11 January 2017
Dear Dr. Mahesh Sharma ji,
Vanakkam. May I draw your kind immediate attention to the following matter of historical, archaeological significance.
Tamilnadu is a cradle of ancient civilization which has been acknowledged by historians and archaeologists. Our Tamil civilization commences from the dawn of history, many a thousand years ago. One of the sites of ancient civilisation situated in Mohanjo Daro and Harappa, which came to light by the excavation of archaeologists, i.e. called the Indus Valley civilisation, dating back to 3000 years, which has got ample evidence to prove the fact that the glorious civilisation belonged to the Tamils, which has been firmly established by great historians like Father Henry Heras of Spain.
Keezhadi Excavation:
The Tamil civilisation flourished on the banks of river Cauvery, river Vaigai, river Tamirabarani, many a thousand years ago. This significant truth has been established by two excavation works undertaken by Branch 6 Bengaluru of the Archeaological Survey of India (ASI) at Keezhadi village in Sivaganga district, near Madurai, the cultural capital of Tamilnadu has unearthed a wealth of evidence of rich Tamil history in Sangam era.
The excavated treasures include a well planned urban centre with amenities that can be likened to that of the present age, apart from semiprecious stones and pottery with Tamil Brahmi scripts. The pottery is said to have been used by ancient Tamils who lived at least 2500 years ago.
Archaeologists believe that the settlement at Keezhadi village could be as large as the ones in Harappa and Mohanjo Daro, that is a standing testimony of the rich life Tamils have lived in the ancient era. This phase of the excavation has brought to light evidences of Tamil history hitherto, not known. Black and red pottery were found in round one of excavation while round two has brought out terracotta earrings and semiprecious stones found in Baluchistan.
Evidences of Foreign Trade:
Archaeologists in the first phase of the excavation conducted in February 2015 found various antiquities, iron implements and earthenware, glass, pearl and terracotta beads, both foreign and locally made that are good evidences of Tamils trading with foreign lands.
The pottery bore names of individuals such as Thisan, Aadhan and Udhiran, that are typical Sangam Age Tamil names.
K. Amarnath Ramakrishna, superintending archaeologist said, “unearthing brick structure after structure of the habitation site, the first of its kind in Tamilnadu is indicative of a huge urban settlement of independent civilisation that should have existed on the banks of the Vaigai river. It also throws more light on the flourishing trade of the Pandyas with the west and their rich culture.”
The excavation is lending much credibility to the narrative in Sangam literature that throws light on the ancient Tamil way of life. Through the literature speaks volumes about the public and personal lives of kings and the people of Tamilnadu some 2000 years ago.
Keezhadi has now become an important site of historical significant with the ASI unearthing one of the biggest human habitations of Sangam Age. Keezhadi is the ASI’s major excavation in Tamilnadu after Adichanallur.
The treasures that had been unearthed included massive brick structures with ring wells and drainage systems dating back to the second century BCE of the Tamil Sangam Age and a wealth of about 5,600 artefacts such as potsherds with Tamil-Brahmi script; ivory earlobes; ivory dice; bi-conical gold beads; Chola- and late Pandya-period coins; rouletted ware; russet-coated ware; white-painted black pottery; decorated shell bangles; beads made out of quartz, jasper, carnelian and chalcedony; big copper beads; and terracotta figurines. In the lower depths of the quadrants were found a variety of iron implements such as axes, daggers, knives, nails and forceps, roof tiles embedded with long iron nails in sockets, and black and red ware from the Iron Age.
The 110-acre (one acre is 0.4 hectare) site had in its innards “the great symbols of the ancient Tamil civilisation”.
Kaviripoompattinam - The oldest City in the World
The excavation not only in Keezhadi and other sites connected with its in Tamilnadu should be continued for another 10 years, as there is evidence of so many sites in Tamilnadu and very particularly Kaviripoompattinam (Poompuhar), the ancient fort city which has been swallowed by the terrible sunami, thousands of years back.
Channel 4 Television of London has released a video clip declaring that the city Kaviripoomputtinam existed 7000 years ago, the oldest city with a well found civilisation than Babylon on the banks Tigris and Euphrates of Sumarian civilisation.
When the excavation work is speeded up, the Government of India should come forward to establish a museum at the site of Keezhadi.
