Massive efforts to revive temple tanks in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Water bodies are an integral part of temples and the chief mechanism to recharge ground water in the neighbourhood.

Realising the importance of temple tanks, state government has initiated massive efforts to revive these sacred water bodies— about 56 in the city, and over 1,000 across the state- as they have socio-cultural and ecological importance.

Tamil Nadu abounds wi­th 2,359 temple tanks located in 1,586 temples. Of th­em, 1,291 are said to be in good condition while 1,068 have been identified for re­pairs and renovation.

As of now, 528 tanks have been renovated by the present government. Apart from de­epening and desilting the tanks, officials have been relaying the steps of the tanks, besides constr­u­c­ting a compound wall aro­und.

Clearing encroachments in and around the tanks and providing facility for inflow of rainwater into the tanks are among the other works.

The works were initiated by the state Hindu Religious and Cha­ritable Endowments (HR & CE) department following chief minister J. Jayala­lithaa’s intervention.

For long, temple tanks have occupied a prime pos­ition in harvesting rainwater and conducting the an­nual float festivals.

In Kancheepuram, for inst­ance, there are seven temple tanks corresponding to the days of the week and each tank has its own significance.

According to a survey by C.P.R. Environmental Edu­c­ation Centre, here, of the 35 tanks surveyed, 22 belo­ng to the Pallava and Chola period dating to the 7th to 12th century A.D.

The Sri Ekambareswarar temple at Park Town and Sri Mal­li­keswara temple at Parrys Corner and their tanks were constructed between the 5th and 9th century A.D. and rebuilt about 500 ye­a­rs ago.

Sadly, the tanks of Kasi Visvanathar temple  at Velachery and Agasthee­sw­arar temple at Valsa­ravakkam appear like small pools.

Presently, most of the tanks like the Chithi­ra­kulam tank in Mylapore, go dry during summer.

On the other hand, the spacious and clean tank of the Sri Kapaleshwarar temple, Mylapore said to be 330 years old contains water alw­ays, thanks to effective conservation measures.

Though officials blame local residents for not showing concern, activists say that organisations like the Rotary Club and Exn­ora had taken up restoration in the past but the onus of maintaining them effectively rests with the HR & CE which administers the temples.

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Chennai: Over the years, the negle­ct of temple tanks due to lack of understanding of the rainwater harvesting mechanism, crass urba­nisa­tion and lack of me­as­u­res to ne­twork the tanks have deprived Che­n­nai of its pre­cious reso­urce in temples.

Sometimes the brazen approach to use them as ga­r­bage dumps, converting them into urinals, par­king lots or even raising structures on the catc­hment areas are said to be various impediments cho­king these sacred water bodies.

“Most temple tan­ks are fed by rainwater and there were inlets and outlets to harvest rainwater and discharge excess water. But most of them present a desolate picture now. Several tanks are dry while some have little water,” says M. Amritha­lingam, environmental ed­­ucation officer, C.P.R. En­vironmental Educ­ati­on Centre, here.

Further, in certain temples, tanks are filled with water only for the purpo­se of conducting the float festivals and efforts are not made to understand they have gone dry.

Li­ni­ng the bed with concrete is another major hurdle in preventing the tanks fr­o­m serving as natural aq­u­ifers, it is reasoned.

At the Thiruvettiswaran tank in Triplicane, the dis­c­harge of sewage wa­ter is a perennial problem.

The tank of Andavar temple at Vada­palani goes dry as the inlets have be­en clogged.

Contending that tanks ought to be resurrected to improve the ambience of temples and facilitate groundwater re­c­­harge, Amritha­lin­gam suggests that the HR & CE department put in place a plan to link temple tanks to ensure water all through the year.

“For instance, the tanks of Kapaleswarar, Chitra­kulam, Madhav­ape­rumal (in Mylapore) and Partha­sarathy Swa­my temples (in Triplicane) could be net­worked.

Likewise, te­m­ple tanks at Parrys Cor­ner can be linked for dist­ri­b­ution of rainwater,” he says.

The Cholas were the fir­st to devise a system and ensured the water overfl­ow from one tank to an­other.

This can be found in the Brihad­esh­wara te­mple bu­ilt in 1010 AD. Also, cleaning tank occu­rred naturally with fish, micro organisms and pla­nts being cleaning agents.