Centuries-old rainwater passage found near Thanjavur palace

Thanjavur: A subsurface water passage intended to drain surplus rainwater from the Thanjavur palace area and harvest it in a moat surrounding the historical area was identified on Saturday. The discovery was made by a Tamil scholar and his team while inspecting the ongoing desilting work taken up by Thanjavur corporation.
The historic area of Thanjavur city sprawling over 110 acres comprise North, East, South and West main streets and the adjoining neighbourhoods called North, East and West ramparts all of which is encompassed by a moat.The moat that served as the first line of defence for Thanjavur Peruvudaiyar temple and palace is still intact except for the southern portion where commercial and residential establishments have allegedly encroached on the historic fortification. In the past few weeks, Thanjavur corporation has been desilting the moat passing through Kodimarathu Moolai as part of the city beautification drive without altering the heritage. On Saturday, Dr Mani Maran, a Tamil scholar with Sarasvati Mahal library, visited the desilting worksite and found a hollow pipe-like structure on the vertical bank of the moat. He said the passage was meant to drain surplus rainwater from the low-lying localities near Thanjavur palace vicinity covering West, North and East ramparts. The passage was designed to drain the rainwater in the moat in Kodimarathu Moolai.
“The length of the water passage should be at least 300 metres. We have to study whether the passage is still discharging the rainwater from the palace locality,” Dr Mani Maran, who is also a member of the board of studies of manuscriptology at Tamil university, told TOI. While the water passage was estimated to be around 400 years old, scholars said there are also chances of the Cholas having established the infrastructure which would have been fortified during the Nayak era. In that case, the actual age of the structure found could be close to 1,000 years. “We have to thoroughly study whether the passage was blocked or encroached upon. ASI Trichy circle that was constituted recently can take up a detailed study to throw light on the ancient water management practice of the erstwhile Thanjavur,” Dr Mani Maran added.