Divinity in Pink: Gauri Shankar

Gauri Shankar is the traditional depiction of Shiva and Parvati as householders. Here Shiva assumes the form of Shankar who dispenses the duties of a householder. They are also seen as the ideal couple. Bring home this amazing piece of art to your home and together with it all the luck of a great household.
Aravali brings to you a unique form of stone carving from Odisha. The temple cities of Bhubaneshwar and Puri have sustained sculptors since ancient times. The royal patronage to skilled artists who carved the magnificent temples of Odisha, created a community of artists who were expert sculptors. The descendants of these artists today carve beautiful pieces, inspired by Hindu mythology.
The artists use pink sandstone, found along the Easter Ghats for their craft. The stone is easier to work with but at the same time fragile enough to lead to frequent breaking during the process. Thus, only a highly skilled artisan can work with pink soapstone. The sculptures are carved out of solid blocks of the stone using basic tools like a hammer and a chisel. The fragile nature of the stone requires patience and calculated pressure to be applied through the hammer. There are no formulae to calculate the amount of force to be applies to each stroke. Only years of practice and dedication of the artist makes them masters of the craft. A small sculpture of seven to eight inches takes anything between two to three weeks to finish by a master craftsman.