Thanjavur: The demand for installing a statue of the Chola king Raja Rajan 1, the emperor who built Brihadeeswarar temple, popularly known as Big Temple, in 1010 and declared as world heritage monument by UNESCO, has come up again.

Members of the Thanjavur Big Temple Rights Retrieval Committee urging the Central and State governments to install the statue of King Raja Raja Cholan within the boundary he built.

This has been a demand ever since a six-foot bronze statue of the king was put up on the municipal land about 100 metres from the temple by the then chief minister M Karunanidhi on April 13, 1972.

Raja Rajan’s legacy is not just wars and conquests. He is remembered today primarily for the construction of the Big Temple. One of the most beautiful and magnificent architectural monuments in South Asia with its magnificent tower and delicate sculptures, it is truly a feast for the eyes, says committee co-ordinator P Maniarasan. People from all over the world come there as tourists, he said.

The demand for a statue within the boundary wall has been a long-standing demand and there have been protests and agitations, he says. “We also got 1 lakh signatures from the public and presented it to Karunanidhi through his secretary at his residence in Gopalapuram on October 8, 2007,” Maniarasan said. There is the need for the central and state governments to intervene, he added.

However, an official of the Archaeological Survey of India clarified that installing the statue could not be permitted on the grounds that no additional structures should be made to the Big Temple which has been declared a world heritage monument.