The recently inaugurated memorial for police personnel killed in the line of duty elicits powerful emotions, says Sujata Prasad
The project for creation of a memorial for police personnel killed in the line of duty, hanging fire for more than a decade was finally completed and unveiled by the Prime Minister on October 12, the National Police Commemoration Day. Dedicated to the nation, the National Police Memorial has been erected on 6.12 acres of land at the northern end of Shantipath. With nicely laid out green spaces, a sombre central stone epitaph, an underground museum and a poignant wall of remembrance in latticed sandstone, the memorial is a profound aesthetic and political statement. What is also attracting immense attention is a 30 feet tall, abstract modern sculpture, made of a single piece of granite rock.
All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking, wrote Nietzsche. Adwaita Gadanayak’s visionary concept of what needed to take shape at the memorial seems certainly the result of pensive walks at the National Gallery of Modern Art, an institution that he heads. His ‘eureka moment’ came about a year ago, soon after he was directed by the Ministry of Culture to begin work on a sculpture symbolising the ennobling ideal of the supreme sacrifice. “Sculpting requires abstract and spatial thinking”, remarks Gadanayak. “I knew our sculpture had to take the form of a compelling and spiritually charged incantation capable of measuring itself against the tranquil, meditative setting of the memorial”.
The stone was procured from the Khammam district of Telangana. In reply to what made him think of a stone sculpture, Gadanayak says, “A stone knows it all. It is part of the most ancient phenomena in the universe, result of the slow crystallization of magma below the earth’s surface. Given the significance of the memorial, I knew that the medium had to be stone. It was not easy finding the stone we needed. We looked at coloured granite at several places in western Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Andhra before reaching Khammam. What immediately drew our attention to this stone was its allusive, mysterious, dark tonality and a viscerality that was hard to define. At that point the stone weighed 300 tons. Transporting it without causing cracks and fissures was a major challenge. It was loaded in a 120 feet lorry especially created for the purpose. At many places roads had to be widened. When the stone finally arrived at the memorial, It felt like a miracle”.
Ravelling and unravelling the potential of the stone with a hammer and chisel, acclaimed artist and sculptor, Nivedita Mishra was pitched against daunting odds. “We had to finish what we were doing within a month. The immutability of the stone was intimidating. Would it take the geometrical shape that Adwaita had conceptualised ? I and my team of 40 artisans started dialoguing with the stone. The level of engagement was amazing. We ate together, lived together and dialogued with the stone together. And look what happened. An inert object acquired a spiritual quality embracing the panchtatvas or the five elements: sky, air, water, fire and earth. We managed to create a 60-feet long river-like fluidity at the base of the sculpture with evocation of fire, a perfect antidote to the immutability of the stone”.
The sculpture that can be seen from all around the surrounding area elicits powerful emotions, echoing the barrenness of absence. The radiating halo of a ball-like object nestling in the middle of the vertical stretch evokes the immortal soul. Equally evocative is the silhouette of a soldier on the reverse side. Visitors find themselves moved to tears while facing it. “Most of the stone-work created during pre-history has survived”, says Gadanayak. “This sculpture too will survive the ravages of time. What could be a better tribute to our unsung heroes.”
(The author is a former civil servant and an art columnist.)
