Two terracotta ring wells believed to be of 13th century and four brick wells believed to be of 18th century were found at Omakulam in Chidambaram.
An organisation called Hindu Temple Protection Team had been carrying out voluntary desiltation work in the temple tanks and ponds in Chidambaram. On Monday, while desilting Omakulam, a historic pond, members of the organisation found out that centuries-old wells were present in the pond.
President of the organisation M Senguttuvan informed the Dept of History of Annamalai University about the wells. Assistant professors, Dr J R Sivaramakrishnan and Dr P Kalaiselvan, had taken measurements of it and worked out approximate period to which these wells belonged.
Speaking to Express, Sivaramakrishnan said, “To the northern side of the pond, we have found two terracotta ring wells that could be of 13th century. Four brick wells were also found in the pond area. These wells could have belonged to 17th or 18th century. We have arrived at this conclusion by considering the construction technique and the shape of the bricks as far as the brick wells were concerned. Bricks in these wells were somewhat like v-shape.” About the wells, he further said, “These wells were built for drinking water purpose during later Chola period. The pond might be constructed by Swami Sahajananda while he built a temple for Nandanar here. But the brick wells present in the pond were much older. So far, four brick wells were identified.