PASSENGERS TRAVELLING via the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad cannot miss the sight of a giant statue of a seated figure holding a flagstaff. This 216ft-tall monument—called the Statue of Equality—built at Srirama Nagaram JIVA Campus, Hyderabad, commemorates the millennium of the birth of saint Ramanuja, a tall figure of the Bhakti movement. Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swami, a scholar of Vaishnavism, is the designer and planner of the statue; on September 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to inaugurate the statue during the festivities scheduled from February 2 to February 14, 2022.
The saint is revered by a large section of Hindus—both Brahmins and non-Brahmins—from Tamil Nadu. Modi’s first move to appease them was in 2016; he mentioned Ramanuja during his speech from the Red Fort on the 70th Independence Day. The following year, the Union government released a commemorative stamp on the birth anniversary of the saint. The sangh parivar is trying to position itself as the protector of the religion. But the question remains: How would Ramanuja’s teachings of equality of all and his love for Tamil fit into the sangh’s in its Hindi-Hindu-hindutva narrative?
この記事は THE WEEK の November 07, 2021 版に掲載されています。
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