Keeladi at the banks of the Vaigai, which yielded distinctive artefacts organising a more potent hyperlink to the wealthy historic roots of the Tamils, is ready to have a museum. It’ll be opened by means of Leader Minister M.Ok. Stalin on Sunday (March 5).
The museum showcases the end result of the archaeological excavations performed since 2014-15. The end result underscored the want to redefine and re-examine the cultural and Sangam Age historical past of South India and, possibly, the Indian subcontinent.
Talking about Keeladi’s forte, when compared with the opposite fresh archaeological websites, together with the ones of the Indus Valley Civilization, T. Udhayachandran, Major Secretary to the Leader Minister, mentioned there are references in Sangam literature to each aspect unearthed. “With delight, we will be able to declare the museum is a residing laboratory for Sangam literature in poems or vice-versa,” he mentioned.
Artefacts unearthed all over the excavations on the Keeladi website online put in on the museum forward of its opening.
| Picture Credit score:
G. MOORTHY
The root was once laid for the museum, just about, by means of the previous Leader Minister, Edappadi Ok. Palaniswami, in July 2020 on the top of the COVID-19 pandemic. The museum was once constructed at a price of ₹18 crore by means of the Heritage Wing of the Public Works Division. It will show over 15,000 artefacts unearthed between the fourth and 8th seasons of the excavations within the Keeladi clusters, comprising Konthagai, Agaram and Manalur villages, mentioned R. Sivanantham, Commissioner (in-charge), Division of Archaeology. Sparsely curated variations of the artefacts will probably be covered as much as spotlight the native cultural sides.
The artefacts had been labeled into the next subjects — Keeladi and Madurai; agrarian and water control; ceramic business; weaving and iron business; sea industry; and way of life. They’ll be housed in six blocks within the museum, which is constructed within the Chettinad taste of structure, Mr. Udhayachandran mentioned.
An artefact that was once on show on the Keeladi Exhibition on the International Tamil Sangam in Madurai.
| Picture Credit score:
R. Ashok
The museum sprawls on two acres within the quiet hamlet, with a courtyard dotted with vegetables and a couple of palm bushes outdoor the premises. Within, the museum is fitted with fantastically crafted and vibrant Athangudi tiles. The craft is local to the Athangudi village in Sivaganga district, within the Chettinad area. They’re cement tiles, however made manually over glass surfaces with a singular and limited color palette.
The picket pillars, the sunlit courtyard or ‘muttram’ whose borders are dotted with pillars, the open verandas and artefacts are positioned in a cultured taste.
A couple of blocks are supplied with lifts and there are ramps for the otherwise abled individuals. The ideas on each and every piece on show will probably be to be had in two languages, and a list in Braille will probably be accommodated.
Sivaganga Collector P. Madhusudhan Reddy famous that the structure will be the attracting characteristic and mentioned the museum has an immense doable to turn out to be a significant landmark. This can be a price ticket to excursion the traditional international. “Since it’s positioned on Madurai-Rameswaram Freeway and no longer very a ways from Madurai, it’s going to be simply available for the keen guests,” he added.
Travelling again in time
The museum has all of it — from potsherds engraved with the Sangam Age names, corresponding to Thisan, Uthiran and Iyanan in Tamil-Brahmi scripts, indicating a prime stage of literacy, to spindle whorls and copper needles, testifying to the lifestyles of a weaving business.
“The various thousand graffiti-inscribed potsherds underscored the desire “to discover a conceivable linguistic hyperlink” between the graffiti and the Indus script”Ok. RajanProfessor, Division of Historical past, Pondicherry College
The microlithic equipment, gold adorns and an ivory comb spotlight the commercial prosperity, whilst agate, quartz and carnelian beads, items of Rouletted and Arretine ware testify to the transoceanic industry, stretching so far as Rome. The the most important findings are the miniature pots, husk, burial urns, and providing pots, known as “grave items”. They’re buried at the side of the useless in urns. Distinctive artefacts in every class can be structured as a selfie-spot to have interaction the guests. To retain the historicity, the terracotta collectible figurines could be replicated in greater sizes, and the adorns could be displayed on them and no longer on the standard fashionable mannequins.
Iron daggers, utilized by warriors belonging to the Sangam Age, cube, gamesmen and proof of hopscotch, popularly referred to as ‘Pandi’ or ‘Nondivilayattu’, open a window to the existence that folks of yore led.
A potsherd with ornament, unearthed on the Keeladi archaeological website online, on show on the museum.
| Picture Credit score:
G. MOORTHY
The punch-marked silver cash spotlight the industry with north India, the place such cash have been used within the sixth Century BCE.
C. Santhalingam, secretary of the Pandya Naatu Centre for Ancient Analysis, famous that any buying and selling task strongly establishes an city civilisation. The faunal stays — one examined to be of Bos indicus, a local species — recommend they have been predominantly cattle-rearing and agrarian other people. It additionally issues to the ‘ eru thazhuvuthal’ recreation, very similar to jallikattu.
To be performed at an in-house AV theatre, the movies at the structural stays of terracotta ring wells will highlight the complex water control and conservation abilities. Huge-scale brick constructions, lime-mortar and grooved roof-tiles level to the second one urbanisation that had came about in Tamil Nadu.
The museum has been supplied with multimedia content material, QR codes and holograms. A duplicate of the excavation trench is shaped at the premises to carry the guests a notch nearer to experiencing the lifetime of historic Tamils. A play house would permit the guests to play video games corresponding to hopscotch. The cafeteria at the premises would serve conventional and natural meals, mentioned the officers.
Indus hyperlink
The various thousand graffiti-inscribed potsherds underscored the desire “to discover a conceivable linguistic hyperlink” between the graffiti and the Indus script, since it will lend a hand to bridge the cultural hole of one,000 years between the Indus Valley Civilization and the Keeladi excavation, mentioned Ok. Rajan, professor, Division of Historical past, Pondicherry College, within the SDA e-newsletter, Keeladi: An City Agreement of Sangam Age at the Banks of River Vaigai.
A cluster of 74 carnelian beads (barrel-shaped) discovered beneath an providing pot on the Keeladi-Kondagai burial website online.
| Picture Credit score:
G. MOORTHY
Mr. Udhayachandran mentioned a request could be made to the ASI for putting in within the museum the artefacts unearthed until the 3rd season of excavations. Plans are to show the excavation websites into open-air museums, he added. The 9th section of the excavations would start later this month, mentioned officers.
Till then, step into the museum dipped in wealthy historical past to enjoy the lifetime of historic Tamils in the course of the antiques.
