Stone Sculptures: Odisha stone sculptures adorn 200-yr-old Bihar temple | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: Famed stone sculptures from Odisha will adorn a 200-year-old Shiva temple being rebuilt at Belsandi Deodhi village in Bihar’s Samastipur district. Ace sculptor Sudarshan Swain and his team from the heritage village of Raghurajpur in Puri district are carrying out the stone sculpting work.
Work on khondalite stones began on the banks of the Bhargavi river near Raghurajpur for the temple beside the Burhi Gandak on the ancestral land of Rajeev Kumar Singh, retired executive director (HR) of ONGC.“The temple belonged to my forefathers and required to be rebuilt. After much research and travel, I decided that Odisha stone art should find a place in the temple,” said Singh.
He interacted with terracotta artisans in Bishnupur, West Bengal and artisans in Uttar Pradesh, and even travelled to Karnataka to examine temple art there. He spoke about his dream project during a meeting with the family of theatre personality Ananta Mohapatra. They directed him to Swain in Raghurajpur.
Swain’s work impressed Singh. After initial deliberations, the project got underway in April this year. “I wanted something true to tradition and soothing to the eyes,” said Singh, explaining the reason behind zeroing in on Swain and deciding upon Odisha’s temple architecture.
Stone sculptures will cover all four outer walls of the 30-ft-high temple, whose core structure will be built with bricks. Inner walls will have Odisha’s stone sculptures as well as Bihar’s Madhubani paintings. “The four outer walls will have sculptures of Nataraj, Ardhanageswar, Nabagrahas, Nandi-Bhrungi and Devi Ganga and Yamuna,” said Swain.
A Bhagabati temple is already present on Singh family’s property. The Shiva temple is being rebuilt to prevent waterlogging when the Burhi Gandak is in spate. The plinth has been raised by 4.5 ft to prevent waterlogging. “I don’t want to rush Swain,” said Singh.
Swain will visit Samastipur to install the sculptures in the temple and Singh plans to organise a two-day inaugural function. “After I spoke to Singh, I felt it is the right opportunity for me to propagate Odisha’s culture. It is the duty of artisans to spread our art and culture far and wide through our works,” said Swain, and went back to chiselling the stones.
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