The ASI, I understand is prepared to set up a museum at the site provided the state government allots two acres for it. The Government of Tamilnadu has already allotted 76 cents of land for the museum at Keezhadi village, and has also idendified 2 acres of land within the perimeter of the archaeological site.
Initiatives
The person who really took the lead in demanding that a site museum should be set up was V. Balasubramaniam, who taught history at the Government High School at Keezhadi from 1970 to 1979.
Indeed, the credit for discovering the mound where the excavation took place should go to him.
In 1978, Balasubramaniam found 14th century terracotta artefacts at Pallichandai Thidal and informed V. Vedachalam, then an epigraphist in the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department in Madurai, of them. Vedachalam made a visit to the area and saw for himself the male, female and Ayyanar (a folk deity) terracotta figurines. Matters rested there until Amarnath Ramakrishna took charge of the ASI’s Excavation Branch in Bengaluru a few years ago. He decided to undertake a study of the Vaigai river basin and brought in Vedachalam as a domain expert.
In 2014, Amarnath Ramakrishna led a team that included Vedachalam to survey the Vaigai river basin, and they identified 293 sites with archaeological remains on either side of the river. Vedachalam suggested to Amarnath Ramakrishna that Pallichandai Thidal was the place to excavate.
The excavation began in January 2015, and large quantities of artefacts belonging to the Tamil Sangam Age were unearthed.
On June 16, 2016, Balasubramaniam, now 75, wrote to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa with a request that the Tamil Nadu government allot two acres at Attaiyadi Kanmai, an abandoned waterbody at Keezhadi, to enable the ASI to set up a site museum.
He also wrote to T.K. Ramachandran, Principal Secretary (in charge), Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments, and S. Malarvizhi, Collector, Sivaganga district, requesting for land at Keezhadi for the museum.
Request to the PM and his Reply
The very same retired headmaster Mr. Balasubramaniam wrote to the Hon’ble Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi on September 19 requesting him to urge the Government of Tamil Nadu to allot two acres of land to construct a site museum at Keezhadi. He informed Mr.Modi that this archaeological mound is a rare phenomenon in the early history/Sangam period of Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Balasubramaniam received a reply from the Hon’ble Prime Minister on September 23, 2016 which directed the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary to take “action as appropriate”.
It brought about a sea change in the State government’s attitude. A few days later, District Collector Malarvizhi, the District Revenue Officer, the Revenue Divisional Officer and others descended on Keezhadi and met Balasubramaniam.
The government later said it had identified a parcel of land at Keezhadi for the museum. As for the demand that the trenches should not be closed, Balasubramaniam attributed it to the feeling of “Tamil pride and overenthusiasm about Tamil culture”.
Spectacular excavation:
A spectacular excavation took place at 102 trenches/quadrants at Keezhadi in 2015 and 2016. The twin-mounds are situated on the southern banks of the Vaigai river, about 100 metres apart and spread over 110 acres. The perimeter of the mounds is 4.5 km. The excavation in the eastern part of the bigger mound in 2015 yielded ancient brick structures, 32 potsherds with Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, deep terracotta ring wells, big storage pots, pots with spouts, decorated pots, white-painted black ware, black and red pottery, beads made of semi-precious stones, and so on. All this and more pointed to its being a Tamil Sangam site.
Amarnath Ramakrishna had then asserted: “This is definitely a Tamil Sangam site.... It was a habitation site.” He tentatively estimated that the site belonged to the third century BCE. But no carbon-dating was done. The ASI resumed its excavation in the central part of the bigger mound in January 2016 in the second field season, which ended in September.
Amarnath Ramakrishna said: “The site proves that we had an urban centre during the Sangam period. This is the first time in Tamil Nadu that we have found so many ancient structures. All the structures are built with burnt bricks, that is, fired bricks. Our large-scale excavation has revealed the urban culture of the Sangam period. But we need to do more systematic excavations in the coming years to get more information.” The brick structures had classical features such as platforms, ring wells, rectangular tanks, square tanks with extended structures, and channels made with bricks. Inside one of the tanks were found two pottery bowls incised with Tamil-Brahmi scripts. “They are fantastic bowls and they were tableware. On the basis of the palaeography of these Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, we can definitely date the structure to the second century BCE.”
