ஆற்றுப்படை நடத்திய பாறை ஓவியங்கள் பயணம்- கேள்வி & பதில் கலந்துரையாடல்�

திரு. பாலா பாரதி

வழிகாட்டி

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• This question is related to the megalithic burial site we visited at Aaluriti Malai. Archaeological findings from sites such as Kodumanal and Porunthal strongly suggest that megalithic burial practices continued into the Sangam period.
• At Kodumanal, excavated by K. Rajan, researchers uncovered a large industrial settlement featuring dolmens, cist burials, iron smelting activity, Roman coins, and inscribed pottery, indicating a complex and literate society active between 600 BCE and 200 CE.
• Similarly, at Porunthal, a cist burial containing Tamil-Brahmi inscribed pottery was radiocarbon dated to approximately 490 BCE ± 100, providing direct evidence that people practicing megalithic burials were also engaged in early Tamil writing.
• These findings confirm that megalithic burial customs coexisted with the socio-cultural milieu of the Sangam age.
• However, Sangam literature—produced by poets patronized by royal courts and chieftains—largely ignores megalithic burial traditions.
• This silence may reflect a class-based cultural divergence, where elite communities favored cremation and memorialization through hero stones (nadukal), while non-elite or clan-based groups continued older burial practices involving dolmens and urns.
• Because the Sangam corpus reflects the values and perspectives of the upper strata of society (my view), it likely excluded or overlooked funerary customs that fell outside elite norms.
• Thus, the archaeological record preserves cultural continuities that the literary record marginalizes or omits.Would like your comments about the above view I am forming in my head. Thanks for your thoughts.

Q1

The following Rock art was found in upper Karnataka where the figures (both male and female) are well represented. Do we have any similar figures in TN Rock Art? Would this be later than the ones we saw during our trip, which appear to be quire primitive. Thanks for your thoughts.

Q2

• Why the rock art sites are invariably inaccessible?It appears art is not for commoner consumption but to specific groups? Why? Was there a patronage system between the creator and the financier? What do they express? Is the meaning a community knowledge or private expression.How commemorative art and societies coexist? Is that a social record or a private ingenuity?
• In simple terms what is the objective of rock art?

Q3

We saw rocks placed in circle around each burial site at Aaluriti Malai. Based on visual inspection, the porous, dark brown to black rock exhibits several features consistent with iron slag, a by-product of ancient iron smelting. Its vesicular texture suggests the escape of gas bubbles during the smelting process, while the irregular, lumpy shape is characteristic of molten slag that has cooled and solidified in open air. The dark coloration aligns with oxidized iron content, and its presence within an archaeological context—particularly at a site with known evidence of iron working, such as Kodumanal or Porunthal—further supports this identification. It is unlikely to be a natural volcanic rock like scoria or basalt, as such rocks are rare in the Pudukottai region, which is primarily composed of granulitic and iron-rich terrain. It is also probably not laterite, which, while common in Tamil Nadu, tends to be more reddish in color and less porous or vesicular than the specimen observed. Your comments please?

Q4

• ஒரு இடத்தில குச்சி மனித உருவும் மற்றொரு இடத்தில வளைவு நெளிவு கொண்ட அமைப்பும் காலவேறுபாடா இட வேறுபாடா?
• How to account for spatio-temporal and regional variation? from primitative art to abstract art; is there an evolutinary process or paradigm shifts? who decides?
• Depicting everyday life serves what purpose? again how much of realistic portrayal is required?what determined the limits? the skills of the artist or the needs of the patronage?

Q5

• மதகபடி, சிறுமலை, ஆலம்பட்டி(சின்னாறு) பாறை ஓவியங்கள் இன்னும் தெளிவாக வாழ்க்கையின் கொண்டாட்டங்களை குறிக்கிறது. இந்த மாதிரியான ஓவியங்கள் பரிமாண வளர்ச்சியை காட்டுகிறதா?

