A sivalingam in a small cave which remained under water in a tarn on the hillock of Narthamalai in Pudukottai district was restored to facilitate public worship after a group of youth and local residents managed to pump out the water.
A youth collective, Yaadhum Oorae, Yaavarum Kaelir, took up the task of pumping out the water with the help of villagers. With nearly 80 to 100 people involved in the task, the group successfully pumped out the water and cleaned the slush from the tarn on Friday. The sivalingam, which is believed to have been under water for several decades, was given a wash and pujas were performed in the presence of a large number of villagers.
Speaking to The Hindu, V. Parthiban, 32, a technician employed with the Heavy Alloy Penetrator Project, said he and a group of friends interested in matters relating to history had been running a WhatsApp group and Facebook page. “We took up a similar effort to pump out water from a tarn to reveal a sivalingam at Sittannavasal about three months back. But the lingam was submerged again due to rain. The priest there told us that there was a similar lingam at Narthamalai. About 10 of us started the effort to pump out the water on December 31, after getting permission from the Archaeological Survey of India, hoping to complete the work on New Year Day. But the tarn was very deep and we had to deploy bigger motor than the one used initially,” he said.
As the task prolonged, the youths sought the help of villagers. The muddy water in the tarn was diverted to a nearby tank.
The exact period of the sivalingam in stone has not been established yet. According to J. Raja Mohamed, former Curator of Government Museum, Pudukottai, the cave temple had never been visible during his visits to Narthamalai since 1969. An inscription narrates the worship of the sivalingam during the period of Ramachandra Thondaiman (1839-1886), the erstwhile rule of the Pudukottai Princely State, he said.