You'd never believe it

but this little fella was modelled out of cow dung and painted by an old lady in India.  She  made it to add to her son's collection of beautiful paintings which were laid out for sale in their front room.  Hindus believe cows are holy therefore dung is too.  In traditional homes dung is mixed with mud and spread on the floor and terrace outside the door - it is smoothed over again and again - when it is dry it resembles concrete.  It is another reason for taking off your shoes at the entrance to a house - you don't walk on holy ground in 'dirty' shoes or bring in dust from the outside. Being holy it is also considered sterile so Ajamburi saw nothing wrong when she gave birth to Geeta on the kitchen floor in Nepal