Samban sumanan - சாம்பான் சுமணன் - 500BCE

Samban sumanan - சாம்பான் சுமணன்  - 500BCE 
 Kodumanal excavation yields a bonanza 

கொடுமணல்(கொடுமணம் பட்ட நல்மணிகள்  கபிலர் )

 One of the two cist burial sites excavated at Kodumanal in Erode 
district. Photo: K. Ananthan  "This is the transcript of the Tamil- 
Brahmi script reading "Samban Sumanan" that has been found on a big 
pot in the archaeological excavation at Kodumanal village. Photo: K. 
Rajan  A big pot bearing the Tamil-Brahmi inscription, ‘Samban 
Sumanan,’. Photo: K. Ananthan The artefacts unearthed reveal an 
industrial complex that existed around fourth century BCE

Kodumanal in Erode district never stops yielding. 

Renewed archaeological excavation in the village in April and May this 
year by the Department of History, Pondicherry University, has yielded 
a bonanza again. The artefacts unearthed from four trenches in the 
habitational mound have revealed an industrial complex that existed 
around fourth century BCE. The industries in the complex made iron and 
steel, textiles, bangles out of conch-shells and thousands of 
exquisite beads from semi-precious stones such as sapphire, beryl, 
quartz, lapis-lazuli, agate, onyx, carnelian and black-cat eye, and 
ivory. 

Terracotta spindle whorls for spinning cotton and a thin gold wire 
were found in the complex, which has also thrown up 130 potsherds with 
Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, including 30 with Tamil-Brahmi words. 

All of them are personal names. They include ‘Saba Magadhai 
Bammadhan,' ‘Saathan,' ‘Visaki,' ‘Siligan,' ‘Uranan' and ‘Tissan.' A 
prized artefact is a big pot with a superbly etched Tamil-Brahmi 
script in big letters reading, ‘Samban Sumanan.' 

Industrial site 

K. Rajan, Professor of History, Pondicherry University, who was 
director of excavation at Kodumanal, said: “Nowhere else do we come 
across such an industrial complex. The uniqueness of Kodumanal is that 
it was entirely an industrial site with a minimum agricultural 
activity. Though several Tamil Sangam age sites such as Korkai, 
Poompuhar, Karur, Uraiyur, Azhagankulam and Porunthal have been 
excavated so far, none has yielded so much of Tamil-Brahmi-inscribed 
potsherds as Kodumanal.” 

He estimated that these inscriptions, especially the ‘Samban Sumanan' 
script, belonged to the third century and second century BCE. 

While the big pot with ‘Samban Sumanan' was found at the second level 
of one of the four trenches, the first level yielded a pot with the 
Tamil-Brahmi word ‘Samban.' Several potsherds had either the name 
‘Samban' or ‘Sumanan.' Obviously, ‘Samban' was the father and 
‘Sumanan' the son. The industrial complex could have belonged to 
Samban's family, Mr. Rajan said. 

Dr. Rajan and his team also excavated two megalithic graves this 
season at Kodumanal, which revealed cist-burials. The first grave has 
a cairn circle (rocks placed in the form of a circle) on the surface, 
entombing a double cist below. The cists are box-like structures of 
granite slabs; these chambers have granite slabs as roofs. The first 
grave has an outer circle of stone slabs planted vertically in the 
earth. Some of these stone slabs were actually tall meinheirs, which 
have been destroyed. The inner circle is a wall-like structure. Below 
are two cists with trapezium-shaped port-holes scooped out of their 
front slabs. The two cists have a common passage. The cists contained 
disintegrated human bones. The funerary objects found inside are a 
four-legged jar, ring stand, dish-on-stand, iron objects and etched or 
plain carnelian beads. Broken pots and bowls lay outside the cists. 

The second grave has a main cist, and two subsidiary cists. Each has a 
capstone roof. While the main cist was of a transepted variety, the 
others, erected on either side of the main cist, were simple ones. 
There was a cairn-circle on top to mark the graves below, but the 
stones are no longer there. Interestingly, one of the cists, facing 
south, has a port-hole in the shape of a key-hole. The other two cists 
have circular and trapezium-shaped portholes. Inside the cists were 
button and barrel-shaped carnelian beads and smoky quartz beads. 

“Wherever there are a main cist and subsidiary cists, the south-facing 
cist will always have a port-hole looking like a key-hole. Inside the 
chamber of the key-holed cist, there will always be a bunch of arrow- 
heads. We do not know why,” Dr. Rajan said. True enough, there were 
arrow-heads in this cist. 

What is remarkable about the industrial complex is that it has a water- 
channel in it. Water was used for wetting quartz, agate, lapis-lazuli, 
sapphire and beryl before they were cut and made into tiny beads with 
holes. Sapphire came from Sivanmalai and Perumalmalai, beryl from 
Padiyur and iron ore from Chennimalai, all located within 15 km from 
Kodumanal. A quartz mine exits five km from Kodumanal. While carnelian 
and agate came from Maharashtra, lapis-lazuli came from Afghanistan. 
“Kodumanal lies on the ancient trade route that connects the Chera 
capital of Karur [Vanji] in the east with the famous Chera port of 
Muciri (the present day Pattnam in Kerala where excavation is under 
way) in the west. Roman coins in hoards and singles have been found in 
several sites in this region. Beads made at Kodumanal were exported,” 
Dr. Rajan said. 

Tamil University, Thanjavur, in collaboration with Madras University 
and the Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology, dug 48 trenches and 
exposed 13 megalithic graves at Kodumanal in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 
1990, with Y. Subbarayalu as director of excavation and Dr. Rajan 
actively associating himself with him. The Department of Archaeology 
dug 15 trenches and exposed three graves in 1998 and 1999. 

Dr. Rajan said: “Kodumanal is one of the major horizontal excavations 
done so far in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the sites in India where the 
highest number of inscribed potsherds have been found. The highest 
number of graves was opened here. The presence of pit-burial with 
skeletons in different postures, urn burials and chamber tombs of 
different types suggests that multi-ethnic groups lived at Kodumanal. 
The availability of Prakrit words such as ‘Tissan' and ‘Visaki' in 
Tamil-Brahmi scripts suggests that this industrial-cum-trade centre 
had cultural and trade contacts with northern parts of India.”