R. VIMAL KUMAR
TIRUPUR, DEC 17
An archaeologists’ team attached to Tirupur-based Virarajendran Archaeological and Historical Research Centre has discovered two unique sculptures with one of them having 1000 AD ‘Grantha script’ inscription at its bottom.
The sculptures of Valampurivinayakar and Lakshmi with ‘thoompu’ (a tubular shaped portion) on their backsides were traced from Periyakulam irrigation tank at Vadapoothinatham village near Uduamlpet during a field survey. This hamlet falls in the ancient highway known as ‘Veeranarayana peruvazhi’ with already some Roman silver coins unearthed from the village on an earlier occasion.
Grantha script
S Ravikumar, the team director, told this reporter that four lines of the ‘Grantha script’, a South Indian script, found at the bottom of the Valampurivinayakar sculpture were deciphered with the help of historian Dr Y Subbarayalu.
“The inscription dates back to early 1,000 AD. The four lines mention that the land in the area was used for agriculture with the tank always keeping the soil moist. For noting the fertility of the region and good harvest, people during that era carved out Valampurivinayakar sculpture on the top portion.
“Since the sculpture is broken, the full text of the script could not be accessed”, he added.
The ‘thoompu’ on both the sculptures measured 18 centimeters in diameter.
A closer look at the sculptures found that Lord Vinayakar carved on the Valampurivinayakar sculpture has four arms and seated in ‘padmasanam’ with the ‘thoombu’ of 140 cm in height, pointed out S Ravikumar.
The ‘thoompu’ on Lakshmi sculpture was 70 cm in height.
(R Vimal Kumar is a former Principal Correspondent of The Hindu)
