India, July 12 -- Art articulates for itself, it stands alone and aloof, it needs no words as envoys, and pierces to the soul in a creative, offbeat way. It has been a powerful medium of communication and visualisation of inner thoughts since the cave art of prehistoric origins. Kolkata-based wildlife artist Ayan Banerjee recently fashioned an ingenious, mixed-medium sculpture reinventing the story of the Rudraprayag man-eater leopard that killed 125 humans before it was dispatched by Jim Corbett a century back on May 2, 1926. Using terracotta to fashion the Rudraprayag man-eater, Banerjee mounted the killer, like a regent, on a throne of 125 skulls made from synthetic clay. Like a Maharaja posing with a huge shikar of tigers and leopards! Banerjee is a gifted artist who initiated his sculpting career early. As a toddler, his mother would give him an 'atta' ball to fashion lizards and other creatures to make him sit still and curb the wanderings of her restless, curious child! The man-eater sculpture seizes eye and imagination, and riddles the mind with diverse interpretations. It bridges time and assumes contemporary relevance. What is history but an infinite jest of time? Leopards have killed many humans in Uttarakhand, Himachal, J&K and Maharashtra. Public anger is rising and seeks intemperate retribution. A lobby of vote banks, people groups and professional hunters (who seek trophies in the noble guise of shooting rogues) will prevail. Man-eaters and innocent leopards, will be dispatched or imprisoned with no doubts entertained. Banerjee's artwork serves as a warning to policymakers: resolve the festering conflict. Lest we forget, the lessons of those supposedly distant times when leopards had earned notoriety for piles of human kills and their hunters became legends....