Kotarava sculpture of the Pallava period found in Tindivanam

Tamil Nadu: A 1,200-year-old Kottarava statue from the Pallava period has been discovered in Tindivanam, Villupuram district.

Historian K. Senguttuvan recently conducted a field study in the Tindivanam Warehouse Area. At that time, statues, including a Kottarava from the Pallava period, were found. Senguttuvan further stated:

A small Vanadurgai Amman temple is located in Bharathidasanpet in the Tindivanam Warehouse Area. The deity of this temple is Kottaravai. She is depicted standing approximately 6 feet tall.

She stands with eight hands, balancing her feet on the head of a buffalo. Her left front hand is resting on her thigh. The weapons in the other hands are not clearly visible. The statue is sculpted without any ornaments.

For some reason, this statue is incomplete. However, it has come for worship. It is a statue from the Pallava period (9th century AD). It is 1,200 years old. Senior epigraphic researcher Professor G. Vijaya Venugopal confirmed this.

A statue of the goddess Jeshtha, known as Voothadevi, was found in the Kamala Vinayaka temple complex on the banks of Kidangal Lake. The statue is carved on a stone slab with a son, a daughter, a man, and a crow. It also dates back to the Pallava period. However, the statue has been renovated to such an extent that its age is unknown.

The Warehouse area, now part of Tindivanam town, was the capital of the Oyima Kingdom during the Sangam period. Oyima Nalliyakodan ruled from here. There was also a fort here. He said that the statues found here show that the Warehouse area was significant from the Sangam period to the Pallava period.

District Arima Sangam President Karthik Karunakaran, Kottayam Ayyanar Temple Administrator Nagarajan, and Suresh were present during the inspection.