Senior government minister Hardeep Singh Puri, meanwhile attributed alleged differences to the new statue's larger size and height, arguing that the ancient original "would look as calm or angry" if viewed from below.

"Beauty is famously regarded as lying in the eyes of the beholder," he tweeted. "So is the case with calm anger."

Appearing on TV news network India Today on Tuesday, the sculptor behind the work, Sunil Deore, said the lions' teeth were simply more visible when viewed from beneath. Demonstrating with a scale model of the statue, he added: "The angle makes a lot of difference