His artwork installed at Mukesh Ambani’s house “Antilla” in Mumbai fetched him Rs 86 lakh. The Aditya Birla group has bought his sculpture for Rs 1.25 crore.

Patna-based artist Sanjay Kumar, whose artworks have found places of pride at popular addresses in the country, has chosen his home state to create a masterpiece for public display.

Sanjay is giving final touches to his new artwork — a 9-foot-tall statue of Buddha, which will be installed at Buddha Smriti Park before Buddha Purnima (on May 6). The statue made of brass has been christened “Jyotirmay”, which means enlightenment.

Talking about his artwork, Sanjay said: “The statue is different in many respects. It reflects how Siddhartha, the young prince, became Buddha after attaining enlightenment.”

The statue is adorned with ornaments, much like kings and princes of that time. On the forehead of the statue, there is an earthen lamp (diya) depicting Buddha attaining enlightenment. At the centre of the statue is a lotus that depicts creation.

The statue will be installed over a 4ft podium at Buddha Smriti Park. The site where the statue will be placed is between the two holy saplings brought from Bodhgaya and Sri Lanka. The saplings were planted at the park by Tibetan spiritual guru, the Dalai Lama.

Sanjay said: “The statue weighs 1,000kg. It has been built with brass and has several layers with clay moulding, fibre mould, fibre casting and metal casting.”

Many students of College of Arts and Crafts, Patna, are assisting Sanjay in his artwork. They are continuously working for over the past three months.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has given the centenary year art project to five artists, including Subodh Gupta.

Gupta’s artwork “Cactus”, made of stainless steel, has already been installed at Rajdhani Vatika. Both Sanjay and Subodh Gupta are alumni of College of Arts and Crafts. They have seen a lot of struggle in their initial days. While Gupta toiled in Delhi, Sanjay had to burn the midnight oil in Mumbai. Like Subodh, Sanjay has not taken any money from the state government for creating the artwork.

Sanjay has been working on the Buddha series for the past 10 years. “My artwork installed at Mukesh Ambani’s house is a part of the Buddha series,” he said.

Sanjay's creations are also displayed at houses of many Bollywood actors, including Sushmita Sen, Sridevi and Sunil Shetty. Many industrialists, such as the Birlas, have put up his artwork on display at their company headquarters.

Exhibitions of Sanjay’s artworks have been held at Jehangir Art Gallery and Tao Art Gallery in Mumbai.