UNI
New Delhi, Feb 11: Indian sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik had created a statue of Lord Buddha in Sapporo, Japan to spread the message of peace in the world during the 34th International Snow Festival.
Patnaik bagged a medal for participating in the festival which concluded on Friday.
Hong Kong, Bangkok and Canada awarded the three top prizes among the 17 countries, said Pattnaik on his arrival here today.
Pattnaik, who specializes in sand art, ventured into snow art for the first time in a festival.
He created a 10-foot big statue assisted by his student Bulu Mohanty in 48 hours spreading over four days.
The year 2007 is being celebrated as India-Japan friendship year and he created the Buddha statue to attract more tourists to our country, said Pattnaik.
It was a different experience to work with snow in sub-zero temperature wearing gloves, he said, adding that he had been working with sand in warm climate.
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