(Top and above) Buddha statues ready to be sold at Sudarshan Art and Crafts Village at Jayadev Vihar in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 10: Odisha may not be the cradle of Buddhism, but is certainly proving to be one of the most popular places from where to get stone carvings depicting the life and times of Gautam Buddha.

Customers from foreign shores are queuing up for statues of the Buddha carved by artists from the state. The total annual export of statues and statuettes from the state varies between Rs 30 crore and Rs 40 crore, with Buddha idols accounting for Rs 10 crore. Sources said that three years ago the exports of stone statues of Buddha were worth only Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

Indramani Maharana, a sculptor-turned-exporter, has sent his creations to Japan, Nepal, Tibet, Germany, Bhutan, Chile, Brazil and Australia. “But even I am surprised when people from a countries such as Argentina and Germany book orders for Buddha statues,’’ said Maharana.

Noted sculptor Sudarashan Sahoo sends statues to Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar, the USA and the UK. Apart from his exports to foreign shores, statues are also being sent to metros such as New Delhi and Mumbai.

“I have sent many statues to several countries. I have also sent abroad panels along with the statues. The panels narrate the life story of Lord Buddha. It appears that the proliferation of a materialistic society, terrorism and war are directly proportional to the love for Buddha,’’ said Sahoo.

The Maharana brothers — Prabhakar and Ratnakar — recently sent a 13-ft Buddha statue to a monastery in Bhutan. Weighing 11 tonnes and worth around Rs 14 lakh, the statue took them three years to complete. It was built with sandstone that came from Rajasthan.

Prabhakar said the duo had been supplying small and medium sized statues to customers in Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad.

However, according to them, there was a demand for bigger statues in countries such as Japan, Taiwan and Brazil.

With a keen eye and zest for experimenting, the Bhubaneswar-based brothers also specialise in creating miniature Buddhas as small as the size of a rice grain.

But in spite of the growing potential of statues and carvings of Buddha, the sculptors are battling odds in procuring stone for their work following a ban on mining of all types of stone. In Odisha, sandstone, granite and chlorite are used by sculptors.

Delay in issuing non-antiquity certificates was also holding up exports, forcing sculptors to send their statues through exporters in other states such as Rajasthan. The certification process there takes only a week or two compared to two to six months in Odisha.