The Ramanathapuram Archaeological and Historical Conservation Centre, headed by Mr. Rajaguru, a school teacher and an amateur archaeologist, has discovered two Siva temples belonging to the Pandya period in the coastal hamlets of Therkku Naripaiyur and Vettukadu off east coast in the district.
“Both the temples, found buried in the two villages, are believed to belong to the 13th century and built by Maravarman Sundara Pandyan I, who ruled the region between 1216 and 1238 CE,” Mr. Rajaguru, who visited the villages during a field visit, said. Finding that fishing landing centres in the coastal hamlets were called ‘padu’ and the coastal hamlets had names with ‘padu’ suffix, the teacher and his mechanical engineer friend, Kalimuthu, also an amateur archaeologist, launched an exploration to find whether Chokkanathar (Sivan) temple existed at Chokkanpadu, now called Therkku Naripaiyur.
They found a kodungai (a rainwater outlet) and some pillars partly buried at a coconut grove in the area. An ‘L’ shaped area barren in the midst of the ruins increased their curiosity and enquiries with local people revealed that stones were unearthed in the area.
Mr Rajaguru quoted Chidambara Nataraj (85), a local villager, having said that he had seen a temple in the area about six decades ago and it could have been buried in sands as it was located within 100 metres from the shore.
Chokkanpadu was earlier called Sambumanagar and later as Naripaiyur as sambu meant nari (jackal), the archaeologist said. There was a roofless Ulagamman temple (Kali temple) in close proximity and it belonged to the 13th century, if the illegible inscriptions in the temple were any indication, he said and added that the buried Siva temple could belong to the same period.
They discovered a Siva temple at Vettukadu, another coastal hamlet on the east coast after locating a partly buried ‘Nandhi’ in the area. ‘Amman’, ‘Murugan’ and ‘Bairavar’ idols were unearthed in the area when people dug foundation for building an overhead tank in 2007. This bore testimony to the existence of Siva temple in the location, Mr. Rajaguru, a teacher in SSAM Government Higher Secondary School at Thirupullani said. The idols, now kept in the government museum, belonged to 13th century, he said.
Here too, a Kali temple – ‘Pizhaiporuthamman’ temple — existed and local people had unearthed terracotta figurines while digging a well and they too turned out to be 13th century figurines.
As 13th century Siva temples were found in the coastal areas of Kilakarai, Melakidaram, Melaselvanoor, Mariyur, and Thirumalugandakottai, the two sites at Therkku Naripaiyur and Vettukadu were worth of exploration, he said and wanted the State archaeological department to take up the work. This would throw more light on the trade and style of governance during the Pandya period, he said.
