Terracotta ring wells unearthed at temple tank in Thanjavur

TIRUCHY: Officials unearthed seven terracotta ring wells while desilting a Chola era temple tank in Thanjavur.

A 5.5 acre vast Surya Pushkarani theertha kulam located at Vasishteswarar temple belonging to the Chola era. Since there was no water flow, the entire tank was in a dilapidated condition. Despite the temple tank being revived in 2019 by the residents and water brought from Vadavaru, the water body still remained in a bad condition.

Meanwhile, the Thanjavur Civic administration planned to renovate the tank under the Smart City programme at an estimated cost of Rs 2.15 crore and it was designed to have walkers pathway and other beautification programmes and works commenced two weeks back.

On Friday evening, the workers who had dug the ground in the tank found a ring well with three feet diameter.

Soon they passed on the information to the Thanjavur palace temple trust Superintendent Shanmugasundaram and head clerk Sankar who rushed to the spot and conducted inspection. Subsequently, the workers who continued their work, found six more such wells.

While speaking to reporters, the Saivite priest Chellaperumal said that these wells were unearthed at the north and east banks of the tank and there will be more such wells in the south and west banks.

These wells appear similar to the ring wells in Kumbakonam Mahamaham Tank and the wells in Rameshwaram. The archeological department should conduct a detailed study in the tank, he said.