On the occasion of attending the monthly lecture organised by the state archaeological dept at their office ( Tamil Valarchi Valagam, Halls road) at Tamil Salai, Egmore, i used the time available on my early arrival to check out their exhibits within a small room of approximately 10x10 sq ft. This small room can open a new world to the uninitiated, thanks to the abundant energy and enthusiasm of Mr. Sreekumar, Technological expert. Though this was the third time i was meeting him, he was ready and willing to go all over again explaining the exhibits to me. His energy and enthusiasm for spreading the knowledge conveyed by the exhibits is infectious.
if one were to walk through the exhibits on one's own, one is most likely to feel let down, thinking that there is nothing but a huge number of pot shreds on display. But with the grace of Mr. Sreekumar, you will end up gaining a whole lot of expert knowledge. To start with, one can not miss the different colours of these shreds even on a casual look. There is the colour that resembles that of the pots that we see today- these could be native- one of these has an interesting embossing of a Lion devouring a deer, with intricate depiction of the hind legs and tail of the deer, as they are about to enter the lion's mouth; then there is the strange black shreds attributed northern India and Mauriyan period- these tend to have develop red blots; then the shining ochre red, with a metallic clang of the romans called roman roulete pottery- due to the designs on it, and the clanging sound attributed to the lack of pores and special way in which it is baked; and finally the browninsh amphorae used for storing wine, fish sauce, etc.
These Shreds have been found in various places like Maligaimedu, near Cudallore, especially the roman ones and at Alagankulam in Ramanathapuram district. These potsherds also carry some intricately done graffitis like that of a bull, a hunter on horse(?) back wielding a 'Valari'(?), etc. these graffitis are very important pointers to social life in those times. some shreds also have some beautifully embossed figures.
Talking of graffiiti and symbols, a Seal found in Boluvampati interestingly has the insignia of all the three great rulers of Chera, Chola , Pandya on it.
One thing that any untrained eye can not miss is the beauty of the chain of carnelian beads on display. carnelia is just a variety of Silica reddish brown in colour. Since this is not available in India, it is not clear where this stone was sourced from. These beads were found in megalithic urn found in Kodumanal, Erode. Iron swords of 1.5m length have also been found there along with the beads.
Talking of stones as beads, we then turn to stones as weapons. The madras hand axe- so called to distinguish it from Acheulean, France, though looks very common and ordinary, one cant escape the exhiliration, when you realise that an early man shaped this stone and had held this in his palms thousands of years ago. you can
also see hand axes slowly transforming in to smaller tools that helped early man's simpler and finer needs and then tools to help him dig probably a root out.
Stones not only acted as tools but they preserve history. welcome to another exciting rendevous with history in the form of leaf imprints on a gondwana shale. a marker for times when the Indian and Australian plates were together. So much geological history in such a small piece of Shale that was discovered near Sriperumbadur.
Apart from these local finds, one can also have a brush with the treasures of Indus valley civilisation in the teracotta figures donated by Shri Nagasamy, an iconic figure in the department. Though there is a lot more treasure to savour in this small space, i will leave it to your walk around this space with Mr. Sreekumar, when you go there. Signing off wishing every museum had people like Sreekumar to make our visits an enlightening one.
if one were to walk through the exhibits on one's own, one is most likely to feel let down, thinking that there is nothing but a huge number of pot shreds on display. But with the grace of Mr. Sreekumar, you will end up gaining a whole lot of expert knowledge. To start with, one can not miss the different colours of these shreds even on a casual look. There is the colour that resembles that of the pots that we see today- these could be native- one of these has an interesting embossing of a Lion devouring a deer, with intricate depiction of the hind legs and tail of the deer, as they are about to enter the lion's mouth; then there is the strange black shreds attributed northern India and Mauriyan period- these tend to have develop red blots; then the shining ochre red, with a metallic clang of the romans called roman roulete pottery- due to the designs on it, and the clanging sound attributed to the lack of pores and special way in which it is baked; and finally the browninsh amphorae used for storing wine, fish sauce, etc.
 |
| bull etching |
 |
| profile of a lady embossed |
These Shreds have been found in various places like Maligaimedu, near Cudallore, especially the roman ones and at Alagankulam in Ramanathapuram district. These potsherds also carry some intricately done graffitis like that of a bull, a hunter on horse(?) back wielding a 'Valari'(?), etc. these graffitis are very important pointers to social life in those times. some shreds also have some beautifully embossed figures.
 |
| hunter with a Valari? |
Talking of graffiiti and symbols, a Seal found in Boluvampati interestingly has the insignia of all the three great rulers of Chera, Chola , Pandya on it.
One thing that any untrained eye can not miss is the beauty of the chain of carnelian beads on display. carnelia is just a variety of Silica reddish brown in colour. Since this is not available in India, it is not clear where this stone was sourced from. These beads were found in megalithic urn found in Kodumanal, Erode. Iron swords of 1.5m length have also been found there along with the beads.
Talking of stones as beads, we then turn to stones as weapons. The madras hand axe- so called to distinguish it from Acheulean, France, though looks very common and ordinary, one cant escape the exhiliration, when you realise that an early man shaped this stone and had held this in his palms thousands of years ago. you can
also see hand axes slowly transforming in to smaller tools that helped early man's simpler and finer needs and then tools to help him dig probably a root out.
Stones not only acted as tools but they preserve history. welcome to another exciting rendevous with history in the form of leaf imprints on a gondwana shale. a marker for times when the Indian and Australian plates were together. So much geological history in such a small piece of Shale that was discovered near Sriperumbadur.
Apart from these local finds, one can also have a brush with the treasures of Indus valley civilisation in the teracotta figures donated by Shri Nagasamy, an iconic figure in the department. Though there is a lot more treasure to savour in this small space, i will leave it to your walk around this space with Mr. Sreekumar, when you go there. Signing off wishing every museum had people like Sreekumar to make our visits an enlightening one.
No comments:
Post a Comment