Horse Warriors

Sacred clay idols

May 30, 2025

It happened few months back. One of my friends wanted to explore an old or not-so-common route to Pulicat lake which goes along the Kosasthalaiyar River. Kosasthalaiyar River, in Tamil கொற்றலை ஆறு is one of the three rivers which flow across Chennai.

Pulicat Lake is known for the Greater Flamingos, waders and other migrant birds. The road we wanted to explore is not the best route to reach Pulicat. Many years back, this was the one of the major roads used by villagers of Pulicat to reach Chennai. It takes less time to reach Pulicat with this route. This road is sandwiched between Kosasthalaiyar River and Bay of Bengal Sea. There are few private shipping ports present in this area. The major hindrances are bad roads and Container lorries which blocks the road. Hence it can take longer time to reach Pulicat , as well in many places, road is not good.

However, we wanted to explore this route for its scenic views of River and untouched beaches which can offer some good birding spots. Our guess was right. The route was scenic. There were many villages surrounded by waterbodies, small temples and clean beaches. Enroute to Pulicat, near the village called Kattupalli, we came across beautiful clay warrior idols under a banyan tree. They belong to nearby Amman temple. By the time we reached this Temple, it was mid of the day. Not a best time for photography.

After few weeks, we again came to this temple. This time, we decided to photograph the idols in the morning hours, just after sunrise. The idols are facing east under the shades of banyan tree. We were lucky. As the sun started to rise and move up, it created a perfect lighting. There were deep shadows, light was warm, constantly changing which brought out the details of the dolls. Our photography just ended within twenty minutes. After 7:30 AM, more or less, the light was flat, and we wrapped up the work and retuned back to home.

Here are photographs of the clay warriors. All the photographs are taken with Nikon zF camera with 24-70mm/f4 lens.