Madampakkam Temple Pond (Waterbodies of Chennai - 17)

Which is more beautiful? The Chola period temple or its pond? That's a million-dollar question. I would say both are equally delightful.

Madampakkam, a sub-urban area near Tambaram, on the southern outskirts of Chennai, has the Dhenupureeswarar temple. It is believed to have been built by none other than Sundara Chola, the father of Raja Raja the great, in the 10th century CE. Pandyas and Vijayanagaras have made later additions to the temple.

The temple tank adjoining this ancient temple must be as old as the original one. This tank is fortunate enough to have multiple renovations done. It is one of the few well-maintained waterbodies of South Chennai.

The pond, which covers about 2.25 acres, is surrounded by trees and plants. It definitely enhances the beauty of this locality.

Happy travelling.

Note: As per a report, there were about 650+ waterbodies in the Chennai region till the 1980s. Today, only a fraction of them exist. And most of those surviving waterbodies hardly have water, and even some of them that have water have been poorly shrunk. In Chennai, there are tank roads without tanks nearby and lake-view roads without lakes. There is a high possibility that even the few waterbodies we have today might vanish soon. I decided to visit the currently surviving waterbodies of Chennai and its suburbs and write about them in my blog as a series.

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