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Scientific Achievements:
5. Tamil Nadu
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Mahabalipuram
There exists a popular belief in south
India that the Shore
Temple of Mahabalipuram is the last
of a series of seven temples, six of which
have been submerged. NIO team and members
of the Scientific Exploration Society, U.K.,
explored Mahabalipuram. The archaeologists,
professional divers and photographers carried
out underwater explorations during April
2002 and recorded
evidence of ruins off Mahabalipuram.
These investigations were carried out at
5 locations in 5 to 8 m water depths, 500
to 700 m off the shore temple. Investigations
at each location have shown the presence
of construction stone masonry, remains of
walls, a big square rock cut, scattered
square rectangular stone blocks and geological
formations of the rocks that occur locally.
Most of the structures are damaged and scattered
in a vast area, providing substratum for
barnacles, mussels and other sedentary organisms.
The construction pattern and area is about
100x50 m. The actual area covered by ruins
may be much larger.
These are dated to 1500-1200 years BP. The
Pallava dynasty, ruling the area during
the period, had constructed many such rock
cut and structural temples in Mahabalipuram
and Kanchipuram. A very initial time frame
for the ruins is the same as those of the
temples in the vicinity. Local belief also
supports this observation.
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 SES, UK & NIO
team on
Cattamaran |
The problem from various angles such as palaeo-shoreline
and geology in addition to the archaeological
aspects should be studied. Investigations are
underway to determine the role of sea level fluctuations,
coastal erosion and neo-tectonic activities in
effecting shoreline changes in the area during
the recent past. The site has great potential
for further exploration. The lay-out plan of the
structures is being determined as well as the
reasons for its submergence.
The findings are significant from the point of
view that while earlier there was merely folklore,
there now exists "prima facie" evidence,
though a lot more remains to be done. If archaeological
evidence proves these to be temple ruins and not
natural phenomena. We still need to understand
the cause of submergence of the structures and
ensure that these are consistent with palaeo-oceanographic
understanding of the area.
Poompuhar
Poompuhar, known as Kaveripattinam, also is
one of the most notable ancient Chola ports and
is located at the confluence of river Kaveri and
the Bay of Bengal. Manimekhalai mentions that
the Chola king had lost his son and in his grief
he forgot to celebrate the annual Indra festival.
This enraged the goddess Manimekhalai who caused
the city to be swallowed up by the sea. Though
the reference is only to a supernatural incident,
it may be taken as an echo of some actual sea
erosion due to high tidal wave that lashed out
on the city.
Onshore exploration near Chinnavanagiri, south
of Poompuhar brought to light ringwells along
with megalithic black and red wares. A few ringwells
were also noticed near Vanagiri, Tranquebar and
Poompuhar. A Sangam period brick structure was
exposed near the present Kanagi statue. Another
brick structure in L-shape was noticed in inter-tidal
zone during low tide. These findings suggest that
the shoreline is moving landward and a large part
of the ancient city of Poompuhar must have been
submerged in the sea.
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Offshore explorations opposite to mouth
of river Kaveri brought to light stone structures.
By airlift operation, a large number of
sherds of pottery belonging to 4th-5th century
AD were recovered. Similarly, in the north
of Poompuhar a lot of pottery of historical
period was found. These evidences indicate
that a part of ancient city was submerged
in the sea; the remains are lying at about
8 m water depth.
A mid-17th century map of Tranquebar shows
a complete plan of the town along with the
then shoreline. A careful study of the map
suggests that Tranquebar town was well protected
by a seaward fort wall and the Siva temple
was sufficiently landward within the fort
wall. It is estimated that during the 17th
century AD the shoreline was at least 50
m away from the fort wall and a temple was
located around 250-300 m from the shoreline.
This observation unequivocally suggests
that the shoreline has transgressed about
300 m in the last 300 years infringing at
an average rate of one meter per year. If
the same trend had continued for the last
2000 years, it might be expected that the
ancient city of Poompuhar must have been
submerged in 5 to 10 m water depths off
Poompuhar.
About 3.5 km off Poompuhar a shipwreck
was discovered at a water depth of 19 m,
a major portion of which is buried under
sediment. A metal detector survey suggested
a maximum length of 50 m and width about
15 m. Airlift operation has shown that the
ship was wooden hulled. The exploration
of the shipwreck brought to light a large
number of lead ingots which are classified
into three types: (i) boat shaped with an
inscription of W: BLACKETT and a date 1791
and 1792, (ii) A Roman letter 'D' with crown
symbol and boat shaped and (iii) plain with
rectangular shape. Besides the lead ingots,
2.1 m long iron cannon, gun-powder boxes
and a copper rudder gudgeon were also noticed.
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After airlifting it is observed that copper was
extensively used for construction of the ship.
The exposed timber of the ship has been highly
affected by teredo. There are no records to ascertain
the country of origin of the ship.
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