Preparations are in full swing for the unveiling of the 216-foot-tall Statue of Equality, a 216-foot statue of the 11th century Vaishnava saint Sri Ramanujacharya, in a sprawling 40-acre courtyard at the Sri Chinna Jiyar Swami Ashram in Muchhinthal village on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The Prime Minister will unveil the statue on Saturday.

From the setting up of this statue, which is going to be the second-largest statue in the world, there is a lot of uniqueness in this design. The Statue of Equality, the statue of Ramanujacharya, seated and was erected in his memory 1,000 years after his birth.

The total cost of the project is around Rs 1,000 crore. The 216-foot Panchaloha statue, made of five metals such as gold, silver, copper, brass, and tin, was erected in 2017, but the rest of the construction took four years to complete. The seated statue of Ramanujacharya is placed on a huge lotus built on a three-story 54-foot structure called Bhadravedi. The 63,444 square-foot ground floor will feature a film presentation that provides a glimpse into Ramanujacharya’s life and his philosophy, sculptor DVV Prasad told News18.

On the second floor, there is a temple of Ramanujacharya covering an area of about 300,000 square feet, where a 120 kg gold idol was set up for daily worship. The Veda Digital Library and Research Center has also been set up on the last floor of the 14,700 sq ft. Outside Bhadravedi, 108 Divya Desha Kshetras (Vaishnava temples across the country) were built of stone on 34 acres of land around the idol.

Flags from all over the world, including Islamic countries, have been erected here to appeal to people from all walks of life. “People are not discriminated against based on their religious affiliation. Through this project, we want to let the whole world know that the religions they practice are equal for all human beings, regardless of their way of life,” said Prasad.

120 shrines with about 1,035 home gundas were set up for this iconic inauguration ceremony. About 1.5 lakh kg of cow ghee will be used to maintain the homas. All this ghee was collected from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and other states. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate this statue to the world by celebrating the 1000th birth anniversary of Vaishnava saint Ramanujacharya.

President Ram Nath Kovind will unveil a 54-inch, 120-kilogram gold statue depicting the number of years Ramanujacharya lived in the 11th century. The entire ceremony will be held under the state government. The Telangana government has made extensive arrangements for VIPs to attend these events.

The event, which runs for 13 days from February 2 to 14, features special homas every morning and evening. About 500 workers built 144 sheds with bamboo and palm branches. About 5,000 Ritwiks and Vedic scholars from all over the country are preparing for this Veda with Vedic mantras.

The power supply has been set up exclusively at 33/11 kV substation along with 28 distribution transformers and the roads and buildings department will also undertake the construction of special roads to go to this venue. The Mission Bhagiratha project officials have arranged for the supply of 15 lakh litres of drinking water to the ashrams.