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Arniko Lives!
When deciding to whom the singular honor of carving the first ever life size portrait of ex King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev should go to, there was little doubt in anyone's mind that Dharma Raj Shakya would be the chosen one. The six and a half feet statue in white marble weighs almost two tons and took four months to be completed. Right now it stands tall in the courtyard of his premises, Arniko Stone Carving in Lalitpur Industrial Estate. Gazing at it with a satisfied look, the thirty two year old stone carver informs, "I believe it will be installed in Nepalganj." (It never was, since Nepal became a republic soon afterwards).
A Statue in his Likeness
He has another first to his credit. His own life size statue stands equally tall in the most unlikely of places, the White Stupa Temple in Beijing, China. Hard to believe? Well, to be perfectly honest, although he was the model for that particular figure, it wasn't meant to be his portrait. The fact of the matter was that when the Chinese authorities wanted to honor the Nepalese master craftsman Arniko for his significant contributions to their country, they looked around to find a suitable candidate on whom to model their dedication. They came to know that Dharma Raj Shakya of Patan was, besides being a talented sculptor himself, amazingly similar in appearance to the legendary master from the past. "So that was how I got to have a statue of myself built in China!" jokes the slim and doe eyed Dharma Raj. "While there, I also displayed my talents at an exhibition."
The Dharma Shakya Lions
Dharma Raj Shakya is also famed for his two nine feet lions in Hanuman Dhoka in Basantpur, Kathmandu. The massive lions were made in 1997 as part of the preparations for the ambitious Visit Nepal Year in 1998. "Keshav Sthapit was the mayor then and actually I was assigned to make nine lions altogether but due to financial scandals in official circles, I finally got to make only two." However, even just two were enough to display to anybody caring to clarify doubts about his artistry, that Dharma Raj Shakya was probably the foremost sculptor of the country. In fact the lions are now renowned as the ‘Dharma Raj Shakya Lions', and will undoubtedly live on through the ages as fitting mementos of the sculptor, who even though barely in his thirties, has made a name for himself as the Michelangelo of Nepal.
But, "I haven't been to Rome," he admits ruefully. And, "I haven't participated in any international competitions either." Born on the 28th of July 1973 to Nunem and Dhan Raj Shakya, Dharma Raj did his Bachelor in Fine Arts from Fine Art Campus in 1998 and later on, MA in Culture from Tribhuvan University. However, he has been carving stone figures since the time he was around seventeen years old and won the gold medal in 1992 in both the Reyukai Poster Competition as well as in the National Handicrafts Competition. In 1994 too, he received the first prize in the National Art Exhibition, the National Handicraft Competition as well as the Reyukai Poster Competition. The young artist was honored by the state in 2000 when the Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu was conferred on him. Among the host of awards and honors Dharma Raj has accumulated in his career, the Arniko Youth Art Award conferred by the Rastriya Yuwa Sewa Kosh in 2002 holds special meaning for him. "Maybe because it is named after Arniko," he admits.
Business Unusual
Dharma Raj Shakya is proud to inform that an ancestor, Abhay Raj Shakya, made the Mahaboudha Vihar, also known as the nine thousand Buddha Temple, in Patan, in the 16th century. His own father, Nunem Raj, is an assistant professor at the Lalitkala Campus and has been teaching sculpture there since 1978. Three younger brothers help Dharma Raj out in his workshop while at the same time studying in colleges, and a younger sister is studying in school. Dharma Raj was married to Archana Bajracharya a year ago and today they have a month old daughter. "I still have to decide on a name for her," he smiles. No doubt a son would have been named Arniko!
Dharma Raj Shakya believes that working in stone is one of the hardest of artistic professions and in the old days, stone carving wasn't a profession to be especially proud of. "Stone carvers were called ‘Lokarmis' and looked down upon, but now it has become a respectable vocation." He also is of the opinion that this business requires relatively low investment in monetary terms and it is actually the effort and artistry that is the major investment. He works mostly on limestone which is available locally and costs little. Some work requires the use of marble stone that is imported from India and which obviously costs more. Much of his work consists of idol figures for places of worship within the country, and some for residential and commercial establishments. As for business abroad, he informs, "Until four-five years ago, exports were on the rise and we exported mainly to places like Japan, Taiwan and India. Since then however, there has been a sharp decline." He has done a couple of fountains for some local connoisseurs including industrialist Padam Jyoti, architect Ujjwal Man Shakya and hotelier Rajesh Tuladhar. Dharma Raj is also proud of the Chaityas and Garuds he made for Hyatt Regency.
Three Thousand and Counting
Besides these, the sculptor claims to have carved more than three thousand figures and they vary in size from tiny figurines to very large statues. The largest statue he has carved has been the nineteen by fifteen feet limestone Budhanilkantha Narayan located in the Chandeswari temple in Banepa. Other noteworthy stone-craft done by Dharma Raj include a 6 feet Saraswati idol in Ilam, a 7 feet Ganesh at Hotel Fulbari, Pokhara, a 9 feet Buddha as well as a 10 feet one in Swayambhu, a 7 .5 feet Rimpoche Padma Sambhav in Nagarjun, as well as all the stone work done for the Himalayan Pavilion during Expo 2000 in Germany.
He has had his work exhibited in Japan, Bangladesh, Germany, China, Qatar and England. He is the vice president of Artists Society of Nepal as well as of Friend's Trust and executive member of Handicraft Association, Nepal Fine Art Council and Nepal Heritage Society. No small honors, these. As mentioned before, he has won numerous accolades in many different occasions. And he was chosen as the sculptor to carve the first portrait of King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev. Remarkable achievements for anybody in one life one would think. And more so if one is to realize that Dharma Raj Shakya is only 32 years old. So one would be forgiven for thinking that maybe, just maybe, it is no coincidence that the young sculptor should resemble the legendary Arniko himself. Truly, Arniko lives!
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