13th century stone with trident inscribed unearthed

Chennai: A stone with an inscribed trident and Pandya period inscriptions was unearthed in Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram district on Monday. Archaeologists and historians said that the trident, found in Oriyur Keezha Kudiyiruppu village, could be of the 13th century AD.

The two-feet-high and one-and-half-feet wide granite stone has a trident symbol inscribed on one side and ten lines on the other side. Historian and Ramanathapuram Archeological Research Foundation President, Rajaguru, after a detailed examination of the stone engraving, told media persons that it was customary to plant trident engraved stones on the boundary of land donated to Shiva temples.

He, however, said that such tridents were commons during the Sethupathi period but not during the Pandya period and that this was the first time that a trident inscription stone during the Pandya period was unearthed in Tamil Nadu.

Rajaguru also said that the Shiva temple that's been mentioned in the inscription was at Thirupunavasal in the state's Pudukottai district. The Archaeological Survey of India and the Tamil Nadu Archaeological Department have been engaged in excavations and at Keezhadi and in Tiruvannamalai areas of Tamil Nadu .