Murugan Statue unveiled at Batu caves in KL

Hello Friends,

Below is the message I received by email about the tallest statue of Lord Subramaniya that was unvieled on Jan 29,2006 at the Sri Subramaniar Temple at the foot of Batu Caves, Kuala Lampur.

Lord Muruga itself means 'beautiful' and this tallest statue of Muruga seems to be giantly beautiful!

I am yet to go and see it in person...thought of sharing the info.

Regards,
Malar

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KUALA LUMPUR: About 30,000 Hindu devotees and visitors came to witness
the official unveiling of the country's tallest Lord Murugan statue on Jan 29,

2006 (Sunday) and the garlanding of the golden statue.

Temple officials were now hoping to get the 42.7m statue, located at

the Sri Subramaniar Temple at the foot of Batu Caves, into the Guinness

Book of World Records as the tallest Lord Murugan statue in the world.

Hundreds of balloons floated into the air and a shower of flowers fell

from a hovering helicopter as Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu

officially launched the opening ceremony about 6.15 pm on Jan 29, 2006.

A crane lifting the giant chrysanthemum garland to put over the statue

of Lord Murugan at the Sri Subramaniar Temple in Batu Caves.

As darkness fell, a spectacular 20-minute display of fireworks lit the

RM2.5mil statue made of 1,550 cubic metres of concrete, 250 tonnes of

steel bars and 300 litres of gold paint brought in from Thailand.

Fifteen Indian sculptors had worked on the project for three years.

A cultural performance by local artistes and singers from India continued till midnight.

As many people turned up again at the temple to witness a giant garland being placed on the statue - two weeks before Thaipusam.

The RM15,000 flower garland, which was 43m long and weighed about a

tonne, was made of chrysanthemums which will last less than a week

under the hot sun.

"A total of five days without sleep and 18 men was what it took to

prepare this enormous garland," said Sri Kertanas Floral manager, Mahendran Shanti.

"One hundred and fifty people had to carry the garland to the temple.

"We needed another 20 men to help lift it to the crane so it wouldn't

sway and hit visitors," said Mahendran, who was among those who had

carried the hefty garland.

It was a complex operation and it took about an hour to hook the

garland to the crane and for the crane to place the garland on the statue.

"But all the hard work was worth it as we had hoped to have the statue

as well as the garland ready before Thaipusam," said Mahendran's wife, Shanti.

V. Malarvanan, who had sponsored the garland, said the flowers were

brought in from Cameron Highlands.

"Although I wasn't involved in the making of the garland, I was there

the whole five days, to give them a little support so they wouldn't get

side-tracked," he joked.

"I also hope that this giant garland will make it into the Malaysia

Book of Records, following the successful entry of the statue into the archives,"

he said.