Sacred Tank - Pathma Theertham of Padmanabha Swamy Temple Cleaning

The temple authorities have taken up the work of cleaning up of the sacred temple,pond, Pathma theertham. This is the sacred tank of the Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple at Thiruvananthapuram. It is good for the tanks/ponds of the temples to be cleaned up once in 25 - 30 years. These tanks/ponds are sacred with some qualities of healing powers to some illnesses. After being used for some time, the water is bound to dirty and unhygienic. Therefore the need to clean them up.

This tank, Pathma theertham is associated with the temple in many ways. It is believed that the temple deity idol is made of 'Salagramams' brought from Nepal. The then Travancore Maharaja paid and ordered Salagramams from the king of Nepal. The order was said to be more than required. The balance of the Salagramams were supposed to be deposited in this theertham. If so the same can be seen during the process of removing the present water for cleaning up.

Let us hope that all religious institutions authorities and the local people take initiative to similarly clean up the tanks of their respective areas. This will also help the rain water harvesting efforts.