Indus Civilization and Tamil Language

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The Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu was started in the year 1961, to conserve and protect the monuments, and to carryout excavations in the historically important places in Tamil Nadu. Subsequently, the epigraphy wing was started to copy, decipher the inscriptions in the stone walls of the temples, hero stones and other loose epigraphs found lying in the villages. Later on the department was strengthened with the establishment of Chemical section, Photo section, and Publication section with Printing Press for printing and bringing out the publications of the department. Antiquities of 100 years old are registered under "The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act of 1972" and a separate wing is functioning in the department for this purpose.

This publication entitled INDUS CIVILIZATION AND TAMIL LANGUAGE was the outcome of the International Symposium held at Museum Theatre, Egmore, Chennai, on 15th&16th, February 2007. The government were pleased to sanction funds for this publication. The papers were compiled and edited as proceedings of the symposium in a book form by Dr. N. Marxia Gandhi, the then Deputy superintending Archaeologist. This publication will be useful for scholars and others in the field of epigraphy, archaeology and those interested in the study of Indus script and Tamil Language.

An Intensive epigraphy campaign was launched by the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology from September 2004 under my direction. The campaign included village survey, copying and decipherment of epigraphs and publication of unnoticed inscriptions by deploying all the technical staff of the department. It resulted in copying of 12,000 inscriptions and publication of five epigraphical volumes.

During exploration two polished Neolithic hand axes were collected from the garden of Thiru V.Shanmuganathan, a school teacher at Kutralam in Myiladuthurai district. One among them interestingly carried 4 Indus like symbols and was comparable to the symbols already noticed on megalithic potteries and rock paintings of Tamil Nadu. The symbols were confirmed as Indus signs by Thiru. Iravatham Mahadevan, an eminent scholar in the field of Indus script.

Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu while highlighting the antiquity of Tamil culture and its spread up to Indus valley, suggested holding of a seminar on this subject. Accordingly, it was decided to conduct a seminar by inviting scholars and researchers as well as archaeologists who were involved in the excavations of Indus sites. An exhibition was held in April 2006 at the Chennai Head Office wherein the rare object was displayed for the benefit of scholars and public alike. Simultaneously, the views and comments of scholars both Indian and foreign were recorded and published in "Kalvettu" journal issue No.70 of April 2006.

**Contents and Sample Pages**