Hyderabad: Social reformer Basaveshwara statue to line up at Tank Bund
Sculptor Hothi Baswaraj, who made the statue costing Rs 57 lakh, told this newspaper that the statue was ready for installation.
Hyderabad: The first Mahatma Basaveshwara on horseback statue in the city is ready for installation at Tank Bund. The 12-foot tall statue will be unveiled by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao or a Cabinet minister on Basaveshwara Jayanti on Sat-urday near Rotary Park.
Sculptor Hothi Baswaraj, who made the statue costing Rs 57 lakh, told this newspaper that the statue was ready for installation. “It took 40 days for 35 people to make the statue. It has been been made in Ashwarodha style on horseback which can be seen in Bengaluru, Bidar, Solapur and other parts of Karnataka, Mah-arashtra and Telangana state,” he explained.
Mr Baswaraj has made nearly 300 statues over 10 years of Basaveshwara, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, TS idealogue Prof Jayashankar, Mahatma Phule which have been installed across Telangana state and in the city. Mahatma Basaveshw-ara was a 12th century social reformer, philosopher, statesman, and Kannada poet who fought against gender and social discrimination, superstitions, rituals. He introduced the Ishtalinga necklace with an image of the Shiva Linga during the reign of King Bijjala I of the Kalachuri dynasty in Karnataka.
Born in a Brahmin family with Shivaite traditions, he founded Lingayatism. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao had ordered Basava Jayanti to be celebrated officially.
He had sanctioned a one-acre site in Hyderabad for Basava Bhavan and Rs 5 crore for construction of convention hall and building for Veerashaiva Lingayats.