Inside Teppakulam!

Hi Guys,

One of the famous places in Madurai is Teppakulam and we have never visited the temple inside. For a long time, Mom has been saying that we should visit it some day and we went there today evening. Before sharing today's experience, let me describe about the place.

Teppakulam (commonly called as Mariamman Teppakulam) is a man made Water Tank built by king Tirumalai Nayak. It is huge and covers 16 acres and it is the largest man made water tank in South India. This place was actually dug to take construction materials for building Meenakshi Amman Temple. While doing so, a Vinayaga Idol was taken out and as a result the king decided to built a temple at the center and water tank around it. It is said that the Vinayaga statue is inside the temple, but I found no statue inside and my mother says that it is none other than the Mukuruni Vinayagar found in Meenakshi Amman temple. The king also started the Teppathiruvizha (Float Festival), which is still celebrated in the month of January. On that day, the temple is decorated with lights and a decorated float goes round the temple. It is a feast to the eyes and stats say that around 100 thousand people visit the festival (Click here to see photos)

Coming back to the modern times, water is not regularly filled and is filled only for the float festival. The tank dries completely in summer and it has become a playground for youngsters. Today we went there by around 5.30 pm and when we went there were about 200-300 boys playing cricket inside the tank. We went through the dry tank towards the center. The temple was located 15-20 feet above ground level and steps were steep. The temple was protected by grills and there was no way inside it. The temple was very greenish in nature. It was filled with lot of trees and due to poor maintenance, some wild bushes have grown up. We walked around the temple and the atmosphere was just wonderful.

There were some people in the center and they had come to relax. Watching the whole region from inside was superb. Pictures speak better than words and here are some of the photos I took today.

The center temple

The main tower

The year of construction: 1635. So it is 375 years old

Some of the places were very poor

One group of cricketers

Herd of cows disturbing a match

Wild Bushes grown inside

Addicted to mobile phone?

Setting the field???

Ah! This was the most terrible thing. A Child Labor!!! Remember today is Child Labor Banishment day. When boys of his age were playing cricket, he was selling Ice Water.

Sun sets down!

A Pani Puri Shop

Flock of Birds

A view of the Vaigai River

View all the photos in my Picasa Web Album!

Happy Reading!!!