Sagarakanyaka is a sculpture of a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

situated at the

Shankumugham Beach Shankumugham Beach is a beach in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, south India. The beach is on the western side of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and is very close to Trivandrum International Airport. The vast stretch of white sand an ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. Sculpted by

Kanayi Kunhiraman Kanayi Kunhiraman ( ml, കാനായി കുഞ്ഞിരാമന്‍; born 25 July 1937) is an Indian sculptor, best known for his outsize sculptures such as ''Yakshi'' of Malampuzha Dam Gardens, '' Sagarakanyaka'' at Shankumugham Be ...

, it is adjudged by the

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

as the largest merperson sculpture in the world. It has a length of 87 ft and a height of 25 ft. Kunhiraman took two years to complete the sculpture which was finally completed in 1992.

Overview

Kunhiraman completed the sculpture without taking any renumeration. During the construction, the District Collector ordered to stop the construction of the sculpture by saying it was obscene. But

K. Karunakaran Kannoth Karunakaran (5 July 1918 – 23 December 2010) was an Indian politician and member of the Indian National Congress (INC). He served as the Chief Minister of Kerala four times during the late 1970s through the mid 1990s. He is the ...

, who was the Chief Minister at that time intervened and suggested the completion of the sculpture upon the request of Kunhiraman. In October 2022, it was adjudged as the largest merperson sculpture in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records.

References

{{Tourism in Kerala Sculptures in India