HYDERABAD: In a bid to commemorate the Sahasrabdi anniversary (1017-2017) of great saint His Holiness Sri Ramanujacharya, his statue towering 216 feet the Statue of Equality will be constructed adjacent to JIVA Asramam in Sriramnagar, Samshabad. This project of Rs 1,000 crore project was conceptualised in the year 2014.Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamy said, “The Statue Of Equality Project is a dedication to the great icon of Equality, Sri Ramanujacharya Swamy. He created ripples in the society 1,000 years ago with His revolutionary thoughts and brought the neglected on the same platform on par with the elite when the society was gripped with social evils of untouchability and class-based discrimination. He was the first one to bring the down-trodden into temples and give the ‘Ashtakshari Manthra’ to the common man, denying all odds.”
lThe Statue of Equality will be made of Pancha Loha (Combinations of 5 Metals).
lThe statue will be surrounded by 108 Divya Desas which will be built in stone, rich with ornate architectural detailing.
lAudio guides in at least 5 languages including English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil etc will be provided to all visitors explaining the history of each of these temples.
lAn educational gallery with state of art technology will be setup exhibiting the inspiring incidents from the life of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya.
lA gold deity of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya weighing 120 kgs representing the number of years He lived in this world, will be installed in the Dhyana mandiram (meditation hall).
lAn Omnimax theatre will be constructed to screen highly educational and culturally significant short movies about the secrets of the Universe as recorded in our Vedic scriptures.
lThe entire site will be environment friendly, with highly sophisticated security features on par with international standards.
His Holiness Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamy also spoke about the legacy of Sri Ramanujacharya. He said: “A thousand years ago, in a society riddled with blatant caste based oppression, he championed cause of downtrodden.”
The saint had opened the doors of the temples wide to the hitherto banned ‘untouchables’.