India's peace gift for Myanmar: 16-foot Buddha statue

TNN | Oct 19, 2012, 01.16AM IST      

NEW DELHI: A Buddha statue being sculpted at a small workshop in Ghitorni has a special significance: it is soon going to be India's gift of 'peace' to Myanmar.
The 16 feet, chunar stone statue inspired by a 5th-century Gupta period statue in Sarnath has been carved out with great labour and care, so much so that it looks almost alive. It will be shipped to Myanmar next week and installed at the Shwedagon Pagoda there; it will be on display during the International Buddhist Conference in December.

This is not the first time that the Ghitorni workshop has made a gift for the ministry of external affairs; they had earlier made similar huge Buddha sculptures for China and Sri Lanka. In 2010, a similar statue was inaugurated at the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, China. That was an effort by the Indian government to enhance the Buddhist ties with China. As part of it, a Buddhist shrine based on the Sanchi Stupa was also made by Indian artisans within the temple premises.

In 2011, another 16 feet replica of a Sarnath Buddha idol was presented by the Indian government to Sri Lanka and was installed at the entrance of the International Buddhist Museum in Sri Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth) in Kandy. The installation of the Idol commemorated the 2,600th year of enlightenment of Lord Buddha.

The owner of the workshop, D K Nag, is a patron of handicrafts and sculptures and has been studying architecture. There is hardly any room for error in sculpting.

The artisan who takes the responsibility of carving Buddha's face is Shyam Kumar from Madhubani district in Bihar. "It took me 15 days to make the face. I used to look at the photos and try to replicate the expression," he says. Artisans here have also sculpted replicas of many other iconic ancient sculptures like a 16-armed Ganesha from Khajuraho, a Tara sculpture from Pala dynasty and a Vajra Tara with three faces.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had already gifted a smaller version of the Sarnath Buddha statue to Myanmar during his visit to Yangon in May, said a senior MEA official.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Indias-peace-gift-for-Myanmar-16-foot-Buddha-statue/articleshow/16870871.cms