A Shivanadiyar revives a historical underground water tunnel through a public interest initiative in Thanjavur
Water now flows directly from Vadavuru into the temple tank at Vashishteswarar temple raising possibility of the revival of a historical Theppotsavam in Chitrai every year
Sivanadiyar Sellaperumal, Thanjavur
Located between two rivers Vennaru in the North and Veera Chozha Vadavaru in the South is the Vashisteswarar temple in Karuthittai Kudi. Currently this is referred to as Karunaswamy temple. Chozha period inscriptions refer to this temple as Karu Thittai Kudi. Parantaka II inscriptions indicate that the temple pre dates the Big Temple in Thanjavur. He renovated the temple during his rule. Later Nayaks and Marathas improved upon and developed the temple. Sage Vashishta did pooja here invoking the blessings of the Lord. A special feature at the temple is the idols of Vashishta and his wife Arundhati. Till a few decades ago, this temple too was part of the Saptha Sthanam festival of Thanjavur.
10 day Brahmotsavam is celebrated in a grand manner in Vaikasi while 10day Pooram festival for Ambal is celebrated in Aadi. The temple is building a Kannadi Pallakku to be part of the utsavam processions. On the 3rd, 4th and 5th days of Panguni, the Sun’s rays fall directly on Vashishteswarar.
Appar's reference to Karunthittai Kudi
Appar in his third verse in Thiru Thandagam refer to Karun Thittai Kudi.
நற்குடிமேல் விடையுயர்ந்த நம்பன் செம்பங்
குடிநல்லக் குடி நளி நாட்டியத்தான் குடி
கற்குடி தென் களக்குடி செங் காட்டங்குடி
கருந்திட்டை குடி கடைய குடி காணுங்கால்
விற்குடிவேள் விக்குடி நல் வேட்ட குடி வேதிகுடி
மானிகுடி விடை வாய்க்குடி
புற்குடிமா குடித்தேவன் குடி நீலக்குடி
புதுக்குடியும் போற்றவிடம் போகுமன்றே
Historical Tunnel out of action
A historical tunnel that led water from Vadavaru, a tributary of Cauvery, to the huge tank at the Vashishteswarar Karunaswamy Temple in Karuthittakudi in the Northern part of Thanjavur had become completely blocked on account of two reasons – construction of an underground drainage system just under two decades ago in Thanjavur and the piling up of huge amounts of debris through the entire half a km stretch from Vadavuru to the temple tank. This resulted, initially, in minimal water getting into the tank and then over a period of time no water flowed into the tank.
Tank in Dilapidated State
By 2019, the tank was seen with big bushes across the entire width of the tank. B Pasupathi Gurukal, whose forefathers have been serving at the temple for centuries as archakas told this writer that his grandfather had told him in his younger days that once upon a time, till a century ago, there was a Chitrai Theppotsavam conducted at the temple. For almost two decades, there had not been a drop of water at the tank such was its dilapidated state. The deterioration was so fast that in recent times the residents especially those in the new generation were not even aware of the existence of the centuries old underground tunnel that once brought water from Cauvery’s tributary directly into the temple tank.
45 year old E. R Sellaperumal, a Sivan Adiyar and a selfless service worker in Thanjavur, is a living example of what true devotional endeavours can achieve. He had taken up and completed a water tank work at Azhagiya Kulam a few years ago. He recalls the work undertaken there “Till a few decades ago, the tank was brimming with water. I used to play along with other boys my age during my childhood in the 1970s/80s but Azhagiya Kulam had become like a dump yard and had become filled with wastes. I brought together school children as a service initiative to remove the bushes inside the tank that allowed rain water into the tank.”
