Kanyakumari: Coinciding with Swami Vivekananda's 154'th birth anniversary on Thursday, the country's southernmost tip of Kanyakumari, got yet another tourism attraction, with the Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modi inaugurating via viedo-conference the "Bharat Maatha Sadhanam" here.
The 12,000 sq.ft 'mandir' for Bharat Maatha built at the cost of '15 crore in the premises of the 'Vivekanda Kendra', in memory of one of India's most revered spiritual masters, off the shore here, has "Ramayana Darshan" -a pictorial exhibition of Valmiki Ramayana in 108 wooden panels. Each panel measuring 24 sq.ft. depicts an important episode in the epic in mural and oil paintings. The 27ft high granite statue of Veera Hanuman is the cynosure of Ramayana Dharshan exhibition.
The hanuman statue made of a single granite stone has been placed on a nine-ft high 'peetam' at the entrance of the exhibition at the 'Bharat Maatha Sadhanam'.
In the first floor of the 'Bharat Maatha Sadhanam' is a 12-ft bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda in Thapas posture and the drawings on the concept of Motherhood, depicting five mothers-Goddess Parvathi Devi, the mother of Lord Muruga, Sakunthala, mother of Bharat, after whose name the country has got its name, Jijabhai, the mother of Chatrapathi Sivaji, the spiritual mother of Swami Vivekananda, Saradha Devi, besides picture of the contemporary woman Hindu saint, Mata Amritanandamayi. The 'Bharat Maatha Sadhanam' too has embossed paintings of 'Akhand Bharat' and a three dimensional picture of Lord Padmanabaswami in 'Anandasayanam (Lord Vishnu in reclining posture on serpent).
The 'Bharat Maatha' temple also has a mini-theatre and the entire premises is being powered by a solar power generation system. Union ministers Mahesh Sharma and Pon Radhakrishnan along with the Vivekananda Kendra head, T Parameshwaran and the head of Vellimalai Swami Vivekananda Ashram, Sathyanandhaji Maharaj, were present on the occasion at the stage in Kanyakumari, when the prime minister inaugurated the 'Bharat Maatha Sadhanam' through video conferencing.
