Kolathur Temple Tank (Waterbodies of Chennai - 5)

Drive away from the rapidly expanding southern suburbs of Chennai towards Mambakkam and, every now and then, the city still gives way to an older landscape.

Kolathur is one such village.

At the centre of the village is a large temple tank surrounded by trees, small shrines and houses. When I visited this place, what surprised me most was not merely the size of the tank. It was the amount of water in it.

This was during the hot Chennai summer.

Yet, the water stood almost up to the brim.

Kalyana Theertham

The tank belongs to the nearby Kalyana Ranganathar Perumal Temple and is known as Kalyana Theertham.

It lies behind the temple and covers roughly one and a half acres.

The Kalyana Ranganathar Temple itself is an old Vaishnavite shrine. Interestingly, Ranganathar, whom we normally expect to see reclining on Adisesha, is represented here in a standing posture with Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi.

The temple has been extensively renovated, so very little of its older appearance is immediately visible today. Historical accounts connect the site with the Vijayanagara period, when the village was known as Kulathur.

The large tank beside it is therefore not an isolated waterbody. It forms part of the older temple and village landscape.

A Four-Pillared Mandapa

One feature immediately catches the eye beside the water.

A simple four-pillared stone mandapa stands near the tank.

There is nothing monumental about it, but the combination of the mandapa, water and large trees gives the place a character that is increasingly difficult to find around Chennai.

Small village temples are scattered nearby as well.

There are no landscaped walkways, decorative railings or elaborate recreational facilities. This is not a lake converted into an urban park.

It still feels like a village tank.

The Trees Make a Difference

The large trees around the tank are as important to the setting as the water itself.

They provide shade along the banks and partly screen the surrounding houses. Reflections of the trees fall across the water, and the entire place feels considerably cooler than the open roads outside.

When we talk about preserving a waterbody, we sometimes think only about retaining the water-spread area.

Places such as Kolathur show why the surrounding landscape matters too.

A tank stripped of its trees, mandapas and open space may technically continue to exist, but much of its character would already have disappeared.

Water in Summer

The most memorable sight during my visit was the water level.

Many tanks and lakes around Chennai become dry, heavily reduced or covered with vegetation during summer. Here, the tank remained remarkably full.

I do not know whether that is the situation every year, and I would not make such a claim based on one visit.

But seeing so much water during the hottest part of the year was enough to make this tank stand out among the waterbodies I had been documenting around Chennai.

It also made me wonder what allows some traditional village tanks to survive while so many others disappear.

Not Far from Chennai, Yet Very Different

Kolathur is only around two kilometres from Mambakkam and roughly 20–23 kilometres from Tambaram.

Those distances are not large anymore.

The residential expansion of Chennai has already reached Mambakkam, Vandalur, Kelambakkam and several neighbouring villages. Agricultural land has steadily given way to apartment complexes, educational institutions and plotted development.

That makes surviving village tanks in this belt increasingly important.

A few kilometres can still separate two very different landscapes today. How long that difference will survive is another question.

Waterbodies of Chennai – Why I Started This Series

This article is Part 5 of my Waterbodies of Chennai series.

The series began with a simple concern.

Reports have repeatedly pointed out that the Chennai region had more than 600 waterbodies a few decades ago. Urbanisation, encroachment and changes in land use have since reduced both their number and their water-spread area.

Even among those that survive, many have shrunk considerably or struggle with sewage, garbage, water hyacinth and encroachments.

Chennai has roads whose names still remember waterbodies that are no longer easy to find. We have Tank Roads without visible tanks and Lake View Roads where the original lake has either shrunk or disappeared from view.

I therefore started visiting the surviving lakes, ponds and temple tanks of Chennai and its suburbs and documenting what I saw.

Some articles in this series record badly damaged waterbodies.

Kolathur is different.

At least when I visited, the tank was full, the large trees still survived around it, and the old four-pillared mandapa continued to overlook the water.

I hope it remains that way.

Happy travelling.