British-era milestone with Tamil numeral discovered in Virudhunagar

MADURAI: Much to the delight of the local residents, Ramanathapuram Archaeological Research Foundation has discovered an ancient milestone in Virudhunagar. The new discovery sheds light on the history of Virudhunagar, which’s once known as ‘Virudhupatti’ and emerged as a centre of trade for southern regions.

V Rajaguru, president of the foundation, said he along with ‘Noorsakipuram’ S Sivakumar, found the milestone with a Tamil number inscribed on the old road to Aruppukkottai in Senthivinayakapuram, Virudhunagar.

It’s a British era milestone dated to about 150 years ago and revered above all and worshipped as ‘Muthu Muniyasamy’ a divine being in Virudhunagar, he said on Thursday.

In the early days of British rule, the names of the towns were engraved on the milestones in English and Tamil and the distance in Roman, Tamil and Arabic numerals.

The ancient milestone has ‘VIRUDUPATI’ written in English and Virudhupatti in Tamil as well. The distance from where this site to Virudhunagar railway station was marked as ‘1’ mile in Arabic number and ‘ka’ in Tamil number on the milestone.

The writing on the stone appears to be obscuring as it was painted black. The stone was intact because it was being worshipped.

The word ‘Virudhu’ has different meanings like title, banner, badge of victory and pedigree. ‘Mullai’ land villages were called ‘Patti’. Virudhupatti was predominantly known as a large commercial market as it became the most sought after one from Kasi to Kanniyakumari highway since the Megalithic Age.

During 1915, Virudhunagar was first established as a municipality next to Srivilliputhur in the then Ramanathapuram district. Before 1923, it was called Virudhupatti. A railway station came up at Virudhupatti in 1876 when the railway line was laid from Madurai to Thoothukudi. This made the town an important trading centre and helped to export the products produced in the region to foreign countries through Thoothukudi port. Even now, the station has an abbreviated code as ‘VPT,’ which indicates ‘Virudhupatti’.

Further, Rajaguru said manufactured products from Aruppukottai were brought to Virudhupatti railway station by carts and exported from there. This milestone could have been placed when a gravel road was laid from Aruppukottai for speedy transportation of goods. Unlike the current milestone, the names of the towns were written on one side only and installed facing the road.

Although the Ramanathapuram district gazetteer said that the town was earlier called as ‘Virdugalvetti’, it is only called Virudhupatti in the records of the British. When it was in Tirunelveli district, the town was mentioned as Virudhupatti in a book published in 1869. Based on the inscription on the milestone it could be assumed that it was installed before 1875 AD, the president said.