Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Thursday unveiled a 108-foot-tall statue of the 8th-century spiritual leader Adi Shankaracharya in Omkareshwar town.
Thursday’s event, attended by 5,000 Hindu seers, comes months before the state goes to polls, at a time the BJP leadership in the state has targeted the opposition Congress over DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks calling for the eradication of Sanatan Dharma. Chouhan said at the event: “Endowed with self-knowledge, Acharya played a crucial role in reviving Sanatan Dharma, advocating for the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta and promoting cultural unity.”
The ‘Statue of Oneness’, conceptualised around six years ago, depicts Shankaracharya as a 12-year-old child when he is said to have visited Omkareshwar, which has one of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines — said to be the most sacred abodes of Shiva.
Chouhan also laid the foundation stone for a Rs 2,200-crore ‘Advait Lok’, which will contain a museum, situated on Omkareshwar Mandhata Hill, overlooking the Narmada river.
Sculptor Bhagwan Rampure (left) and painter Vasudeo Kamath in front of the Adi Shankaracharya statue on Thursday. (Express Photo)
Weighing 100 tonnes, the statue was conceptualised by an Indian team of artists, a sculptor and engineers. The metal casting was done in China’s Nanchang city and shipped to Mumbai in several batches. The idol, installed on a 75-foot platform, is made up of bronze that contains 88% copper, 4% zinc and 8% tin. Its internal structure is made-up of high-quality steel, officials said.
The museum will “include a 3D hologram projection gallery, nine exhibition galleries, an indoor wide-screen theatre, and a cultural boat ride called Advaita Narmada Vihar, which will take visitors on an audio-visual journey through the teachings of Shankaracharya”, an official said.
The design for the statue was conceptualised by painter Vasudeo Kamath, who found inspiration in Raja Ravi Verma’s depiction of Shankaracharya.
“Nobody has seen a child form of Adi Shankaracharya. The only painting we had was of Raja Ravi Verma who made his painting depicting him as a 20-22 year old man. I studied the faces of 11-12 year old Kerala boys, their face structure and other features while making my painting,” Kamath said.
Kamath also visited Shankaracharya’s birth place in Kerala’s Kalady, where he “studied the clothing style of men during that era, the rivers, the homes, their architectural design”.
After Kamath’s painting was greenlit in 2018, a competition was announced in which 20 sculptors from various states took part. Sculptor Bhagwan Rampure was then chosen for the project.
Rampure said: “I worked with Kamath at his home in Mumbai and we consulted with priests from all over the country, including Kerala, who took stock of the work.”
In the Mahakal Lok Corridor, controversy broke out after high wind speeds toppled and damaged Saptarishi idols installed in the complex. Rampure said: “The Saptarishi were made of Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP), this is made of metal, it will not be toppled with high wind speeds, inside as well there is steel construction.”
Rampure earlier made a 3.5 ft model and enlarged it to 11 ft after the designs were finalised and made his way to Nanchang city for the metal casting work. “I did not have such a big foundry for the metal casting works, the material used will have life long durability and Nanchang has an impressive facility and I supervised 100 Chinese workers for this project. We shipped parts of the statue in batches through the seat route. We are also working on installing a red stone Lotus at the base of the statute’s feet. Only 10 percent of the entire project is complete even though we built the statue in over a year,” he said.
The entire project is expected to be completed by 2026. Principal Secretary from the MP tourism and culture department, Sheo Shekhar Shukla said, “Entire project was designed by Indian team and L&T company they got different parts of the statue from China, many things have come from other parts of the world. ”
Shukla said, “this project will also see huge boost to tourism in the area and like the Mahakal Lok, we expect to see more than 1.5 to 2 lakh footfall every day in the future. This area along with Ujjain, Maheshwar and Mandu will form, a very important tourism circuit”.
The 108 feet tall statue of Hindu saint Adi Shankaracharya, named 'Ekatmata Ki Pratima' (Statue of Oneness), during its unveiling ceremony, at Omkareshwar in Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh. (PTI Photo) 
Sculptor Bhagwan Rampure (left) and painter Vasudeo Kamath in front of the Adi Shankaracharya statue on Thursday. (Express Photo)
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