Archaeologist K. Sridharan recalls the excavations at Gangaikondacholapuram

When 23-year old Sridharan came to Madras, armed with a degree in geology, little did he know that his future lay in the past. Upon his uncle’s advice, he applied for a post graduate degree in Ancient History and Archaeology. “Our class had only six students, because not many knew of the employment potential of archaeology,” says Sridharan.

Following up his post graduation with a certificate course in Epigraphy, Sridharan joined the State Archaeology department, as Survey Archaeologist, and was posted in Dharmapuri. “Dharmapuri yielded lots of hero stones of Pallava and Chola period, established erected in the memory of men who died protecting cattle from cattle raiders. These stones have inscriptions that say, Aanirai kodal erindupattaan kal — he died while rescuing cattle.”

Sridharan explains that archaeology and epigraphy complement each other. “Inscriptions of Veera Rajendra and of Kuluttonga I in the Gangaikondacholapuram temple refer to Rajendra I’s palace. So we decided to carry out excavations there, to look for traces of the palace. Potsherds bearing graffiti marks found in Vallam, near Thanjavur, give us an idea of how writing developed.”

Sridharan’s background in geology came in useful when he had to carry out excavations, because stratigraphy is an important element of archaeology, which helps in dating finds from different levels under ground. Sridharan was involved in excavation work in many places including Karur and Gangaikondacholapuram, under the guidance of Dr. R. Nagaswamy. Sridharan says that excavation is a team effort.

Fourteen Chola Kings ruled from the Gangaikondacholapuram palace, for 267 years, and yet, while the temple built by Rajendra I survived, his palace did not. But people of Gangaikondacholapuram continued to refer to Utkottai (inner fort), Ayudhakalam (place where weapons are manufactured) and Maaligai Medu (literally palace mound), indicating that a palace and fort must have existed there.

Brick building

When Sridharan and his colleagues arrived at Gangaikondacholapuram, and pitched a tent at Maaligai Medu, they didn’t have access to drinking water. Electricity, of course, was a luxury. They had to make do with Petromax lights. But the hardships seemed of little consequence, when the team found remains of Rajendra Chola I’s palace. Unlike the temple which Rajendra built of stone, his palace was built with bricks. Excavations showed what a strong brick structure he had built.

“We found twin walls — a wall 1.10 metres thick, and another wall of similar thickness, the two separated by a gap of 55 centimetres, which was filled with sand. So the twin walls together had a thickness of 2.75 metres. After a 2.50 metre gap, we found another twin wall,” says Sridharan.

The header and stretcher method of bricklaying was used, to avoid cracks. In architecture, a stretcher is a brick laid with its length exposed. A header is a brick laid with its width exposed. A header and stretcher method, therefore, means that the length is exposed in one row and the width in the next, with a header placed centrally above a stretcher.

“We found 23 rows of bricks in the basement, and as one goes down, the walls get thicker. We also found sturdy walls, which had layers of bricks, lime mortar, sand and pebbles mixed, with smooth plastering. These must have been the outer walls.

“The Gangaikondacholapuram palace remains are the only surviving examples we have of the secular architecture of the Cholas, and that makes these findings important. When news spread of our discovery of the palace, many scholars like Kapila Vatsyayan visited the site, where we organised seminars. We even had a dance programme by Padma Subrahmanyam. When she began to dance, a huge scorpion crawled on to the make shift stage. But we pushed it aside, and she kept dancing, ignoring it! All the objects we found were housed in a site museum in Maaligai Medu.”

Some years ago, when I visited Maaligai Medu, all I could see were a few rows of bricks. What happened to the huge walls Sridharan described? “Sand caves in over time. If the walls are to be kept exposed, they must be given a chemical coating to preserve them, and a shelter must be erected.”

The Karur trench | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Interesting inscriptions

Sridharan has also studied and taken estampages of interesting inscriptions in various places. Sometimes unexpected bonuses came his way. For instance, the stone he found while making his way across the dry bed of a lake near Tirukattupalli. Turning it over, he found a 9th Century inscription about a Mutharaiyar chief called Koovaavan Saathan. On another occasion, a woman was thrashing clothes on a stone that had a Parantaka period inscription!

Trained in chemical conservation at Lucknow, Sridharan cleaned the Esalam bronzes, and also removed the whitewash in the durbar hall in the Thanjavur palace, thereby exposing Maratha paintings and Nayak paintings. Sridharan also served as registration officer, which meant that he would visit temples under the HR&CE, make a record of antiquities in each temple, and hand over to the temple a certificate. The State Archaeology department had seven registration officers in Sridharan’s time, but later the post was abolished.

Post-retirement, Sridharan is on ASI’s panel of antiquities experts, whose job it is to ensure that antiquities are not stealthily moved out under the guise of reproductions.

Sridharan has published 300 papers, and participated in international seminars. He did documentation work on temples for the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities. He taught epigraphy and archaeology in Sri Lanka. He received the Raja Raja Chola award from the Thanjavur district administration and the title, Tholporuliyal Selvar from the Tiruvavaduturai Adheenam.