Research team unearths 13th century satellite township in Srirangam

The HR & CE along with the Geological department of Bharathidasan University have commenced the non- destructive finding works with the help of a RADAR. Experts said there could have been a temple and the tomb of a sadhu. Based on the ‘Kovillolugu’ (chronicle) of Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple and various Grantham (ancient scripts) the HR & CE of the temple had located Sathurvethi Mangalam, the township settlement of Srirangam in Panchakarai. So, the department had approached the department of Geology and Research of Bharathidasan University to organise a joint research programme to identify the spot. 

Initially, satellite mapping was done to fix the location. As per the plan, the Geological department had come out with a Ground Penetrating RADAR which would be connected with a GPS. It commenced a non-destructive finding in the ground. And the finding came out with the existence of Adhikesava Perumal temple with its architectural beauty and a preserved body of Manavala Mamunigal, Sri Vaishnava religious leader, who during the 15th century in Tamil Nadu with the help of his eight disciples helped to spread Vaishnavism in 15th century. He died in 1450. 

“This finding will bring out the existence of a beautiful village where the temple priests were living. As per the historical evidence, ‘mangalam’ is word that denotes residential colony of temple priests. And in ancient days, the temple priests were allotted houses to reside around the temple and so, the existence of the temple is certain”, said K Vijayaraghavan, the coordinator of the programme. The team initially found square shaped stones that used to be visible in the compound walls and in a few places pillars were also found. This confirmed the presence of the temple. 

“We had gone through the Kovillolugu available in the Srirangam temple with which, the location was identified. The RADAR images would be converted into 3D printing with which, a clear picture of the entire structure would be found”, Vijayaraghavan said. A team of research scholars and professors are involved in the event. 

With a few days, the entire mapping and imaging works would be over and the further works would commence with the support of HR & CE department. “I am extremely excited to see the vast troves of knowledge of our forefathers who lived in this place”, Vijayaraghavan said.