Maha Shivaratri: Odisha sand artist creates Lord Shiva sculpture adorned with 23,000 rudraksha beads

Bhubaneswar, Mar 01: 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 Maha Shivaratri.

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. Earlier, Pattnaik had used vegetables and red roses to give a unique touch to his sand artworks.