There has been a steady stream of visitors to the residence of sculptor Arun Yogiraj in Mysuru since Tuesday morning (January 2) to congratulate his family members on the reports in a section of media that the idol of Lord Rama sculpted by Mr. Yogiraj has been reportedly selected for the installation at the temple in Ayodhya which is readying for the inauguration on January 22.
Though an official announcement on the idol from the temple trust is awaited, people in Mysuru have expressed delight and hoped that the idol chiselled by Arun Yogiraj, whose works are well-known and received national recognition, was selected for the installation at the temple.
Not many were aware here that Mr. Yogiraj is one of the three sculptors who had been assigned the task of sculpting the idol for the Ayodhya temple.
While thanking the visitors for their joy, the family members expressed happiness about the appreciation Mr. Yogiraj received for his work.
Mr. Yogiraj is presently camping in Ayodhya where he carved the idol.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, through a social media post on Monday, stated that the idol sculpted by Mr. Yogiraj has been chosen for installation at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. He even stated in his post that it would not be wrong to say that it was a service from Karnataka, the land of Hanuma, to Sri Rama.
Mr. Yogiraj’s mother Saraswathi told The Hindu that a lot of people are visiting us to congratulate the family based on the media reports on the choice of the idol sculpted by her son for the installation at the Ayodhya temple. “We feel honoured. However, my son told me that an official announcement on the idol is awaited. I spoke to my son who is camping in Ayodhya. We are proud of Arun’s work,” she said.
She added, “Me and my family pray that the idol sculpted by Arun gets selected for the installation at the temple.”
Mr. Yogiraj is one of the three sculptors who have chiselled the idols and one of them will be installed at the temple. A formal announcement on this is being awaited. “My son and two other sculptors have sculpted the idols. One of them will be chosen for the installation. I pray and hope that the idol sculpted by my son was chosen,” the sculptor’s mother said.
An MBA from the University of Mysore, Mr. Yogiraj quit his job in a private company to continue the family tradition of sculpting. Mr. Yogiraj had sculpted the statue of Adi Shankaracharya which has been installed at Kedarnath. He also sculpted the idol of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose which has been installed in New Delhi.
