10th century inscriptions found

A team of archaeologists from Tiruppur found a stone with inscriptions dating back to the 10th century at Munnur village in Karur district.

Archaeologists from Virarajendiran Archaeological and Historical Research Centre made this discovery on September 15, according to S. Ravikumar, who led the team.

“The stone was found in the garden of a person named Sellamuthu,” he said, which made the stone not conspicuous unlike the hero stones discovered earlier that were present in public spots.

The stone contains inscriptions in the Grantha script, which was introduced during the regime of the Pallava kings at around 4th century CE. The 110-cm-tall stone bears six lines of inscriptions and drawings of a trident, a bull, a conch and a diamond.

“The diamond denotes a pond or any water body,” Mr. Ravikumar said. Due to damages on the stone, the second line could not be seen in entirety, he said.

As none from the archaeological team could decipher the script, they sought the help of historian Y. Subbarayalu. “He is one of the few people in Tamil Nadu who could read the Grantha script,” Mr. Ravikumar said.

Mr. Subburayalu said that the inscriptions denote a mantra or a religious invocation and dated it to 10th century based on the script.

Karur was one of the most important cities in the ancient times due to its strategic location in the trade route from the Gangetic plains to Kanniyakumari, Mr. Ravikumar explained. Rulers of the Chera dynasty made Karur their capital city to carry out trade activities, he said.