By Mohinder Verma
The exercise towards getting first ever elegant statue of Maharaja Hari Singh was started more than a year back after the eminent residents of City of Temples stressed the need to remember the former ruler in a befitting manner. Accordingly, official orders in this regard were issued and Jammu Municipal Corporation roped in noted sculptor, Ravinder Jamwal, to sculpt the statue of the last Dogra ruler of the State.
Since the second bridge on river Tawi had already been named after the Dogra ruler, it was decided to get the life size statue of Maharaja Hari Singh installed near a point where the flyover connects with bridge. A park, which has been constructed by the Jammu Development Authority near Fortune Inn Riviera Hotel, is also going to be named after Maharaja Hari Singh.
This statue is going to be the first in Jammu having height of 12 feet as all other statues of different personalities installed in different parts of the City of Temples are not more than 10 feet in height.
To ensure that sculpture matches the personality of Maharaja Hari Singh, the sculptor had to scan his numerous photographs available in local archives. But, he could not find any of them entirely different from those already in public domain.
Later, Ravinder Jamwal found it appropriate to approach none else than Dr Karan Singh, son of Maharaja Hari Singh, and visited his residence in Union Capital. The exercise of selecting altogether different photograph of last Dogra ruler came to an end when the noted sculptor selected a very attractive picture from the album of photographs taken during the marriage of Dr Karan Singh.
“I found the picture very unique and altogether different from all those available in archives so far and with the approval of Dr Karan Singh I started carving out the statue”, Jamwal said when contacted, adding “in this photograph, Maharaja Hari Singh is in walking posture with a kirch in his one hand”.
It took more than eight months to Rajinder Jamwal to complete the statue of Maharaja Hari Singh and the same is going to be unveiled tomorrow by Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Dr Karan Singh in the presence of huge gathering comprising Members of Parliament, Ministers, Legislators and prominent citizens.
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