In news– The district administration of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu along with Bengaluru-based non-profit Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) are using what they term as a ‘hyper local’ approach to restore one of south Asia’s oldest rivers, the Thamirabarani.
Key updates-
- The first phase of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by ATREE was launched on World Rivers Day September 25, 2022.
- The restoration project is called TamiraSES.
- The TamiraSES project aims to restore the Social Ecological Systems of Tamiraparani river riverscape from head-waters to the estuary to enable conditions for native biodiversity to thrive and maintain and enhance multiple ecosystem services to local stakeholders.
- The Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bengaluru and the Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination Society are also knowledge partners in the project.
The Thamirabarani river-
- The Thamirabarani or Tamraparni or Porunai is only perennial river in Tamil Nadu that originates from the Agastyarkoodam peak of Pothigai hills of the Western Ghats in Tirunelveli district.
- It was called the Tamraparni River in the pre-classical period, a name it lent to the island of Sri Lanka. The old Tamil name of the river is Porunai.
- The river flows through Tirunelveli and then neighbouring Thoothukudi and ends in the Gulf of Mannar at Punakayil. It thus originates and ends in the same state.
- The river supports wildlife such as the Nilgiri marten, slender loris, lion-tailed macaque, white spotted bush frog, galaxy frog, Sri Lankan Atlas moth and the great hornbill.
- Besides the ecosystem services it provides, the river also has historical value for the people of the state.
- Its many name derivations of Tan Porunai include Tampraparani, Tamirabarni, Tamiravaruni. Tan Porunai nathi finds mention by classical Tamil poets in ancient Sangam Tamil literature Purananuru.
- Recognised as a holy river in Sanskrit literature Puranas, Mahabharata and Ramayana, the river was famed in the Early Pandyan Kingdom for its pearl and conch fisheries and trade.
- One important historical document on the river is the treatise Tamraparni Mahatmyam.
- It has many ancient temples along its banks. A hamlet known as Appankoil is located on the northern side of the river.
- In the Mahābhārata (3:88) the river is mentioned as “Listen, O son of Kunti, I shall now describe Tamraparni. In that asylum the gods had undergone penances impelled by the desire of obtaining salvation”.
- A Miami-based Beta Analytic Testing Laboratory published a report on 2021 which claimed that the Tamirabharani civilzation along the banks of the river dates back to 3,200 years.
