The Statue Of Equality Project is a dedication to the great icon of Equality, Sri Ramanujacharya Swamy. He created ripples in the society 1000 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.

This 1000 crore project was conceptualized in the year 2014. The Statue of Equality (sahasrabdi) project is constructed adjacent to JIVA Asramam (Non profit organization) in Sriramnagar, Samshabad, Hyderabad, India.

Features of Statue of Equality Project:

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• The Statue of Equality will be made of Pancha Loha (Combinations of 5 Metals).
• The statue will be surrounded by 108 Divya Desas which will be built in stone, rich with ornate architectural detailing.
• Audio 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.
• An educational gallery with state of art technology will be setup exhibiting the inspiring incidents from the life of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya.
• A 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).
• An 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.
• The entire site will be environment friendly, with highly sophisticated security features on par with international standards.

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Statue of Equality will serve as:

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• Reminder of services Sri Ramanujacharya performed.
• Celebrate equality.
• Pass on greatness of our tradition to posterity.
• Induce positive attitude amidst people for generations to come.
• Bring livelihood and improve living conditions to a few districts of people in the area.
• Bring revenue to India via tourism for years to come.
• Create a new landmark on the world map.

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Statue of Equality Project Location

Located in the scenic Muchintal Sriramnagar village, Divya Saketam is around 40kms from Hyderabad. It lies amidst the 45 acres of JIVA Campus which houses the Vedic school, Homeopathy Medical College, JIMS hospital, Swamiji’s Ashram, a Go Shala that houses 300 cows and calves, beautiful gardens, temples and 5 acres of playground where the devotees enjoy and learn under the divine spiritual guidance of HH Swamiji. JIVA offers the ideal peaceful, holistic and serene environment required for spiritual development.

Statue of Equality Project Highlights

216 Feet high Ramanuja: Dedication of Ramanuja Statue weighing 1140 metric tons and 216 feet high. The statue will be installed on Bhadravedi, an extra-ordinary stage. Also, consecrating gold deity of Ramanuja Swamy weighing 120 kgs for daily worship. A unique musical fountain to shower gratitude to Ramanujacharya through water droplets every evening in a pleasant colourful style. An exciting ride to depict inspiring historic incidents from life of Ramanujacharya for all the visitors is also included in this phase.

Construction of models of 108 Divya Desams: 108 centres of inspiration, Divya Desams with the history of each center and how it reflects the extremely rich and ancient history of the creation,existence and eternal truths will reveal themselves around the Statue of Ramanuja!

Milestones Reached Till Date

Foundation Stone Laid: Foundation stone for Statue of Equality was laid on 2nd May 2014 by HH Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji on the auspicious day of Akshaya thrithiya.

Research on Divya Desams: In preparation for Sri Ramanuja Sahasrabdi, chief architect Sriman Prasadji and his team worked for six months, researching and collecting data of various divya desams. 98 divya desams were visited and 12,000 photographs were taken to design the 108 divya desam models. Sketches of the mula murthis and uthsava murthis were prepared after visiting each divya desam. They researched and collected data on each divya desam. Prepared notes on the vaibhavam of the vimanas after consulting the local authorities and scriptures. This effort was completed in Dec 2014.

3D Model Creation: To develop the 3D model, almost 15 Ramanuja prototypes were created to accurately match the imagery required. In 2014, when HH was in Chathurmasa Deeksha in Samshabad,  making of clay model started under direct supervision of HH and was finalized in Feb 12th/13th 2015. Later, 3-d scan of the model was performed and digital corrections were made. HH  Swamiji reviewed the edited image and gave further feedback. Modifications were done and the picture was sent to 3 different vendors in India and China for quotation.

Aug 14, 2015-Contract Signed: On Aug 14, 2015  a contract was signed with a Chinese company for making of the statue.

October, 2015 -Review of Prototype: HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji, Dr. Rameswar Rao garu and the rest of the Sahasrabdi team went to China at the end of October, 2015 to review the deity model scaling  1/10th of the original , 16.3 feet idol created by them. The team gave feedback to the manufacturers.  Later, the architect team did digital corrections and sent the image to China for creating 1:1 statue. In this process, HH Swamiji even showed how the Yathi’s (monk’s) sacred thread should be showing His own for correct representation on the statue. A total of 14 corrections were noted, addressed, and rectified.

May 17th, 2016-Musical Fountain: Initially Sri Ramanuja’s padukas were placed in front of the statue. But HH after lot of thought replaced it with a unique fountain, one of its kind as a tribute to the great personality. The architect created a model for the fountain as per our sampradayam. 3D data was created and sent to China. A script was created and explained to Chinese engineers by HH Swamiji. They came to India twice to discuss on this piece and the whole concept was finalized on May 17th, 2016.

