When he was young, he made ‘gharonda’ (house) from wet sand during the rainy season after class. He never imagined that one day he would make ‘moort-roop’ (statues) of heroes from metal cast against national emblems. He was not discouraged by his parents to play in the wet mud. Her father, a school teacher, asked her to join an art class.
Later, the boy grew up studying art and took a degree in Sculpture Art from the University of Rajasthan. He is now a full -fledged sculptor. This is the story of 45-year-old Laxman Vyas, who hails from Nohar in the Hanumangarh district of Rajashthan.
Laxman has sculpted more than 300 objects including statues, various types of emblems placed on columns and on the rooftops of government buildings over the past 20 years that at least inhabit the Pink City of Jaipur.
“I started sculpting making a statue of Shyam Singh Atari placed on the Wagah Border. Then I made a 57 foot Maharana Pratap statue in Udaipur, the Elephant statues at Delhi Airport, the statues of Jawahar Lal Nehru, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhaya and Indira Gandhi are some of my own creations, ”he recalled.
The National Emblem, known as ‘Ashok Stambh’ designed and sculpted and placed on top of the new Parliament building in Delhi was made by Pink City sculptor Laxman and his team of artists.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who unveiled the national emblem for the new Parliament building greeted the young actor Laxman and tapped him at a function at the venue of an event yesterday in Delhi for his impressive creation just inside of five months.
“PM Modiji called me specially, greeted me and said it was an amazing job you did,” he told SNS.
According to Laxman, the four-sided Ashok Stambh (lion images) is 6.5 meters high, weighs approximately 9620 kg (nine tones, 620 kg) of metal, and is mainly composed of copper and mixed with lata. The large carved emblem has four lions mounted on the back on a circular abacus. Frieze of abacus decorated with sculptures of an elephant, a horse, a bull, and a lion separated by a dharma chakra.
“I got a contract to start it in February 2022, and I was able to produce 150 pieces with the hard work of 40 junior artists under my guidance. All the pieces brought in a truck were assembled by a gas welder on site, ”he said.
When asked about its value, the artist refused to disclose it and said he was asked not to disclose the price of the artwork. However, during contact with him, this correspondent may have learned that the cost amounted to crores of rupees which included his labor for art and sculpture.
“I have a passion and love for making sculpture. One of my sons followed in my footsteps while the other was still in school,” he said.
