These photographs were made in the year 1999, when myself and a couple of my friends were in Kaveripoompattinam (now known as Poompuhar) in Sirkazhi taluk, Nagapatinam district in Tamilnadu. Just happened to see these photographs in my album and thought of posting them here!!
Kaveripoompattinam has a Great Historical Importance! It was the Port Capital of the Chola Dynasty. Kaveripoompattinam has been mentioned and cited in various Temple Inscriptions and in ancient Tamil Literatures (Silapathigaram, Pattinapalai, Manimegalai are a few books that have mentions of Kaveripoompattinam).
It is said that the whole town of Kaveripoompattinam is under the sea now....might have been because of Tsunami long time back say historians...! Traders from Greece, Rome and Egypt had come here to Trade they add..
Reading more and more of this city is exciting me!! Actually I just thought of posting the photographs and maybe a small description....but...the history of this town is just compelling!!
Such a big and a very important town...went under the sea...no one knows when !!
.......it has happened generations before...centuries before....but...the very thought of such a rich history and the now left out fishing village leaves me with 'n' number of feelings that I am finding hard to express.....
Studies by historians show that poompuhar grew during the rule of Karikala Cholan, the second century chola king who established trade ties with various countries such as China, Arabia and the Roman empire!! Traces of brick buildings, water reservoirs and Roman coins have been found during undersea excavations!
But all that is left now are a few temples and the a fishing village!! There is a History sleeping under the sea over there now - and the archaelogists are working on to find the reality! The recent Tsunami has given a new dimension to the research!
A few sites for further reading on this town:
http://www.tamilnadutourism.org/places/citiestowns/Poompuhar.aspx?catid=c1&subcat1id=c1s1&subcat2id=c1s1s20
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/14/world/main667162.shtml
and ofcourse you can google or yahoo for more!!
Let's talk more of this and more later!
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