Description
This is a 3D printed replica of the famous Stone Chariot of Hampi – digitally reconstructed from laser-scanned data using 3D modeling techniques and printed in PLA, a kind of bio-degradable plastic, using additive manufacturing. This process leaves little scope for artistic deviation from the original artifact. This replica is possibly the only true scale version of the existing Chariot with its top reconstructed as it may have been originally. The Stone Chariot is located inside the Vijaya Vittala temple at Hampi in Karnataka, a UNSECO World heritage site in India. Lord Vittala is an avatar of Indian god Vishnu, and this chariot is a shrine of Lord Garuda (a mythological figure with a human body and head of a large, legendary bird), who is the ‘Vahana’ or vehicle of Lord Vishnu. The temple was built in the 15th century AD and was enhanced by successive kings of the famous Vijayanagara dynasty of South India. The temple complex is now in ruins but the Stone Chariot near its east entrance, is mostly intact, resplendent in its architectural beauty. The top part of the chariot, however, has degraded overtime, and is missing. The package here includes two detachable tops – the current state top and the conjectural top. The actual height of the Stone chariot (with broken top part) is approximately 17 feet and it has been scaled down by 1:50 to this model which is about 4 inches in height with the current state top and 6 inches with conjectural top.
