Idol believed to be 500-yr-old retrieved from temple pond

The idol was kept for worship in the temple for a while and was later taken to the Thirukalikundram Tahsildhar office.

Villagers from Nemili near Chengalpattu were cleaning the pond of the local Shiva temple with the help of earthmovers. During the process, they found a stone idol of Lord Perumal buried in the pond. They retrieved and cleaned the idol, and kept it in the temple for the public to worship. As the news spread across the village, hundreds of villagers gathered at the temple to worship the idol.

Receiving the information, Revenue department officials, including the Village Administrative Officer, and archaeologists visited the temple.

Noting that the right hand of the idol was broken, archaeologists said it was believed that the hand might have been broken at the time of sculpting and hence the people might have buried it inside the pond. They suspect that the idol could be nearly 500 years old.