The ''Thiruvalluvar Statue'', or the ''Valluvar Statue'', is a stone sculpture of the Tamil poet and philosopher

Valluvar Thiruvalluvar (Tamil: திருவள்ளுவர்), commonly known as Valluvar, was a celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'', a collection of couplets on ethics, political and ...

, author of the

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' ( ta, திருக்குறள், lit=sacred verses), or shortly the ''Kural'' ( ta, குறள்), is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The tex ...

, an ancient Tamil work on

Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for ...

and

morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...

. It is located atop a small island near the town of Kanniyakumari on the southernmost point of the

Indian peninsula The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, ...

on the

Coromandel Coast The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an ...

, where two seas (the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line bet ...

and the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

) and an ocean (the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

) meet. The statue was sculpted by the 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 Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...

. It is currently the 25th tallest statue in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Description

The combined height of the statue and pedestal is , denoting the 133 chapters of the Tirukkural. This includes sculpture of Valluvar standing upon a pedestal that represents the 38 chapters of

Virtue Virtue ( la, virtus) is morality, moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is Value (ethics), valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that sh ...

, the first of the three books of the Kural text. The statue itself represents the second and third books of the Kural text, namely,

Wealth Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

and

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

. The whole design signifies that wealth and love be earned and enjoyed on the foundation of solid virtue. The right hand of the statue with three fingers pointing skywards signifies the three cantos of the Kural text, namely, '' Aram'', '' Porul'', and '' Inbam'' (Virtue, Wealth, and Love, respectively), combined. The head of the statue stands at a height of above the

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. The statue, with its slight bend around the waist is reminiscent of a dancing pose of the Hindu deities like

Nataraja Nataraja () also known as Adalvallaan () is a depiction of the Hindu god Shiva as the divine cosmic dancer. His dance is called Tandava.''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2015) The pose and artwork are described in many Hindu texts such as the ' ...

. The statue weighs . The monument is regarded as a cultural fusion because of its juxtaposition beside the Vivekananda Rock Memorial. Built-in conformation with traditional

Indian architecture Indian architecture is rooted in its history, culture and religion. Among a number of architectural styles and traditions, the best-known include the many varieties of Hindu temple architecture, Indo-Islamic architecture, especially Mughal ...

, 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 .

Construction

Vivekananda Rock & Valluvar Statue at Sunrise

The project was conceived by then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in December 1975. On 15 April 1979, the then Prime Minister

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

laid the foundation stone for the statue, in the presence of the then Chief Minister, M. G. Ramachandran. However, the actual sculpting work, led by Dr. V. Ganapati Sthapathy, former principal of the Government College of Architecture at

Mahabalipuram Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is ...

, began a decade later on 6 September 1990, on the tiny island adjacent to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial when funds were allocated in the 199091 budget. 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 Statue of Liberty, which is made of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...

, required extensive renovation just a century after its installation. Initially, the project stalled, perhaps owing to Karunanidhi's election loss, but then recommenced in 1997 when he returned to office. At the cost of more than , the project employed about 150 workers, sculptors, assistants and supervisors, who worked about 16 hours a day to complete the work. 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 prototype before construction. Study of this prototype led to the identification of an energy line (known in

Vastu ''Vastu shastra'' ( hi, वास्तु शास्त्र, ' – literally "science of architecture") is a traditional Indian system of architecture based on ancient texts that describe principles of design, layout, measurements, groun ...

as ''kayamadhyasutra''), currently an empty cavity in the center of the statue from top to bottom. The stonework was divided amongst three workshops, in Kanniyakumari, Ambasamudram and Sholinganallur. Ambasamudram contributed of stones, while Sholinganallur was quarried for of high-quality

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

stones for the outer portion of the statue. While the largest of the 3,681 stones were long and weighed over , the majority weighed . Stones of such proportions were previously used only in

Mayan temples Maya architecture spans several thousands of years, several eras of political change, and architectural innovation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Often, the buildings most dramatic and easily recognizable as creations of the Ma ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. An interesting detail is a 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 ''Casuarina'' is a genus of 17 tree species in the family Casuarinaceae, native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, islands of the western Pacific Ocean, and eastern Africa. It was once treated as the sole genus in the fam ...

(

ironwood Ironwood is a common name for many woods or plants that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is heavier than water (approximately 1000 kg/m3, or 62 pounds per cubic foot), although usage of the name ironwood in E ...

) were used for

scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...

. It took 18,000 casuarina poles tied together with two truckloads of ropes to reach the top of the statue. The statue was placed on its pedestal on 19 October 1999. 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 Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, participated in the opening ceremony. Several Tamil teachers from the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

took out a rally from

Kottaram Kottaram is a village located in Kanyakumari district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Kottaram the word origin from Malayalam meaning Palace. So Kottaram means not only a village but also a Palace because 18th & the beginning of the 19th ce ...

to Kanniyakumari carrying Tirukkural placards to mark the ceremony. 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." The monument was hit by the

Indian Ocean tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern S ...

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 . 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.

Maintenance

To prevent the statue from

corrosion Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engi ...

due to sea breeze, the statue is chemically treated once in four years. The salty deposits in every joint are removed and replaced with new cement mixture.

Paper pulp Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibers from wood, fiber crops, waste paper, or rags. Mixed with water and other chemical or plant-based additives, pulp is the major raw mat ...

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. 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.

Access

The statue stands 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. The Vivekananda Kendra has a proposal to connect the Valluvar memorial with the Vivekananda rock memorial by bridge to enable visitors to move easily from one island to the other.

Gallery

File:Statue of Thiruvalluvar.jpg, From the ferry File:Thiruvalluvar Statue at Night.JPG, A night view File:Tiruvallur Statue Sea.JPG, From the sea below File:Tiruvallur Statue Foot.JPG, Foot of the Valluvar Statue File:Vivekananda Mandapam and Thiruvalluvar Statue.jpg, Sunrise View

References

External links

''The Tribune''

Thiruvalluvar statue and other visiting places in Kanniyakumari
{{District of Kanyakumari, state=collapsed Colossal statues in India Monuments and memorials in Tamil Nadu Memorials to Valluvar Kanyakumari Coromandel Coast Buildings and structures in Tamil Nadu 2000 sculptures Buildings and structures completed in 2000 Tourist attractions in Tamil Nadu Statues of writers Tirukkural 2000 establishments in Tamil Nadu