The ''Buddha Statue of Hyderabad'' is a monolith located in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is the world's tallest monolith of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

, erected on Gibraltar Rock in the middle of Hussain Sagar.

History

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

is the capital of the state of

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

(separated from Andhra Pradesh on 2 June 2014). Between 1983 and 1989,

N. T. Rama Rao Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for seven years over three terms. He starred ...

served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. During his tenure, he spent large sums to erect several statues of people from the region's political and religious history. During his visit to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, he saw the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

and was inspired by the efforts to restore it. He said "I wanted something like that great place to visit... That would have been my contribution to society." Rama Rao chose to depict Gautama Buddha because "he was a humanitarian who told the whole truth to the people. It is our pride." After a long search, he found a solid white granite rock near Raigiri, Bhuvanagiri (

Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district Yadadri Bhuvanagiri District, is a district in the Indian state of Telangana. The administrative headquarters is located at Bhuvanagiri Town. The district shares boundaries with Suryapet, Nalgonda, Jangaon, Siddipet, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Ranga ...

) on a mountainside 46 km outside Hyderabad. In October 1985 NTR inaugurated work on structure. For over a year, hundreds of labourers helped the temple architect and builder S.M.Ganapathi Sthapati create the statue. After five years and the expenditure of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

3 million, the statue stood at and weighed 350 tons, making it the world's tallest monolithic statue of the Buddha. A concrete platform measuring , now referred to as the "Rock of Gibraltar," was constructed in the middle of Hussain Sagar to aid in erecting the statue. The roads of the city were also widened for this purpose. This statue is located at

Lumbini Park Lumbini Park, officially T. Anjaiah Lumbini Park, is a small public, urban park of adjacent to Hussain Sagar in Hyderabad, India, Hyderabad, India. Since it is located in the centre of the city and is in close proximity to other tourist attrac ...

in the Hussain Sagar Island can be reached by boat in 15 minutes. The statue is near to Lakdi-Ka-Pul, Khairatabad and Assembly Hyderabad metro stations.

The accident

Then

government of Andhra Pradesh Government of Andhra Pradesh, abbreviated as, GOAP, or, Andhra Government, is the Subnational administrative division, subnational government for the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is an elected government with 175 Member of the Legislative ...

led by N. T. Rama Rao was ousted in 1989. By the next year, the statue was ready for erection. ABC Limited, a local company, was given the responsibility of transferring the statue onto the concrete platform. Using a trailer vehicle, the statue was brought to the shore of Hussain Sagar. On 10 March 1990, company workers shifted the statue on top of a barge. After traveling only , the statue tipped and fell into the lake. The accident killed 10 people. After a two-year salvage operation, the statue was pulled out of the lake. On 1 December 1992, the statue was installed on the platform successfully. In 2006, the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

consecrated the statue after performing a ritual.

Gallery

File:Hussain sagar lake.JPG, Standing Buddha in abhya mudra File:Head part of budda.JPG, Closeup view File:BuddhaStatueHussainSagar 0188.JPG, Sunset on Buddha Statue, Hussain Sagar File:Hussain Sagar lake, Hyderabad.jpg, Evening View File:Buddha Statue by kkpbalaji.jpg, Night View on a moon day File:Another sculpture.JPG, A sculpture on the basement of Buddha statue. File:Buddha statue no 1.jpg, Buddha statue at Hussain sagar File:Hyderabad Dec2011 15.JPG

References

* Shifting Stones, Shaping the Past: Sculpture from the Buddhist Stupas of Andhra Pradesh - Book {{Colossal Buddha statues 1992 establishments in Andhra Pradesh 1992 sculptures Buddha statues in India Buildings and structures in Hyderabad, India Colossal Buddha statues Colossal statues in India Stone Buddha statues Tourist attractions in Hyderabad, India

History

The accident

See also

Gallery

References