The world’s tallest Lord Murugan statue was unveiled at Puthiragoundampalayam in the Salem district of Tamil Nadu. The statue has a height of 146-ft and was opened for devotees to perform kumbabishekam.
Constructed by a trust at Puthiragoundanpalayam, the statue stands taller than the Pathumalai Murugan statue in Malaysia that has a height of 140 feet.
As the statue in Salem was consecrated, rose petals were showered on it through a helicopter. The consecration also witnessed thousands of devotees thronging to the temple premises to worship and attend the puja ceremony.
Apparently, it was the Murugan statue of Malaysia that inspired the construction of the one in Salem. The chairman of Sri Muthumalai Murugan Trust, N Sridhar wanted to build a statue the tallest Murugan statue in his hometown in Attur.
Reportedly, Sridhar thought that not everyone can go to Malaysia and worship the deity there so he must bring one in the Salem district. Later in 2014, Sridhar, who is also a businessman, decided to build a temple and the Muthumalai Murugan statue on his land.
Sridhar even hired sculptor Tiruvarur Thiyagarajan to construct the statue. Interestingly, he was the same sculptor who built the Murugan statue in Malaysia in 2006. It took Sridhar nearly two years just to initiate the construction process of the statue.
Meanwhile, the Lord Murugan statue in Malaysia is located at Batu Caves and is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India. It is the tallest Hindu statue in Malaysia and took three years to be built by sculptors. It required 350 tons of steel bars, 300 litres of gold paint and 1,550 cubic metres to construct the marvellous structure. Moreover, 15 sculptors were brought from India to carve the statue.
It has been painted golden and is made of reinforced concrete. It stands beside a flight of 272 steps that lead visitors to the Batu caves.It is believed that the cave was not a place of worship before an Indian trader named K Thamboosamy Pillai placed a small statue of Lord Murugan back in 1892.
