Bhubaneswar, Mar 1 (IANS): On the occasion of Maha Shivaratri, renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a unique sand sculpture of Lord Shiva with installation of 23,436 rudrakhsa beads at Puri beach in Odisha.

He has created a 9ft high and 18ft wide installation sand sculpture of Lord Shiva with the message "We pray for Peace" (as war is going on in between Russia and Ukraine).

Pattnaik used about 12 tonnes of sand and took six hours to do this sculpture and for the first time he has used rudraksha on his sand art. "Nowadays war is going on. So, we pray to Lord Shiva for global peace," said the sand artist.

Every time Sudarsan tries to do something new on the sand. Last time, he used vegetables, red roses etc. This time he used rudraksha for this sculpture.

So far, the Padma Shri awardee sand artist has participated in more than 60 international sand sculpture competitions and festivals around the world and won many prizes for the country.

Though his art, Sudarsan try to send social messages like global peace, global warming, stop terrorism, stop HIV/AIDS and Covid-19 etc.

Meanwhile, large numbers of devotees have started thronging to various Shiva temples across the state, including Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar since early morning, with strict adherence to Covid-19 guidelines.

The Lingaraj temple committee has decided that the Mahadeepa will be placed atop the temple at 10 p.m. Thirty five platoons of police force and over 100 officers have been deployed at the 11th century shrine for smooth entry of devotees to the temple.