Abstract

India is a country which is secular though many religions like Hinduism, Islam,

Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism prevail here. Hinduism is the fundamental

religion which dates back its origin many centuries ago. Christianity which has the origin in

Judea made its advent only with the help of Europeans, though the spread of Christianity was

through the Bible, the custom, culture, architecture and traditions has the base of Hinduism. St.

John the Britto, who changed his name as Veeramamunivar wanted to spread

Christianity through the language of Tamil and thereby he contributed the book called

Thembavani. This article concentrates on the platform of Hinduism Cult been followed by the

Christian Churches. Any human being or any religion concentrates on the holiness of water for

water acts as the elixir of life. The epics also praised water. That water is stored with the help of

Theppakulam/Sacred Tanks, this is even found in the Christianity.

SEMBLANCE OF SACRED TANKS (THEPPAKULAM) IN CHRISTIANITY FROM

THE HINDU CULT – A PURVIEW

P.CHARLES CHRISTOPHER RAJM.A.,M.Phil.,M.I.M.,M.Lisc.,M.C.A.,B.Ed.,P.G.D.T.A,

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR KASTHURBA COLLEGE FOR WOMEN

VILLIANUR,PUDUCHERRY 605 110 MOBILE:9443723327

Email Id:ccraj18@gmail.com

Origin of the Sacred Tanks :–

The trace of water storing tank i.e., the Great Bath dates back to the Harappan

civilization. During Puranic period we found many instances of water storing. A place named

‘Sringaverapura’ near Allahabad (where Lord Rama crossed the sacred Ganges in Guhaka’s

boat) yielded water storage tanks with hydraulic technology of 1st century B.C. The city was

provided water from the river Ganges, taken through several channels and silting tanks1.

The Tamil Sangam literature also refers to tank irrigation. As regards the origin of the

tanks its may be said that every temple must have had a device to take very heavy blocks of

stone to a great height. This could be done only on earthen ramps which could be raised as the

height of the temple increased. The inside of the temple must also be filled with earth to prevent

collapsing before the temple was completed. The stones were placed on wooden rollers and

rolled up the ramps. The earth for these was dug, so that a tank could be formed. That is the

reason every big temple or group of temples has a tank adjacent. The Surplus stone brought for

building the temple was used for linking the embankments and building the steps of the tank2.

After the temple was completed the earth was removed from the ramps as well as from

inside the temple and spread outside leaving the temple floor lower than the surrounding ground.

Sometimes there was so much of surplus stone that the only way to dispose it of was to build

temples around the tank3.

According to Silpa Sastras tanks should be established on the Southern side of the

temples. There are several types of tanks. Among these the Sarbatobhadra type was most

popular. Besides this Bhubanabarga and Bisamatobhadra types can be found. Generally size of

the tanks varies from place to place but most of them are of square and rectangular size. Not only

in Orissa but also in entire India we find tanks. There are many big and ornate tanks in the State

of Gujarat and Rajasthan. In these areas this tanks are isolated4.

The state of Tamil Nadu is also famous for many big and old tanks. Interestingly these

tanks are mainly located within the temple compound unlike Orissa. The Chola kings constructed

large tanks for irrigation purpose. Besides these the inscriptions of Karnataka region speaks

about the large irrigation tanks. With the gradual march of time the concept of Sacred tanks

became popular. Tanks were also constructed by Sultans and Noble person to cater the need of

the people5.

Water worship :

Water has been worshipped not only in India but in many European and other Asian

countries like Egypt, Iran, Greece, Rome, Israel, Syria, Jordan, Mangolia etc. Water washes

away evil, disease and old age, from where arose the idea that there was somewhere a fountain of

youth or of immortality. Water cleanses us morally. It is a belief that strength returns after the

bath. In India water is taken in hand while uttering a course and the curse-water is believed to be

very powerful, the hands are washed before accepting a present. Since water is one of the

essential factors in the preservation of the life and the growth of the crops, it naturally plays an

important role in man’s life. Similarly agriculture and then commerce would lend and additional

importance to water as a means of irrigation and transportation, which again would find

expression in a cult of water-worship6.

