INTRODUCTION
There are some holy wells situated in some ancient temples, and water from those wells is considered as very sacred since it would remove even the dreaded diseases of the people. In the Rameshwaram Temple, there are few holy wells, and after getting the Darshan of the Lord, devotees would sprinkle the holy water on their heads, and they would drink it also. Some of them would even carry the holy water in the water bottles, in order to preserve it for future use.
Similarly, the water contained in the well in the ancient Gangadeeswarar Temple, Purasawakkam, Chennai, is mixed up with the holy River Ganges water, since it is believed that Ma Ganga had once visited this place, and she had stayed in this temple for some time. Since she has visited this temple, the temple was henceforth known as Sri Gangadeeswarar Temple.
Likewise in some other temples also, the sacred river Ganga water is mixed, and due to that, both the well and the temple had attained much significance. The great Sridhara Ayyaval, a famous saint of Thanjavur District, had once brought the holy river Ganges to the well, which is located at his place, through his miraculous powers.
Similar to that, the Tumburu Teertham situated nearby the holy Tirumala Hills, is considered as very sacred, since it was visited by the Divine Musician Tumburu, and his wife was also got relieved from a curse due to the blessings of Rishi Agastiya.
Ancient kings and wealthy people used to build lot of wells in order to quench the thirst of the people. Wells must be properly maintained, and periodically, dirt must be removed from that, or otherwise the water present in the well would become polluted. Still in some villages, people are using wells to quench their thirst, and if the well is properly maintained, then the water available in the well would be tasty and would help to quench the thirst of the tired travellers and the local people. In some wells, water in that would contain some medicinal properties, whereas, some wells might be in a dilapidated condition, and some small children might fall in that, and would die due to that. Wells are considered as the precious gift given by the god, since food and water is very much necessary for us to breath in this world.
“OM”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR
