Archive · 4 Jan 2026
12th Century Chola Inscription Found Near Tiruvannamalai
A group of historians and an artist found an old stone with writing from the Chola dynasty near a place called Tiruvannamalai.
This stone is from the 12th century and was made during the rule of a king named Kulothunga Chola III.
The writing on the stone talks about a person who found a natural water spring and named it 'Chithramezhi Perootru'.
This person gave the spring to a big group of people called the Periya Nattar.
The stone is important because it tells us about how people in the Chola period managed water and how they named and gave things to their communities.
A Chola-period inscription was discovered near Tiruvannamalai, dating back to the 12th century.
The inscription was found on a slab stone measuring 2 feet in width and 6 feet in length.
It was engraved in the 22nd regnal year of Kulothunga Chola III, in 1200 CE.
The inscription records the discovery of a natural water spring named 'Chithramezhi Perootru' by a person named Pulavar-Adiyan Otrikondaan Thiruvaanai Mugavan.
The spring was donated as a charitable endowment to the Periya Nattar (Great Regional Assembly).
- Who
- Members of the Tiruvannamalai District Historical Research Centre and artist Sivakumar
- What
- Discovered a 12th-century Chola-period inscription
- When
- The inscription was engraved in 1200 CE, during the 22nd regnal year of Kulothunga Chola III
- Where
- At the foothills of Bavupattu village near Tiruvannamalai, on the northern bank of the Pennai river, near Kattaamboondi hill
- Why
- The inscription records the discovery and donation of a natural water spring named 'Chithramezhi Perootru' to the Periya Nattar (Great Regional Assembly)
- Location
- Bavupattu village, near Tiruvannamalai
- Period
- 12th century
- Ruler
- Kulothunga Chola III
- Regnal Year
- 22nd
- Date
- 1200 CE
- Inscription Size
- 2 feet width, 6 feet length
- Discoverer
- Pulavar-Adiyan Otrikondaan Thiruvaanai Mugavan
- Spring Name
- Chithramezhi Perootru