In India, water is given much importance starting from the period of Rigveda. The cold

water treatment of febrile diseases, recently introduced in the field of medicine. The Rigvedic

seers called the waters Goddesses as they quenched the thirst of their cattle. Rigveda praises

water as Apsaras (the anthropomorphic form of water). They are mothers, or young wives; they

flow in channels to the sea, but they are also celestial. The waters bestow long life, wealth and

immortality. They clean and purify the worshipper, even from moral sins such as telling lies,

cursing and violence. The Atharva Veda also praises water as a purifier7.

The epics also praised water. The Mahabharata gives many instances of the miraculous

powers of water. In the Vana Parva of Mahabharata, Bhima goes in search of Kubera’s lake

where most beautiful and heavenly lotuses grew. When he reached the lake, he fought with the

demons. To heal his wounds and recover strength he plunged into the lake and his energy was

again fully restored8. In the Puranas, we find the most elaborate form of worship of water. Here

waters are considered as the most miraculous, holy, supernatural and divine. They have various

gods as their presiding deities. They are blessed with many powers and attributes by the gods and

sages. Many of them are said to have divine origin, or are attributed with supernatural virtues and

thus are regarded sacred and worshipped.

Association of Sacred Water with Christianity :

Water is highly in association with the rituals and ceremonies in Christianity. The

Sacrament of Baptism is symbolically fulfilled by pouring water on the one month new born

baby. In the Bible it was well mentioned by St. John the Baptist that “I baptize you with water;

but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he

will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with Fire.9

Another evidence to prove that there came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus

said to her “Give me a drink”. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew,

ask a drink of me a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealing with Samaritans. Jesus

answered herr, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a

drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman

said to him, “Sir you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get the

living water. Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it

himself, and his sons, and his cattle?”. Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinksof water will

thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thrist; the water

that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The

woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw10.

Concept of Tirtha :–

Because of the holy and divine nature of the water, they have been given the name to it as

tirtha. Tirthas are said to be holy on account of the peculiar healing power of some water - place

or on account of the fact that some holy saints resorted to them for bathing, penance etc. “Tirtha,

therefore, means a locality or place or expancse of water which gives rise to the accumulation of

righteousness (merit) owing to its own peculiar nature without any adventitious circumstances”.

The Skanda Purana says, that a place on earth resorted by the ancient holy men for the collection

of merit is called tirtha and main thing is to see those holy men, though pilgrimage is only a

secondary object. In the Rigveda tirtha signifies a ford or a passage in river. According to Manu

a Brahmana who had studied the Vedas is a tirtha11

Later on even a devotee is called a tirtha. Padma Purana refers to the teacher, mother,

father husband, wife all as tirthas. Kautilya has denoted all the persons in power as tirthas. The

Brahma Purana classifies tirthas into four categories such as Daiva, Asura, Arsa and Manusa

created by gods, asuras, rishis and men respectively Veda also refers that sacrifices were

performed on the banks of water places12

Tirtha are sprinkled in the Churches during the liturgical mass, in the beginning of

liturgy the priest who performs the mass mixes water and salt together and prays god for

purification and then it is sprinkled on the people who attend the liturgy. Tirtha in the Church

entrances are also kept in order to symbolical get cleansed before entering into the church.

During the burial of the dead body in the cementary, the corpse is cleansed as purified with

the holy water /tirtha.

Bathing in the Sacred Tanks:

The sacred tanks are of various kinds such of kundas, ponds, lakes, wells, tanks, pits etc.

It appears that it was tradition to excavate a kunda or a tank at the holy places. Such kundas etc.

have sprung up due to manifold reasons. Some were said to have been dug up by the deities or

sages for the welfare of the people, some by the saints who practised penance, to take bath

themselves or to bath their favorite gods, idols. And later on they were bestowed with miraculous

powers by the deities and they became famous holy water-places13.

Of the sacred tanks, the most important one is the Gomati kund. All pilgrims visiting

Dwarka must bathe in this kund and according to the scriptures, purify their souls from sins14.

Bhuvaneshwar has also sacred tanks. The most sacred is the one known as Vindu Sagara or

Bindu Sardhar. It is said to measure 1,500 feet by 700 feet and to have an average depth of 6 to

10 feet. It is reputed to possess the combined sacredness of all the holy rivers and tanks of India

and hence is largely resorted to by pilgrims. These are best described by Fergusson and R. D.

Banerji in their well-known works on India architecture und Orissa respectively15.

