SANT MIRABAI

INDIA'S LONGEST LATERITE SCULPTURE

This National Landmark captures Sant Mirabai singing devoutly to the almighty strumming on her ektara and measuring 14 metres by 5 metres. This monolith was single-handedly chiseled by the artist Maendra Jocelino Araujo Alavres . Sculpted in Greco-Roman style from a vast expanse of laterite stone in August 1994 at Loutolim, Goa, in a record time of 30 days. In the halo around devout Mirabai's head, one sees a tinge of Buddhist's influence but the kumkum on the forehead, the anklet, the patti on her wrists and the paizona around her ankles give the sculpture a characteristic Indian appeal. One also notices a particular type of ornament called fullam (flowers of gold) worn by the Goan Hindu women distinctly adorning Mirabai's head. A lotus and half sun on the ektara adds to the mystic of Sant Mirabai. This work has been cited in the Limca Book of Records as the Longest Laterite Sculpture in India.