Rock Arts and dolments at Chinnar Wild Life Sanctuary, Alampatti / Alampatty and Marayur / Marayoor, Kerala.

14^th August 2017.

Marayoor Heritage Visit was scheduled on 13^th August 2017. With high expectations of Rock Art Paintings and Dolmens of Marayoor, started our travelling from Valapady after our Hero stones and Neolithic Tools heritage visit in the tribal Villages of Kalvarayan hills to Udumalpet on 12^th Aug 2017. We traveled via Salem, Erode, Tiruppur, and Udumalpet. It was told that the last bus to Udumalpet from Tiruppur is 22.30 hrs. When we reached Tiruppur it was 23.00 and missed the last bus. But luckily we got the last bus to Valparai and reached Udumalpet, standing all the way around 01.30 Hrs. Mr Santhosh and Nandakumar booked a room and escaped from the trouble of searching for a room in the dark night. 

On 13th August 2017, at 09.00 hrs (the scheduled time to depart from Udumalpet to Marayoor ), we gathered in our Hotel room after breakfast and waited until 11.00 hrs for the last batch of four members to arrive. After a two-hour delay, we, the 16 history enthusiasts, started our travel to Marayoor in a Van. Mr Sadasivam, a history enthusiast, archaeologist, etc., made all the arrangements for the van and obtained permission from the forest department.

ROCK ARTS AT CHINNAR WILDLIFE SANCTUARY,  ALAMPATTY.

This guided tour is being conducted by the Tribal Tracker Eco Development Committee under the Anamudi Forest Development Agency and Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department. After filling out the members' list and paying Rs 300 each, a Tribal guide took us inside the Chinnar Wild Life Sanctuary.

There are about 25 shelters the rock paintings of both white kaolin and Red ochre in the Anamalai Hills area.  Patty means a shelter for the cattle. Shelter might have been used for both humans and cattle.  We had seen the rock paintings in 4 shelters of which two shelters have white Kaolin paintings and the other two are red ochre paintings. As per the experts, these paintings are estimated to be 9000 to 10000 years old. The paintings express prehistoric human beings, their culture, knowledge, worship, customs, etc. The paintings contain images of men's, and women’s dance, animals like cows, buffalo, Deer, elephants, etc. They had shown the wealth of their land symbolically with markings. Some of the signs match with the Indus script.

LOCATION OF THE ROCK ARTS: CLICK HERE

In this red ochre art, two deers are drawn. The Guide told us that when the horn falls down, till it grows the skin will become soft and even a thorn will be sufficient to kill it. The name of the rock shelter is called as Madathala 

 The ritual followed before taking honey from a tree. – in Red Ochre

  Honey Comb -in Red Ochre

 A Man is praying - in Red Ochre

 Dancing ?- in white Kaolin

 The animal is shown with inner organs -in white Kaolin 

The Palm impression in white Kaolin 

DOLMENS AT ALAMPETTY & MARAYOOR

ALAMPATTY.

On the way to Rock Art Paintings inside the rock shelters, the guide showed us the Dolmens of smaller sizes covered on three sides and top. The dolmens are in a group maximum of 3, 5 nos, etc,. It was told that each group of dolmens belonged to a family.

MARAYOOR ( MURUGAN HILL ) 

The Megalithic period ( Iron Age) Dolmens erected on this Murugan Hill is 5000 years old (ASI- a certificate is available at the Panchayat office).  The Dolmens are big in size about 6 feet high (  height is about 1.4 meters to 1.7 meters and 3.5 meters in length),  behind the  Govt High School. It is estimated that at least 2500 to 3000 Dolmenoids are erected from the base to the top of the hill. The Dolmenoids have several burial chambers that may have belonged to a single family.  Some of the Chambers have a hole-like opening either on the East or West side. This indicates that the person died during Dakshinayana or Uttrayana. It was believed that the dead man’s soul/spirit would go through these holes like openings. Depending on the status of the dead, a stone structure is created around the Dolmen. It is happy to note that the local body had taken an interest in protecting these dolmenoids and erected fences around them.

LOCATION OF THE DOLMENS:    CLICK HERE 

 A Dolmen has the white kaolin painting – what is the meaning? 

---OM SHIVAYA NAMA---