The sculptor who created human anatomy

Normally one would expect a trained sculptor to either carve out statues or be involved in building temples and with artistic airs. But Purna Chandra Upadhyay, who did his Masters in old Indian traditional sculpture in 1979, did neither. Instead, he joined a medical college and created body parts for anatomy students of the Banaras Hindu University for 33 years.

It was only after retiring in November 2012 that he started making statues in clay, stone, plaster-of-Paris and fibre.

Upadhyay has been to the Government College of Architecture and Sculpture in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, and wants to start a similar school in Varanasi. According to him, Varanasi was once the seat of all learning and culture in ancient India, and it must be restored to that glory. “Every state in the country will be represented there; we have to start a world university. Now that (Narendra) Modi has become prime minister, I am sure this will be done easily,” he says.

He is currently making a statue of educationist and freedom-fighter Madan Mohan Malviya for the BHU, which the latter had founded.

Upadhyay recalls that the first sculpture he ever sold was named ‘sukh sarika’, for Rs 10,000, in 1974. He also sells smaller statues for as low as Rs 200 to tourists who visit his home in the Assi Ghat area, where he is a prominent debater at the famous Pappu Tea stall.

His most precious gift is one his students gave him -- a statue of himself.

He is the father of four talented girls, and he says proudly, “All of them are in the fine arts and humanities. I did not tell my girls to take up science or engineering. They are into music, fashion designing, multimedia and animation.”

Image: Upadhyay poses with a sculpture of himself that his students gifted him. Photograph: Sandeep Pal