"Reveal Your Face Through My Hands," Prayed Sculptor Before Starting Ram Idol

"'Lord, let your face be revealed through my hands, my work,' he had prayed," Arun Yogiraj's wife Vijetha Yogiraj had told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

The four-foot idol of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya has been chosen, and while there is no official statement from the temple trust about which sculptor's work will be installed, Union minister Pralhad Joshi has let the cat out of the bag. The sculptor in question is Arun Yogiraj, whose mega projects tower over vas swathes of the country -- the 12-foot statue of Adi Shankaracharya in Uttarakhand's Kedarnath, the 21-feet Hanuman statue in Mysore and the 30-foot statue of Subhas Chandra Bose that stands under the canopy behind Amar Jawan Jyoti at Delhi's India Gate.

Mr Yogiraj's wife Vijetha Yogiraj said when her husband is in the mood, he can work for 48 hours at a stretch. Asked about the Ram idol, she said he had started with a small prayer.

"'Lord, let your face be revealed through my hands, my work,' he had prayed," his wife told NDTV in an exclusive interview.