CHENNAI: A boundary stone inscription dating back to 1834 and linked to the British East India Company administration has been found near Perunali in Ramanathapuram, documenting the settlement of a boundary dispute between villages under the Ramanathapuram and Ettayapuram estates.
The inscription is carved on a 12-foot granite pillar located near five oorunis at Valasubramaniapuram in Thuthinatham village in Kamuthi taluk.
The site was identified after local teacher Vijayaramu informed researchers about the presence of an inscription on the stone pillar situated around 3 km northwest of the village. V Rajaguru, a government school teacher and president of the Ramanathapuram Archaeological Research Foundation, along with researchers Soundararajan and Chellam, visited the spot, prepared estampages and studied the inscription.
The inscription recorded a verdict delivered in 1834 by John Blackburne, then Principal Collector of Madurai under the British East India Company, over a boundary dispute involving Perunali village of the Ramanathapuram estate and the villages of Mavalodai, Koothalapuram and Chinnur of the Ettayapuram estate, which now fall in Thoothukudi. “It states that the stone pillar was erected to mark the territorial boundaries after the dispute was settled,” Rajaguru said. “The inscription mentions that the western boundary of Perunali lies north of the five tanks, while the eastern boundary of Paralachi village forms Perunali’s western limit. Poolangal and Sengulam are referred to as the southern boundary villages.”
The findings have been communicated to the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology. The inscription contains 25 lines and begins with the phrase ‘Swastisri’. It records the Shalivahana Saka year 1757, the Tamil year ‘Jaya’ and the English date August 23, 1834.
Researchers said that the inscription was engraved using Tamil and Grantha scripts and that Tamil numerals were used throughout the text. In a few places, omitted words were later added in smaller letters above the lines.
Rajaguru added, “The inscription also provides historical evidence that several present-day settlements in the region, including Thuthinatham and Valasubramaniapuram, had not yet come into existence when the stone was erected.”
The boundary stone has remained preserved as residents continue to treat the site as part of village worship traditions.