22nd May, 2016 – The first pillar of Bhadra Vedi : On 22nd May, 2016 HH Ahobila Jeeyar Swamiji consecrated the first pillar of Bhadra Vedi.

Statue Casting Started in China: At present 25% of the idol has been cast. Casting progress together with copper polishing and cleaning has been done.

1:1 Model Construction of Lotus Completed: 1:1 model construction of the Lotus is complete. The casting of elephants and the base started.

36 Elephants Casting Completed: 50% of lotus completed. Casting of circle ring behind the 36 elephants is complete. Casting of 36 elephants is also completed.

50 % 1:1 model construction of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya Completed 5th July 2016: 50% of 1:1 model construction of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya completed and casting of the deity has begun. Manufacturing of the other part of deity is 50% complete. 1:1 model manufacturing of the lotus is 75% complete. 36 elephants and the ring behind them is completed and will be shipped to India next month.

1st Jan 2017-Statue of Equality First Shipment Arrived: On 1st Jan 2017 the first part of the monument arrived at the JIVA campus at 8 pm, with Ramanujacharya himself to arrive soon to the area of construction. The JIVA campus greeted five containers containing 32 elephants and 18 petals of the lotus on which Ramanuja will be seated. 2 consignments (consisting of 15 trailers) have been unloaded at our asramam site. Today, the team have paid the customs duty for the 3rd consignment and getting it loaded on the trailers and are expecting these trailers to reach tomorrow night or day after tomorrow morning. They are expecting the fourth and fifth shipments reach Chennai port on 15/16 Jan 2017.The stalwart project team have taken up the erection job of the steel structure after Sri Sudharshana Homam performed by HH Sri Devanadha Jeeyar Swami ji. They have finalised the purchase order on Mateswari Temple Construction Pvt Ltd for Bhadravedi exterior sculpture works. The Mateswari Pvt Ltd company is one among the best factories which were visited around Gujarat and Rajasthan. The company has got two big factories equipped with CNC machines and 1000 people are working at 45 installations. The stone required i.e., Bansi Paharpur Pink Sandstone of 50,000 sq ft is readily available in this factory and have agreed to start manufacturing immediately and send the first load of temple material within a month.

9th Jan 2017 Site Report: Work on the inner structure of the Bhadravedi started. In the inner area, there will be 39 columns out of which first and second column were erected today.Encouragement from benevolent sponsors like you are helping us in meeting the project milestones. We invite your friends and family too to be part of this project.

Shilpi Stone Work : The Shilpi Stone work in and around Bhadravedi site has begun. Bansipahadpur Pink Stone is being used to construct the masonry around the Bhadravedi site. The stone is being brought all the way from Bansipahadpur, Rajasthan. The first truck load of the pink stone has already been delivered today. The work has begun and is currently underway. 250 stone sculptures will be working on carving the pink stone. In a weeks time, the Shilpi stone masons will begin the cladding and assembly work and give us our first sample. Around 600 shilpis from around Rajasthan will be working on this project, using around 4-5 truck loads of stone material. Tonnes of stone has been sanctioned and procured for the purpose of the Sahasrabdi SRS Project.

18th Mar 2017 Assembling of Elephants: Assembly of ‘Statue of Equality’ statue began in JIVA, Samshabad. 10 engineers from Aerosun Engineering, China came to the site on March 6th and started working on assembling of gajarajas – elephants. All the tools required for assembly such as plasma cutting machines, welding machines, cutting sets etc have been provided to the technicians. Nearby guesthouse has been arranged for their stay. So far ears, tusks, trunk of 10 elephants have been readied for welding. Also, assembling of Padmapeetam has started. With regards to statue structural erection work,7.5 meter structure for gajarajas and 3 tier lotus structure will be completed in 3 days. In the next 10 days, elephants will be moved to the erected structure. Planning for building the 3 tier Lotus structure will also be completed.

Installation of Elephants: The Chinese technicians are working on assembling the gajarajas – elephants. According to the Structural Engineer, erection of the elephants on the circular structure will start in 2 days.

Budget

Total Estimate of the project is approximately Rs.1000 crores.

The estimated cost of constructing the Statue is approximately Rs. 400 crores.

1. For the initial construction, a total of Rs. 14.4 crores was sent to the Chinese company in November 2015.
2. A second instalment of Rs 18.80 crores was sent to the company in February 2016.
3. A third instalment of Rs 32.00 crores has to sent to the Chinese company before the arrival of their team in July 2016.
4.It is estimated that 60 crores is required for construction of a 57 feet tall structure with 1.5 lakh square feet area – Bhadra Vedi, a very strong and heavy foundation, to support the weight of the Ramanuja Swamy statue weighing 1100 tons.
5. Installation of a Unique Musical Fountain – 25 crores