Puri, Sep 17 (IANS): On the occasion of the 72nd birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a sand sculpture of Modi with installation of 1,213 mud tea cups at Puri beach in Odisha.

Sudarsan has created a 5 ft high sand sculpture of the Prime Minister with a message "Happy Birthday Modi Ji" at the beach. He has used about five tonnes of sand in this sculpture. Pattnaik has created different sand sculptures of Modi ji on his birthdays.

"We have used these mud tea cups to show the journey of PM Modi's from a tea seller to Pradhan sevak of India, with millions of blessings," said the sand artist.

Recently, to pay tribute to Britain's longest-serving monarch Queen Elizabeth II, Pattnaik had created a sand sculpture with 740 real roses at the Puri beach.

So far, the Padma Shri awardee sand artist has represented India in more than 60 international sand art championships around the World and won many prizes for the country. He is always trying to create awareness through his sand art. During Covid-19, his awareness through sand arts was appreciated by the WHO.