Page 147 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

144 ART AND CRAFTS

depictions of the joy of victory celebrations. An 8ft. high and 3ft. wide memorial
column made of red bricks was erected at the Fuller Road in the University of Dhaka
on 14 December, 1987. Hamiduzzaman placed a sculpture in steel on three triangular
white mosaic stairs at the residential area adjacent to the central Shaheed Minar.
Moreover, a monument in memory of the martyred teachers, employees and students
was built at the Jagannath Hall in 1974.
Rasha completed the construction of two remarkable sculptures near the main gate of
Jagannath College in Dhaka. One is titled Ekattarer Ganahatya (Genocide of 1971)
and the other Muktijuddher Prostuti (Preparation for the War of Liberation). The 25ft
high Ekattarer Ganahatya was built on a base containing 34 scattered figures.
Cement, rod and stone chips were used as construction materials for the sculpture
which focuses on mass killing and atrocities. The other 25ft. high Muktijuddher
Prostuti with 19 complete figures projects resistance by the Bengalis.
Two sculptures at Bangladesh Agriculture University in Mymensingh are notable
among the sculptures of Dhaka division which stand outside the Dhaka city. One of
them, Muktijuddher Smritistambha (Monument to the War of Liberation), was built in
memory of the martyrs of Bangladesh Agriculture University following the model for
the monument developed by Professor AKM Abdul Quddus Mian. The 34ft. red
passage and red stairs around the monument signify the blood stained earth. Four
stairs on each side indicate the Language Movement of 1952, education movement of
1962, mass uprisal of 1969 and Liberation War of 1971. The four stairs are also
imagined as the four basic principles of the constitution of Bangladesh. The names of
the 18 martyred teachers, employees and students are engraved at the front of the top
most triangular step. A fist holding a rifle is placed within the petals of a blooming
water-lily on the triangular step. 112
The other sculpture of the University, Bijoy Ekattar (Victory ’71), is placed in front of
the Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Auditorium. Shyamal Chowdhury built the artwork in
which a student, a farmer and a woman fighter in three distinct poses are standing on
fig. 2.52 Tanvir Karim, three separate steps. The student freedom fighter holds a grenade in one hand and rifle
Mujibnagar in the other. The farmer freedom fighter holds the flag of independence flying atop. In
Smritisoudha the right, the eternal woman of Bengal, her hand in a firm gesture is urging others to
join the War of Liberation. The figures are 7ft. in height. 113