The Golden Statue and the Sound of the Chisel (A Fable of Fame and Critique)

 He was a great artist. His name was Sculptor Shanmugam. Over forty years, he poured his life’s total labor, intensity, precision, and extraordinary skill into crafting a single golden sculpture. He named this statue ‘Vishwaroopam’. The sculpture was celebrated worldwide; it stood as the symbol of perfection, the Shanmugam Era.

Years passed. The accolades surrounding the statue grew, and so did the crowds of new devotees. However, it seemed to Shanmugam, sitting in a corner, that the respect for him was starting to diminish. A bitter fire raged in his mind: "What would this statue be without me? I am still here. Yet, these people refuse to see my new works or my current worth. They only see the statue," he thought.

One day, Shanmugam’s anger peaked. He began to harbor thoughts of blaming the gallery administrators who had supported him, the stability of the pedestal that supported the statue, and even his chisel companions (fellow artists) he had used. He developed a fierce hatred for everything that had formed the foundation of his fame.

On a bitter evening, he took a sharp chisel (the chisel of words) in his hands. In an unexpected moment, he climbed onto the pedestal of the ‘Vishwaroopam’ statue.

He did not directly attack the statue’s face or form. Instead, with that sharp chisel, he furiously began to carve and scratch the lines of pride (his achievements) inscribed at the base of the sculpture. He shouted loudly: "This art gallery is not stable! The lighting here was insufficient! They did not give my work its full value!"

The visitors who had come to see the statue were startled. They had come to witness the beauty of the sculpture, but instead, they saw Shanmugam's aggressive shouting and the artist himself destroying the base of his own treasure. The sound of the chisel drowned out the silent hymn of the gold.

The next day, people gathered in the same spot. But they were not talking about the form of the ‘Vishwaroopam’; they whispered softly, "Look at this angry sculptor, who destroyed his own greatest masterpiece out of bitterness."

Shanmugam's bitter words turned the fame he had earned over a lifetime into a tragic drama overnight. The palace he had built crumbled under the sound of his own chisel, not due to disrespect from the outside world. The scar of those scratches became the final chapter of his history.