Sri Ramanujacharya

Context:

PM dedicates to the nation 216-feet tall ‘Statue of Equality’ commemorating Sri Ramanujacharya.
The 216-feet tall Statue of Equality commemorates the 11th century Bhakti Saint Sri Ramanujacharya, who promoted the idea of equality in all aspects of living including faith, caste and creed

Born in 1017 CE in Tamil Nadu.
He is the most respected Acharya in the philosophy of Sri Vaishnavism.
He was also referred to as Ilaya Perumal which means the radiant one.
His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement.
He is famous as the chief proponent of Vishishtadvaita subschool of Vedānta.
He wrote influential texts, such as bhāsya on the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita, all in Sanskrit.

Vishishtadvaita is one of the most popular schools of the Vedantaschool of Hindu philosophy.
Vedantaliterally means the end of the Vedas. Vishisht Advaita (literally “Advaita with uniqueness; qualifications”) is a non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy.
It is non-dualismof the qualified whole, in which Brahman alone is seen as the Supreme Reality but is characterized by multiplicity.
It can be described as qualified monism or qualified non-dualism or attributive monism.
It is a school of Vedanta philosophy which believes in all diversity subsuming to an underlying unity.
Ramanuja, the 11–12th century philosopher and the main proponent of Vishishtadvaita philosophy contends that the Prasthanatrayi(“The three courses”), namely the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras are to be interpreted in a way that shows this unity in diversity, for any other way would violate their consistency.

It is a 216-feet tall statue, which is made of’panchaloha’, a combination of five metals: gold, silver, copper, brass, and zync.
It isamong one of the tallest metallic statues in sitting position in the world.
The statue is mounted on a54-feet high base building named ‘Bhadra Vedi’.
It has floors devoted fora vedic digital library and research center, ancient Indian texts, a theater, an educational gallery detailing many works of Sri Ramanujacharya.

Source The Hindu