The Thiruvalluvar Statue also known as Statue of Wisdom is a 135 ft tall stone sculpture. It is dedicated to Tamil poet & philosopher Thiruvalluvar, the author of Thirukkural, an ancient Tamil work on morality. It is located on the top of a small island near Kanyakumari.
The statue was created by an Indian sculptor V. Ganapati Sthapati, who also created the Iraivan temple. This statue was unveiled on the millennium day of 1st January 2000 by the former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. It is the 25th tallest statue currently in India.
Significance:
On 1st January 2025, Tamil Nadu government declared the statue as "Statue of Wisdom". The combined height of the statue and platform is 133 feet which represents 133 chapters of Thirukkural. This includes a 95-foot sculpture of Valluvar standing upon a 38-foot platform that represents the 38 chapters of Virtue, the first of the three books of the Kural text.
The statue itself represents the second & third books of the Kural text namely Wealth & Love. The right hand of the statue with three fingers pointing skywards signifies the three cantos of the Kural text, namely, Aram(Aṟattuppāl ), Porul(Poruṭpāl ) and Inbam (Iṉbattuppāl) which is a combination of Virtue, wealth & love. The head of the statue stands at a height of 200 ft above the sea level.
How To Reach:
Kanyakumari bus stand is just a 1 KM away and railway station is 1.2 KM away from the statue. You can reach by walk or by taking a auto rickshaw from bus stand or railway station.