For four days in July-August, which is the Tamil month of Adi, there is a festival at the temple on the hills just downstream of the Karaiyar dam across the River Tamirabarani. It is the Adi festival at the Sorimuthu Ayyanar temple and nearly 1.5 lakh people gather there on those four days. “The forest becomes a mass picnic spot—people cook food, wash in the river, spend the nights in the woods. Tests show that there is a surge in bacteria levels in the river right after the festival,” said R. Mathivanan, an activist. Then there is the Papanasam temple on the river’s shores. It is believed that devotees, before taking a dip in the river, must cast away their clothes as a sign that their sins have been washed away. But years of saris and dhotis being dumped have taken a toll on Tamirabarani. Now, volunteers have gotten together to fish out the clothes, and there are new rules that devotees must dump their clothes at a designated point outside the river, from where they can be removed later.

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