ODISHA sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a sculpture of Lord Shiva adorned with 23,436 rudraksha beads on Puri beach on the occasion of Mahashivaratri. He erected the nine-foot-high and 18-ft-wide installation on Monday, with the message “we pray for peace” amid the war in Ukraine. Pattnaik said, he used 12 tonnes of sand to complete the artwork in six hours. He used rudraksha beads on his installation for the first time. “A war is going on. We pray to Lord Shiva for global peace,” he said in a statement.

 

Every time Sudarsan tries to do something new on the sand. Last time, he used vegetables, red roses etc. So far, he has participated in more than 60 international sand sculpture competitions and festivals around world and won many prizes for country. Though his art, Sudarsan try to send social messages like global peace, global warming, stop terrorism, stop HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 etc.