Artist From India Spends 10 Years Building The World's Tallest Bird Sculpture

Feb 24, 2020 by apost team

From its exotic animals and sacred temples to its unique cultural and cuisine offerings, India is already a country that almost every accomplished traveler would likely recommend seeing at least once. Thanks to filmmaker and sculptor Rajiv Anchal, the world has yet another reason to visit India, and it’s a massive one built atop Jatayupara. India is now home to the largest bird sculpture in the world.

Chadayamangalam village in Kollam district, Kerala, has become a hot-spot tourist destination for southern India. It’s beautiful landscape, Ayurvedic resort and adventure center are crowd pleasers. However, it’s the newest attraction in the Jatayu Earth’s Centre that tops it all... literally. For many generations, Chadayamangalam village residents have passed down a Ramayana epic about a giant eagle named Jatayu.

The story, written in Sanskrit, says that Jatayu was struck down while trying to rescue Sita, a Hindu goddess, after she was kidnapped by Ravana. According to Awesome Inventions, locals believe that the giant bird fell on Jatayumangalam’s rocky peak near the Chadayamangalam village. The spot is now called Chadayamangalam, and its peak is Jatayu Rock.

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Today, Jatayupara is the site for a massive sculpture in honor of the Jatayu legend, and it happens to be the largest bird sculpture ever made. Rajiv Anchal, who created the sprawling sculpture, told The Hindu that he first had the idea for it when he was just a college kid. The Department of Tourism was impressed with the idea back in the 80s, but the sculpture didn’t come to fruition until decades later as part of a more extensive tourism project.

Amazingly, it only took a couple of years for Anchal to construct the Jatayu sculpture atop the 1,000-feet high Jatayupara. The sculpted eagle rests on its back. His talons rise 70 feet into the air. The wingspan is 150 feet, and Jatayu stretches 200 feet from his tail to head. The sculpture’s five-storied innards house a virtual reality museum and theater, both of which are designed to immortalize the legend and offer a harmony-promoting mythological world to visitors.

Anchal told The Hindu that he has been clear that his vision for the sculpture has always been something straight out of Treta Yuga, and his goal for the project is to protect the rock and nature surrounding it. The project started with a barren landscape. Today, it’s been transformed into a lush green haven to harmoniously swallow the Jatayu sculpture.

It’s also important to Anchal that the sculpture be seen as a cultural representation rather than a religious one like the nearby temples. After all, the heart of the legend is Jatayu’s death in protecting a woman’s honor.

How often do myths come to life in such an extraordinary way? Did the Jatayu sculpture just make your bucket list, or have you seen it firsthand? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section, and don’t forget to make someone else’s day by passing this story along.