Somamangalam Lake (Water bodies of Chennai - 67)

It was a devastating flood. The lake bunds got destroyed in seven places on the same day. Fortunately, the government stepped in immediately. Forty gold coins (called Kaasu) were given to the village council. The fund was used to repair the bunds and avoid further damage.

I am not quoting any recent newspaper report, but an inscription dating 1192 CE. The government mentioned here was under the rule of Kulotunga Chola III. The lake referred to here is Somamangalam lake, located in the remote outskirts, south of Chennai. (Inscription reference No. 02 of 1974).

Spread over an area of around 250 acres, this lake might appear to be a huge one. But in reality, not even one-third of the original lake remains now. The major part of the lake was already converted into residential dwellings. I believe this lake has been encroached gradually in the last hundred plus years. 

Nevertheless, the existing remaining waterbody is indeed beautiful and is pleasing to the eyes.

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. Most of those surviving waterbodies hardly have water, and even some of them that have water had been poorly shrunk. In Chennai, there are tank roads without tanks nearby and lake-view roads without any lake in the vicinity. There is a high possibility that even the few water bodies we have today might vanish soon. I thought of visiting the currently surviving waterbodies of Chennai and its suburbs and write about them in my blog as a series.