Artist questions claim on unicorn idol

Udupi, June 16: Artist Purushotham Adve has questioned the statement of T. Murgeshi, Lecturer in the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology at MSRS College, Shirva, and folklore expert S.A. Krishnayya about an idol of mythical unicorn found at Kalya near Nitte in Karkala taluk of Udupi district.

The story about the idol had appeared in the media a couple of days ago.

Mr. Adve told presspersons here on Wednesday that the sweeping statement that the idol “is the only one of its kind found in the country so far” was misleading.

He wanted to know on what basis Mr. Murgeshi and Mr. Krishnayya had made such a statement. They had not given any archaeological proof to substantiate their claim, he added.

Another contention made by them was that the idol was a combination of elephant, bull, and horse (“Hayagajanandi” in Kannada). Both had said that the right forelimb of the idol was designed like an elephant leg.

The right hind limb looked like a bull's leg. The idol had a horse face and that it looked like a horse on a first glance, but on closer examination it was a composition of different animals, they had said.

This contention was wrong. The idol was a horse and not a composition of different animals. The idol was sculpted in the folk style. Mr. Murgeshi and Mr. Krishnayya had said that the horse had a broken horn. But this was wrong.

“It is not a horn but a decorative element (used while sculpting)”, he said.

Mr. Adve produced a brass sculpture of a horse with a horn and photographs of other horses with a horn to substantiate his argument.

He said although he was not an archaeologist, he had enough knowledge about sculptures. He would not challenge the period when the idol was sculpted.

“But it is definitely not the only one of its kind in the country. It is simply an idol of a horse belonging to an ancient period found at a 'Brahma Sthana' at Kalya,” Mr. Adve said.

“Such sculptures of horses can be seen at the Heritage Village in Manipal and are there in my personal collection as well,” Mr. Adve added.