Ram idol gifted to PM Modi sculpted by Bengaluru artisan

The idol was presented to PM Modi by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Pic/ IANS Twitter

A city-based sculptor has chiselled the wooden idol of Lord Ram which was presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Ram temple foundation stone-laying ceremony in Ayodhya. "Yes, Ramamurthy Achar has sculpted the idol," his son Jayanth Achar told IANS on Thursday. Achar, 60, is a fifth generation sculptor and lives in Kengeri in the city.

He chose teak wood to sculpt the Sri Kodanda Rama idol at his workshop in Channapatna, spending a few months on the project. Of the three idols he made, a 3-foot-long idol of Kodanda Rama was presented to Modi by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday. The other two idols he made included a 1.5 ft high Kodanda Rama idol and another one on the twin sons of Lord Ram - Lav and Kush.

When he sculpted the idols, Achar imagined Ram to be a 35 to 40-year-old man and was inspired by the Kakatiya and Chola style of sculpting. He also took cues from the Hoysala style and Karnataka's Belur and Halebid styles, including Kerala wood carving fashion.

From a mélange of these styles, Achar sculpted the idols.

He took up idol work after an official from the Ayodhya Research Centre, Ministry of Culture in the government of Uttar Pradesh called him up and asked for the idols to be made.

One of Achar's earlier statues is already on display at a museum in Ayodhya.

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