• Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister recently unveiled a 108-foot-tall statue of the 8th-century spiritual leader Adi Shankaracharya in Omkareshwar town.
• The foundation stone for a Rs 2,200-crore ‘Advait Lok’, which will contain a museum, situated on Omkareshwar Mandhata Hill, overlooking the Narmada river, was also laid.

ABOUT STATUE OF ONENESS

Other statues Statue of Equality on the outskirts of Hyderabad to commemorate the 11th-century Bhakti saint Sri Ramanujacharya on his 1,000th birth anniversary. In 2018, Statue of Unity in Gujarat’s Kevadia was inaugurated in memory of former deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

• The ‘Statue of Oneness’, conceptualised around six years ago, depicts Shankaracharya as a 12-year-old child when he is said to have visited Omkareshwar, which has one of the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines — said to be the most sacred abodes of Shiva.
  • Adi Shankaracharya, who was born in what is now Kerala, is said to have arrived at Omkareshwar as a young monk, where he encountered his guru Govind Bhagwadpad, resided in the sacred city for four years, and received his education.
• Weighing 100 tonnes, the statue was conceptualised by an Indian team of artists, a sculptor and engineers.
• The metal casting was done in China’s Nanchang city and shipped to Mumbai in several batches.
• The idol, installed on a 75-foot platform, is made up of bronze that contains 88% copper, 4% zinc and 8% tin.
  • Its internal structure is made-up of high-quality steel.
• The design for the statue was conceptualised by painter Vasudeo Kamath, who found inspiration in Raja Ravi Verma’s depiction of Shankaracharya.