PM Modi to inaugurate Statue of Equality on Saturday: All you need to know about Saint Ramanujacharya and 216-ft-tall structure in his honour

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Hyderabad on Saturday (5 February) to inaugurate the 216-feet tall 'Statue of Equality' commemorating the 11th-century Bhakti Saint Sri Ramanujacharya.

Ahead of the event, here’s all you need to know about the Vaishnava saint and the structure being built in his honour.

Who is Saint Sri Ramanujacharya?

Saint Ramanujacharya was born in 1017 in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu to mother Kanthimathi and father Asuri Kesava Somayaji.

Saint Ramanujacharya fought for social, cultural, gender, educational and economic discrimination with the foundational conviction that every human is equal regardless of nationality, gender, race, caste or creed. Image Courtesy: statueofequality.org

According to the ancient scriptures, he lived for 120 years, a claim which is questioned by modern scholars and experts. In the early 11th and 12th centuries, the saint is said to have travelled across the length and breadth of the country to promote equality and social justice.

Today, Ramanujacharya is revered as a Vedic philosopher who revived the Bhakti Movement.

He provided an intellectual basis for the practice of bhakti (devotional worship) in three major commentaries: the Vedartha-samgraha (on the Vedas, the earliest scriptures of Hinduism), the Shri-bhashya (on the Brahma-sutras), and the Bhagavadgita-bhashya (on the Bhagavadgita).

He also appealed for the protection of nature and its resources like air, water and soil.

The Indian Express has reported that he made education accessible to those who were the most deprived in those days and came up with the concept of 'Vasudhaiva kutumbakam', which means that all universe is one family.

His teachings inspired ancient poets like Annamacharya, Bhakt Ramdas, Thyagaraja, Kabir, and Meerabai.

According to his followers, Saint Ramanujacharya fought against social, cultural, gender, educational and economic discrimination with the foundational conviction that every human is equal regardless of nationality, gender, race, caste or creed.

He opened the doors of temples to all people, including those subjected to extreme discrimination. He remains a timeless icon of equality for social reformists around the world.

Statue of Equality

The statue was proposed and designed by Chinna Jeeyar and the foundation stone for the structure was laid in 2014. Image Courtesy: statueofequality.org

As a tribute to his teachings, the statue, known as the 'Statue of Equality' is being unveiled to commemorate his 1,000th birth anniversary.

The 216-feet-tall structure has been built at Muchintal, a village in Telangana. The Statue of Equality is located near the Hyderabad International Airport at Shamshabad and about 3 kilometres east of the Hyderabad-Bengaluru highway.

The statue was proposed and designed by Chinna Jeeyar and the foundation stone for the structure was laid in 2014.

It is believed that the project, which includes a45-acre complex, has come with a price tag of Rs 1,000 crore and has been funded entirely by donations from devotees globally.

The statue is made of 'panchaloha' — a combination of five metals: gold, silver, copper, brass, and zync and is among one of the tallest metallic statues in sitting position, in the world.

It is mounted on a 54-feet high base building, named 'Bhadra Vedi', has floors devoted for a Vedic digital library and research centre, ancient Indian texts, a theatre, an educational gallery detailing many works of Sri Ramanujacharya.

It is learnt that in the complex, a temple of Ramanujacharya covering an area of about 300,000 square feet has also been constructed, where a 120 kg gold idol will be placed for daily worship. The 120 kgs is to mark the 120 years that the saint is said to have lived.

The Ramanuja statue is encircled by the replicas of 108 sacred shrines across the country like Tirupati, Srirangm, Dwaraka, Badrinath known as divya-deshas.

Tall statues

Built at 216 feet, the Statue of Equality is second to the Statue of Unity, which depicts Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat, in the country.

The makers of the Statue of Equality say it will be the world`s second tallest statue featuring a sitting posture. The Buddha statue in Thailand (at 301 feet) is said to be world`s tallest statue in a sitting pose.

With inputs from agencies

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