T.N., Kerala to join hands to decipher Keeladi, Pattanam artefacts

A view of the Keeladi excavation site spread over nearly five acres in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu and Kerala will collaborate on interpretation of artefacts that were excavated in Keeladi in Tamil Nadu and Pattanam in Kerala. The exercise will aim to study their similarities, said Culture and Archaeology Minister K. Pandiarajan.

The Minister was speaking at the three-day Kerala Cultural Festival, organised by Kerala government in association with Bharat Bhavan and Tamil Nadu Chapter of Malayalam Mission and Malayalee organisations that kicked off on Friday.

Speaking to

The Hindu on the sidelines of the event, he said that they were planning to collaborate on sharing of findings.

Kerala Culture Minister A.K. Balan described Tamil as the mother and Malayalam as her favourite son. He explained how Tamil Nadu had helped many Keralites grow and outlined the cultural similarities between the two States.

“We planned to hold this programme earlier, but due to various reasons we could not,” he said. The Ministers honoured 10 personalities who excelled in art, literature and socio-cultural felds.

Pramod Payyanur, member-secretary, Bharat Bhavan, said similar programmes were held in Delhi and Hyderabad earlier and even in Saudi Arabia.