After M. Abinaya, a ninth standard student of SSAM Government Higher Secondary School, Thirupullani, did a study on ancient ‘kazhumarams’ (impalement stones), it was the turn of her classmates to come out with a fascinating exploration about ‘thiruvaazhikal,’ the boundary stones of a temple land.
Taking a cue from Abinaya, P. Rajkanna, M. Vishali, S. Vijay and B. Aparna, also ninth standard students, guided by V. Rajaguru, teacher and convenor of Heritage Club in the school, have discovered the stones with inscriptions of sun, moon and fish near the ancient Aadhi Jagannatha Perumal Temple at Thirupullani near here.
The students found the stones at the sluice built across a supply channel, which carried water to two temple tanks, harvesting rainwater. The right side of the semicircle sluice had the inscription of crescent moon and the left side, sun. On the outer side of the sluice stood a four-foot-high ‘thiruvaazhikal’ with inscription of ‘sangu chakkaram.’
Donated
The ‘thiruvaazhikal’ stone indicated that the entire area - the sluice, supply channel and temple tank - were donated to the 8th century temple and one of the ‘108’ Divyadesams dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The inscription of sun and moon indicated that the lands donated to the temple would remain forever like the sun and the moon, Mr Rajaguru, an amateur archaeologist, said.
Above the outlet in the centre portion of the sluice there were inscriptions of two ‘magara meen’ (shark fish) facing each other and the tank derived the name ‘magara kuttam,’ he said, citing the students’ study. However, only the teeth resembled that of shark, he added.
History has it that Ragunatha Sethupathi (1645 AD to 1670 AD) had built the sluice and temple tank and the lands would have been donated by him, he said. Local people said there was a culvert near the sluice and it should have been either stolen or vandalised. The students tried in vain to locate the culvert for nearly 10 days, he said adding the culvert could have thrown more light on the ‘thiruvaazhikal.’
