Annual Reports

TOURS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE ESTABLISHMENT DURING THE YEAR 1936-37.

   present ground level. A note on the antiquities of Korkai has been sent by me for publication in the Archӕological Survey Report for 1936-37.

  I inspected also four rock-cut at Kunnakkuḍi and Piḷḷaiyārpaṭṭi in the Ramnad district accompanied by the Second Assistant and secured photographs of important sculptured panels there.

   4. From the 1st to the 13th March 1937 again I toured in the Bombay-Karnatak and in the Bellary and Kistna districts. Six inscriptions were copied in the Bijapur Museum and some interesting prehistoric sites at Maskanhāḷ, Sitimani, etc., in the Bijapur district were examined in detail.

  5. The Senior Assistant was on tour in the West Coast for a week from the 15th December 1936 and visited five villages and copied six inscriptions. He took up in epigraphical survey of the Tirukkoyilur taluk from the 21st January 1937, and after inspecting 109 villages returned to headquarters on the 1st March 1937 with a collection of 74 inscriptions.

   A feature common to most of the villages visited by him in this taluk is the existence of shrines of modern construction dedicated to Draupatī who ranks as a village deity with Māriyamman, Gaṅgamman, etc. In front of some of the Māriyaamman shrines have been found in previous years a few commemorative slabs containing inscriptions of the 10th and 11th centuries A.D. recording a ‘ vow ’ (perhaps of self-immolation) of ladies, and an inscription copied this year specifically mentions such a vow performed by a lady in front of the Durgā temple. The nature and significance of these ‘ vows’ and their connection with the Durgā or Māriyamman temple in particular are not clear. In some villages early images of Durgā, Jyēshṭhā, vishṇu etc., were found either lying among the ruins of old temples or in stray places. Information was furnished about them to the Superintendent of the Madras Museum for their removal to Madras, wherever possible. In the village of Dēviyagaram and Elandurai, images of Pāśvanātha were found lying in the open. These are locally known as Appāṇḍār. At Śōlavāṇḍipuram and Kīranūr are groups of huge boulders on knolls called Pañchaṇāmpārai (corruption of Pañchapāṇḍavarpārai ) with pillows and beds cut in their recesses, and on the rocky sides of the boulders in the former village are cut in relief Jaina figures of Gummaṭa and Pārśvanātha. These recesses should have been used as places of retreat by Jaina monks of early days.

   6. The Second Assistant was on tour from 17th October to 6th November 1936. He accompanied me to some villages in the Tirunelveli and Ramnad districts. and then visited a few places in the Madura and Trichinopoly districts. He secured copied of 10 inscriptions from these places. The epigraphical survey of the temple at Śrīraṅgam was then taken up by him from 19th January 1937 jointly with the Tamil Assistant and was continued till the end of February, when they returned to Madras with a collection of 159 inscriptions. At the suggestion of Professor J. Dubreuil of Pondicherry who kindly brought to my notice the existence of inscriptions at some places in the French territory, the Tamil Assistant was deputed to Pondicherry and a few adjacent villages in the South Arcot district. He visited 5 villages and secured 33 inscriptions. One of these found at Villiyanūr is important as definitely establishing the existence of two chiefs of the name Peruñjiṅga.

   7. The Reader was on tour from 8th September to 31st October 1936 during which period he finished the epigraphical survey of the Repalle taluk of the Guntur district, and also visited 44 villages in the Gudivada taluk of the Kistna district. He again started on 9th December 1936 for Punganur and after completing the survey of the remaining 30 villages of the taluk left over in previous years returned to Madras on 2nd January 1937. His total collection for the year is 55 inscriptions. In some of the villages in the Punganur taluk like Tsadum, Būrugamaṇḍa, Seṭṭipēṭa etc., he reports a number of early or pre-historic cairns formed of boulders arranged in circle with a chamber built of slabs in the centre. In some cairns there are seen two concentric circles of boulders encircling the central chamber. At Muttukūru in the same taluk are four huge slabs measuring about 6’ by 9’ bearing interesting early sculptures in bold relief representing fighting scenes. These might probably have reference to the skirmishes that frequently prevailed in this region in the 9th and 10th centuries A.D.

   8. The Telugu Assistant was on tour in the Bombay-Karnatak from the 5th September 1936 to 11th January 1937, with a break of 24 days in the middle when he went on leave on account of illness. He finished the epigraphical survey of the Sindagi taluk of the Bijapur district and secured copied of 90 inscriptions. Among