"When Mr Ramachandran was invited and commissioned to do some work for ITC Maurya his brief was typically the Mauryan theme. And when he reflected on King Ashoka and the Kalinga war, he thought "No war is a single war. All war is the same. Human suffering is same."

He went on to do two major works for us – one is the most striking sculpture in brass and zinc of Ashoka which is placed at the main lobby and the other one is oil on canvas in three panels "The Vision of War"...

When we asked him to describe the sculpture and his thought process behind this work he said, “I have used Ashoka’s own inscription against the war and converted these inscription into his body. It’s a well thought out mural. I did the actual work in Garhi studio. I was much younger then and I used various elements in this sculpture”

This is a very important sculpture. Very different elements have gone into making it. What he used in making this zinc and brass work are elements he used in paintings. Ashoka’s hands, head and feet are golden. This element has reference to temple deities and it clearly shows that the artist was influenced by them."

(This excerpt has been taken from an article on the artist and his mural commission for Maurya Sheraton hotel in New Delhi called 'Vision of War'. See 'A Ramachandran', Zest Lounge, 1 May 2009, http://www.zestlounge.in/CommentArticle.aspx?id=50)