Annual Reports

GENERAL
PART II

Ancient remains near Tenkasi.
  A number of places visited during the year have yielded archaeological and sculptural remains of great interest. The Valiyampottai hill near Tenkasi in the Tirunelveli district where old burialurns and other objects were discovered last year. was examined by me in some detail during the field season. The whole area is studded with a number of what look like burial-places exposing in some sports buried in the gravelly soil, pots and urns, some broken and others entire. On this occasion one big urn about 3’ high and 6 ¾ ‘ in circumference at its biggest bulge, and dull red in colour was dug up and was found to be filled completely with loose earth in which were imbedded a few fragments of bone. Small bowls with ovoid bottoms and coloured black with pigment either partially or in full, were also discovered in the vicinity, besides a medium-sized thick pot of a red variety with a lip-like rim and an ornamental band of three lines (App. D, Nos. 1472-74).

Antiquities at Vāyalpāḍ and Viṭhalam.
  2. In the compound of the Travellers’ Bungalow and in a field to the west of the hillock known as Pilliguṭṭa at Vāyalpāḍ in the Chittoor district were found some well-preserved prehistoric stone circles with oblong burial chambers in the centre formed of slabs (App. D. Nos. 1513, 1517-18). To the south of the village flows the stream Bāhudā near which is an old village-site known as ‘Būdichēnu’ ‘ the field of ashes ’ with a dilapidated temple. Three miles from Vāyalpāḍ is the village called Viṭhalam which abounds in cairns scattered in a field, some of which are formed of big boulders and others of smaller ones. A barrow is also found with a row of boulders. In the vicinity of the place is a shrine of a later date, on the front gōpura of which is cut in relief, a sculpture of a triple-headed cow with one of the heads looking down and regarding a liṅga which is being bathed with milk from its udder (App. D, No. 1519).

Cairns in the Punganur Taluk.
  3. Prehistoric remains are also found in abundance in several villages of the Punganur taluk in the same district. Two types of cairns are met with, in one of which the stone chamber encircled by the boulders is flush with the level of the ground, while in the other it is above ground. On the top of the rock about 1 ½ miles to the west of Tsadum are some cairns which are worth notice. The circle of the huge boulders in each case is nearly 20 feet in diameter and within the circle is a rectangular trough-like structure of about 6’ X 8’ formed of thick and large slabs. This chamber is covered over with a very large square slab, about 1 foot in thickness, covering almost the full area of the circle formed by the boulders. These chambers seem to have been disturbed by people out of curiosity and some rusted coins are reported to have been disturbed by people out of curiosity and some There are similar remains at Būragamanda, Tāṭiguṇṭapāḷem, Chirichintavāripāḷem, Nellimanda and Śeṭṭipēṭa. In the last village the cists are situated at the foot of the hill and are built flush with the ground level. On one side of the covering slab of these cists there is a hole revealing a dark chamber underneath. Local tradition attributes these structures to the Pāṇḍavas, which are therefore generally known as Pāṇḍavula-guḷḷu, i.e., the temples of the Pāṇḍavas.

Stone cists at Reṇṭāla in the Guntur district.
4. In the Guntur district also, in the vicinity of the Stambhālabōḍu Buddhist mound at Reṇṭāla mentioned in Part I already, there appear to be some round stone cists. At a few places, though sparingly, are seen fragments of old bricks strewn here and there (App. D, Nos. 1499-1502).

Rock-cut temples at Kunnakkuḍi, Ramnad district.
5. Therock-cut cave temples at Kunnakkuḍi in the Tiruppattur Taluk of the Ramnad district have already been visited by the Department in the years 1909 and 1910, and described in some detail in the Epigraphical Reports for those years. These were visited last year by my Second Assistant in connection with the reading in situ of some Pāṇḍya inscriptions under publication. I inspected the place again this year in order to make a detailed examination of the sculptures and inscriptions in the three cave temples and took photographs of some of the interesting sculptures in two of these. A few inscribed pillars and walls are still blocked from view by later additions made to them about a