New Front Page Photo: Ancient Mother Goddess Figurine

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Regarding the newly discovered sculpture fragment currently shown on

this Group's front page

(), "The Hindu"

(Chennai) of May 22, 2005, reports:

 

MOTHER GODDESS FIGURINES FOUND IN TAMIL NADU: Three potsherds with

Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions unearthed in Tiruvannamalai district

Mother Goddess figurines found in Tamil Nadu

 

By T.S. Subramanian

 

CHENNAI: Terracotta figurines of the Mother Goddess have been found

at Andipatti in Tiruvannamalai district and Modur in Dharmapuri

district of Tamil Nadu during excavations conducted by the State

Archaeology Department.

 

Of the two figurines found at Modur, one has been partly unearthed

and is dated to the pre-Christian era.

 

The other, which is in two pieces, belongs to the 8th- 9th century

A.D.

 

Archaeologists estimate that the two figurines found at Andipatti

belong to 8th to 12th century A.D. They also found three potsherds

with Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions there.

 

One reads "kan narpo" and department epigraphists date it between

4th and 5th century A.D. The other two Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions,

written on pot lids, read: "... aa th tha... " and "...ku ma... "

They may belong to an earlier period.

 

T.S. Sridhar, Special Commissioner, said the 12 trenches dug at

Andipatti in Chengam taluq of Tiruvannamalai district yielded a

cornucopia of artefacts.

 

They included a figurine of Goddess Durga, a bull, coarse red ware,

black and red ware, a few pieces of Roman pottery, terracotta beads,

spindle whorls, iron knife and nails, copper objects, an incomplete

well, bangles made of conch shell with beautiful designs, human

torso made of terracotta and so on.

 

"On the basis of the unearthed antiquities, it can be deduced that

Andipatti was inhabited by humans from the 1st century B.C. to 12th

century A.D. Andipatti was a megalithic site. The discovery of

spindle whorls and iron objects shows the industrial activity in the

area," he said.

 

The Mother Goddess cult is one of the earliest cults in India. It

was prevalent during the Harappan period (circa 3,500 B.C.). It was

a fertility cult. Mother Goddess figurines have been found in

several places in Tamil Nadu such as Adichanallur near Tirunelveli,

Melaperumballam near Poompuhar and Poluvaampatti near Coimbatore.

All of them are made of terracotta. If the figurine is depicted in

the nude, it "definitely signifies a fertility cult," said an

archaeologist.

 

Fifteen trenches were dug at Modur in Palacode taluq of Dharmapuri

district. They yielded spectacular objects such as celts, polishing

and grinding stones, hammers made of stones and cylindrical pestles

belonging to the Neolithic period. The megalithic objects found were

black and red ware, grey ware and red slipped ware. Artefacts such

as terracotta figurines, decorative potsherds, spindle whorls, shell

bangles, well-crafted smoking pipes and graffiti potsherds belonged

to the historical period after 1st century A.D.

 

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

 

The objects found at Modur established that human settlements

existed in the site since the neolithic period and the megalithic

period to the 14th century A.D., Mr. Sridhar said. For a stone

inscription (vattezhuthu) in Tamil of the 7th/8th century A.D., a

Chola stone inscription of the 10th century A.D. and an inscription

in Tamil of the 14th century A.D. had earlier been found at Modur.

 

The excavations at Andipatti were conducted by R. Selvaraj, M.

Kalaivanan and S. Vasanthi and at Modur by S. Selvaraj, T.

Subramanian and V. Ramamurthy. Neolithic culture in Tamil Nadu is

datable to 2,800 B.C. to 500 B.C., and megalithic culture from 500

B.C. to 100 C.E. -common era.

 

URL: http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/22/stories/2005052200121100.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

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