The Mariamman Teppakulam at Vandiyur 5 kms from the Meenakshi temple at Madurai

is one of the biggest temple tanks in South India. It was built in the 17th century and was

constantly filled with water from underground channels leading from the river Vaigai. The

temple on the island in the centre houses an idol of Vigneshvara (the elephant god Ganesha),

which was said to have been unearthed when the area was originally excavated to make bricks

for Tirumala Nayaka's palace. The tank is famed for the Float Festival in January/February when

the idols of Meenakshi and Sundareshvara are floated on it on a raft decorated with lights, prior

to their wedding ceremony. Except for this period, the tank is kept devoid of water to prevent it

being a focus for suicides, and it becomes a green gathering place. The Sacred Tank about two

miles outside the town to the east. It is about 300 yards square, and was built by Chieftain

Thirumalai Nayak at an expense, it is said, of £10,000. The Rajah is said to have given lands

yielding a rental of £1,000 for the expenses of the annual festival. The tank is constructed

throughout of hewn stone, with flights of steps on each side; in the centre is a highly ornamental

pavilion, in which the god and goddess rest after the fatigue of their aquatic excursion. The

pavilion stands in the midst of a garden, filled with shrubs, and containing some excellent fruit-

trees. The sides of the tank, and the garden and pavilion in the centre, are beautifully illuminated

at the annual Festival16.

Hoysala stepped temple tank at Hulikere, Karnataka, since ancient times, the design of

water storage has been important in India's temple architecture, especially in western India where

dry and monsoon seasons alternate. Temple tank design became an art form in itself17.

An example of the art of tank design is the large, geometrically spectacular Stepped Tank

at the Royal Center at the ruins of Vijayanagara, the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire,

surrounding the modern town of Hampi. It is lined with green diorite and has no drain. It was

filled by aqueduct

Kalyani, also called pushkarni, are ancient Hindu stepped bathing wells. These wells

were typically built near Hindu temples to accommodate bathing and cleansing activities before

prayer. They are also used for immersion of Ganesha idols during Ganesha Chaturthi18.

Semblance of Sacred Tank/Teppakulam in Christianity :

In 1867, the Missionaries Entrangere Paris, missionaries of Pondicherry wished to build a

Chapel at Villianur which is 13 Kilometers away from Pondicherry on the road to Villupuram.

Hence the diocese has bought a piece of land at Villianur and Rev.Fr.Gouon, the procurator of

the Pondicherry mission after a long negotiation with the Hindu temple authorities of

Thirukameswarer Gogilambigai Temple.started to build a Chapel at Kanuvapet on the outskirts

of Villianur, with the amount of the thanksgiving offering of Dr.Lephine's family for the

miraculous cure of his daughter in exchange19.

It has taken atleast 10 years to complete the Chapel, and Rev.Fr.Thorbes a cousin brother

of St. Bernadette, the visionary of Lourdes, was appointed as the Parish Priest of Villianur

mission. Since he had a direct report of the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes and this seems to

be the first in the world to be named after Our Lady of Lourdes outside Lourdes, France.

Added to that one pious Lady has paid for a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and made it come

from Lourdes under the direct supervision of St. Bernadette. It was on the 4th April 1877 the

statue arrived at Pondicherry and was taken to the Cathedral after the three dangerous falls of the

box containing the Holy Mother's Statue. To everybody amaze, the statue was intact and

beautiful. And during the Statue's stay at the Cathedral, a pious man called Thambusamy

Mudaliyar, a native of Kumbakonam who was on his way to Chennai for the surgical

intervention for the extra growth of flesh on his left eye, who has prayed to Our Lady of Lourdes

and was cured by a vision of Our Lady of Lourdes during a dream at the same night about 3 am

This attracted a lot of crowd to the Cathedral and so the missionaries sent the statue soon to

Villianur, on the 7th of April itself20.

After some hurdles, Our Lady of Lourdes statue chose her own way to come to Villianur

on the 7th April. From that time onwards people in thousands began to flock Villianur to have

the vision of this statue and get cured of all their infirmities.

It was in 1885 the Archbishop Laouenan went to Rome and reported the numerous

miracles that took place in this Shrine to the Holy Father and got permission on February 21st,

1886 to declare this as an official Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, Villianur and to crown the

statue in his name.

