Standing tall at 146 feet, this Murugan statue in Tamil Nadu’s Salem district is taller than the one near Batu Caves
It is said that faith and devotion can make a man move mountains, and that’s exactly what has happened with this statue of Lord Muruga that has beaten the record of the Murugan statue near Batu Caves in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, being the tallest in the world.
The 146-foot statue of Lord Murugan, which was also built by the same sculptor who built the statue near Batu Caves, was unveiled in Salem, a district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, recently. The exact location is that of Sri Muthumalai Murugan Thirukovil at Ethapur on the Salem-Chennai National Highway.
The statue was consecrated with a ‘kumbhabhishekam’, and devotees were allowed ‘darshan’, which means to pay obeisance after that. Hundreds witnessed the kumbhabhishekam ceremony, which was organised in such a huge scale that it took one’s breath away! Rose petals were showered from a helicopter on the statue. The ceremonies were followed by a feast for everyone.
The chairman of the Sri Muthumalai Murugan Trust, which is responsible for building this statue, Natarajan Sridhar, said it took around six years to complete the construction. In an interview, he proudly said, “The Murugan statue in Malaysia was said to be the tallest in the world, but now, the one in our country is the tallest. We commissioned the sculpting of the statue to Tiruvarur Thiagarajan, the same sculptor who constructed the Murugan temple in Malaysia (in 2006), in 2016.”
This statue will bring more attention to the country, especially the south of India, said Natarajan. “Lord Murugan wanted to arise here, and it has happened,” he said.
For the uninitiated, Lord Murugan, mainly referred to as Karthikeya, Skanda, Shanmugha, Subrahmanya and many other names, is the Hindu god of war. According to Hindu mythology He is a son of Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva, and so, brother to Lord Ganesha. Lord Karthikeya is predominantly worshipped as Murugan in South India, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Malaysia