Perumal Kovil Kulam, Selaiyur (Waterbodies of Chennai - 15)

Among the thousands of people who commute on the busy Tambaram-Velachery Road daily, not even a single person might know about this ancient and massive tank full of water located within 100 meters of the main road. It is incredible to find such a large waterbody in a serene and secluded location, which is not disturbed by the traffic chaos of the nearby high road.

This tank in Selaiyur village bears no name as such. It is referred to as Perumal Kovil Tank, the tank that belongs to the temple of Vishnu. It is a huge water body that occupies around 1.65 acres. On its banks, a few small temples for various deities, such as Ganesha and Gangai Amman, are seen.  

If you wonder where Vishnu temple is, it is located about 200 meters from the tank. To know more about this later-period temple of Adi Kesava Perumal, visit this page.

The tank is well maintained. A walker's pathway and a compound wall are built around the tank. People are not allowed to bathe. However, as the site is secluded, many stray dogs roam around. It has become a safe haven for anti-social elements during the nighttime. We have to walk very carefully as many broken liquor bottles are found.

I heard that the tank was constructed by a Telugu Chola, Tribhuvana Chakravarti Vijayakanda Gopala by name. He ruled in the middle of the 13th century CE. I was told that there were two stone tablets found near the tank. However, I could not find any such tablet or other forms of inscription. Hence, I need to find out if this information is accurate.

A 200 to 300 years old Sanyasikal (Komarikal) containing the mantric syllables to protect the cows is found in Raja Iyer Street near the tank. The stone bears Tamil inscriptions.

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.

Visit my site, krishnakumartk.com, to know more about the travel guides and other books that I have written.