Picture of World’s Tallest Ganesha Statue in India: Fact Check

Story:

This is 128 Feet (39 meters) World’s Tallest Ganesha Statue in India

Fact Check:

A picture in circulation online purports to show World’s Tallest Ganesha Statue in India standing 128 feet (39 meters) high. The Hindu deity Ganesha has many other names like Ganapati, Vinayaka and is worshipped widely across India and abroad. Nonetheless, the claims about the picture are not true.

Tallest Ganesha?

Firstly, we did not find any Guinness world record of Tallest Ganesha statue in India or anywhere else. The Hindu deity Ganesha is so popular in India that every year during Ganesha Chaturthi, millions of devotees make tall-and-huge idols. They worship the idol and celebrate the festival for up to 10 days before immersing it in a convenient water body. The Hindu lord Ganesha is worshipped as the deity of fortune and success, and the remover of obstacles (Vigneshwara).

Coming to the tall and huge statue of standing Ganesha in pictures, it is not from India. It is located at Khlong Khuean Ganesh International Park in Chachoengsao province of Thailand and is in fact 30 meters high (around 98 feet). You can see another beautiful picture of the Ganesha statue from a Twitter post in September 2016. Lord Ganesha is also popular in Thailand as ‘Phra Phikanet’ and Buddhist devotees worship him every year during his birthday.

Another Taller Statue in Thailand

There’s another large-seated Ganesha statue at Wat Phrong Akat in Chachoengsao, Thailand – it is 49 meter high (around 160 feet) and 19 meters wide. Note, the two tall statues of Ganesha are permanent installations unlike the idols made every year in India for worshipping during festival.

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Tall Ganesha Idols in India

One of the tallest Ganesha statues in India is located at Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Chinmaya Ganadhish, the 85 ft tall Ganesha idol in Chinmaya Sandeepany Ashram, sits on a five-headed snake. It is made of cement, iron rods, clay and plaster of Paris. Note, the whole structure consists of a 61 feet Ganapati seated on a 24 feet tall Meditation hall.

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Coming to non-permanent statues, every year devotees across India make tall Ganesha idols during Ganesh Chaturthi. In recent years, places like Kurnool of Andhra Pradesh and Khairtabad of Hyderabad, Telangana have made tall ganesha statues around 60 feet. In past, there were idols over 100 feet tall in some places of Andhra Pradesh. Due to environmental concerns and transport issues while immersion; governments laid rules to reduce the height of ganesha idols.

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Different Guinness World Record

Unfortunately, the immersion of idols during Ganesh Chaturthi and other festivals have contributed to rising pollution levels in water bodies across India. It is so because making of idols involves use of artificial materials like Plaster of Paris (PoP), plastic, thermocol (polystyrene), paint chemicals and other decorations. So, governments and nature-loving organizations encourage people to make eco-friendly ganesha idols using natural materials like clay. In 2015, National Green Tribunal of India banned the use of PoP idols and instructed people to remove all decorations from idols before immersion. On 25th August 2019, 2,138 people from Bengaluru came together to make eco-friendly Ganesha idols and set a Guinness World Record on idol-making with clay.

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Hoax or Fact:

Hoax.