‘4th century BCE-Pandya era’ engraving discovered in an ancient temple in Tamilnadu.

An engraving aging back to the late Pandya era has been found by a group of investigators on the shrine Sanctorum of the Varadaraja Perumal temple at Ayyur Agaram in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu. The description, which was partially concealed was located by D. Ramesh and D. Ranganathan, Assistant Professors, Department of History, Government Arts College, Villupuram, and researcher M. Prakash during a recent area analysis.

The engraving inscribed on the posterior wall of the reliquary Sanctorum belongs to the late epoch of Maravarman Vikrama Pandyan II, defined Mr. Ramesh.“The inscription seems to be a deal signed between the administrator Kalingarayan and the temple powers. The document cites Avviyur Agaram which is now referred to as Ayyur Agaram as a Brahmin village located on the banks of the Pambai River,” Mr. Ramesh said.

“The village located on both sides of the Pampai River was presented to Brahmins by the administrator as the detail of a contract. The inscription also denotes on different crops grown during the time such as areca nut, coconut, turmeric, sugarcane, and banana,” he said. Mr. Ramesh added that the inscription also supplied a list of taxes that were collected during the era. It was a considerable discovery since it reveals the administration during the Pandya period and the borders which were separated into ‘Mandalams’ and ‘Valanadus’, he said.