STATUE THAT SPEAKS!!

On the other day somebody told me that a big statue of more than 100ft of a Bhagwan is put in a village near Kakinada. Very big statues of Hanuman are seen at many places on the highways now a days. A big park at a highly expensive place with number of statues of elephants is constructed in NOIDA .It is not uncommon that for a statue of father of the nation you have to search whereas statues of number of other leaders are crowded everywhere often obstructing traffic due to which those leaders are being cursed for none of their fault.

Supreme Court also gave a ruling against placing statues with public money on highways. Masks were put on statues of Poor elephants during UP elections by the election commission so that elections are not influenced.

Another way statues are in news. Some of the statues on Tankbund like Nannaya, Potana, Srinatha are damaged by the agitators. Neither for the cause of agitation or in solution of the problem these great people had anything to do. They may be feeling sad in their grave after many centuries of their death that someday a state will be formed in which their statues will be erected at some prominent place only to be damaged by others who does not want the state any longer. Neither in the formation or in bifurcation these people hade no hand except that they wrote great books in a language both protogonists and antagonists speak.

Similarly statues of Ambedkar were damaged near Amalapuram. In this case I remember an incident of Andhrakesari narrated by my father .        Sri. Prakasam Pantulu dared the agitators to kill him rather than damaging his statue erected by his followers if they are so much angry.

So damaging or showing disrespect of the statues is highly deplorable and condemnable. However a bigger question always come to my mind whether statues are really required, if so what are the norms?

Hinduism is criticized for its statue worship. Goutam Budha himself opposed it many centuries ago. Not only the preachers of other religions but modern day social reformers who are the prime movers of social renaissance in modern India like Raja Rammohan Roy also opposed statue worship.

But it is ironic that some of the biggest statues in the world are that of Gautam Budha which are great places of worship and tourist attractions. President Obama writes in his autobiography that he used to be fascinated by statue of monkey god in his childhood. It is not uncommon in India that statues of Goddess Mary and Jesus Christ are worshiped. Statue of Liberty and many of the statues of Great Roman Empire still symbolize the greatness of important events by nations. Madam Tussauds Museum houses the vax statues of celebrities. It is considered as great recognition in the modern world. All the above shows that statues do have importance.

Swami Vivekananda who is unquestionably authority of all religions speaks about statue worship in following simple terms. It need not be opposed for the simple reason that the disciples are only praying, doing a very noble thing. But this type of worship should be only a starting point and not the end. Hence statue worship has to be used only as a stepping stone for other higher order things to be performed.

Following things have to be kept in mind while erecting statues. Statues of god and religious people should not be put on streets and highways for the simple reason that there are more than abundant temples available to satisfy all the needs of all the devotees. Moreover to keep the sanctity also this is essential. Statues of living persons have be avoided at all cost however great they may be because tolerance levels had since gone down from Andhrakesari days and emotions may lead to disastrous consequences. Statues should not be erected to demonstrate the one-upmanship of the leaders or that or FOLLOWERS. Followers is put in the capital because nowadays statues are put to show the strength of the followers vis- a -vis his rivals rather than show the respect to the leaders. Only occasional garlanding may be allowed but Palabhishekam and other worships have to be banned which are put on roads. Statues should not be put at places where they may cause traffic problems or possibilities of creating them in future. Otherwise they give opposite effect for which they are intended. Every town planning department should identify the places where statues can be put and limit the number of statues of a leader however great he may be.

Statues should show the core value propagated by the leader or the core competence of the leaders which common people should learn. This is the way historically sasanas are used by Indian kings.