Ancient stone inscriptions unearthed

A team of school teachers has succeeded in unearthing stone inscriptions of a lost Shiva temple which dates back to the 13th century. The inscriptions that narrate about the Pandya king Maravarman Sundarapandiyan II were taken out from a waterbody at Ramanathapuram district in Madurai. It also mentions about a temple that existed at the place. School teachers K Muniasamy and S Selvakumar came to know that villagers had found stone pillars with inscriptions while constructing sluices and regulators along the village tank following the 1985 flood, but had discarded them in the waterbody. The inquisitive teachers undertook a search and found the pillars which had ancient Tamil inscriptions. They sought help from V Rajaguru of Ramanathapuram Archaeological Research Foundation. The team found 11 stone pillars with inscriptions that might have been in the basement of the temple. Rajguru said that the discovery reveals a lot of information about the temple and the region.  He stated that the style appears to be that of the 13th century. The stone inscriptions narrate the glory of Pandya King Maravarman Sundarapandiyan II who ruled Madurai between AD1238 and AD1258. They also describe some places, taxes as well as the agricultural seasons and scales used in that period. Rajguru said that the stone inscriptions are treasure troves and there could be a lot of archaeological evidence buried underneath the Peraiyur region.