KOPPAL: A sculptor from Koppal is looking at carving a small idol of Lord Hanuman from pieces of the same block of stone meant for the Ram Lalla statue in Ayodhya.
Prakash Shilpi, the said sculptor, visited Mysuru and asked stone trader Srinivas to give him the leftover pieces of stone from what had been sent to Ayodhya. Now, the idol of Hanuman will be carved from the same stone as that of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya, and will be consecrated at Koppal’s Subbanachar Mutt soon.
It was on December 6, 2022, that Shilpi had initially met Srinivas to buy a stone block to carve out a Vijayadasa statue, but due to its small size, he returned empty-handed. Later, he learnt that the same stone was selected for the statue of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya.
Accordingly, Shilpi asked Srinivas to give him any remaining pieces from that specific large block of stone, which he could take home to Koppal and carve an idol of Hanuman from it. It may be noted here that Anjanadri in Koppal is believed to be the birthplace of Lord Hanuman, for whom there is a lot of reverence in the district. Since 2007, Shilpi has been making one idol of Hanuman a day. This time, he has decided to begin making the idol from Krishna Shile (black stone).
“Now, we have some leftover pieces of stone from what was sent to Ayodhya for making the Ram Lalla statue, which have behasought by Shilpi for the idol of Lord Hanuman,” Srinivas said.
“I am happy that the stone I had selected for the Vijayadasa statue was the one from which the statue of Lord Ram will be made for the temple in Ayodhya. I have got three stones, and I may make idols of both Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman,” Shilpi concluded.