Ever heard of :
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin [1799 –1837) was a Russian author of the Romantic
era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder
of modern Russian literature. Pushkin was born into Russian nobility in
Moscow - soon you will get to hear more
of him and perhaps see him too – as a statue of his is to come up in
Chennai.
Chennai has many many statues - at the Marina beach is a statue of Thiruvalluvar – and there is one near Mylapore Sanskrit college…….the biggest of them all stands 133 ft tall (40.5m) at Kanyakumari, – situate at a place where two seas and an Ocean meet. The statue has a height of 95 ft and stands upon 38 ft pedestal representing the 38 chapters of virtue in Thirukural. The combined height of the statue and pedestal is 133 ft denoting 133 chapters in the Thirukural. For the uninformed, Thirukural is a classic of couplets containing 1330 verses widely translated in to many languages. Thirukkural is a great source of knowledge – 1330 couplets structured in 133 adhikarams [chapters], grouped in 3 sections – Aram (righteousness). Porul (wealth) and Kamam or Inbam (pleasure). Its author, the Great Thiruvalluvar, known as Theiva Puvalar (Divine Poet), Sennaapothaar, Poiyamozhi Pulavar (whose words are only truth) and more.. lived in Mylapore.
15th Jan is officially celebrated as ‘Thiruvalluvar Day’ - a State holiday in Tamilnadu. Recently, Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani announced in New Delhi that her Ministry would celebrate sage Thiruvalluvar’s birth anniversary every year. On Friday, members of the Rajya Sabha had unanimously supported a demand from BJP MP Tarun Vijay for the celebration of Thiruvalluvar’s birth anniversary nationally. The Minister said that Thiruvalluvar’s birth anniversary will be celebrated in schools from next year onwards. Ms. Irani added that books in Hindi and English on Thiruvalluvar’s life and his magnum opus Thirukural would be distributed in schools and that the Centre would monitor the distribution of these books and their reception by students. She added that elocution and essay contests would also be organised to mark the birth anniversary. This is a post on a newsitem in The Hindu about his statue to be placed in Moscow. The culture of statues has a long history and is not new to Tamilnade alone though there have been some clashes arising out of issues involving statues. A few years back, a bronze statue of Tamil saint Poet Thiruvalluvar was unveiled at Bangalore and around the same time a statue of Kannada Poet Sarvagnar was unveiled at Ayyanavaram, in Chennai. The statue of Thiruvalluvar was under covers for more than a decade and was even one of the demands of Brigand Veerappan for release of matinee idol Rajkumar. Now The Hindu reports that a statue of Russian poet Pushkin may be set up in Chennai ~ and a statue of Tamil poet Thiruvaluvar would find a place at Moscow in Russia. Sergey L. Kotov, Consul General of Russia is quoted as telling the Hindu that they have received a request from an organisation to install his statue in Moscow and they are eager to establish the statue. It is further stated that the modalities of installing the statue, its location and the agency to be involved were being worked out. It would improve the overall India-Russia relationship, he said, adding that it would also help step up cultural exchanges between the two countries. Stating that Tamil folk music, cinema and dances were popular in Russia, Mr. Kotov said such opportunities to showcase the cultural richness had not been utilised for long. Calling for more cultural exchanges, he said Russia was ready to take a lead in this. It would appreciate government, semi-government and private channels to carry forward the task of improving cultural ties. While some may claim this to be a victory or claim that his ideals are travelling Worldwide – the better honor is to study his works and live by his preaching – history is replete with occasions of statues grandly installed becoming forlorn, lying uncared for and at places, people not knowing anything about the statue or its significance With regards – S. Sampathkumar.
1st Dec 2014.
