TIRUPPUR: Long before S Ravikumar and his team unearthed more than 50 hero stones, 70 memorial stones and tall menhirs from different parts of Tamil Nadu, he was a teen bogged down by his parents’ expectations. Despite having raised with the beads of culture and love for the arts in Tiruppur, a city known for its weaving industry, the fear of financial security loomed large.
“My father Sundaram was a Tamil teacher and elder sister Tamilvani was an English lecturer. Since we had large tracts of land in the city, they directed me towards real estate business to secure my future. So, I became a civil engineer by profession,” he says. Akin to the civilisation of Pompeii, Ravikumar’s interest in history was buried under the ashes of time. Not long enough. A meeting with an eminent historian N Subramanian in 2005 re-kindled his love for world history. Jilted by the remnants of the past, Ravikumar found his true calling during an excavation trip to Kodumanal in 2009, where he met renowned archaeologist K Rajan.
“His speech and works opened a new path. I started reading archaeological books and visited places of historical significance in the State. Another archaeological expert Y Subbarayalu helped me to study, find hero stones and do epigraphy among other things,” he recollects. Ravikumar took baby steps in 2013 by bringing together 13 members to form the ‘Virarajendran Archaeological Research Centre’ after a lot of travelling in Coimbatore, Erode and Tiruppur. “Our first discovery was a copper plate in 2014, which was with a merchant at Tiruppur city’s Anupparpalayam. Deciphering the inscriptions, we deduced it was created to levy tax on utensils and belonged to the 15th century CE,” says Ravikumar.
When asked about the methodology to find such artefacts at any place, Ravikumar said travelling was its foundation and the only source. “I talk to the common folks, especially cattle rearers. They can observe a lot of things — stones, farms, waterbodies — on their way and explain the geography easily,” he adds.
Sharing one such incident that enabled them to find the second only hero stone with inscription in TN, Ravikumar said, “A priest guided us to a hero stone in a village temple at Semmamalaikoundanpalayam. The stone was unique as the entire carving was that of a warrior fighting a tiger. We realised it belonged to the 9th century CE owing to the carving and inscription.”
According to him, an analytical and logical mind with a keen sense of observation and accuracy are qualities any archaeologist should possess. It was due to knowing the trick of the trade that helped him and his team discover a terracotta seal of the Cheran dynasty which belonged to the Sangam era. He said, “We were walking at Kongal Nagar in Udumalpet, which is known for its trade route and archaeological significance. We found 14 pebbles on the ground and cleaned them using water. As luck would have it, one stone had a small symbol of a bow and arrow on it. We realised it was the emblem of some or the other dynasty. It was the happiest moment of my life.”
As history suggests, even the mightiest of empires have been soaked in sorrow, occasionally. One similar incident happened in Ravikumar’s life when some students, by mistake, damaged large urns that contained the mortal remains from the Sangam era. “‘I got a call from the headmaster of KSC Government School regarding finding of some pots during the levelling of the school playground. I sent some images to my mentors, believing it was from the Sangam era. They confirmed my findings but our happiness was short-lived,” he said.
The incident stirred up a realisation in Sivakumar about the need to spread awareness on archaeology among youth by using his skills. Having collected over 100 different artefacts, he is now making a clarion call to any person afraid to take the plunge into the past. “The entire adventure is out there,” he says.