YOU can always rely on a statue to provoke debate.
Not just the old ones that commemorate those with dark and deplorable pasts whose legacies are now condemned.
There’s always a risk setting anything in stone.
Or bronze.
The Indian government has been forced to defend the look of a statue of the national emblem on top of the new parliament building amid criticism over its appearance.
Adapted from an ancient Indian sculpture, it was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week.
The 6.5m (21ft 3in)-tall bronze cast shows four Asiatic lions mounted back to back on a circular disc.
Why are the lions looking ferocious in the new sculpture?
— Rejimon Kuttappan (@rejitweets) July 12, 2022
The original lion sculpture ( in Saranath ) displays courage, confidence, and pride. Not aggressiveness. pic.twitter.com/RdfEMVE2Jt
Critics say the new lions look “ferocious” and stray from their original depiction.
Opposition leaders have also criticised the government, saying that the new depiction of the emblem – adapted from the Lion Capital of Ashoka, a sculpture that was on top of one of the several pillars erected by Emperor Ashoka during his reign in 250BC – was a “brazen insult to India’s national symbol”.
But a federal government minister dismissed the criticism, saying the statue was a “perfect replica” of the original “except for the size”.
“Sense of proportion and perspective. Beauty is famously regarded as lying in the eyes of the beholder. So is the case with calm and anger. The original Sarnath Emblem is 1.6-metre high whereas the emblem on the top of the new parliament building is huge at 6.5 metres,” Hardeep Singh Puri wrote on Twitter, posting photos comparing the original emblem and the new statue.
Sunil Deora, one of the two sculptors who created the statue, said that the perceived difference in the lion’s demeanour was because of the “scale and dimension” of the new emblem.
“If you look at the Sarnath Lion Capital from below, it will look the same as the parliament emblem does,” the 49-year-old sculptor told The Indian Express.
Prime Minister Modi had shared a video of the unveiling which showed the cast – weighing 9500kg (20,943 pounds) – on top of the central foyer of the new parliament building.
A senior government official called the installation of the emblem an “important milestone in the decolonisation” of the capital city.
But many social media users pointed out that the demeanour of the lions in the new cast differed significantly from the original depiction and that instead of looking “benevolent and regal”, they now “snarled”.
That’s the problem with the eyes of the beholder. Everyone sees things differently. Is that statue of Cristiano Ronaldo at Madeira airport really awful or actually an embodiment of true beauty?
My favourite terrible statue is of Andy Murray.
When you win China’s Shanghai Masters tennis tournament, it’s not just a nice cheque you get.
In 2010, organisers gifted the winner – who turned out to be Murray – a larger than-life-sized rendering of themselves as a Chinese warrior.
A Chinese warrior holding a tennis racket.
There’s a classic photo of Murray standing next to his giant statue trying not to grimace.
Nil points to love.
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