Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik on Friday won the Golden Sand Master award at an international championship in Russia.
The event — International Sand Sculpture Championship — was organised from July 4-12 in St Petersburg at the iconic Peter and Paul Fortress. The world’s 21 master sculptors participated in the event.
“I am indeed very happy to have won the Golden Sand Master award with a gold medal at the International Sand Sculpture Championship/festival here. It is a matter of immense pride that my sand art won praise for the country,” he told PTI from St. Petersburg.
Pattnaik had created a 12-foot sculpture depicting a chariot and Lord Jagannath with his devotee Balaram Das, the famous Odia poet of the 14th century.
“I had a dream to create a sand sculpture of Mahaprabhu Jagannath and founder of sand art Balaram Das on foreign land. The world-famous Rath Yatra is going on in Puri. So, with the blessings of Mahaprabhu I have created a sand chariot of Mahaprabhu Jagannath during this festival,” he said.
Pattnaik said there are many legends associated with Balaram Das.
“It is said that once during ‘Rath Yatra’, he tried to climb a chariot of Lord Jagannath to offer prayers. When denied, Das came to a beach and carved Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra on the golden sand and started worshipping. His devotion was so strong that the deities vanished from the chariot and appeared at the place where Das was worshipping,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Indian embassy in Moscow congratulated Pattnaik on the achievement.
“Congratulations to Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik for winning gold medal at International Sand Sculpture Championship at St. Petersburg,” the official handle of the Embassy of India said in a post on X.
Pattnaik, a Padma Shri awardee, has participated in more than 65 international sand art championships and festivals around the world and won accolades for the country. His sand arts try to convey different social messages.
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