After nearly five decades, Vijaya Dasami was celebrated at the ‘Magaranombu Thidal’ in this historic island, thanks to the discovery and renovation of Brahma Gundam, popularly known as Brahma Theertham by Vivekananda Kendra, which had been working on the ‘Green and Clean Rameswaram’ project.
The venerated waterbody, located at Kanthamathanam (Mangad village), one-and-a-half-km north-west of Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple, disappeared after the local municipality started dumping garbage.
Local people recalled that Dussehra (victory of Goddess Durga over demon Mahishasura) was celebrated at the ‘Thidal’ in 1967, and after that, it became a dumping yard. After the Kendra discovered the waterbody in September last year and removed all the garbage, working for more than a year, Vijaya Dasami was celebrated on Tuesday.
As per mythology, it was in this Thidal that Lord Brahma performed yagnam and got his curse redeemed by Lord Shiva Mythology also has it that after Brahma did the yagnam, it became a Brahma Gundam and devotees collected ash from the site to liberate themselves from sins.
The Kendra renovated the waterbody after studying mythological texts and survey maps and with the help of local people, V. Saraswathi, Coordinator of the Kendra’s project in the island, said.
The Theertham was once a huge pond but the Kendra has reconstructed only a small portion to retain water in memory of the Brahma Theertham, she said. Currently, it has six feet of brackish water, she said, and expressed the hope that it would become potable in a couple of years. The waterbody would be handed over to ‘Theertha Mitras’ (volunteers) for maintenance and the Kendra would plant ‘Vanni’ Punga and Neem trees around the banks.
The Kendra thanked the Coimbatore-based GKD Trust and the State government for sponsoring the project. It has so far identified 25 of the 64 Theerthams located in the island and brought to use 18 holy waterbodies, including the legendary Dharmar Theertham, named after one of the five Pandavas, Ms. Saraswathi said.
: After nearly five decades, Vijaya Dasami was celebrated at the ‘Magaranombu Thidal’ in this historic island, thanks to the discovery and renovation of Brahma Gundam, popularly known as Brahma Theertham by Vivekananda Kendra, which had been working on the ‘Green and Clean Rameswaram’ project.
The venerated waterbody located at Kanthamathanam (Mangad village), one-and-a-half-km north-west of Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple, disappeared after the local municipality started dumping garbage. Local people recalled that Dussehra (victory of Durga over demon mahishasura) was celebrated at the ‘Thidal’ in 1967, and after that, it had become a dumping yard. After the Kendra discovered the waterbody in September last year and removed all the garbage, working for more than a year, Vijaya Dasami was celebrated on Tuesday.
It was in this Thidal that Brahma performed yagnam and got his curse redeemed by Lord Shiva, according to mythology. Mythology also has it that after Brahma did the yagnam at this place, it became Brahma Gundam and devotees collected ash from the site to liberate themselves from sins.
The Kendra renovated the waterbody after studying mythological texts and survey maps and with the help of local people, V. Saraswathi, Coordinator of the Kendra’s project in the island, said. The Theertham was once a huge pond but the Kendra has reconstructed only a small portion to retain water in memory of the Brahma Theertham, she said. Currently, it has six feet of brackish water, she said, and expressed hope that it would become potable in couple of years. The waterbody would be handed over to ‘Theertha Mitras’ (volunteers) for maintenance and the Kendra would plant ‘Vanni’ Punga and Neem trees around the banks.
The Kendra thanked the Coimbatore-based GKD Trust and the State government for sponsoring the project. It has so far identified 25 of the 64 Theerthams located in the island and brought to use 18 holy waterbodies, including the legendary Dharmar Theertham, named after one of the five Pandavas, Ms. Saraswathi said.
The Kendra renovated the waterbody after studying mythological texts and survey maps
