VILLUPURAM: An ancient rock pillar, believed to be from the Nayakar reign, in Kalyanampoondi village near Gingee was allegedly stolen on Sunday midnight
The pillars are about 33 feet high and lay at the foothill of Paruthipattu in Muttathur village near Kalyanampoondi. Sources from an archaeology activist organisation in Villupuram said the pillars belonged to the Nayakar period (15th-16th CE AD) who ruled Gingee.
According to M Krishnan, the panchayat president of the village, “About nine pillars used to be in our village and we believe it is from the Nayakar period. On Sunday night, a group of unidentified men took the pillar on a truck and fled the spot. We have filed a police complaint.”
Krishnan and other panchayat board members filed a complaint with Kanjanur police with the vehicle’s number. The police said the vehicle will be traced and the culprits will be nabbed soon. Reacting to the issue, writer and archaeology activist K Senguttuvansaid, “The pillars have a high commercial rate in the illegal monument trading network.
Before it is gone too far, the police must take cognisance of the theft considering the value of the material.” He further stated that the incident becomes an example of why the district needs a museum to save such rare valuable artefacts.