Researchers decode century-old cave inscription in Courtallam hills

Tenkasi: Archaeology enthusiasts have deciphered the mysterious "Sanyasi Pudavu" cave inscription in the Courtallam Hills, solving a mystery that had remained unsolved for more than a century.The inscription is located inside a massive double-storey cave deep in a forested area frequented by elephants. The site can be reached only after a 5.5-km trek through the hills above the Courtallanathar Temple and past the Main, Shenbagadevi and Thenaruvi waterfalls. The cave wall contains 15 characters arranged in three lines. Though references to the cave appeared in British government records in 1917, the script's meaning and origin had remained unclear. Earlier, archaeologists had speculated that the markings could belong to a pre-Brahmi script or an early form of the Indus script. Even Japanese scholar Shu Hikosaka was unable to fully interpret it during his research. After two-and-a-half years of field research, archaeology researcher Balakrishnan from Trichy and Mathur Pavendhan claimed to have decoded the inscription. "Fourteen of the 15 characters contain the basic forms of Prakrit Brahmi. However, the scribes used an unconventional system instead of standard diacritic marks," Balakrishnan told TOI. "By applying logical methods along with mathematical permutations and combinations, we were able to decode the script. We used orthography instead of traditional epigraphy, which had failed to identify the characters earlier," he said. According to the researchers, the inscription contains Tamil words written in a modified Brahmi script. The text reads: "Um Neri Gnana Vaapi Elore Gajam Ka Eeru." It translates to: "Your path is a reservoir filled with wisdom; the essence found in the water bodies of all seven villages is one and the same." Balakrishnan said the script appears to represent a distinct local variation rather than a standard ancient script. MSID:: 131157319 413 |