Thanjavur School Teacher spots Sellaperumal
Impressed with this successful restoration work, Swaminathan, a school teacher in Thanjavur, approached Sellaperumal in late 2019 and asked if he could try and solve another challenging mystery, one where many before him had failed. Several attempts had been made but no one including the Thanjavur Corporation could work out the tunnel between the Karunaswamy temple and Vadavaru. Multiple attempts had failed in the last few years. The Thanjavur Corporation had built a new underground drainage system right above the water tunnel from Vadavaru to the temple tank. For long, this had proved to be an impediment to the revival exercise and a reason for the multiple attempts to fail earlier. In 2019, there was not a ray of hope that anyone could revive this least of all an individual Sivan Adiyar.
There was not a drop of water in the tank. Thuruthi trees had grown large and wide inside the tank. The tank East of the Karunaswamy temple was inhabited by venomous snakes. On December 31, 2019, Chellaperumal started work with a bunch of volunteers to physically support him on the ground inside the tank. For 20 days, they worked morning and evening. By Thai of 2020, they had all become excited in this revival process and there was a self belief that they could achieve this together.
A Huge Snake raises its hood in front of him
He recalls the initial period of this restoration exercise “Within the first few days of starting our work, there was a huge snake just a few feet away while I was engaged in the cutting of the trees inside the tank The first positive vibration of God’s blessing came right then. It raised its hood in front of me and I could have gone that very moment. But it slowly made its way into the corner of the tank. I saw that as a great blessing and a go ahead from Karunaswamy for my work."
May be a coincidence, as this writer stood next to him this week near the now brimming tank, he pointed to another long snake passing by the edge of the tank. He was unfazed as he had by now got used to large snakes moving around the tank.
Identifying the route of the tunnel
It was to be a monumental task as he was going to soon find out. In the various attempts over the previous decade, no one had been successful in even identifying the route of the tunnel. Construction in recent years/decades had meant there were new houses, shops and many other buildings along the route. For starters, he had to find the route of the tunnel from the river to the tank.
In his efforts to identify the route, he found divine help once again. There was a historical Malai Vembu tree South East of the temple. When he dug a 7.5 feet pit right next to the tree, much to his delight he found the starting point of the tunnel. A few 100 meters away to the South was another tree and when he dug a pit there, there was the continuation of the tunnel. He went about digging around 20 pits along the path to trace the tunnel to Vadavaru. Much to his disbelief he found those links exactly near those historical trees and in locations where there were no new constructions. By now, he was convinced that Lord Vashishteswarar was firmly behind him.
In the period of work, he found great strength and support from another Sivanadiyar Saravanan and Senthil Kumar, who worked on the ground with him through a large part of this very complex exercise.
Debris inside the Tunnel
The distance from the river bank to the temple tank was around half a km. Having identified the tunnel, the task now was to find the state of the tunnel. The biggest shock of this exercise came when he looked into the tunnel. He found the entire stretch filled with filth. That by itself was not much of a shock. Over a long period of close to two decades, drainage water had mixed with the debris inside the tunnel resulting in thick mounds of mud along the entire stretch from Vadavaru to the temple tank. Sellaperumal found that not a piece of mud could be moved even with modern technological equipments like JCB. It was several years of waste collection that had turned unbreakable inside the tunnel. Inside the tunnel, the mixing of the sewage water with the debris was a dangerous health hazard. Unmindful of this, Sellaperumal and the set of volunteers went about their work with minimal fuss. It was the most unforgettable moment of his life.
Construction worker Rajini- A Pillar of Strength
In the initial days, many equipments that he sourced were broken trying to remove the thick layer of debris. It was the size and weight hitherto unseen by anyone in Thanjavur in modern times. Chellaperumal with a huge team of service personnel used truly innovative technologies that may well have been in vogue a 1000 years ago to drill into the tunnel to bring out the debris.Construction worker, Rajini, was a pillar of strength for Sellaperumal throughout the period of the project and was the one who was actively involved on the ground in this complex exercise.
Skating Shoes as a tool to remove debris!!!
