ASI team discovers potsherd with Tamil-Brahmi inscription at Kumarikkalpalayam

Excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at a habitation mound in Kumarikkalpalayam hamlet in Tiruppur district have led to the discovery of a potsherd bearing a short inscription that is paleographically dated to the late 1st century BCE-early 1st century CE.

A team led by P. Aravazhi, Superintendent Archaeologist (in charge), ASI Tiruchi Circle, began excavations in the last week of February 2026 for a stratigraphy study of a site in Uthukuli Taluk, which lies within an agricultural field and represents an extensive Iron Age and Early Historic habitation, comprising a mound and an adjacent megalithic burial complex.

“The fragment, part of a storage jar made of black-and-red ware, carries five Tamil-Brahmi characters that can be read as ‘Irumpurai’,” according to Y. Subburayulu, Senior Epigraphist and formerly Professor, Tamil University, Thanjavur.

The title (of the inscription) is historically associated with the Chera rulers of the Karur region, located about 95 km east of the excavation site, during the Sangam period.

In addition to the inscribed sherd, a variety of ceramic types have been unearthed, including red-slipped ware, black-and-red ware, and russet-coated ware.

“The excavations are still under way. There are high possibilities for finding more such inscriptions,” Assistant Superintending Archaeologist V. Muthukumar said.

The ASI is looking to getting the 26-feet Menhir at the Kumarikkalpalayam hamlet as a protected monument. According to archaeologists, the menhir finds a mention in the 249th verse of Akananuru, a Sangam-era classical Tamil anthology.