Jayasree Saranathan: Thirthas of Thiruvannamalai under siege

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http://www.vsrc.in/index.php/articles/2013-04-20-19-52-39/item/123-thirthas-of-thiruvannamalai-under-seige.html

Thirthas of Thiruvannamalai under siege

Written by Editorial Board | Published in: சமூகம்

Thiruvannamalai is a holy town in TamilNadu famous for the Arunachaleswarar Temple. It has the impact of the Sun's rays on the mountains which is why the name Aruna Achalam meaning Mountain of Sun. The Lord Shiva is known as Arunachaleswarar. The city is famous for the galaxy of saints it has. Anyone with a spiritual flair would get a divine experience once they visit this town. Of late the town is also known for its water scarcity and getting branded as dry area. This misfortune turned out to be man made after a careful look at history.

The Sthala Puranam for Thiruvannamalai is called Arunachala Puranam which was written in 16th Century by a Saivite poet called Ellappa Navalar. The poet has said in his verses that he has drawn inspiration for this masterpiece from Rudra Samhita in Siva Purana for the first part of his work and had drawn inspiration from Linga Purana for the second part. The first chapter in this literature, 'Theertha Sarrukkam', gives the count of water bodies around the town and the significances of those water bodies in keeping life in the town lively.

There were, according to this literature, 360 water bodies in and around the town of Thiruvannamalai. This information is a boon as we lament about the paucity of natural water resources in this area. Where are these 360 water bodies now is the obvious question in every mind. But many went off asking the question while one man chose to chase the answers up. His name is Somu. He is a tailor by profession. Worried about the lack of water resources in the area, he asked critical questions which might put lot of people in deep trouble and thus himself too. He persevered to get the answers and figured out that there were 170 water bodies on the Government records. With the documentation, he pursued to find out the status of the water bodies and alas, in 2003, we had only 138 identifiable. 32 water bodies were missing from the town. Where did they go? They went under buildings, bus stand, houses etc.

The remaining 138 water bodies were also being encroached, an annoyed Somu video taped the deteriorating state of the water bodies and sent them to the Disctict administration and other authorities. With the advise and cooperation from BJP Leader H.Raja, the Chief Minister's intervention was made possible to secure the Somawara Pond, Eesaanya Pond, Singa Theertha, Nruthi Theertha, Yama Theertha and other 3 ponds around the route of Girivalam. Seva Bharathi an NGO working for conserving nature and myriad other causes has also stepped in to conserve the existing ponds and manage them properly.

Mr.Somu is fighting to conserve the existing water bodies and retrieve the lost ones. He is succeeding in this herculian task. Vedic Science Research Center, an organisation working for conserving the culture and tradition of the land, has taken up the cause of spreading the word through the world wide web and build opinion in favour of conserving water bodies of Thiruvannamalai which are being eaten up by realtors and encroachers. As the first step towards this cause, here below are the videos taped 10 years ago and photos taken recently of the water bodies. Let us join hands and strive to conserve nature.

S.No.119. Vediyappan Kovil Tank

Current Photographs(2013) of Vediyappan Kovil Tank

(click to Enlarge)