South Asian Business news and information

Buddhism is one of the oldest religions of the world. Originated in Asia, in 563 BCE, this religion has a follower of around 1.6 billion. In countries like China, Japan, Korea, Bhutan, Thailand, Cambodia, Mongolia, Burma, Sri Lanka it is the main religion. In these countries big Buddha statues were erected to pay respect to Lord Buddha. Below is given brief descriptions of some of the tallest Buddha statues of the world.   

Situated in Bago, on the north of Yangon, this is the oldest and the biggest Buddha statue in Burma. This statue was built in 994 A.D, by King Miga Depa. Due to lack of care, the statue was exposed to nature and was covered by earth and vegetation. The statue was restored in 1881. The length of the statue is 180 feet and height is 52.5 feet.

The Tian Tan Buddha is situated at Po Lin monastery of Hong Kong. It is the largest out door bronze Buddha of the world. This monastery is a major religious and tourist center of Hong Kong. It is one of the five largest statues of China. The statue is 34 meters high and weighs 250 tons. In order to reach the original statue, visitors have to climb 268 steps.

The Leshan Buddha is situated at Leshan city, in Sichuan province. The Buddha is in a sitting posture which is called Maitreya. Situated on the meeting place of three rivers: Min, Qingyi, and Dadu, the statue was built in Tang dynasty. It took one hundred years to build the statue. The statue is 71 meters high. It has three meter long fingers. The shoulder is 28 meters wide. The shoulder is so large that people can play basketball. It is one of the biggest stone curved Buddha statues in the world. In 1996, UNESCO included it in their list of World Heritage.

The Wat Pho, also known as Wat Chetuphon, is famous for its reclining Buddha statue. The vihara is situated on the south of the Royal palace of Thailand. This is a great tourist spot of Bangkok. The statue of the reclining Buddha was built during the reign of Rama III. The statue is guilded and 46 meters long and 15 meters high. The feet of the statue contain various drawings. 

The Ushiku Amida is situated about fifty kilometers northeast of Tokyo. The statue is 100 meters tall. If the lotus base (10 meters) and platform (10meters) are added then the total length becomes 120 meters. The building of this statue was completed in 1995. It is three times taller than the Statue of Liberty.

The main religion of SriLanka is Buddhism. There are many giant statues of Buddha in this country.

The statue at Aukana: A rock cut statue with a height of 39 feet. It was built during the reign of King Dhatusena. 

The statue at Sasseruva: I could not find anything about this statue but there is a legend about the two statues of Aukana and Sasseruva. The master and pupil had a competition. They would build two statues. The first one to finish his work would ring the bell. The master finished his statue but the pupil could not. The statue of Sassureva remained unfinished.

Statue of Maligavila: This is another big statue. It was built in 7^th century. The statue is 34 feet high and 10 feet across the shoulders. The statue was fallen when it was found.

Statue at Buduruvagala: Among all the statues of Sri Lanka, this is the highest. It is 51 feet high.

At present, these statues are not only of religious importance but also great tourist attractions as well. Many of these statues were built during the reign of kings. Hence, they carry various artistic elements of the corresponding period. If you are a lover of art and culture and history then you would enjoy the beautiful artistic features of these statues.