Statues of famous personalities along the Marina Beach in Chennai
The Marina Beach, is not only famous for its long sandy beach, but also for the beautiful surroundings, old iconic buildings and more importantly, the various statues of famous personalities all along its length.
Labour Statue:
This is a labor statue, dedicated to the various laborers who work hard to build every nation. Since I went there on May 1 (International Workers/ Laborers day), the statue was even garlanded!
Bharathiar Statue:
This is the statue of a famous Tamil poet in Tamil Nadu called Bharathiar (There is also a wannabe Bharathiar in blue shirt below 🙂 ). His poems aroused the people of Tamil Nadu against the British rule and he also fought against gender inequality, caste-ism and other evils thronging the society back then, primarily through his poems. He was also called Maha Kavi.
Kannagi Statue:
Kannagi is the main character in the Tamil epic called Silapadhikaram, written by Illango Adigal before 1400 years. In the story, she comes to know that her husband had been accused of stealing an anklet of the queen, and put to death by the Madurai King. But she goes to the palace & proves that her husband had not committed the crime. The King, shameful of his hasty decision, dies right there. The legend is that whole of Madurai city was in flames shortly after.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Statue:
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was a revolutionary freedom fighter who fought against the British empire in India from outside India (South East Asia). Unlike the leaders of the congress back then, he believed that an armed military campaign against the British was the way to complete Independence and he was helped in this cause by the Germans (initially) and the Japanese (mostly). His reported death after a few campaigns in the North Eastern front of India in 1945 due to a plane crash has never been established till now.
Thiruvalluvar Statue:
Thiruvalluvar, is a very famous Tamil poet who is famous for his work – Thirukkural which contains 1330 couplets and deals with the topics on Virtue, Wealth & Love. Though it has been written 2000 years ago, the poems are considered very relevant, even today. The above statue is an imagined portrait of the great thinker and poet.
G U Pope Statue:
G U Pope, has translated several Tamil poems and epics (including Tirukkural) in to English over a period spanning 53 years. He has also translated other large volumes like Naladiyar, Thiruvasagam, etc.
Bharathidasan Statue:
Bharathidasan is a Tamil poet, writer and playwright whose mentor was Bharathiar. He mostly wrote on socio-political issues that helped the Dravidian movement to rise in Tamil Nadu. He was posthumously awarded the Sahitya Academy award in 1970.
Avvaiyar Statue:
Avvaiyar, is the collective name for a group of female poets who lived in 1st/ 3rd/ 13th Centuries in Tamil Nadu. Avvaiyar has written many poems/ songs in Tamil. Aathichoodi is a very popular work among them, which is simple to understand & contains wise words.
Mahatma Gandhi Statue:
I guess Mahatma Gandhi (or) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi needs no introduction. He was the chief leader of the Indian Independence movement and referred to as the ‘Father of the Nation’. He was one of the first leaders in the world to use Non-violence as the chief means to fight for justice. He discouraged violence in every form and led a very simple life, himself.
Veeramamunivar Statue:
Veera-ma-munivar (Italian name: Constanzo Beschi) was a missionary who arrived to South India from Europe in the 18th Century. He learned the Tamil language and became proficient enough in it to write a dictionary in Tamil (among other works) and introduced grammar for the popular usage of Tamil. His translations of famous Tamil works in to Latin gave a positive introduction to Tamil Literature in Europe.
I am not sure whose statue this one is (if anyone knows do let me know and I will update). Update: So, it is the statue of Kamaraj as mentioned by Reema in the comments.
Destination Infinity
It is the statue of K.Kamaraj … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Kamaraj
Too good Reema. Without even having lived in TN, you have guessed it right!
That clear photo in Wiki makes me think about taking photos with my mobile camera! But when I was in Coimbatore, this same mobile camera was taking clear shots!! I might have messed up with the settings, or it was the mid-day sun. Maybe in my next couple of trips I can (re)evaluate it…
Destination Infinity
Where there is wiki, there is a way 😛
It appears that you are covering one new landmark in Chennai each weekend. As always, it was an informative post. I did not know the names of quite a few Tamil personalities 🙂
Even I didn’t know some of some of them 🙂
That’s what I am trying to do – go to popular tourist places in and around the city and write a photo essay on the same. I am not much of a travel person, but both my vocation and my hobby has made me so! Anyways, these days I am going out on the weekends just because I don’t want to stare at the computer monitor on Sundays as well!
Destination Infinity
Kamarajar statue
Yes, that is Kamaraj’s statue…this is very famous…Kamaraj was the one for promoting education in our state. He opened many schools in many villages. The wikepedia might say it all!
I remember reading Veeramamunivar’s poems in my school days…great man.
Nice collection of statues alongwith details! Keep on introducing Chennai to everyone and me too, in a new angle!
Yeah, I am also getting introduced to Chennai, this way 🙂 But our generation is not very familiar with Anna or Kamaraj! Maybe its time to learn some history? I think there were movies on the biographies of both of them – For a start, I can see them 🙂
Destination Infintiy
I think it should be OK now…I checked the spelling in the URL, it seems to be OK. http or something must be wrong!
Yeah, now its ok. Earlier, the maradhimanni was spelled as maradimanni – That’s why there was an error. Since the blog caches the name and URL, it was repeated. Now it should be fine, I guess.
Destination Infinity
I dont mind all these statues and everything .. the problem is the after care.. no one cares for them later on and they get filthy and bad ..
If you have out statues then they shud be taken care of at least washed monthly if not weekly ..
Bikram’s
New statues are taken care of, but the authorities. But once they become old, its neglected. I hope that doesn’t become the case with these statues. I guess they are there from a long time! Restoration works happen now and then.
Destination Infinity
good to know more about chennai.
like the short info after each pic
I am also learning more about Chennai, by writing on them 🙂
Destination Infinity
Rajesh,
Thanks for posting this. Honestly I learned two things from this:
1. Never thought SC Bose statue in Southern part of India. I thought people in South did not care about him.
2. Bigger surprise si Veera-ma-munivar. Had no clue about him. Thanks. It is nice to know such details.
Subash Chandra Bose is highly respected even in South India. That is evident in this line up as he is the only personalty (Outside TN, Other than Mahatma Gandhi) to be honored among the statues in the Marina Beach.
Destination Infinity
Hi,,
thanks for the feedback regarding right click.
I will do the needful.
Yeah, that would be great!
Destination Infinity
Awesome!
I seem to have missed many an interesting post here, during my absence! Good to be back. Good to be connected!
I guess its in solitude we understand that connections are the essence of life! 🙂
Destination Infinity
So you walked down the beach?
No, we were driving in our bikes on the road parallel to the main road inside the beach.
Destination Infinity
Rajesh,
Good pictures and information.
I just bumped into this post hoping to see Robert Caldwell statue. It is Marina, I’ll try to explore it by this week.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Caldwell