Q6

• கல்திட்டைகள், கல் வட்டங்கள், குத்துக்கல், முதுமக்கள் தாழி, முதலான ஈமச்சடங்கு முறைகள் ஊரில் முக்கியமான ஒருவர்க்கு மட்டுமே செய்யப்பட்டு இருக்குமா ? ஏனெனில், நாம் பார்க்கும் ஈமக்காடுகளில் சில எண்ணிக்கையே கல்திட்டைகள்/குத்துக்கல் உள்ளன. ஊர் மக்கள் இவ்வளவு குறைந்த அளவில் இருந்திருக்க முடியாது.

Q7

The presence of blue-green glassy stones or chalcedony-like fragments in a neighborhood can indicate potential archaeological significance. Such materials were found at sites across South India—particularly at places like Kodumanal, Keeladi, Arikamedu, and Adichanallur—where early communities engaged in bead-making, glass-working, and semi-precious stone processing. These stones appear to resemble broken beads, glass frit, or slag associated with industrial activity from the megalithic or early historic periods. Their unusual color and texture, not typically found in natural surface geology, suggest human craftsmanship rather than natural origin. If these stones are found scattered on the ground, especially alongside pottery fragments or iron slag, they could point to the presence of a buried industrial or burial site. Something to pursue further.

Q8

இந்த ஓவியத்தில் கூட நான் மேலே இருப்பதை தலையாக தான் பார்க்கிறேன் . இந்த ஓவியம் மனிதனை ஒத்த உருவமாக தோன்றுகிறது.

Q9

Q10

Unless carbon dated, the deducing on the period of art is based on comparisons, styles etc. Is the understanding right? Either way what parameters that are used for these deductions

Q11

Upon examining a painting, one can propose a hypothesis on past related to that image. What are the guardrails or framework on these hypothesis. And how are these hypothesis validated

Q12

• A burning question that popped up as I was summarizing our visit to Aalurtipattai site. The Jain cave site probably belongs to the beginning of Common Era. The Theerthankarar statues suggest 8th/9th century occupancy by Jain monks (inferred from the style; there are other similar presentations have Vattezuthu inscription, and thus datable). The adjacent large Megalithic Burial site is pre-Sangam period, probably belongs to 2nd Millennium BCE, at the minimum. The Jain monks usually settled in caves adjacent to villages or small settlement — that is how they got themselves fed by “donation” or “begging”. Thus there is certainly a “town” of antiquity nearby. Has there been any excavations? I wonder if anyone has surveyed the area nearby to see any ancient pottery sherds came up? Interviewed local farmers? Hope we can initiate something to open up a bit of the regional Tamilakam pre-history.

Q13

Bhimbedkta caves

These animals are horses? Horses are not native to India. Does that mean these drawings are post Vedic period?

Are there similar rock shelters in Tamil Nadu?

Q14

Kurnool Rock Arts

https://www.youtube.com/live/3cizpIAU9e4

Rock arts found in Kurnool and its semantic memory - A cognitive insight by Prof. Jinu Koshy

• What is the enhancement technique used ?
• Austro-Asiatic migration is about 2000 BCE whereas these pictures are very old.. What could be the connections?

Q15

கலந்துரையாடல்

Sirumalai

இவர் இடுப்பில் காட்டப்பட்டுள்ள கோடு என்னவென்று தெரிகிறதா?

மயிலாடும்பாறை

2172 BC - Carbon Dating

தாண்டிகுடி

கொடுமணல்

Porundhal excavation

Paddy grains collected from four legged jar

Mallachandiram

Rock painting at Mallachandiram dolmen

• கீழவளவு கல்வெட்டை முதன்முதலில் ஸஎப்படி வாசித்தார்கள் என்று தனது அனுபவத்தை பகிர்ந்து கொள்கிறார் பேராசிரியர் பாண்டியராஜா
• https://youtu.be/3VIZOMQoncY?si=_xqyL0ov-q7_jmCw

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Excavated burial cists in Poothangara in Pathanamthitta

Kudaikallu , Thrissur, kerala