5 panchaloha icons unearthed

The panchaloha icons and a few earthen shards, which were excavated from a housing site on Thursday night. Photo: B. Velankanni Raj

Five panchaloha icons were excavated on Thursday from a construction site here at Thirukannapuram.

The icons that included a chipped ‘kuthuvilakku', two Devis, a Yoga Narasimhar, and a Narthana Krishnan were found amid shards of earthen pottery.

The site, classified as Natham (housing site) land category in revenue records, indicate a possibility of a mutt or a prominent person's house in the area, at the time of burial. The size and make of the icons also indicate that they were kept for worship before burial.

The icons were unearthed at a depth of one and a half foot, indicating a possibility of distress burial in the wake of a probable invasion.

According to Ramachandran, researcher with the Varalatru Arvalar Kuzhu, the skanda maalai, and karandha magudam adorning the Devis point to the later Chola-style depictions, presumably the 12th or 13th century AD.

“Three other places in the district — Keezhaperumpallam, Adhirangam and Koil Kannapur – host stone-scuplted Yoga Narasimhar, similar to the one found here,” Mr. Ramachandran told

The Hindu .

Further, the Devis with a full-bloom lotus point to Vaishnavite worship, indicating a possible Perumal icon, perhaps buried in its vicinity. Under Saivite worship, the lotuses have a conical form.