Besides the brick structures, the 2016 excavation in the mound’s central part to a depth of 4.5 m revealed that the first 3 m from the top belonged to the Early Historic period, while the 1.5 m below that belonged to the Iron Age. This was confirmed by the discovery of a number of iron implements such as axes, daggers, spades, knives, forceps and nails at the lowest level. There was plenty of black and red ware associated with the Iron Age. Neolithic celts were found.
“The discovery of iron implements proved at once that Keezhadi was an Iron Age settlement which evolved and continued into the Historic period. So this site is definitely a crucial site for Tamil Nadu to determine its cultural sequence,” Amarnath Ramakrishna said.
What was amazing was the discovery of many structures built of bricks of three different sizes in quadrant after quadrant. All the structures were oriented north-south. A rectangular brick structure resembled a trough. There were other brick structures situated nearby. The quadrants revealed three types of drains: open and covered drains built with big-sized bricks and a third one made of terracotta pipes.
There were several furnaces too. A double-walled furnace was a standout discovery. Adjacent to the double-walled furnace was a chamber-like structure, with walls built with bricks and the floor also lined with bricks. This structure led to another small tank/trough-like structure. This trough was pretty deep and its floor too was lined with bricks. The ring well in one of the quadrants ran deep into the natural soil. Near the top-most ring of the well was a floor made of bricks of two courses.
Sanitation system:
A terracotta pipe ran through several quadrants over a distance of many metres and ended in a soak jar. “The pipe and the soak jar indicate the advanced sanitation system of the people who lived here. It demonstrates their civic sense. The people were well versed in city planning,”
Another brick structure, which also looked like a tank/trough, had an inlet and an outlet. A covered drain was found below this trough. Nearby was a small structure with a stone slab on top, perhaps meant for washing clothes. While it is clear that these structures and furnaces formed part of an industrial unit, a debate has erupted among archaeologists whether the structures were dyeing vats for colouring textiles.
The director of the excavation said: “We cannot define the structures right now because we have come across this type of structure for the first time in Tamil Nadu. If we continue the excavation for a few more years, we will know where the structures are headed. They are extending from north to south. Only when we excavate the entire area, can we tell you the purpose for which the structures were built.”
The ASI archaeologists are puzzled about the purpose for which the double-walled furnace and other furnaces were used. In the double-walled furnace, the additional wall was built to trap heat and to get a controlled temperature. “We cannot identify the purpose for which the furnaces have been made because we do not get any raw materials in them. They might have been used for dyeing textiles because we got a spindle-whorl nearby. But no artefacts [such as beads] were found in them,” an archaeologist said.
The 5,600 artefacts found at Keezhadi could not be studied in the cramped tents there, Amarnath Ramakrishna said.
They had to be taken to Bengaluru [where enough space was available in the Excavation Branch VI], for a proper study. “After the research is done, the Government of India will definitely give back the artefacts to be displayed in the site museum once it is set up at Keezhadi,” he said.
Amarnath Ramakrishna also said it was not easy to keep the trenches open because the ASI would then have to acquire the 110 acres and declare it a protected site under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010. “It will take a long time. It is not possible to do it immediately. If the trenches are to be kept open, it has to be an ASI site. Right now, the land is private property,” he said.
If it rained, the exposed brick structures would be ruined. So the trenches were covered with plastic sheets and filled up. Since the ASI staff knew where the quadrants had been dug and were aware of their measurements, the quadrants could always be reopened if the need arose.
Request:
I am extremely heartened and happy about the fact that theHon’ble Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi has taken very keen interest in the excavation of sites to bring to light the ancient civilisation of Tamils. This Keezhadi will be a lighthouse for future excavation in Tamilnadu.
With all sincerity, I would request you to take appropirate measures to undertake further excavation work in Keezhadi, so that more facts with evidence of the ancient Tamil civilisation could be ascertained.
I would request you to pay a visit to Keezhadi and convene a meeting at Madurai of the top officials of ASI, and the officials of the Tamilnadu Government for which I shall be highly thankful to you.
With regards,
Yours sincerely,
(Vaiko)
Hon’ble Dr. Mahesh Sharma,
Minister of State (Independent Charge)
Ministry of Tourism & Culture
Government of India,
Transport Bhavan,
Sansad Marg, New Delhi 110001
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