TIRUCHY: A 3.45-foot Sivalingam belonging to the Chola era was found attached to a peepal tree in Thanjavur on Monday and it was placed at a village for public worship.
A group of volunteers from Coimbatore who have been involved in identifying abandoned Sivalingams across the country received information that a Sivalingam was found attached to a peepal tree on the banks of Arunthavapuram pond at Ammapettai in Thanjavur.
They went to the spot and inspected the lingam and found it to be belonging to the 11th century based on information carved in the lingam.
Subsequently, they detached the lingam from the tree and placed it at a makeshift platform in Arunthavapuram village.
The team also said that they have been travelling across Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh to recover the abandoned lingam and establish small temples after renovating the lingams.
“Accordingly, we received information from the local college students who had found the lingam attached to the tree and soon, we reached the spot and found that it belonged to the Chola era. We have detached it and handed it over to the villagers for worshipping,” said Sivasankar, the coordinator of the team.