Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

A Proposal for Compiling a Cultural Atlas of Tamilnadu





Normally we think of only monuments when we talk about heritage. Culture
reminds us mostly performing arts. But culture and heritage are perhaps much
wider. It is about man, how he conducts himself, what his background is. It
is heritage and culture which makes a common man. There are many aspects to
heritage. Each individual is different in his/her tastes. Can we help
individuals enjoy our heritage from her/his point of view?



We shall also look at it slightly differently. If a person goes to some new
place and has some time to spare what would he/she like to do. People have
different tastes. But do we have information available about places so that
the person can choose according to his/her interest?



Every part of Tamilnadu has something special to offer. The place may be a
tourist spot, a natural habitat for flora and fauna, a worshiping place, an
ancient monument, connected with great personalities, place for special
eateries, arts, folk traditions, rural crafts, institutions, etc.

Here are a few examples of some unusual places, and not many people know
about them.



Within 90 km of Chennai is Gudiyam, which is credited to be close to a stone
age cave. It was here found a hand-axe, made, used and discarded by the
Stone Age man. Close by lies an inaccessible forest of evergreen and
deciduous trees.

Longwood Shola in Kotagiri on the Western Ghats has some of the most
interesting evergreen trees of tropical forest.

Places like Chettavarai, Alampadi and Kilvalai in Villupuram District are so
rich in prehistoric rock paintings that the experts speak of them in the
same breath as Bhimbetka. The Kilvalai paintings to 1000 B.C. Chettavarai's
and Alampadi's paintings are believed to be even older. At Porivarai, near
Karikkiyur, in Erode District is by far the largest rock `canvas' found in
Tamilnadu, measuring 120 feet by 15 feet.
Tamilnadu has 50 more such sites, with paintings as well as engravings or
etchings, protected and unprotected, and certainly not exploited.

It is believed that the Bay of Bengal had inundated over 350 square miles of
land on the Padalur-Ariyalur region of Perambalur district over 100 millions
years ago, where the giant dinosaurs sauntered majestically over 200 million
years ago. This is one of the three sites on earth where the rare phenomenon
of sea-ingression and regression had taken place. Billions of sea creatures
like clams, oysters, molluscs, corals, which perished during the withdrawal
of the sea resulted in the compression and formation of some of the finest
deposits of limestone in the country. Some have seen recently the fossil of
the dinosaur egg, weighing about seven kg and measuring 20cms in diameter n
the Kallankurichi mines of the Tamil Nadu cement factory near Ariyalu.

Chunambed and Illeedu approached through old Pondicherry road. Here is a
school run on a different mode. It is all through the dedication of C
Ramakrishnan in education and in farming practice. Prasad Garden managed by
local villagers and an arboretum are great attractions for lovers of nature
and of ancient temples.

In the holy city of Kanchi is a museum of folk art managed by the
descendents of CP Ramaswamy Iyer in their 400-year old house called
Shakuntala Jagannathan Museum of Folk Art



But presently this information is not available in a comprehensive way to
the general public, except for some celebrated places/monuments/temples,
etc. We feel if information connected with all the places of Tamilnadu is
compiled we have a ��Cultural Atlas of Tamilnadu��. Such an atlas helps us
understand our social and cultural legacies better.



I (that is Swaminathan) mooted this idea, an idea of Cultural Atlas of
India, to Mr Ashok Vajpayee, who was looking after the Department of Culture
in the Government of India. (Mr Vajpayee is a poet and was associated with
Bharat Kala Bhavan in Bhopal.) He readily agreed to consider funding it if I
submitted a proposal. Later I developed cold feet and didn��t proceed, for I
thought it is far beyond me.



Preparing such a comprehensive cultural atlas for even Tamilnadu is a
Herculean task, we are aware. But once done, this will be a great
contribution to the Tamil society. Now I (Swaminathan) am a lot more
confident. One reason is we are now engaged in similar task in Pudukkottai
(I was teaching engineering in Delhi! when I was toying with the idea of
Atlas of India!). Secondly, with involvement of a group like the PS group it
is certainly feasible, I feel.



We are making a suggestion that we consider the idea of compiling a cultural
atlas of India. It is definitely ambitious. Is it then wrong to be
ambitious? May be we give a different identification. But the important
feature is that information is compiled with places as the basis.



We may prepare a checklist of items, which would make a place important. We
have made a list as below.



Place of pilgrimage: presence of temples, churches or mosques or any other

Location of monuments including forts and cave temples, any building of
historical interest

Place of tourist interest: trekking places, water falls, bird sanctuary,
wild life sanctuary, etc; for nature lovers/ environmentalists; fossil parks

Place of private or public art galleries and museums, centres, which
preserve some old manuscripts, palm leaves etc

Place of Birth or place of living of personalities: from literary field,
film, artists, spiritual, political, social reformers, followers of some
ancient traditions, etc.

Location of famous regional festivals; rituals of specific region;
interesting customs and traditions of a place; tribal and their special way
of living

Location of folk traditions and folk art (Satyamangalm in Pudukkottai
district is the most important place for terracotta images of Ayyanar)

Famous for preparation of some eatables (for example, Manapparai murukku is
famous)

Place of depiction in well-known movies, novels, etc

Other specialities to a place (For example, Pudukkottai is famous in the
past as the most important place for Naturopathy)

Existence of old book shops/libraries with some historical interest

Handicraft; agricultural products specific to an area (Peraiyur in
Pudukkottai district is famous for hand-fans made out of palm-leaves

Re