KalingaTimes Correspondent
Puri(Odisha), July 2: With the Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath scheduled to be held on Friday, well-known sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik carved an impressive sand sculpture of the deity on the sea beach here on Wednesday.

Pattnaik created a chariot and an image of Lord Jagannath surrounded by devotees belonging to all religions as it is only on the Rath Yatra day that Lord Jagannath, along with bother Lord Balabhadra, and sister Devi Subhadra come out of the main temple giving a chance to people of all religions to have a

glance of him.

Pattnaik created the five ft high sand sculpture by using colour sand. It took him 5 hours to carve the sculpture using 10 tonnes of sand. The students of his sand art institute helped him.

“Rath Yatra is an occasion when devotees, irrespective of religion, caste, class and creed get an opportunity to see the presiding deities. Devotees even touch and pull the chariots. Through my art, I want to spread the message of universal brotherhood that how Lord Jagannath clinches people from all religions on a single day and occasion,” said Pattnaik.