2,000-yr-old slab with Tamil Brahmi script gives glimpse of past

By the side of the Madurai-Kochi national highway at Kongapatti in Madurai district an inconspicuous stone slab, found recently, opened a portal to the past. The inscription on it engraved in Tamil Brahmi script, dating back 2,000 years, revealed that it was a memorial stone for a local hero.

The place where the stone was found, is on the ancient route linking the Chera and Pandya kingdoms. A choultry where travellers rested, had existed on this route till about two decades ago, said historians.

Mayil Meena, a villager had chanced upon the stone slab when the road widening work was taken up about two months ago. The strange inscription on it had piqued his interest and he had contacted the experts. Archaeological researcher K T Gandhirajan and his team had gone to the village to inspect the stone, which is 6.5ft in length, 3.5ft in width and 9cm thick.

There were inscriptions in three rows, and as it had become damaged, many attempts were made including by state archaeology department, ASI, Mysore and epigraphist V Vedachalam to estampage the block. Gandhirajan said that the top and bottom lines of the inscription had been damaged. "From what we could decipher, it said that the stone had been erected for a local hero called Ilank Kannan by Pathan Paraban, thathanthai," he said. The Tamil Brahmi is similar to 2,000-year-old inscriptions found in memorial stones in Kinnimangalam, Pulliman Kombai and Thathapatti in Usilampatti region, which are about 20km from Kongapatti, said Gandhirajan.

Curator of the Madurai government museum M Marudhupandian said the term "Ilank" is in Sangam period and pertains to the period between 3rd to 1st century BC. "The place where it was found was the ancient trade route of the Romans. It should be taken over by the archaeology department, but the people of the village want it to remain in its place," he said.

Unlike the Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions usually found in caves and near sites of religious significance, the present discovery of the script at a public place, hints at the fact that the common man of the time used the script and that it was not just the medium of communication for the elite.

"This particular stone was kept at a common place, to glorify the hero among the people who travelled through the region. This memory stone is a contemporary of the Keeladi civilization, and does not have any religious symbols or references," he said.