Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s14.t5: 1.13.5 Alagankulam
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s14.t5
- Language
- English
1.13.5 Alagankulam
c20.s14.t5.1
Alagankulam is now a small village near Ramesvaram on the east coast, situated on the north bank of the river Vaigai. In ancient times, the river must have joined the sea at this point, but at present, the sea has receded and the river no longer empties into it. However, judging from the quantity of articles made from chank and semi-precious stone beads found here, there is no doubt that Alagankulam was once a thriving sea and river port connecting Madurai, the capital of the Pāṇṭiya kingdom, with the sea. A remarkable graffito on pottery found at the site depicts realistically a 'large Roman ship'¹ calling at the port. It proves conclusively that Alagankulam took part in the trade with Rome in Classical times.
c20.s14.t5.2
¹ Lionel Casson 1997. See also Fig. 4.3 and section 4.20.4 (v) in this vol.
c20.s14.t5.3
The importance of the site was recognised from surface finds of rouletted ware, semi-precious stone beads, etc. Regular excavations by the TNSA commenced in 1986 led by Nagaswamy and later by Natana Kasinathan. Only preliminary reports on the excavations and the inscribed sherds have been published so far.²
c20.s14.t5.4
² R. Nagaswamy 1991c: pp. 247-254, Pl. 25.1 & 2; 1995: pp. 70-81. A. Abdul Majeed *et al.* 1992.
c20.s14.t5.5
A total of 25 pottery inscriptions³ were found from the site in five seasons of work during 1986-96. A few of the inscriptions were surface finds and the rest came from excavations. Most of the inscriptions are in Tamil written in the Tamil-Brāhmī script. Among the noteworthy finds are those mentioning *patumāṟ-kōtai* (Patumaṉ Kōtai),⁴ apparently a Cēra prince judging from his name, and the personal names *kuviraṉ*⁵ (< *kubēra*) and *cātavēta*⁶ (< *jātavedas*). One of the three Sinhala-Prakrit inscriptions⁷ found at the site (virtually overlooking Sri Lanka on the other side of the narrow straits) is influenced by Tamil orthography (*cā mu ta ha* for Sinh. Pkt. *śamudaha* 'of Samuda' (< *samudra*); another Sinhala-Prakrit inscription, a surface find, reads *saga*⁸ apparently referring to the Buddhist *saṃgha*.
c20.s14.t5.6
³ 15 inscribed sherds from Alagankulam have been published in Natana Kasinathan 1997: pp. 69-72, Pls. II-VII. He has dealt with 9 more inscriptions in a later paper (unpublished). Subsequently, one more pottery inscription was picked up from the surface at the site.
c20.s14.t5.7
⁴ See No. 5, Table 1.5 and Fig. 1.20B. See also section 4.5.5.
c20.s14.t5.8
⁵ Natana Kasinathan 1997: No. 14. See also section 4.19.2 (iii) in this vol.
c20.s14.t5.9
⁶ Ibid. No. 13 (with a different reading). See also section 4.19.3 (iv) in this vol.
c20.s14.t5.10
⁷ A. Abdul Majeed *et al.* 1992: p. 13, No. 3.
c20.s14.t5.11
⁸ Unpublished. I have seen the sherd in the collections of TNSA, Chennai. The occurrence of the rare *sa* in lieu of the more frequent *śa* is noteworthy.
c20.s14.t5.12
As Northern Black Polished (NBP) ware and a punch-marked coin were found at the lowest levels, and Roman coins of late 4th /early 5th centuries A.D. at the upper levels, the site must have flourished between ca. 3rd century B.C. and 5th century A.D.⁹ However, the pottery inscriptions found at the site fall within a narrower range between ca. 2nd century B.C. and 1st century A.D. judging from palaeographic evidence.¹⁰
c20.s14.t5.13
⁹ These are the dates proposed in R. Nagaswamy 1991c: p. 274, Fig. 1.
c20.s14.t5.14
¹⁰ This is based on my study of the originals in the collections of TNSA, Chennai.