At the foothills of Thiruvannamalai’s circumambulation trail is a small village called Aadaiyur. Four years ago, a ninety-four-year-old man named Dhanapalan passed away in this village. He was the panchayat council’s President for a few years. He had three sons and three daughters, and his funeral procession was attended by many people who had come from different towns and villages. Most of them were folks who had no blood ties with him. We wondered why this man received this kind of a tribute, and that is when we happened to know his story. Dhanapal served as the panchayat council President during the reign of K Kamarajar. He was deeply committed to Gandhi and had a strong love for Kamarajar, always fulfilling his words without denying them in any way. Dhanapal owned about sixty acres of land in two villages. But by the time he died, not even a small piece of land belonged to him. About forty years ago, during his tenure as the panchayat council Chairman, he continuously set up small ponds and eight wells in the area.
Each of these eight wells, in some way, has a unique backstory. The Kavuthi-Vediyappan hills, located next to Tiruvannamalai, have a water spring that is believed to have medicinal properties and is revered by the villagers. When the Jindal company came to destroy the hills and extract iron ore and minerals, it was the very spring and the people’s belief in its healing qualities that saved it from the corporate company! The spring and people’s belief in it became an impetus for a great struggle to protect the mountain. People of Aadaiyur have similar reverence for the eight wells dug by Dhanapal. Despite famines and severe droughts, these wells have remained a source of water for them. Dhanapal had set up three wells in the Adi Dravidian areas and the remaining five in the areas inhabited by people belonging to different communities. At present, four of those wells are in derelict conditions.
The remaining wells built by activist Dhanapalan, who passed away at the age of 94, are now holding on to their final days, awaiting their end. The wells that once bloomed as a symbol of sacrifice and hard work fell into ruins due to carelessness and the passage of time. We’ve now taken up the great task of reviving the remaining wells to be used by the people once again. During panchayat meetings, justice and truth are preserved by swearing on the water taken from those wells. Wells that never cease, even during times of famine, are equivalent to a thousand charity halls. In a way, every town has its own stories and people and memories about water. Along with a group of friend, we’ve begun a movement to revive and restore such public wells in villages and also document their construction techniques and folklore. This is our public well revival movement.
In today’s environment, as a first step, we are restoring the village wells in Tiruvannamalai and Krishnagiri districts, rehabilitating the dilapidated wells and making them available for public use again. We began this service by bowing down to the sacrifice made by martyrs like Swami Nigamananda of the Matri Sadan organisation, who gave up his life on the 115th day of his fasting, protesting against the government and the companies that were polluting the river Ganga. This initiative was launched via webcast by Caron Rawnsley, who is restoring Rajasthan’s water resources and reconstructing its ruins. After dredging and restoring two wells in Puliyanoor village and handing them over to the public, we dredged and renovated the public well of Aadaiyur village in Tiruvannamalai district. Subsequent village wells have been identified, and work is in progress.
So let us know if you have any information or contacts relating to village wells, stories, construction techniques, hidden histories and water humans. We are further documenting the studies done on the topic, along with friends from relevant fields. The overall development of these research projects has been made possible by means of our collaboration with Kaushik and friends from Akarma. Japan has an ancient superstition. When a person is very sick and on their deathbed, fighting for life, the people from their house would bend down to the depths of the well’s cool waters and call out their name and say, ‘May he get well.’ It is believed that the prayer can help them fight and come back to life. The reason is that the words whispered into the well reach God. It is an ancient belief of the people that wells are the ears of God.
The wells hold the faces of our ancestors who drew water from its depths, safe in its springs. Water is our ancient treasure, capable of curing any disease. When the sleeping toads move away from the spring’s central point, water gushes forth and fills up the earth. We want every village to witness this glory. People who have sworn on water understand that it is water that knows all of our truths very well!
Click here to have a look the revived wells
Doshi We Know Fellowship
At the foothills of Thiruvannamalai’s circumambulation trail is a small village called Aadaiyur. Four years ago, a ninety-four-year-old man named Dhanapalan passed away in this village. He was the panchayat council’s President for a few years. He had three sons and three daughters, and his funeral procession was attended by many people who had come from different towns and villages. Most of them were folks who had no blood ties with him. We wondered why this man received this kind of tribute and that is when we happened to know his story. Dhanapal served as the panchayat council President during the reign of K Kamarajar. He was deeply committed to Gandhi and had a strong love for Kamarajar, always fulfilling his words without denying them in any way. Dhanapal owned about sixty acres of land in two villages. But by the time he died, not even a small piece of land belonged to him. About forty years ago, during his tenure as the panchayat council Chairman, he continuously set up small ponds and eight wells in the area.
Each of these eight wells, in some way, has a unique backstory. The Kavuthi-Vediyappan hills located next to Tiruvannamala, have a water spring that is believed to have medicinal properties and is revered by the villagers. When the Jindal company came to destroy the hills and extract iron ore and minerals, it was the very spring and the people’s belief in its healing qualities that saved it from the corporate company! The spring and people’s belief in it became an impetus for a great struggle to protect the mountain. People of Aadaiyur have similar reverence for the eight wells dug by Dhanapal. Despite famines and severe droughts, these wells have remained a source of water for them. Dhanapal had set up three wells in the adi dravidian areas and the remaining five in the areas inhabited by people belonging to different communities. At present, four of those wells are in derelict conditions.
The remaining wells built by activist Dhanapalan, who passed away at the age of 94, are now holding on to their final days, awaiting their end. The wells that once bloomed as a symbol of sacrifice and hard work fell into ruins due to carelessness and the passage of time. We’ve now taken up the great task of reviving the remaining wells to be used by the people once again. During panchayat meetings, justice and truth is preserved by swearing on the water taken from those wells. Wells that never cease, even during times of famine, are equivalent to a thousand charity halls. In a way, every town has its own stories and people and memories about water. Along with a group of friends we’ve begun a movement to revive and restore such public wells in villages and also document their construction techniques and folklores. This is our public well revival movement.
In today’s environment, as a first step, we are restoring the village wells in Tiruvannamalai and Krishnagiri districts, rehabilitating the dilapidated wells and making them available for public use again. We began this service by bowing down to the sacrifice made by martyrs like Swami Nigamananda of the Matri Sadan organisation, who gave up his life on the 115th day of his fasting, protesting against the government and the companies that were polluting the river Ganga. This initiative was launched via webcast by Caron Rawnsley who is restoring Rajasthan’s water resources and reconstructing their ruins. After dredging and restoring two wells in Puliyanoor village and handing them over to the public, we dredged and renovated the public well of Aadaiyur village in Tiruvannamalai district. Subsequent village wells have been identified and work is in progress.
So let us know if you have any information or contacts relating to village wells, stories, construction techniques, hidden histories and water humans. We are further documenting the studies done on them along with friends from relevant fields. The overall development of these research projects has been made possible by means of our collaboration with Kaushik and friends from Akarma. Japan has an ancient superstition. When a person is very sick and on their deathbed fighting for life, the people from his house would bend down to the depths of the well’s cool waters and call out their name and say, ‘May he get well.’ It is believed that the prayer can help them fight and come back to life. The reason is that the words whispered into the well reaches God. It is an ancient belief of the people that wells are the ears of God.
The wells hold the faces of our ancestors who drew water from its depths, safe in its springs. Water is our ancient treasure, capable of curing any disease. When the sleeping toads move away from the spring’s central point, water gushes forth and fills up the earth. We want every village to witness this glory. People who have sworn on water understand that it is water that knows all of our truths very well!