COIMBATORE: 'Akka-Thangachi kal' - two rocks that lie facing each other on the second hairpin bend at Ooty-Kalhatti Ghat road - has been a subject of debate between locals and researchers.
Residents of Kalhatti and Ullatty villages believe that the rocks have divine powers, but researchers say they are myths. The story of these two rocks, as narrated by a sub-inspector of police posted at the Kalhatti checkpost, is that of two women who lived in Kalhatti centuries ago.
"It is believed both the women looked beautiful, so much that when a Mysuru king visited the village, he wished to be with both of them. But since neither of the women was interested, they decided to end their lives by becoming two rocks hundreds of years ago," said the sub-inspector.
J Kalan (57), head of the Irular community in Vazhaithottam hamlet shared another story. "Earlier, the rocks were close to each other, and it was tough for people to pass through. A contractor decided to bulldoze the rocks to make way for vehicles to run between. But, when doing so, one of the sliced rocks started bleeding and milk oozed from the other. Since then, it is believed these rocks are divine. Villagers of Kalhatti gather in large numbers and sacrifice a goat in the name of the 'Akka-Thangachi kal' and feed the locals annually."
Nilgiris Documentation Centre Director Venugopal Dharmalingam dismissed this as a myth and said, "Each villager narrates a story for the rocks. These are myths and there is no record of any king having visited the village, Also, there is no history of such siblings. The stories are connected to the Toda tribes. A century ago 800 Todas were living in around these areas. Similar stories are told by Badugas as well. Villagers are worshipping rocks as divine since it is a tradition to worship rocks, trees and hills (nature). In fact, these rocks could be 75 million years old since the Nilgiris has one of the oldest rock formations."
Vaasamalli (65), a Toda woman from Karshmund said she did not hear such stories of the ‘Akka Thangachi kal’ ever and that the tribe is in no way connected to these rocks. According to her, nearly 1,900 Todas live in Ooty, Kotagiri, Coonoor and Kundha Taluks.
"Todas started selling ghee to Karamadai in Coimbatore and Gundalpet in Mysuru. Since we do not have sufficient evidence in our research, we suspect these myths may have spread as hearsay while the people travelled to these areas. Similar rocks (Toda rock) are found in Kotagiri. This is their belief and we can't reject it," he added.
Nilgiris-based cultural anthropologist Reverend PK Mulley said these could be megalithic memorial stones dating to 2,000 years. Even in plains, such rocks are located, like in Bhavani Sagar in Erode district. There are such rocks outside India as well, like the 'Whispering Knights' rocks in England, he said.