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Fieldwork in Tamil Nadu, August 2025

In August 2025, several members of the DHARMA project team (Fig. 1) conducted intensive fieldwork in Tamil Nadu in order to locate, read in situ and document Tamil inscriptions relevant to the scientific questions addressed by the DHARMA project.

Fig. 1. Dorotea Operato (CESAH), Renato Dávalos (CESAH) and Babu N. Ramaswamy (EFEO) reading an inscription in situ, Sudarkozhundeeswarar temple, Pennadam

Between the 9th and 14th centuries, temples from Tamil Nadu were covered in inscriptions. These record, mostly in the Tamil language but sometimes also in Sanskrit, pious donations made by various individuals and groups. Donors include kings and chiefs, of course, but also royal women, courtiers, merchants, local assemblies and many other individuals. Donations are often referred to by synecdoche as dharma as they contribute to upholding the socio-cosmic order. Inscriptions are found on the walls of shrines and halls, on their bases, on pillars, on compound walls (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Compound wall covered with inscriptions, Thyagaraja temple, Thiruvarur

Some inscriptions are well engraved and well preserved and thus easily legible, like the Tamil inscriptions on the base the great royal Chola temple at Tanjore, built at the beginning of the 11th century (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Bottom of the base of the central shrine, Brihadisvara temple, Tanjore

Other inscriptions, though originally engraved with great care, have suffered severe damage, sometimes in a very recent past, and are therefore only partially legible (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Inscription on the wall of the Brahmakandeeswarar temple, Kandiyur

Some inscriptions might be difficult to read for lack of good light or because of their shallow engraving (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. Inscription on the wall of the Sudarkozhundeeswarar, Pennadam

From 7 to 14 August this year, Renato Dávalos, Emmanuel Francis and Dorotea Operato, accompanied by Babu N. Ramaswamy (EFEO, Pondicherry), visited more than 15 temples in and around Tanjore and Thiruvarur.

Renato Dávalos’ areas of interest concern inscriptions recording the recitation of Tamil hymns in temples, but also epigraphical attestations of the Tamil fraction system. In Thiruvarur, one of his objectives was a very long inscription (Fig. 2) containing many numbers expressed in fractions.

Dorotea Operato studies Tamil inscriptions related to the role of lower jātis in religious and institutional activities during the Chola (10–12th centuries) and Vijayanagara (14th–16th centuries) periods, focusing especially on two groups known as the Right-Hand and Left-Hand castes. For instance, an inscription at Pennadam (Fig. 5) registers a compact between these two groups: they will stand together and oppose all abuse by local officers.

From 17 to 24 August, Renato Dávalos, Emmanuel Francis, Margherita Trento, again accompanied by Babu N. Ramaswamy, visited several temples in and around Kumbakonam. They spend several days in Thiruvavaduthurai (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. The name tiruvāvaṭutuṟai in a Chola inscription, Thiruvavaduthurai

The place is famous for its Śaiva monastery (Adheenam, ātīṉam) to which were affiliated Mīṉāṭcicuntaram Piḷḷai (1815–1876) and his famous student U.Vē. Cāminātaiyār (1855–1942), the father figures of the rediscovery of the classical Tamil works of the so-called Sangam corpus. There is an old temple – the Gomuktīśvara, today known as the Mācilāmaṇīcuvarar – which long predate the establishment of the monastery in the 16th century. It dates to the early Chola period, that is the early 10th century, and the dozens of inscriptions that are found on its walls and bases, as well as the dozens copper-plate inscriptions kept in the monastery, are published in the DHARMA Project online database.

Many of these old temples that are covered with inscriptions documented by the DHARMA project are still living religious places. Scholars thus cross paths with devotees, whether paying homage to the god in his sanctum or taking part in regular rituals (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. Procession during pradosham ritual, Thiruvavaduthurai

Many of these temples have recently been renovated, such as the Brahmakandeeswarar temple in Kandiyur (Fig. 8): though its roof has recently been repainted, its walls cleaned, workers were still renovating the floor.

Fig. 8. Brahmakandeeswarar temple, Kandiyur temple

Whereas some temple inscriptions cannot be read and documented in situ because they have been lost or covered by later buildings, another type of inscription, copper plates, is to be found in museums. So, from 26 to 30 August, Renato Dávalos, Emmanuel Francis, Margherita Trento and Dorotea Operato visited several key institutions in Chennai.

The epigraphy section of the Chennai circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) (Fig. 9) was recently given custody of estampages―inked paper rubbings of inscriptions―of thousands of Tamil inscriptions and transcripts of their texts. These had been transferred from Mysore where they had been kept for decades. These documents are sometimes the only remaining traces of inscriptions now lost in situ.

Fig. 9. The historical Clive building in Fort Saint George in Chennai which hosts the head office of the Chennai circle of the ASI

The Government Museum in Chennai houses in its collections almost 400 copper plate sets, for a total of almost 1,200 plates, many of which are yet to be edited.

To conclude, the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA) has its own collection of estampages of Tamil inscriptions and runs a series of epigraphical publications.

Emmanuel Francis
Emmanuel Francis
Chargé de recherche CNRS (CEIAS-UMR 8564, EHESS-CNRS, Paris)

The text only may be used under licence Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Emmanuel Francis (December 16, 2025). Fieldwork in Tamil Nadu, August 2025. DHARMA project ERC n° 809994. Retrieved June 6, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/15csr


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