The Murugan statue is the world's largest statue of this Hindu god. This 43 metre statue stands near the stairs to the Batu Caves, a popular Hindu shrine. Although the main adherents of Hinduism migrated to Malaysia in the late 19th century, the religion itself made its way here much earlier - with Indian merchants. And the famous Caves temple near the Batu Caves was built more than two centuries ago by a wealthy Indian merchant.
A modern statue of this most revered deity in Hinduism appeared near the temple in 2006. It took fifteen Indian sculptors and an equal number of local artists and architects three years to create the monument. The sculpture took one and a half thousand cubic metres of concrete, and 250 tonnes of beams were needed to bind the structure together. The statue was coated with 300 litres of gold paint from Thailand. The cost of this project exceeded half a million dollars. After the opening, the sculpture was entered into the Guinness Book of Records.
Harmony in such a peaceful and stable country like Malaysia is due to respect for the culture, religion and customs of all the nationalities that inhabit it. And the unveiling of the shrine, so significant to the residents who practise Hinduism, was attended by government officials as well as many visitors from India. The statue was showered with flowers from helicopters that were in the evening sky especially for this celebration.
In India itself, the statue represents the supreme god of war. The Tamils, an Indian people living in Malaysia, honour him as a protector from war, a bringer of victory, and a giver of fertility. He is always represented as a young man armed with a bow and a spear, the banner with a drawing of a rooster is considered an invariable attribute.
After the discovery of the statue of Murugan, in addition to pilgrims, tourists began to come to the temple and caves, attracted by the extraordinary size of the statue. Their flow reaches a thousand people daily.
