Jagannath Rath Yatra: Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates sculptures at Puri beach

Puri (Odisha) [India], July 4 (ANI): On the auspicious occasion of Jagannath Rath Yatra, world-renowned Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created three chariots of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra at Puri beach.
Sudarsan paid tribute to first sand artist of the world Balaram Dash who had constructed three huge chariots in the 14th century which is believed to impress the lord.
Today in order to mark the celebrations of the Rath Yatra, the sand artist created three idols and chariots of the lords along with a sand sculpture of Balaram with the help of 10 tons of sand which has become a centre of attraction for all the tourists and devotees.
Talking about his initiative, Pattnaik said, "This initiative of constructing sand sculptures of Shree Jagannath is a kind of ritual now which was started by Balaram Dash in the 14th century. It is believed that during then Balaram had created a huge idol of Lord Jagannath at this beach which stopped the chariot of the lord and impressed the devotees a lot. All the devotees who are coming here from all across the world to seek blessings from are paying a visit to the beach to have a glance at the sand sculptures."
Meanwhile, Sudarsan has represented India in 60 international Sand Sculpture championship and festivals all around the world and has won 27 championship prizes for the country. Apart from these, he is creating social awareness in the national and international arena on world peace, global warming, terrorism, HIV AIDS, to save endangered wildlife species through his sand art for which he is always covered in global media. (ANI)