RAMANATHAPURAM: Historians from Ramanathapuram found a Sethupathi era copper plate inscription, believed to be 280-years-old, from a house at Sayalkudi near Kadaladi on Wednesday. After receiving information, Ramanathapuram Archaeological Research Foundation president V Rajaguru examined it.
Rajaguru said the plate weighed around 600 grams, measured 17.5 cm in length and 30.5 cm in width, and had 52 lines written in Tamil and two lines in Sanskrit in Grantha script.
He added that the inscription mentioned the Saka Era, 1667, Kali Yuga, 4846, the Tamil year Krodhana, and Vaikasi, 29. This is the Gregorian year AD 1745 (Sethupathi king era).
Further speaking about the details mentioned in the inscription, Rajaguru said that during the reign of Sivakumara Sethupathi, they established an agraharam at Vijaya Regunatha Pettai (market) in Kadaladi in the name of King Sethupathi in Kadaladi, and that the Sayalgudi Zamindar was the Palayakkarar of the Sethupathis. The land donated to the Brahmin may have been given to those who bought the copper plate as a land document when the village was sold to others.