Kachabeswarar Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Lord Shiva, located in Thirukatchur, a village in Kanchipuram district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Lord Shiva is worshipped and is represented by the Lingam.
The original complex is believed to have been built by Cholas, who rose to prominence during the ninth century, while the present masonry structure was built during the 16th century. Currently this temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu.
The temple complex covers two acres and the temple tank is located diagonally outside the main gateway. The temple has a number of shrines, with those of Kachabeswarar and his consorts Antanatchi and Kanniyumaiyal, Thiyagarajar and that of Sundarar being offered food by Shiav being the most prominent. All the shrines of the temple are enclosed in large concentric rectangular granite walls.
Temple ponds or pushkarinis or kalyanis are the water reservoirs built as part of the temple complex near Indian temples. Temple ponds serve as grounds for social and cultural interactions for the local residents.
Temple ponds play a very important role in the traditional hindu religious centers throughout India Most of the temples have their own unique ponds in which the deity will be directly associated with many illustrations in the Shastras.
Temples were always the center point of all social, political, economical and spiritual activities in India.
Due to its significance in life including both a spiritual and materialistic sections, Temples, used to maintain the ponds in a very religious manner.
This led to the majority of ponds becoming unusable and unsafe, harbouring all kinds of disease.
Below are two examples of the disrepair that the ponds had fallen into.
On the 29th December last year the groundbreaking Puja took place.
This allowed Bio2pure to begin the beautification and treatment of the ponds. This is being funded by BASF India as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) budget.
This process has now started.
