CHENNAI: The state government is set to install a 120-foot-tall bronze statue of Raja Raja Chola at the upcoming Grand Chola Museum in Thanjavur at a tentative cost of Rs 100 crore. Chief Minister MK Stalin will lay the foundation stone for the museum on a 52 acre land at Tamil University Campus in Thanjavur on February 13.
Sources at the PWD department said the first phase of the construction of the museum is estimated to cost Rs 56.41 crore, and a detailed project report is being planned for the second phase.
“The construction of the statue of the Chola king is likely to begin only in the third phase. As of now, the statue is planned to be made in bronze at an estimated cost of nearly `100 crore,” a source told TNIE.
In the 2023-23 budget, the state government had announced a grand museum in Thanjavur to honour the contributions of Cholas.
While the state’s Museum department is tasked with implementing the museum project, PWD has taken up the statue installation project. To propose a detailed project report (DPR) for the statue, the PWD team has visited two cities – Hyderabad, to study the BR Ambedkar statue and Bengaluru, to study the Kempe Gowda statue. Sources said both the statues are made of bronze, and their lifespan is just around 100 years.
“The king himself has built a temple in stone that has a lifespan of over 1,000 years. So, discussions are also being held to make the statue in stone in a bid to increase the lifespan. We do have previous experiences of setting up such huge statues in stone, and Tiruvalluvar statue in Kanniyakumari is an example for it,” a source part of the study added.
The announcement comes amid sharp political backlash against DMK ally VCK’s leader Thol Thirumavalavan for his remarks on Raja Raja Chola as an affront to Tamil pride.
Thiruma’s comment on kings sparks row
Chennai: Two days after VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan criticised the Chera, Chola, Pandiya and Pallava kings of destructing Tamil language and Tamil culture, several opposition parties slammed him for the comment. Speaking at an event in Perambur on Thursday, the VCK leader said that he does not have respect for any of the kings and he doesn’t see any of them as a great power.
“It was during the times of those kings that this land was ruined, it was sanskritised, it became Hindutva. Tamil, which was inside the sanctum sanctorum, was removed and discarded only during the rule of Chera, Chola, Pandiya and Pallava kings.
They removed Tamil names and gave themselves Sanskrit names,” the VCK leader said, and asked whether Raja Rajan and Rajendran were Tamil names. “No matter however great king of kings they were, I have realised that they were the ones who paved the way for the destruction of Tamil language and Tamil culture,” Thirumavalavan added.
Former BJP state president K Annamalai, AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran and Naam Tamilar Katchi Chief Seeman on Saturday condemned Thirumavalavan’s remarks.