Yama Teerth (Waterbodies of Chennai - 25)

The legend says that Yama created this pond and worshiped Shiv Linga regularly after taking a dip in this pond. Thus, he got rid of his sin and recovered his staff (danda). I am talking about the temple tank of Dandeeswarar Temple, which is located in Velachery, one of the most happening places in the city.

Historically, the temple can be dated to the 10th century CE. As per the practice, the temple would not have been built without this tank. So, in its original form, this pond must be as old as this temple.

This pond, covering an area of about 0.4 acres, needs to be maintained better. The walls around the tank have become the preferred location for public convenience by passers-by. However, of late, the residents of Velachery have shown interest in renovating the tank. A few months ago, they took steps to clean the pond and the surrounding area, which is really encouraging.

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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