Conceived in the 1980s by the larger-than-life leader NT Rama Rao, the statue’s journey from a submerged disaster to a consecrated monument by the Dalai Lama in 2006 is as dramatic as the city it represents.
Published Jan 03, 2025 | 4:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 03, 2025 | 4:14 PM
The Hyderabad Buddha Statue (Wikimedia Commons)
Public art often embodies the aspirations of its creators. But what happens when those aspirations sink under their own weight? Hyderabad’s monolithic Buddha, standing serenely on the Rock of Gibraltar in the middle of Hussain Sagar lake, may offer an answer.
This Friday, 3 January 2025, marks 19 years since the Dalai Lama – the spiritual and political leader-in-exile of the Tibetan people – consecrated the towering statue in 2006. Since then, it has become an iconic part of the city.
Yet, its calm exterior belies a turbulent and fascinating history – a story of ambition, tragedy, and superstition.
The idea for the Buddha statue was born in the mid-1980s in the mind of NT Rama Rao, or NTR, as he is affectionately known.
Actor, populist, political mythmaker, and then Chief Minister of an undivided Andhra Pradesh, NTR envisioned a monument that would honour the state’s Buddhist past while asserting his vision of cultural diplomacy. The statue was meant to be both a spiritual beacon and a political statement.
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao
“Chief Minister NTR had a knack for living larger than life thanks to his illustrious film career,” said M Somasekhar, a veteran journalist who witnessed the saga unfold firsthand as a cub reporter.
“The government first looked for a large enough rock to sculpt the statue from. After they identified one marble rock at the hillocks of Raigir, near Bhongir, they commissioned SM Ganapathi to oversee the sculpting,” he said.
Ganapathi, a native of Tamil Nadu and a renowned architect specialising in traditional temple structures, led the project. Over two years, he and his team painstakingly carved the monolith into its meditative form. But once it was completed, things took a dramatic turn.
ABC India Ltd., which now describes itself as one of India’s oldest road logistics companies, was tasked with the Herculean job of transporting the 450-ton statue from Bhongir to Hyderabad.
“I remember the shipment being just as popular as the statue back then,” Somasekhar said. “They didn’t just have to make a special vehicle to transport the statue; they also had to mend roads and bridges along the route.”
While the spectacle captivated the public, the real drama began when the statue reached the Hussain Sagar. On 10 March 1990, during its transportation to the installation site on Gibraltar Rock in the middle of the lake, disaster struck.
M Somasekhar in front of the Buddha Statue being sculpted from a single rock in Raigir in 1990. (Raja Raman)
“There was much furore on the day of the installation. The logistics company had set up iron beams to move the statue across the lake onto the Rock of Gibraltar,” Somasekhar explained.
After being loaded onto a barge, the statue travelled approximately 100 yards (about 91 metres) before it tipped over and fell into the lake, reportedly killing ten workers.
“NTR and the logistics company both wanted the historic moment on video. They had the then scarce few videographers come in to shoot for Doordarshan and the company. However, the accident occurred in a moment. ABC Ltd was a relatively new company then,” Somasekhar explained.
“They didn’t have the requisite expertise to execute such a massive project,” he continued. “One bad move and the statue tipped over and fell into the Hussain Sagar. To top it off, insurance companies were exploiting grey areas to ensure that they didn’t have to cough up the insured amounts.”
“I remember some of the Doordarshan videographers moonlighting for better pay at the private company. Despite being injured, they fled Gandhi Hospital to avoid being identified and losing their jobs,” he added with a chuckle.
After the accident, the statue lay submerged for two years, and superstitions soon surrounded it.
“One of the conspiracy theories was that NTR had convinced Ganapathi to construct the Buddha in his likeness,” Somasekhar said. Politicians distanced themselves from the project, fearing its perceived curse. “There was a superstition developing that those who engage with the statue will lose power, thanks to a set of coincidences,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the vernacular press had a field day with the incident. “The media and the politicians would coin phrases like ‘sinking money into the Hussain Sagar,’ and ‘Buddha’s underwater penance,’” he recalled.
“There were also instances of people avoiding the east side of Hussain Sagar during Ganesh Nimarjan to avoid angering the sleeping god,” he added.
Buddha statue at Hussain sagar, as seen from the Rock of Gibraltar (Wikimedia Commons)
The belief seemed bolstered by political history. NTR lost power (1985-1989) before the statue’s completion. Subsequent Chief Ministers Chenna Reddy and Janardhana Reddy both had short terms, with the latter leaving office just months before the Buddha was finally reinstalled in 1992.
Even Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, under whose regime the statue was finally installed, couldn’t complete his term. The kicker was that the next Chief Minister was NTR again. However, 100 days before he was due to complete a year in office, he passed away.
“The series of regime changes running parallel to the statue’s timeline earned it a bad reputation,” Somasekhar said. “That bad reputation, in turn, made politicians averse to touching the statue with a ten-foot pole.”
In 2006, the Dalai Lama consecrated the statue, marking a shift in its narrative. By then, the stigma had faded, and the surrounding area had been developed into a tourist hub with statues along Necklace Road, fulfilling part of NTR’s original vision. Yet, the statue’s meaning had evolved.
“NTR wanted the statue to be a site of religious significance, attracting tourists from Buddhist nations like China and Japan. However, the rich Japanese tourists believed in a formless Buddha. Meanwhile, the Chinese couldn’t freely come to India,” Somasekhar explained.
Today, the Buddha is less a spiritual monument and more a symbol of Hyderabad itself. “The statue stands as a symbol of Hyderabad, transcending its history, serene amidst the Hussain Sagar bearing witness to its transformation,” Somasekhar reflected.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
