Facts to know about the Tiruvalluvar statue
Do you know who build "The Tiruvalluvar statue"?
Most of them don't know. Everybody knows this masterpiece but needs to find out who did that. Here is the answer. Dr V. Ganapati Sthapathi built the Tiruvalluvar statue. One of his forefathers (Kunjara Mallan Rajaraja Peruthatchan) was a chief Architect sthapati in Brihadeeswara Temple in Tanjore in the 10th century AD. He was the principal of the Government College of Architecture and Sculpture. He published more than 30 books. He was awarded by Vasthu Scientist, Kalaimamani and Padmabhushan. From his achievements and experiments, we can understand his knowledge towards architecture. Tamil Nadu government conducted a rivalry for the Tiruvalluvar project, he joined in that and won the contest. Finally, the Chief Minister of that time gave the project to this legendary person.
Facts about the Tiruvalluvar statue:
What is the height of the statue?
All of them answer as 133 feet. But unfortunately, your answer is wrong. The height of the statue is 95. You may think that I'm wrong. Wait I will tell you the truth. Before that, we want to know about Tirukural. In Tirukural, we have three major topics, such as Virtue (Aram), Wealth (Porul) and Love (Inbam). Aram's topic contains 38 chapters, Porul's topic contains 70 chapters and Inbam's topic contains 25. Total 133 chapters.
Now, V. Ganapati Sthapathi decided to give the total number of chapters in Tirukular to the Tiruvalluvar Statue. So the first chapter 38, considers the 38 feet for the pedestal of the Tiruvalluvar statue. The remaining topics such as Porul and Inbam contain 95 chapters, so he decided to give the height of the status (from head to toe) as 95 feet. So if anybody asks you what the height of the Tiruvalluvar statue means, just say 95 feet. You can teach them, along with the pedestal and statue's measurement is 133 feet.
Symbolism in the Tiruvalluvar Statue:
Now we may have some confusion about why they give 38 feet to the pedestal. why doesn't he give 70 feet or 25 feet to the pedestal? There are two main reasons,
1. V. Ganapati Sthapati gives 38 feet to the pedestal because he symbolically mentioned that wealth (Porul) and Love (Inbam) should be earned and enjoyed on the foundation of Solid Virtue (Aram). If we want wealth such as gold, diamond, house and other properties that should come from Solid Virtue (Aram). And the same, if we want or give love to someone, that also has some restrictions. As a person, we have to know about the Solid Virtue, if we know it, then we won't do any mistakes in our lives. To represent that, V. Ganapati Sthapathi decided to give 38 feet to the pedestal.
2. According to Slipa grammar, the statue should be based on the 2*1/2 time of its pedestal. Now we will check it.
Pedestal = 38 feet
Statue = 2*1/2 times of pedestal
= 38*2*1/2= 28*5/2 = 95 feet
Therefore, Hence Proved
If you see the Tiruvalluvar statue, his right hand are pointing out three figures, which represent the three main topics from his book such as Solid Virtues, Wealth and Love.
If you see the pedestal, you can see 10 elephants, which represent eight directs and the remaining two point out the space.
3. How did they build that?
The project was designed by Chief Minister M. Karunanithi in 1975. But unfortunately, he was not elected as a CM in the next election. so this project was handover the former CM, M. G. Ramachandran. He laid the foundation stone in the presence of Prime Minister Morarji Desai on 15th April 1979. But some other problem, the project was stopped. Then later on 6th September 1990, again Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi took the project and handover to Dr V. Ganapati Sthapathi. The funds were allotted for this project. Do you know how much? $2.8 million in US dollars.
Next, their question is, in Which material do they want to build the statue? It was their next question. They decided to make it on granite stones. To get the stones, they decided on three places from Tamil Nadu. Such as Kanyakumari, Ambasamudram and Sholinganallur. From Ambasamudram, they provide 5,000 tons of stones and from Sholinganallur, they provide 2,0000 tons of granites. It was not so easy to transport tons of stones from one place to another. Finally, the stones reached Kanyakumari, but the next challenge was, how to transfer such giant stones from the seashore to the minor rock. They decided to cut the stones and transfer them into the minor rock.
Their next challenge was, how that 200 feet minor rock holds 7,000 tons (the weight of the statue). Then from PWD department had their investigation and approved that the minor rock was vertically deep into the sea, so they acknowledged that the minor rock should hold 7,000 tons (the weight of the statue).
Thousands of labours worked hard. Daily they worked around 16 hours. The project was going on for up to 10 years. The project was handover to the government on 19th October 1999. It was inaugurated by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on 1st January 2000.
The speciality of the place:
The speciality of the place where the Tiruvalluvar statue took place is called a "Triveni Sangamam". It is the place where three seas meet each other. They are the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. If you see the sea colour from the statue, you can see three different types of colours. Because the three seas meet other.
If you want to go to this place, please know the below points, it will help you.
1. Buses are available from Chennai, Bangalore, Trichy, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil and important places.
2. The Thiruvananthapuram Airport is 76km from Kanyakumari. And 240 km from Madurai.
3. The Tiruvalluvar Statue opens from Morning 9 am to Evening 4 pm.
4. For each person, the ferry cost is Rs. 20
5. The best time to watch Sunshine is morning 5:30 to 6:30. According to the seasons, it varies.
