Brass-casting in India is a 5000-year-old tradition. Our idols are sand-cast in Moradabad and Kumbakonam using techniques largely unchanged since the Chola period.
The process
A wax model is sculpted by hand. A clay-and-cow-dung mould is formed around it. Molten brass is poured in, the wax flows out, and the brass takes its place — every idol is therefore unique, never identical.