Tamil inscriptions on three tombstones in the 222-year-old Salem Old Anglican Cemetery were identified by an epigraphist here on Saturday.
The cemetery, spread over one-acre and located opposite the District Collectorate, was demarcated for the burial of Christians after the East India Company took control of the then Salem in 1791 and was closed in 1883 after the space was fully utilised. As many as 131 British officers and their family were buried and tombs were erected. A cenotaph of a peninsular war veteran was also recently found.
While the inscriptions in most of the tombstones were in English, three tombstones had inscriptions in Tamil. Hence, members of the Salem Historical Society, led by its general secretary J. Barnabas and numismatics G. Sultan Bai took steps to identify the inscriptions.
Ineligible inscriptions, poor visibility due to erosion led the members invite epigraphists Kumarasamy from Rasipuram in Namakkal. On Saturday, Mr. Kumarasamy sprayed limestone powder using brush and identified the letters.
The details in one grave revealed that a 10-year-old Vilayati Ammal, born to Sabari Rajan and Velankanni of Pondicherry, died because of vomiting on January 1, 1840. The second inscription in was identified as Lawsor Chinnathambi who died at the age of 35 in May 25, 1843. Son of Michael Chinniah and grandson of Chinnathambi, he was a subedar in the East India Company.
The third one was that of a carpenter Ram Singh who died of snake bite at the age of 26. The inscription says that he worked for ‘Durai’, the then British people.
The inscription in three graves in the 222-year-old Salem Old Anglican Cemetery were identified by an epigraphist
