Celebrating hills and their history

Green Walk’s ‘rock festival’ called for protection of lesser-known historical places around Madurai

October 01, 2014 05:09 pm | Updated May 23, 2016 07:35 pm IST - MADURAI:

WALK INTO THE PAST: 'The idea was to celebrate the rocky hills around Madurai and their heritage.' Photo: R. Ashok

WALK INTO THE PAST: 'The idea was to celebrate the rocky hills around Madurai and their heritage.' Photo: R. Ashok

The Sunday sky showered incessantly over the picturesque landscape of Keelakuyilkudi. The Sun was yet to appear but 200-odd people arrived along the bank of the temple tank with lotuses in full bloom. ‘Rock festival’, read the numerous creatively hand-written signboards. Men, women, children, villagers, writers, activists and naturalists gathered under the sprawling canopy of the 300-year-old Banyan tree and the imposing Samanar malai stood spectacularly in the background towering above the event like a silent spectator, its rocky surface slippery from the rain and gleaming in the intermittent sunshine.

The gathering was to mark a milestone in the journey of Green Walk, a citizen group started in the interest of lesser-known historical monuments. “The idea was to celebrate the rocky hills around Madurai and their heritage. We have lost a lot of such rocks and we don’t want to lose any further. They are part of our natural and cultural heritage,” said Muthukrishnan, founder of Green Walk, who has visited over 40 such places around the city, most of them bearing rock-cut Jain beds, inscriptions and ancient rock-art.

During these walks, the participants of Green Walk interacted with local villagers and experienced the historical richness of the places. “The walks helped us understand what kind of a relationship the villagers share with natural resources. For instance, in Yaanai Malai, every Villager keeps a photo of the hillock in their home or workplace. They consider it their God and an identity to the entire village,” explained Muthukrishnan, adding that villagers always stand against any form of degradation to natural and historical wealth. “When the Government wanted to convert Yaanai Malai into a sculpture park, the villagers resisted and we stood by them.”

Theodore Baskaran, a naturalist and writer, insisted that local history should be taught to the next generation in order to instil a sense of belonging in them. “South Indian history has been written based on just the inscriptions found in temples and palaces,” he said. “One should try and analyse folk history elements, such as the ‘hero stones’ and rock-edicts, that will give an idea about the subaltern society.”

Historians and archaeologists discussed on the various Jain monuments around the town, of which Keelakuyilkudi is an important one, dating back to the Sangam age. Santhalingam, retd. Archaelogical officer explained that Chettipodavu, a part of the Samanar hill, has the largest bas-relief sculpture of Mahavira in the entire South India. Atop the hill, Jain beds and sculptures are found in a natural cavern, of which the Mahavira and three other Thirthankaras are shown seated in Padmasana, while two yakshis are seen fighting with a man mounted on an elephant. “It symbolises the conflict of philosophies. It has been put across artistically,” explained Santhalingam. He informed that a Tamil Brahmi script believed to be 2,300 years old was discovered at the Pechi Pallam part of the hillock with 10 bas-relief structures of various Jain Gods. “The place had also functioned as a residential school named after a Pandya queen Vanamadevi. The inscription is a rare one and indicates the name of Gunavathi, the mother of Jain monk Achanandi, who is an important personality mentioned in Jeevaka Chinthamani, a Sangam literary work,” he said.

At the event, Green Walk released the book ‘ History of Madura – Voyage into Jaina Antiquity’ , an English translation of ‘ Madura Varalaru’ , released last year. A revised edition of the same was also launched.

The book is an in-depth compilation of all the Green Walks so far and contains writings of Tamil litterateurs, historians and young history-lovers. The Tamil and English versions are priced at Rs.100 each.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.