Khajuraho thru my Nikon

Ram V Sutar

I have been part of a shooting crew for the last one month in khajuraho and every morning when we travel from our hotel to our office, our car takes a turn around a very beautiful sculpture. Each day I find the sculpture more interesting.

So one Sunday, which is our break day, I ventured on my own and studied the sculpture carefully. I realised that beautiful sculpture was of an artist carving on a stone and the credit for that beautiful piece of work belonged to Mr. Ram V Sutar.

I am sure lot of people especially the young generation do not know who Ram V Sutar is. It makes interesting reading to know more the man and his work.

Ram Vanji Sutar was born in a poor carpenter family in village Gondur, district Dhulia of State Maharashtra in India. He was a child prodigy as an artist who soon got noticed by his guru Shri Shriram Krishna Joshi who was instrumental in him joining Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai (formerly Bombay).

Ram V Sutar always excelled in this institute and graduated with the Mayo Gold medal for modelling. Ram V Sutar has over the years mastered stone and marble sculpting but he is more passionate about casting in bronze and many of his famous works are in bronze.

He was also involved in the restoration work of the sculptures at Ajanta and Ellora, Aurangabad.

What amazes me is the uncanny perfection he achieves in proportions whenever he executes any of his works be it the Chambal Symbolic monument at the Gandhi Sagar Dam or the heroic size bust of Mahatma Gandhi.

Ram V Sutar has been a receipent of many prestigious awards notably the Padamshree conferred on him in 1999.

Khajuraho

When I got a chance to work with an UK crew on a television serial, I agreed instantly. Apart from the fact that I would be working with the best technicians from India and UK, one more thing which made me say yes to this project was - it was gonna be majorly shot in Khajuraho, a village in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, located in Chhatarpur District, about 385 miles (620 kilometres) southeast of Delhi, the capital city of India.
I had never been to Khajuraho before but heard so much about the place especially the temples and the erotic sculptors on the temples.
It is almost a month now that I am in Khajuraho and i am loving every moment. Work is hectic but challenging. But Khajuraho is a fascinating place. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous for their erotic sculpture.
They say there were originally over 80 Hindu temples, of which only 22 now stand in a reasonable state of preservation, scattered over an area of about 8 square miles.
The temples are a fine example of Indian architectural styles that have gained popularity all over India and abroad. They were rediscovered during the late 19th century and the jungles had taken a toll on some of the monuments. When I visited the temples, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the erotic sculptors one kept on hearing about was a misnomer. Yes, the temples do have some erotic carvings on the outer walls.
Local Old folks say for seeing the deity, one must leave his or her sexual desires outside the temple. Hence, these carvings but they constitute only 10% of the sexual themes. But there is more to Khajuraho if you honestly ask me.