Allahabad, Dec 30 - Four fine arts students of Allahabad University have toiled day and night to create a 20-foot-long wood cut graphic painting that depicts all hues of human life.

The painting, titled 'Dharam, Arth, Kaam, Moksh', took 190 hours to create.

The work of art portrays the four elements of life as per Hindu mythology - 'dharam' (duty towards family and society), 'arth' (pursuit of wealth and social status), 'kaam' (pursuit of pleasures), 'moksha' (release from bondage of life and death).

The students started their painting Dec 13 and completed it Dec 20. The painting depicts figures of a womb, foetus and various stages of human life with several figures, representing humans, their desires and feelings.

The work of art has surprised even the university faculty members, who believe the painting can fetch the students a place in the record books.

"The painting is unique. I am sure it would get wide recognition and reserve a place in the record books,'' Ajay Jaitely, head of department of the varsity's Visual Arts faculty, told IANS on telephone.

"Though there are paintings that measure up to 100 feet, we have not heard of a

20-foot-long wood print painting and that too which involved non-stop work of over 190 hours,'' he added.

The team was led by Kunwar Amarendu Singh. Kalyani Jha, Nidhi Keserwani and Shilp Singh were the other members. They are enrolled in Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) fourth year and worked in shifts to complete the painting over a week.

"Initially, we had set our target to paint continuously for seven days (168 hours). Frankly speaking, when we started none among us was sure we would meet our target,'' Kunwar Amarendu Singh, told IANS.

"We used to work in turns, normally two students at a time to meet the target,'' he added.

Explaining the method involved in the wood cut graphic painting, a student said unlike other paintings, this one doesn't involve paint brushes and is done by taking impressions of drawing scraped on plywood on special sheets of paper.

Asked what prompted them to take up such a work, the students said they were inspired by Sunil Joseph, who holds the world record for longest handwritten Bible.

"We met him at an exhibition in Bhopal. We were quite inspired by him and asked him how we can have a record in our name. He gave us the idea of making a massive wood graphic painting,'' said Singh.

The students have video-recorded their entire work. They say the Compact Discs will act as an evidence for their hard work and assist them to reserve a place for their masterpiece in the record books. (IANS)