., January 14-15.
Three renowned sculptors from their respective fields were chosen to carve three idols depicting a five-year old 51-inch tall Ram Lalla (child Ram) in standing form. Two idols sculpted by Arun Yogiraj and Ganesh Bhatt have been carved in dark bluish-grey stone (referred to as “shyam shila”) derived from Karnataka, the third one by Satyanarayan Pandey and his family, is pure white, carved from makrana marble from Rajasthan.
A source in the Trust said about eight sculptors were invited from different parts of the country in May last year, of whom three agreed to work under specific conditions. The first condition was they would have to complete the work in Ayodhya, and the second was that only one of the three would be selected for consecration.
Arun Yogiraj comes from a family which has been sculpting idols for five generations — it worked once for the royal Mysuru family. He is popular for having carved the 30-foot statue of Subhas Chandra Bose, which is placed in the canopy behind Amar Jawan Jyoti near India Gate in New Delhi and also the 12-foot tall statue of Adi Shankaracharya in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand. In the past, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown appreciation for his work as well.
“ಎಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಮನೋ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಹನುಮನು”
ಅಯೋಧ್ಯೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಶ್ರೀರಾಮನ ಪ್ರಾಣ ಪ್ರತಿಷ್ಠಾಪನಾ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ವಿಗ್ರಹ ಆಯ್ಕೆ ಅಂತಿಮಗೊಂಡಿದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ನಾಡಿನ ಹೆಸರಾಂತ ಶಿಲ್ಪಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆಯ ಶ್ರೀ @yogiraj_arun ಅವರು ಕೆತ್ತಿರುವ ಶ್ರೀರಾಮನ ವಿಗ್ರಹ ಪುಣ್ಯಭೂಮಿ ಅಯೋಧ್ಯೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರತಿಷ್ಠಾಪನೆಗೊಳ್ಳಲಿದೆ. ರಾಮ ಹನುಮರ ಅವಿನಾಭಾವ ಸಂಬಂಧಕ್ಕೆ ಇದು… pic.twitter.com/VQdxAbQw3Q
— Pralhad Joshi (@JoshiPralhad) January 1, 2024
“Neither me nor my husband has got any official confirmation but we came to know from social media about the selection. My husband has been working in Ayodhya for the past six months rigorously,” Vijetha Arun, wife of Arun Yogiraj, told The Indian Express. The couple have two children, a 7-year old and an 18-month-old child.
The shwet Ram has been sculpted by Satyanarayan Pandey, who was assisted by his two sons, Prashant and Puneet. “It is a rare 10-foot slab of makrana marble without a single crack, which has been with our family for over 50 years. We now believe that it was meant to be used for Ram,” said Prashant Pandey.
The Pandey family closely studied children in the house in the 5-7 years age group and watched their moments. “The child form of Ram Lalla is rare. You can easily imagine laddu Gopal, the child form of Krishna, but whenever we think of Ram, we usually visualise him in warrior form with a bow in his hand. For the first time, this is Ram in his playing days, yet he is a suryavanshi and God, and should have expressions that represent the same. We undertook research in iconography and studied other references to carve the final idol,” said Puneet Pandey.
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