Veera Chozhan is a river flowing in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. Similar to the Kallanai Dam, built by the great Chola King “SRI KARIKALA CHOLA”, which would be frequently visited by the people, this River also attracts large number of visitors due to its natural beauty.
Veeracholan River also flows in the Tiruvidaimaruthur Area, and it also passes nearby the Holy Cauvery River. During summer season, the water level would be low, whereas during rainy season, we can find a high quantity of water stored on this excellent River.
Similar to the Cauvery River, Veera Cholan River is also considered as a sacred River, since it was built by one of the Chola Kings, who was a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva. While I was travelling to the Tiruvidaimaruthur Mahalingeswara Swamy Temple, I used to admire the wonderful beauty of this Holy River, and Lot of significance are there by taking a dip in the holy rivers. Some people used to even brush their teeth, wash up their clothes, and also they would either bath or sprinkle the holy water on to their heads. Though the Rivers appear in our eyes only as a water storage space, but, inside each and every River, we can find lot of divinity on to that!
Ancient Kings used to construct dams, reservoirs and water storage places for quenching the thirst of the living beings like humans, animals, birds and fishes. In one of the Sangam period Tamil songs, this ancient River was mentioned, and it was also praised by an ancient Tamil poet, for its beauty, divinity and purity. Some of the wonderful poems written in praise of Sri Veera Cholan River which was mentioned in the Sangam Literature are as follows:-
“Hey Sri Veera Chola King, your name and fame has been keep on increasing, after you have built this wonderful Veera Cholan River. This Holy River carries your name, and hence it has become more and more pure and sacred. This River also bravely roars like a lion similar to you, and it also becomes calm whenever people fear to visit it. Hey Veera Chola, similar to your generosity, this River is very generous in giving sufficient quantities of water to the tired travellers, and it never finds any partiality between the visitors like rich or poor, good or bad, beautiful or ugly”.
Ancient selfless kings had gifted large number of Rivers to us, but at the present period, whenever the Rivers becomes dry, sometimes, some big influential people, used to convert some of the Rivers in the form of Real Estates, and they would also sell it, at affordable rates to the buyers.
Without knowing about it in detail, some people would also buy it enthusiastically, but ultimately, they would have to vacate their homes during the times of huge floods, since their dream homes would get deeply sink into the water. Due to that, those buyers would have to lose their hard earned money, and in future, we would also be able to read about the details of the modified Rivers only in the “HISTORY SUBJECT”.
Hence, let us pray to Ganga Mata, who is the holiest among all the Rivers, to protect natural resources like Rivers, Mountains and Reservoirs, and let her give abundant water to the living beings even in parched dry desert regions.
“JAI MA GANGA DEVI NAMO NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR