Chola stone inscription found near Thanjavur

While Mohan, a resident from Arunmozhi Thevanpettai near Thanjavur, was digging the backyard of his house, he found pieces of stone inscriptions and informed archeologists and Tamil scholar Mani Maran.

After inspecting the stone inscriptions, Mani Maran said Arunmozhi Thevanpettai village was named after King Raja Raja Cholan and there were two canals with water sourced from Samudran lake. The stone inscription said that through agriculture official Vanavil Moovendan, who was in a high post, Raja Raja Cholan donated the land to the people for cultivation and was very particular in ensuring irrigation, Mani Maran said.

He added that the same inscription was found at Thirupurambiam and Karanthai inscriptions where the name of the same official, Vanavan, was found. The information found at Arunmozhi Thevanpettai was similar to that of those inscriptions, he said.

This apart, the inscriptions listed the names of the communities like Neikaran, Alavukaran and Sipoy families residing at Arunmozhi Thevanpettai village who were mainly involved in agricultural activities.

Mani Maran also found a partially damaged idol of Alingana Chandrasekar, which aged back to the Chola dynasty period.