Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that the government will install statues of Raja Raja Cholan and Rajendra Cholan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that the government will install statues of Raja Raja Chola, who ruled the Chola empire at its peak in the 10th and early 11th centuries, and his son Rajendra Chola I in Tamil Nadu in the upcoming years.
On Sunday, participating in the Aadi Thiruvathirai Festival at Tamil Nadu’s Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple, established by Rajendra Chola I in the then-capital of the Chola Empire, Prime Minister Modi said the statues would “serve as modern pillars of India’s historical consciousness”.
Honouring Rajendra Chola I, he also released a commemorative coin at the temple, which is now celebrating its 1,000th anniversary.
Addressing the people gathered, Modi harked back to the installation of the Sengol in the new Parliament building.
A gold-plated, silver sceptre, the Sengol was earlier housed at the Allahabad Museum. Emissaries from the Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam Matha, a Shaivite monastery, are believed to have had brought the Sengol to North India.
Since then, the Sengol had been lying in the Allahabad museum for decades before it hit the headlines in 2023, when Modi, along with Hindu priests heading the 20 Adheenams in Tamil Nadu, installed it near the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chair.