No modern technology or machinery used to clean Athi Varadar’s abode, HC told

Justice P.D. Audikesavalu was informed that fish and other aquatic creatures act as natural cleansing agents in the tank

The Athi Varadar idol was taken out of the tank on July 1 and kept on the temple premises for worship for 48 days.

No modern technology or machinery is used to clean Anatasaras, the Kancheepuram Devarajaswamy Temple tank, which houses a chamber to hold the fig wood idol of Lord Varadaraja Perumal, popularly known as Athi Varadar. The idol is taken out once in 40 years and kept for worship for 48 days, the Madras High Court was told on Friday.

Justice P.D. Audikesavalu was informed that fish and other aquatic creatures act as natural cleansing agents in the tank and it was they who keep the 24-foot-deep tank clean throughout without causing any harm to the idol placed in a mandapam at a depth of 12 feet from the tank bed and barricaded with brickwork to prevent entry of impurities.

Special Government Pleader (SGP) M. Maharaja, representing the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department, made the submissions in a report submitted by him before the court on the basis of an interim order passed on a public interest litigation filed by a devotee K. Asokan of Chennai to get the tank desilted, deepened and renovated.

Pointing out that Athi Varadar was taken out of the tank on July 1 and is kept on the temple premises for worship for 48 days, which ends on August 17, the petitioner stated that it was the right time to clean the tank well.

Finding force in his submissions, the judge directed Mr. Maharaja and Additional Government Pleader M. Karthikeyan to inspect the temple tank and submit a report. Accordingly, the two lawyers inspected the tank along with revenue as well as HR&CE officials and filed identical reports stating that the tank gets fed primarily with rainwater collected from ‘Giri Pragaram’ (precinct), ‘Anantha Alwar Pragaram’ and ‘Alwar Pragaram’ of the temple.

Apart from the rainwater, the tank had two wells named ‘Varaha Theertham’ and ‘Sarkarai Theertham’ and three natural springs near the Athi Varadar mandapam area. Stating that the tank had never dried up and that it held water even during the worst of the droughts faced by the State, the lawyers said the three natural springs were called in Tamil as ‘Vatradha Ootru.’ However, the tank does not have any mechanism for outflow of water. Hence, the idol had to be taken out by pumping out the water using electric motors into a Golden Lotus tank situated about 350 metres away. After immersing the idol back on August 17, the tank would be refilled.

In so far as the idol was concerned, the lawyers said the mandapam under the tank had been designed in such a way that no damage would be caused to it. Built strictly in accordance with the prescriptions of the Agama Sastras, it has snake shaped pillars.

The term ‘Anatasaras’ means a peaceful resting place and the deity is kept in ‘Egantha Kolam’ (resting posture) inside it for 40 years. “Any use of heavy machinery will result in noise and disrupt the water balance,” the SGP’s report read.