Arun Yogiraj’s sculpture to feature five-year-old Lord Ram armed with a bow and arrow

Ayodhya/Mysuru: City-based sculptor Arun Yogiraj will carve out a standing idol of Ram Lalla that will be placed inside the under-construction Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Over 60 percent of the construction of Ram Temple has been completed and as the sun enters Makar Rashi in 2024, Lord Ram will take a seat in the Temple’s original sanctum sanctorum. The idol that will be carved by Arun Yogiraj will also find a place at the sanctum sanctorum, reports from Ayodhya said.

Yogiraj had carved the 12-feet 3D statue of Adi Guru Shankaracharya in sitting posture at the Kedarnath Temple in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand and the 30-feet statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose installed at India Gate under the grand canopy behind the erstwhile Amar Jawan Jyoti.

Udupi Pejawar Mutt Seer Sri Vishwaprasanna Tirtha Swamiji, who is also a member of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Ayodhya, told reporters in Ayodhya yesterday that Arun Yogiraj will use black stones (Krishna Shila) from Karnataka to carve out the standing idol of 5-year-old Ram Lalla in the form of an archer.

“The Ram Lalla idol will be five-foot tall and will feature a 5-year-old Ram Lalla armed with a bow and arrow, which will be in a standing posture,” the Seer said. The decision to hand over the sculpting task to Arun was taken at a two-day meeting of the Trust. The meeting concluded yesterday.

Confirming the development to Star of Mysore this morning, Arun Yogiraj said that black schist or Krishna Shile will be used to carve the idol. “The finer details, design, height and form of the Ram Lalla idol are yet to be finalised but it is confirmed that I will carve the idol,” Arun said, without divulging many details.

Arun said that he was in transit from Ayodhya and had landed at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru today at noon. “I will come to Mysuru today and will plan out the sculpture as I have been tasked with by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and in consultation with the Trust,” he added.

Meanwhile, reports from Ayodhya said that a large black stone that was dispatched from Nellikaru village in Karkala last month had arrived in Ayodhya.

Several sculptures displayed in different parts of the country and abroad have been crafted using Karkala’s Nellikaru stones. In the past, various rocks from other locations in the country and abroad were transported to Ayodhya for carving idols.

Champat Rai, General Secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust said that a team comprising prominent religious figures, geologists, sculptors, experts in Hindu religious texts and rock engineers carried out extensive technical and religious assessments on these rocks.