Chennai: The Marundeeswarar Temple tank in Thiruvanmiyur has successfully survived the worst of summer. And how! While other similar waterbodies around the city had completely dried up, this tank, called Papanasani, has fishes, ducks and swans, all swimming to glory. The reason for the space to be brimming with water, according to the temple authorities, is clay.
A representative of the administration said, ‘In 2008, taking cognisance of the scarcity situation, we replaced the ordinary soil with clay and after that, the tank never went dry. The neighbourhood has a good water table, and successful implementation of rainwater harvesting too helped the cause.
Papanasani, that is spread on three acres of land, is cleaned every two weeks, for the betterment of the birds and fishes.
“Cleaning is done by our staff. They collect plastic waste which ends up here. What is unfortunate is that passersby at times fling garbage into the water. Seeing the beauty of the place, a couple of donors gave a few fishes. Now, there are about 1,000, some of them three feet long, apart from 20 odd ducks and swans,” the spokesperson said.
Inside the premises, there is a ‘chinna kulam’, which has eight-feet-deep water and spread over 10,000 square feet. Here too, the clay at the bottom pit sustains the water level. The space has two bores which are hardly used. “We pump rarely, only when we feel that the water is not adequate thereby affecting the fishes. In such cases, we switch on the motors for a while. Thankfully, there has not been a situation where we have to bring in water tankers,” he noted.
| FROM LORD SIVA |
| The Thiruvanmiyur Sthalapuranam narrates how in response to sage Valmiki’s request, five drops of water trickled out of Lord Siva’s forelocks and generated five sacred theerthas, of which Papanasani is one. The other four are Janmanaasani, Kamanasani, Gnanadhayini and Mokshadhayini. |