It may seem odd and out of place near a temple in Thanjavur but Chellaperumal put skating shoes to great use in this exercise and this innovation turned out to be transformational. The skating shoe was attached to a long rod with a flat plate at the end. Using this, the team inserted the long rod inside the tunnel with the skating shoe enabling the ease of movement of the rod. This way they managed to collect the debris. But this was a long drawn process. Sellaperumal points to his right hand and the damage this exercise of removing the thick debris has caused.
The national lockdown announced in late March last year was a setback. Their enthusiasm was dented. They waited patiently in the initial phase of total lockdown before coming back in full force once again. While the identification of the tunnel route took months, the removal of debris ban locked inside the half km tunnel took even longer - upto six months. In the challenging phase of the lockdown and the subsequent partial lifting thereafter, it was Engineer Jyothi Prakash who extended manpower support and organised food. Sellaperumal is particularly grateful to Jyothi Prakash for this service "2020 was not an easy year. There were so many external challenges. In that period, it was Jyothi Prakash who helped us with adequate people to carry out this work. With most of them working full time in the tunnel, it was he who organised food for a large part of this period."
Sellaperumal was stunned at the quality of the tunnel construction “What we found inside the tunnel was historical construction whose hallmark was strong limestone foundation. It has survived several centuries.”
Finally, after a year of starting work, Sellaperumal and his team of selfless service volunteers from across Thanjavur completed the entire work – from removing the bushes and trees at the tank, to identifying the tunnel, from removing the debris through an innovative method to inserting PVC Pipes at appropriate places along the path of the tunnel. From tall and thick bushes in December 2019, the once completely dry tank is now brimming with water. One day may be the Theppotsavam too would be back at the Karunaswamy temple.
Palace's Support
During the period, the Prince of Thanjavur, Babaji Rajah Bhonsle(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/thanjavur-palace-babaji-rajah-bhonsle.html), who administers the Vashishteswarar Karunaswamy temple, conducted several meetings at the Palace and onsite. He also approached the IIT Madras for support in this initiative. The Prince says that the Collector of Thanjavur encouraged this restoration exercise, was fully supportive and believed that the tunnel could be revived. The Corporation Commissioner’s support in providing all the necessary permissions including the digging of exploratory pits at several locations along the way is unparalleled. The Commissioner has said that this tank was included in Smart City project and that a lot of development is likely to happen, going forward.”
Srikumar, a devotee from Coimbatore who last year contributed significantly to the consecration of the Big Temple festivities(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/02/thanjavur-big-temple-kumbhabhishekam.html), was of great financial help on this one as well including providing the PVC pipes that have been used in a couple of locations along the length of the tunnel.
Last month on the completion of this mammoth exercise, the Prince honoured all the volunteers and donors including officials of the Thanjavur Corporation who supported this project.
This revival of the centuries old half kilometer tunnel connecting the Vadavaru and the Karunaswamy Temple tank is a great lesson in public projects. If selfless service personnel come together towards a public cause, even the seemingly impossible tasks can be achieved. And Sivan Adiyaar Sellaperumal is a shining example of how devotees should focus on devotional endeavors without any thoughts on financial returns and media publicity.
Sellaperumal and his wife run a canteen service in Thanjavur but when this opportunity to serve Lord Vashishteswarar came up, he focused his fullest attention on this project and drove it with single minded devotion while his wife ran the canteen almost all alone by herself. While he was paid once in a while for his service by donors and the like, it was a miniscule amount to what this kind of work would have entailed.
S Ramanathan seen with Rice Mill owner Govindarajan and Sellaperumal
This story leaves the final word with 70 year old S Ramanathan, a former staffer of PSU BHEL at multiple locations and now working closely with the Prince of Thanjavur on temple restorations. He tracked this project closely and says nothing can compensate the efforts of Sellaperumal “Even if you offer a crore of rupees to Sellaperumal, it will not be commensurate with the selfless service he has rendered during a year of Corona and made this seemingly impossible task a reality.”
The temple is open from 7am-11am and 5pm-8pm. Contact Pasupathi Gurukal@ 8220728579