90-feet tall Hanuman statue unveiled in Texas; now 3rd tallest in United States

The third-tallest statue in the United States is that of Lord Hanuman! At a gala Pran Pratishtha event in Houston city of Texas on August 18, the statue, called the Statue of Union, was unveiled.

Regarding the choice of name for the statue, its official website says, "The Statue of Union will be North America’s tallest statue of Lord Hanuman, an embodiment of strength, devotion, and selfless service. Hanuman united Sri Rama with Sita and hence the name, Statue of Union."

The statue is located at Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple in Sugar Land, Texas. The website also says that the statue "is about creating a spiritual epicenter where hearts find solace, minds find peace, and souls find a path to transcendence."

It also says that the "project in its entirety is the vision of His Holiness Sri Chinnajeeyar swamiji".

"Let’s bring the vision of North America’s tallest Hanuman Statue to life, and together, let’s continue to create a world filled with love, peace, and devotion," it further adds.

The tallest statue in the US is the Statue of Liberty, which stands at a height of 151 metres. The second-tallest one is the Pegasus and Dragon statue (110 feet) at the Gulfstream Park in Florida.

The Statue of Union is set to replace the Our Lady of the Rockies statue as the third tallest in the US, which stands at 88.6 feet.

In other news, a carnival float featuring a Hindu temple for the India Day Parade in New York City had sparked controversy, with a number of groups calling it anti-Muslim and saying it should be removed from the event.

The float depicted a temple to the Hindu god Lord Ram, which was consecrated earlier this year on a site in Ayodhya, India. But the temple site has long been bitterly contested between Hindus and Muslims, and in the early 1990s a mosque that stood there was razed by a Hindu fundamentalist mob.

Some US-based organizations had written a letter to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, calling the float anti-Muslim and saying it glorified the mosque's takedown.

Among groups who signed the letter were the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Indian American Muslim Council and Hindus for Human Rights.

"This float's presence represents these groups' desire to conflate Hindu nationalist ideology with Indian identity, but India is a secular country," the letter had said.

However, the tableau was later made a part of the parade.

(With inputs from Reuters)