THIRUVALLUVAR STATUE

Revealed in the 2000 at the dawn of the new millennium, this stone statue represents the Tamil saint and poet Tiruvalluvar author of the Thirukkural and is located atop a little island where the three mighty oceans meet: the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. The statue has a height of 95 feet (29 m) and stands upon a 38 feet (11.5 m) pedestal that represents the 38 chapters of "virtue" in the Thirakkural. The statue standing on the pedestal represents "wealth" and "pleasure" signifying that wealth and love be earned and enjoyed on the foundation of solid virtue. The final measurement of the statue is a colossal height of 133 feet (40.5 m) denoting the 133 chapters in the Thirukkural and has a total weight of 7000 tons. The statue, with its slight bend around the waist is a reminiscent dancing pose of the ancient Indian deities like Nataraja. The statue was sculpted by the Indian sculptor V. Ganapathi Sthapathi, who also created the Iraivan temple. Construction began on September 6, 1990, on the tiny island adjacent to Vivekananda Rock Memorial. Initially, the project stalled but then recommenced in 1997 and was completed on January 1, 2000. At the cost of more than us$1 million, it employed about 150 workers, sculptors, assistants and supervisors. The slight bend around the waist made the design challenging. Dr. V. Ganapati Sthapati solved the problem by creating a full-length wooden prototype before construction. Study of this prototype led to the identification of an energy line (known in Vastu science as kayamadhyasutra), currently an empty cavity in the center of the statue from top to bottom. Sthapati designed the statue to survive earthquakes of unexpected magnitude. The stone work was devided amongst three workshops, in Kanyakumari, Ambasamudram and Shankarapuram. Ambasamudram contributed 5,000 tons of stones, while Shankarapuram was quarried for 2,000 tons of high quality granite stones for the outer portion of the statue. While the largest of the 3,681 stones weighed over 15 tons, the majority weighed three to eight tons. An interesting detail is the 19-foot-high face, with the ears, nose, eyes, mouth, forehead all made of individual stones carved by hand. 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 133-foot tall statue.