Rs. 130,000, and it was accepted that the Deity would be ready for installation in three months. I left for South India to get things organized. By Krishna ’ s grace I soon found a very famous sthapati. A sthapati not only sculpts Deities; he is also expert in temple architecture and engineering. The man was very obliging until I mentioned that the Deity we wanted carved was Ugra-Nrsimha. He emphatically refused to make such a Deity. I approached many Deity sculptors, but the answer was always the same: No. I had made a number of trips between Mayapur and South India. Six months had passed, but Lord Nrsimhadeva had not yet manifested in His Deity form. Radhapada Dasa was very anxious to see Lord Nrsimhadeva installed in Mayapur. He asked me to visit the original sthapati I had seen, and once again plead our case. This time the sculptor was a little more congenial and offered to read me a chapter from the Silpa-Sastra (a Vedic scripture on sculpture and temple architecture) that deals with the different forms of Deities. He read aloud some verses describing Lord Nrsimhadeva. A series of verses described His flamelike mane, His searching glance, and His knees bent with one foot forward ready to jump from the pillar. When he read this, I was amazed. This was exactly what we wanted. I showed him the sketch I had done. He was impressed and offered to draw an outline based on the scriptural description, which we could use as a guide for sculpting the Deity. He reminded me, though, that he would not carve the form himself. It took him a week to complete
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