Glass fibre has become the new cost effective and light weight medium for sculptures of new temples being constructed.
Earlier temples were constructed with stones on which sculptures and carvings were made. With time temples became concrete structures where stone sculptures or idols of concrete were used for outer and inner decoration. Recently several temples under construction in Berhampur and other parts of Ganjam district have started to use ‘glass fibre’ sculptures to decorate.
A ‘Budhi Thakurani’ temple under construction at Lochapada road of the city now boasts of a large idol of goddess Durga made of glass fibre. It has been constructed by Dhruva Kumar Layak and his team, who preferred glass fibre as it could be created at a small cost of Rs.30,000. “Had the same sculpture been constructed with concrete it would have cost around Rs.3 lakh and much higher if in stone,” said Mr. Layak.
According to Mr. Layak, these glass fibre sculptures are easy to install and are more durable than concrete ones.
Mr. Layak is involved in constructing similar religious sculptures for several other new temples including the large ones of lions and elephants that are put in front of temples.
Rajkumar Behera, another glass fibre artist is also getting good income from these sculptures.
