Idol discovered in Kalya is that of a horse, says artist

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Jun 16: Refuting the theory that the idol discovered in Kalya is a combination of bull, elephant, and horse and also rubbishing the claim that it is among the rarest unicorn idols discovered in the country, artist Purushottam Adve said the part of the idol that is taken to be the horn is just part of a decorative adornment.

 

Addressing reporters at a press conference yesterday, Adve said that S. A. Krishnaiah, historian, and folklore expert, and Prof. T. Murugeshi, the professor of history and archaeology at MSRS College Shirva, claim that the sculpture they had discovered was a combination of three animals. Refuting this claim, the artist said that the sculpture cannot be said to be that of an elephant just because it has thick legs. Similarly, its tail cannot be considered part of a bull while its face cannot be considered that of a horse, he said.

The artist maintained that the sculpture is that of a horse alone and not a combination of 3 different animals. He said that the sculptor could have carved the legs of the icon slightly thicker than usual and that what is considered to be the horn is not really a horn, but an adornment.

He also said that sculpture is not the rarest in the country because there are many such sculptures in his collection as well as in the collection of Vijayanath Shenoy of Manipal Heritage.