Keezhadi- Cradle of Tamil Civilization-Ep-3
Many wonder if these excavations have a purpose, now, given millions are in poverty, what do we gain from our old wisdom. People believe technology is needed and not ancient civilizational knowledge. It is false. Do you know why Titanic the movie, clicked, not for the gigantic ships, excellent cinematography, elaborate makeup, or the stunning acting? The thread running through the entire movie was love, a basic human emotion. Our technological advancement is done by us humans on the basic character which is curiosity. I remember the interview Vodafone CEO gave, why do you think India is a good market, he said we human beings love to talk, enough said. Science and Technology are tools, our basic emotions run the universe. These discoveries of our ancient ruins, help us understand are we in the reverse progress of humanity.
As said earlier, Sind Valley script was not understood, and we had symbols morphing from that script, which gave birth to “Tamizhi” which seems to be the original script of the current Tamil language. These connections have not been clearly established. History is offered to us only in parts, and it is our endeavor to find the connection in the missing pieces. “Tamizhi” script is a combination of Tamil and Brahmi script and has been found in numerous pottery fragments. All these were discovered throughout Tamil Nadu. Kuviran, Adhan were the names discovered, names of the early Tamil people, how exciting it is to know the names of people 2000 years back.
The placing of the graffiti in the pots is of importance. One thing is if we find only sculptures and inscriptions inside palaces and temples, we know for a fact, it would be commissioned by the king and completed by a craftsperson. King would be learned and so would be the skilled people of the trade. But you find a pot with inscription and names, you know that the potter should be learned-implying all strata of society were learned. These symbols seem to have been not done during the making but were done by the customers, which indicates another level of knowledge. Normal people had the education, how awesome it is when you know the potter and the people were learned.
Black color from the coal and Red color from Iron were used in the pots. These were scientifically analyzed to have been made at 1100 degrees celsius. Huge number of fragments suggest that an industrial workshop was in place at this site.
The textile industry seems to be in full swing as well. No, we are not talking about manchester or Coimbatore but keezhadi which had about 180 types of needles to get the thread right, and 20 needles to sew them into clothes. All these were made of bones. They not only made the clothes, and just like pottery, also dyed them. If they could have colored pots, why not colored clothes. With the available knowledge, the level of developmental maturity, these civilizations had, we are currently underperforming. Egyptian pyramids, Chinese great wall, the concept of democracy in Greece, drainage systems in Indus valley civilization, all add weightage to it.
We are currently less developed than what they were developed during their times.
The primary occupation was farming and animal husbandry. They reared animals for their use in farming. Women’s jewelry was made of gold, glass, and stone. Different bangles, beads, earrings were made of various types. Dice games, chess style sport were all played by men, women, and kids. Small wheels for play by kids were dug from the site. You had a dice with 6 faces, and number inscriptions detected 2500 years back. Our current dice games and most children’s games are imported from China, but we knew how to make it and play before two millennia.
Colored dresses, colored pots, jewelry, farming as an occupation, animals being reared, on the banks of the river, irrigation canals, drainage systems, stone-built houses, it is a beautiful sight to behold.
Tamil Nadu being a coastal state, had a huge sea-based trade with major civilizations. Big ports were built in the river-ocean intersections. Palar had vasavasamuthiram, river Cauvery had Poompuhar, Vaigai had azhagankulam and Tamirabarani had Korkai. Periyar river on the west coast had Musiripatinam. Amazed by the simple yet ingenious placement, rivers bring in the trade from the interior and you have ports to transport it through the world. With the dry rivers, we are busy trying to regain the lost glory without much progress. Precious and semi-precious stones were also identified.
Furnace like structure and animal bones were discovered yesterday. New items being dug out and that information in public domain is key to the future.
It is time, everyone makes peace with their past and future for peace at present.
Inputs: Google, Keezhadi archaeology magazine, Wikipedia
