Six years ago, Sarath Babu, a third-generation businessman from Hyderabad chanced upon a 700-year-old log of wood in Myanmar. Being in the teak business for nearly four decades—he heads the Anuradha Timbers International—Babu had developed an eye for the best logs, which are usually repurposed for making mega yachts. “I saw a single piece of wood that weighed over seven tonnes and was 20 ft long. I wanted to save it since future generations won’t ever see such magnificent pieces anymore. I wanted to turn the wood into art,” he says.
To convert his artistic vision into reality, he reached out to artist Giridhar Gowd in 2020 to create a sketch for the log with only one stipulation: it should be an interpretation of Indian mythology. It was an easy task for the 58-year-old, who hails from Vadlamudi village in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, and is reputed for reinterpreting scenes from the epics. Gowd created four designs for Babu. The one which caught the businessman’s eye was the depiction of the Anantha Seshasayana Sri Maha Vishnu from the Bhagavad Gita. It features Vishnu in a reclining position on the hood of the divine serpent, Nagaraj, as 84 deities pay tribute to him.
Then the pandemic was at its peak and the logistics of transporting the log to India needed some work. Babu hired a team of sculptors who started the initial carving in Myanmar. This June, former Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the sculpture for public viewing. It is presently on show at Babu’s office in Bowenpally, Hyderabad.
It was not an easy job, though. Babu had to petition the Myanmar parliament for approval to bring the wood to India since the country had passed a rule banning the export of big logs. One-and-a-half years of intense negotiation followed before an exception was made for Babu on the grounds that he wanted to transform the log into a work of art and not use it commercially.
Elaborating on what makes the log so special, Babu explains, “The wooden logs from Myanmar contain no sap, have a moisture content of less than 8 per cent and possess a natural oil that makes them highly durable.
Many temples in South East Asia, which are exposed to tropical weather, have used Burmese wood for centuries.” In 2022, the log was transported to India by sea to Chennai. It took two cranes to instal it in Babu’s lumberyard. Forty traditional sculptors from Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu were hired to work on it. They spent over 80,000 man-hours on making the sculpture, which is over 21 ft wide and 8.5 ft high.
It is almost as if Gowd had a divine vision upon setting eyes on the mammoth log. “I noticed
a natural dip in the middle which lent itself to the reclining posture of Vishnu. I examined hundreds of images and decided on this one because it was ideal for the scale,” says the artist, who drew hundreds of images of deities on 60 inches and 19.5 inches long pieces of paper. He has also brought out the minute of design elements from the weaves of the god’s garments to headgear and jewellery.
The sculptor’s deep knowledge of mythology is evident in the depiction of figures that ring Vishnu, whether navagrahas or celestial beings. “Wood is the toughest medium to work on since it is extremely sensitive. Once a part is chipped off, it cannot be reworked,” says Babu, whose firm is making over 400 doors for the upcoming Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The entrepreneur is still to decide on the sculpture’s future location but is sure of one thing. “I have no plans to sell it,” he says. God is in the details, and in Myanmar, Vishnu’s devotees found the blueprint of divine design.