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National Awardee Gulabi Meenakari artisan from Varanasi lends his midas touch to Ram temple replica

Kashi-based, national award-winning artist Kunj Bihari has crafted a 2.5 kilograms Gulabi Meenakari (Pink Enamelling) replica of Ram Mandir with gold, silver, and diamonds. Among many such tokens created by artists from various regions, this dazzling replica of Ram Mandir Measuring 12 inches in height, eight inches in width, and 12 inches in length was crafted in 108 days. Gulabi Meenakari (Pink Enameling) is an art of decorating a metal surface by using mineral substances on it.

The model features gold, nearly one and a half kilograms of silver, and an uncut diamond placed on the spire. The temple replica consists of 108 parts.

Bihari claimed that this is the first time that someone has crafted a replica of the Ram Temple in the indigenous enamelling of Gulabi Meenakari. Gulabi Meenakari involves the use of gold and silver. The replica of the temple also includes a golden idol of Lord Ram. According to him, the model could only take form owing to some surreptitious or divine interpretation as earlier when he tried to craft the temple structure he flunked in giving it an exact shape. Few months back Prime Minister and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had also presented the exquisite Gulabi Meenakari gifts to foreign dignitaries to showcase the exceptional skills of Varanasi's artisans to the world.