'Ram Lalla gave me the order, I just followed it': Yogiraj on making the idol

Arun Yogiraj, the Mysuru-based sculptor who crafted the idol of Ram Lalla, has been in the spotlight since revealing the infant Lord Ram's face at the temple in Ayodhya.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the 'Pran Pratishtha' as Lord Ram's homecoming happened after 500 years in Ayodhya on Monday.

As people marvel at the idol's remarkable features, particularly its eyes and the smile, Yogiraj shares insights into how he sculpted the murti and the challenges he faced.

"Mere lalla ne mujhe aadesh diya, maine follow kiya (Lord Ram gave me the order, and I just followed it)," Yogiraj told India Today TV in an interview.

Yogiraj described the last seven months as particularly challenging as he contemplated how to complete the idol. "I had to ensure that the idol adheres to the Shilpa Shashtra, representing a five-year-old form of Lord Ram, capturing the innocence of a child," he said,

The proportions of facial features (eyes, nose, chin, lips, cheeks, etc.) adhere to the Shilpa Shastra, the sacred scripture of the sculpting world.

The temple trust provided specific criteria for Arun Yogiraj to complete the idol:

• Smiling face
• Divine look
• 5-year-old swaroop (form)
• Prince/Yuvaraja look

"For the past two days, I have been delighted that people are loving Lord Ram's statue. Seeing people happy is more important than thinking my idol was picked. 'Ram Lalla's idol belongs to everyone; it's not just mine,' he said.

"Our family has been working as sculptors for the last 300 years, and I feel lucky that Lord Ram gave me this work.

"Last seven months, I spent with this very emotionally. I also have one son and a daughter. I only used to show the photo of the idol to my 7-year-old daughter and ask how he look like; she used to reply saying: 'bacche jaise hi hai appa (he looks like a kid, dad).'

He emphasised that just finishing the idol was not enough; he wanted everything to go perfectly. "Nirman hote samay alag thhe, sthaphit hone ke baad alag thhe. Mujhe laga ki ye mere kaam nahi hai. Ye to bahut alag dikhte hai. Bhagwan ne alag roop le liye hai (He said that the idol looked different at different states. After the Pran Pratishtha, Rama Lalla was looking completely different."

RAM LALLA'S SMILE AND HIS EYES

Discussing the mesmerising smile of Ram Lalla, Yogiraj pointed out that with stone, you have only one chance to work. "I had to spend a lot of time with kids, and I was disconnected from the outer world. I made a discipline and spent a long time with stone as well," Yogiraj said.

Yogiraj mentioned that he used to ask his friends about how good Ram Lalla's eyes were. "It is not easy to bring bhaav (emotion) from stone, and you have to spend a lot of time with him. So I decided I would be spending a lot of time with the stone, do my homework, study kids' features, and everything else happened due to Ram Lalla."

Yogiraj's wife, Vijetha, also told India Today TV that Yogiraj read human anatomy books to study facial and body features, which was the main guiding factor that made the Murthi look so real. "He went to schools to observe children and toddlers and deeply researched and observed how they smile," she said.

"While celebrating Diwali in Ayodhya, I got lucky and saw young children celebrating the festival... and from there on I had an image in mind. So you can say everything came from Lord Ram.

"I can finish any face on a stone in 2 hours... but here I was blank. But when I returned from the Diwali celebrations... I saw some pictures of the kids during the Alanakaran (ornamentation). I got good images of kids with proper lighting and great facial expressions."

THE MONKEY CONNECTION

Yogiraj also mentioned an interesting incident where, every day around 4-5 pm, a monkey used to come to his house's door.

"When, during the cold, we covered the gate, it used to come and bang on the door. I wasn't sure if it was the same monkey, but it used to come daily at the same time. I told Champat Rai, the general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, about it," he said.

THANKS AYODHYA

Yogiaj, on Wednesday, shared some images of Ram Lalla's idol and wrote: "Thank you Ayodhya."

Thank you Ayodhya 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/OXXKs1h5Ri — Arun Yogiraj (@yogiraj_arun) January 24, 2024