800-year-old sculptures found at two places

Archaeologists attached to Virarajendran Archaeological and Historical Research Centre have found two almost identically engraved stone sculptures of ‘Moothadevi’ or ‘Moodevi’ (elder devi) that were nearly 800 years old from Perunthozhuvu and Koduvai.

S. Ravikumar, who led the team of archaeologists, said that the sculptures were worshipped by the villagers in those days as ‘mother goddesses’ who have the power to bring prosperity in agriculture and good health to people.

In both the carvings, ‘Moothadevi’ sits in the middle with her son ‘Manthan’, with the face resembling Nandi, on her right side, and daughter ‘Manthi’ to her left side.

“An interesting factor that came during our studies has been that the sculptures were lying neglected with the present day residents of the respective hamlets not knowing its immense antique value. The Moothadevi sculpture found at Perunthozhuvu is 110 cm tall and has a width of 95 cm. The one at Koduvai is 75 cm tall and holds a width of 105 cm. Both of them have been found from the vicinity of Siva temples.

“Worship of Moothadevi, the mother goddess, has a mention in ‘Choodamani Nikandu’ and ‘Asiriya Nikandu’,” pointed out K. Ponnusamy, a historian who has done many a studies on sculptures in the Kongu region.

As an anecdote, Mr. Ponnusamy added that the word ‘Moodevi’, which is a synonym for ‘Moothadevi’ and actually refers to Elder Devi, became a usage among people in later centuries as reference to an individual who do unusual activities.