Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a 216-ft or 11 story high statue of the medieval Indian Dharmic Bhakti saint and Vaishnava Philosopher Ramanujacharya in Hyderabad. Ramanujacharya was born in 1017 CE and the statue is being unveiled to commemorate his 1,000th birth anniversary celebrating the reforms he undertook to bring in equality in Hinduism. The celebrations took off on the 2nd with Maha Yagna and Vedic chants and culminated with the inauguration by PM Modi. The ceremony also had a 3D mapping of the saint’s life and teachings.

The statue was inaugurated at the Chinna Jeeyar Swamy Ashram at Muchintal on the outskirts of the city. The statue is made of panchaloha  a combination of five metals: gold, silver, copper, brass, and zinc and is among one of the tallest metallic statues in sitting position, in the world. The statue has been conceptualised by Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swami of Sri Ramanujacharya Ashram.

The statue sits on a 54-ft high base which houses Vedic digital library, theatre, educational gallery detailing many works of Ramanujacharya and a research centre for ancient Indian texts. This structure will be called as Bhadra Vedi. The total cost of the project is estimated to be around 1000 crore. Bhadra Vedi will also have 120 Kg gold statue of Ramanujacharya which will be worshipped daily. The ashram will have flags of all the countries in the world signifying universal unity. The ashram complex also has identical recreations of 108 Divya Desams, the 108 ornately carved Vishnu temples mentioned in the works of the Alvars, mystic Tamil saints.

Before, inaugurating this statue PM also took part in 50th anniversary celebrations of ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) and inaugurated two research facilities for betterment of small farmers. This has a symbolic reference to the policy vision of new India where ancient past will be celebrated and cherished along with progressive policies for the future.

Who was Ramanujacharya?

Ramanujacharya (1017 to 1137 CE)  was a Tamil-Hindu theologian, philosopher and social reformer of the Vaishnava school of thought of the Sanatan Dharma. He was one of the earliest reformers of the discriminatory caste system and helped people who were considered untouchables to get absorbed into the Sri Vaishnava Bhakti movement to attain spiritual liberation.

 He was instrumental in admitting the so called “untouchables “ in two of South India’s most important places of worship Melkote and Srirangam. 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.