On his return from Rome, on 8th May 1886 during a grand celebration, witnessed by

around 40,000 people during the pontifical high mass the archbishop crowned the miraculous

statue in the name of the Pope Leo XIII and declared this church as the Shrine of Our Lady of

Lourdes, Villianur and attached permanent plenary indulgences to this shrine21

There was a natural pond in front of the chapel which was converted into sacred tank. It

was used as the water reservoir for the irrigation of the lands around and water came from the big

Oosudu lake which is 10 kms away from here. And this sacred tank was constructed by Rev.

Fr. Lesbond, the Parish Priest, with donations from Saigon organized by Mr.Lesage and

Mr.Larocgue. With the people in Saigon, he got a statue from Lourdes and in 1924 a solemn

ceremony took place to install the statue in the middle of the sacred tank after the due

consecration of the statue and the tank. Many take this water to their houses to cure their

diseases and to have fortune in their lives. And this is the only Catholic Church in the whole of

Asia having a sacred tank in front of the church. The sacred tank runs with steps all around it.

Overview it shape is like a cross. Way of the Cross is installed around the Sacred tank so that

the pilgrims can devotedly spend time about the way of Cavalry by Jesus Christ. Every year the

Archbishop of the Pondicherry-Cuddalore Diocese brings the holy water from Our Lady of

Lourdes Church, Paris to pour it in the Villianur Our Lady of Lourdes Church in order to sanctify

the purity of the tank22.

Conclusion :

Thus the semblance of Sacred Tank/Teppakulam found in the Villianur Our Lady

Lourdes Church in the Indian Christianity is from the Hindu Cult had been proved with

references and the importance of sacred water can be referred to the Bible where Jesus cured

the blind man. As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed

the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Silo’am (Which means

Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing23. The most noteworthy trait of water is

that it is most useful for its purifying and cleaning quality. Without clean water we can’t think of

a clean and healthy environment. It cleans the dirty things of our body as well as destroys the

filth it acquires from us. Freshwater has a remarkable ability to absorb the wastes, transform

them into useful substances, and thus clean itself. Water is the storehouse of energy. The climate

of the world is tempered by the ability of water to soak up and store the sun’s heat and to release

it slowly. The efficacy of water is increased by its contact with the sun’s rays. It is said a dip in

the river Ganges purifies the whole body of man24.

References :

1. Sunday Express, p-14, Bhubaneswar, January 5, 2003

2. Senapati, Nilamani, Puri District Gazetteer, p-755, Bhubaneswar, 1977.

3. Ibid, p-756.

4. Santosh Kumar Rath, Concept And Origin Of Sacred Tanks, p-102 Bhubaneswar,1993

5. Ibid, p-104.

6. Ibid, p-100,Bhubaneswar,1993

7. Kumar, Savitri, V, The Puranic Lore of Holy Water-places, p-6-7, Delhi, 1983.

8. Mahabharata, Vana Parva

9. The Holy Bible,Revised Standard Version, The New Testament, St.Luke Chapter – 3

verses 16-17.1973.

10. Ibid, St,John Chapter -4 verses 7-15.

11. Kumar, Savitri, V, The Puranic Lore of Holy Water-places, p-8, Delhi, 1983.

12. Ibid,.p-9

13. Op.cit, p-11.

14. K. V. Batoaswami and Rao Sahib, Prof. C. S. Srinivasachari, India's Sacred

Shrines & Cities. p - 242.

15. Ibid,p-421.

16. James Fergusson, edited, Lyon's 'Notes to Accompany a Series of Photographs

Prepared to Illustrate the Ancient Architecture of Southern India' London, 1870.

17. "ArchitectureStepwells" http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Culture/Archit/Stepw.html.

18. "Great Tank". art-and-archaeology. http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/india/hampi/lt01.html

19. Souvenir on the compeletion of 30 years by the private circulation magazine Villianur

Vidivelli Article about Historical Greatness about Villianur Church by Sisters

Julie and Daisy p-14,2008.

20. Ibid pp 14-15.

21.Op.cit,p-15.

22.Op.cit pp.16-17

23. The Holy Bible,Revised Standard Version, The New Testament, St.John Chapter – 9

verses 6-7,1973.

24. Kumar, Savitri, V, The Puranic Lore of Holy Water-places, p-3, Delhi, 1983.