Bengaluru sculptor’s symbolic squirrel statue to greet passengers at Ayodhya station

While the 2.5-tonne sculpture, crafted from Corten steel, is in transit to Ayodhya aboard a truck, the sculptor will travel to the city with a seven-member team on Thursday to assemble it before the consecration.

Bengaluru: Bengaluru-based sculptor Kalyan S Rathore has hewn a 15-foot statue of a squirrel that would be placed in the Ayodhya Dham Junction railway station's atrium.

Rathore’s contribution to the upcoming consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is blending well with the tale of the squirrel in Ramayana, which had collected pebbles during the building of the bridge to Lanka.

Legend has it that the pebbles that the squirrel collected helped fill the gaps between the large boulders that formed the bridge. Rama is said to have thanked the squirrel for his hard work and stroked his back, an explanation given for the dark stripes on the back of squirrels in South India.

While the 2.5-tonne sculpture, crafted from Corten steel, is in transit to Ayodhya aboard a truck, Rathore will travel to the city with a seven-member team on Thursday to assemble it before the consecration.

“It is a dream come true to have my work on display so close to the Ram temple,” Rathore told DH, noting that the sculpture symbolises the “potential of contemporary art”.

Rathore, whose installations grace airports, including the Bengaluru international airport’s Terminal 2, received a brief for the sculpture from an agency facilitating the project on behalf of the authorities.

“I wanted to rule out the norm and didn't want to display deities. I wanted to create something that was still connected to Ramayana to help people engage with it,” he said.

Crafted from weather-resistant Corten steel, the sculpture requires minimal maintenance and will develop a rust-like exterior due to exposure to moisture over time without corroding.

Artistic journey

Reflecting on his journey, Rathore, who lived just 300 feet away from the HAL Old Airport runway in Bengaluru during the 70s (his father was an aeronautical designer), highlighted his transition from an industrial designer to a sculptor over the past 15 years.

He dubs his work as a response to “cosmic intervention” to base it on biomimicry and fractal geometry.

“My goal is to show abstract ideas in a 3D form. I specialise in bringing seemingly diametrically opposite fields of science, mathematics and art together, with an engineering background,” he said.

Inspiration for the 52-year-old has come from the memories of listening to his father’s rendition of Ramayana where the ‘alilu seve’ (squirrel’s service) stood out.

“I want people, especially children, to take home the message that it doesn’t matter how little you can contribute as long as you contribute ... that's what matters,” he said.