The last few days I spent doing the preliminary work for carving a granite panipitha. Other than earlier panipithas this one will be square. A panipitha, often called a yoni however, is a base for a Shivalingam, which in itself is a symbol for the infinte Divine. Panipitha means water chair. Lingam and panipitha together stand for Shiva-Shakti, or Being-Consciousness-Bliss and Manifestation thereof. Initially I made a drawing on the computer in Sketchup when he, but I'd rather see it live.

To see if the proportions were right and to practice on carving the lotus leaves, I started with a full size working model in green foam (50 x 50 cm on top, with a spout of approximately 20 cms wide, and about 43 cms tall). In this foam, which is very easy to work by sawing, rasping, cutting and the like, I can still easily adjust the shape. After that I started with a leftover piece of granite to carve a test piece, to see how it works with the lotus leaves.

In the meantime, I am also working on other assignments, including the plaster sculpture of Pan. When that is finished, I'm going to find a piece of red granite to carve it out of.

Nasty the next post about this project.