Mysuru to get statue of ex-CM Devaraj Urs

Mysuru: The government has given administrative approval for installing the statue of former chief minister Devaraj Urs, in front of the new DC office complex at Siddarthanagar in Mysuru.

It was during Urs' tenure as chief minister 50 years ago that Mysore state was renamed as Karnataka. 

The Department of Kannada and Culture has even released Rs 92 lakh for the statue project. The statue will be sculpted by Surya Prakash, elder brother of Arun Yogiraj, who sculpted the statue of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya. 

Surya Prakash told DH, “the statue will be sculpted in Krishna shile found in a village in HD Kote taluk. It will be 12-foot tall, installed on a 8-ft pedestal. It will be ready in a few months as they plan to instal it on the birth anniversary of Urs, on August 20 this year,” he said. 

22 yrs experience 

The 46-year-old Surya Prakash, who holds a degree in Criminology, Psychology and English literature, has 22 years of experience in the field of sculpture art. He has sculpted more than 1,000 statues and some of them include those of Mahatma Gandhi installed at GKVK campus in Bengaluru, goddess Parvathi at Parvathi Betta in Hassan district, Lord Venkateshwara at Yelandur and Kuvempu statue installed at Kumbarkoppal. 

A fifth generation sculptor, Surya Prakash too has inherited the art of sculpture from his late father B S Yogiraj Shilpi.

Founder president of Devaraj Urs Pratime Prathishtana Samiti, Zakir Hussain, said during 2018-2019, the Samiti submitted a proposal for the installation of Devaraj Urs statue in Mysuru.

In July 2021, the backward classes development department submitted the proposal to the government, to come up with the statue at a cost of Rs 92 lakh.