Thiruvalluvar Statue

Coordinates: 8°04′40″N 77°33′14″E / 8.0777°N 77.5539°E / 8.0777; 77.5539
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Statue of Wisdom
Kural text

The Statue of Wisdom, or the Valluvar Statue, is a 41-metre-tall (135 ft) stone sculpture of the

Indian peninsula in the state Tamil Nadu, India, where two seas (the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea) and an ocean (the Indian Ocean) meet. The statue was sculpted by Indian sculptor V. Ganapati Sthapati, who also created the Iraivan Temple, and was unveiled on the millennium day of 1 January 2000 by the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. It is currently the 25th tallest statue in India. During its silver jubilee celebrations on January 1, 2025, the Government of Tamil Nadu declared the statue as the “Statue of Wisdom”.[1][2]

Description

Poet Thiruvalluvar

The combined height of the statue and pedestal is 133 feet (41 metres), denoting the 133 chapters of the Thirukkural. This includes a 95-foot (29-metre) sculpture of Valluvar standing upon a 38-foot (12-metre) pedestal that represents the 38 chapters of

sea level.[5]

The statue, with its slight bend around the waist is reminiscent[

Hindu deities like Nataraja. The statue weighs 7,000 tonnes (6,900 long tons; 7,700 short tons).[6]

Thiruvalluvar statue illuminated at night

The monument is regarded as a cultural fusion because of its juxtaposition beside the

Indian architecture, the statue has provision to provide a hollow portion inside from toe to scalp. Visitors, however, will not be allowed to scale, but instead be permitted to climb up to the foot of the statue at a height of 12 metres (38 ft).[4]

Construction

Thiruvalluvar Statue and the adjacent Vivekananda Rock Memorial at sunrise

The project was conceived by then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in December 1975.

Mahabalipuram,[5] began a decade later on 6 September 1990, on the tiny island adjacent to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial when funds were allocated in the 1990–91 budget.[4]

Sthapathy was chosen for the project over 300 master builders because his suggestion for an all-stone monument to the poet-philosopher prevailed. He observed that stone would be more durable than metal, citing that the

sculptors, assistants and supervisors, who worked about 16 hours a day to complete the work.[5]

The bend around the waist depicting a dance pose made the design challenging. However, the problem was tackled well in advance by the sculptor by creating a full-length wooden

Vastu as kayamadhyasutra), currently an empty cavity in the center of the statue from top to bottom.[5]

The stonework was divided amongst three workshops, in Kanniyakumari, Ambasamudram and Sholinganallur. Ambasamudram contributed 5,000 tonnes (4,900 long tons; 5,500 short tons) of stones, while Sholinganallur was quarried for 2,000 tonnes (2,000 long tons; 2,200 short tons) of high-quality granite stones for the outer portion of the statue. While the largest of the 3,681 stones were 4 metres (13 ft) long and weighed over 15 tonnes (15 long tons; 17 short tons), the majority weighed 3 to 8 tonnes (3.0 to 7.9 long tons; 3.3 to 8.8 short tons). Stones of such proportions were previously used only in Mayan temples in South America. An interesting detail is a 6-metre-high (19 ft) face, with the ears, nose, eyes, mouth, forehead all made of individual stones carved by hand. The work was done mostly by hand, with each carver wearing down 40 to 50 sharp chisels a day. The sculptors' team considered that the manual method on granite stones is the most dependable since machines may tend to break stones and precision is difficult. Stumps of palmyra tree and poles of casuarina (ironwood) were used for scaffolding. It took 18,000 casuarina poles tied together with two truckloads of ropes to reach the top of the statue.[5] The statue was placed on its pedestal on 19 October 1999.[4]

The statue was unveiled on the millennium day of 1 January 2000. The statue was inaugurated on 1 January 2000 by Dr. M. Karunanidhi, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Besides Indian political leaders and celebrities, foreign delegates including those from Malaysia, Singapore, and Sri Lanka, participated in the opening ceremony. Several Tamil teachers from the state of Tamil Nadu took out a rally from Kottaram to Kanniyakumari carrying Tirukkural placards to mark the ceremony.[4] More than fifty thousand people gathered for the event. The chief minister, after unveiling the statue, called it a "beacon of light to guide human life for all time to come."[5]

The monument was hit by the

Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004 but stood unaffected. The statue is designed to survive earthquakes of unexpected magnitude, such as magnitude 6 on the Richter Scale occurring within 100 kilometres (62 mi). This is far beyond that of any event recorded in the regional history because the bedrock in the region is ancient and without known local faults.[5]

Maintenance

To prevent the statue from

Paper pulp is then applied on the whole of the statue. As the paper pulp coating dries, it absorbs the salty deposits completely, after which it is removed.[7]

The statue has been thus treated three times since its unveiling. The fourth treatment began on 17 April 2017 and was completed by 15 October 2017.[7]

Access

The statue stands 400 metres (1,300 ft) from the coastline of Kanniyakumari on a small island rock. Ferry service are available from the mainland. The ferry service to Vivekananda Rock Memorial stops for a while at the Valluvar Statue. There is also a pedestrian bridge made of fiber glass, connecting it to the mainland. This bridge is the first of its kind to be built in India, and was built by Government of Tamil Nadu and opened on 31.12.2024.[8]

Glass bridge

There is a glass bridge viz., Kanyakumari Glass bridge also called as Kanyakumari Glass fibre footover bridge, an footover bridge built for pedestrians to cross the sea connecting Thiruvalluvar Statue and Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanyakumari which was inaugurated on 30 December 2024.[9]

  • From the ferry
    From the ferry
  • A night view
    A night view
  • From the sea below
    From the sea below
  • Foot of the Valluvar Statue
    Foot of the Valluvar Statue
  • Sunrise View
    Sunrise View

See also

References

  1. ^ TNN (30 December 2024). "Thiruvalluvar statue will be called Statue of Wisdom: Stalin". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  2. ^ The Hindu Bureau (1 January 2025) [Originally published 31 December 2024]. "Silver jubilee celebrations of Thiruvalluvar Statue conclude in Kanniyakumari". The Hindu. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  3. ^ "Tamilnadu Athletic Association, Kanyakumari tourism section". Tamilnadu Athletic Association. n.d. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "CM unveils Thiruvalluvar statue". The Hindu. Kanyakumari. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Gopalakrishnan, Vrindavanam S. (2000). "India's Statue of Liberation". Hinduism Today. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  6. ^ "Government of Tamil Nadu website, Kanyakumari tourism section". Government of Tamil Nadu. n.d. Retrieved 26 July 2007.
  7. ^ a b "வள்ளுவர் சிலையின் காகிதக்கூழ் கரைந்தது". Dinamalar (in Tamil). Nagarcoil: Dinamalar. 30 August 2017. p. 15. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  8. ^ https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/india-s-first-glass-bridge-in-tamil-nadu-connects-2-iconic-monuments-what-you-should-know-7368792
  9. ^ "India's first glass bridge now open in Kanniyakumari, know all about it". 31 December 2024. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thiruvalluvar Statue, Kanyakumari.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thiruvalluvar_Statue&oldid=1277919667"