ITCHING TO GRAFFITI? Please leave heritage sites alone, scribble on paper
TNN | Jan 27, 2019, 00:36 ISTCoimbatore: Visitors to the Government Museum near VOC Zoological Park in the city were amused when a group of youngsters gave them sheets of paper, requesting them to scribble on them.
Once they finished scribbling, the groupvolunteers of the Tamil Nadu Heritagers Societyexplained the importance of heritage sites and monuments, and requested them to preserve such places by not scribbling on them.
They travel in search of archaeological remains and document them, district secretary of the society S Ananda Kumar said. “We launched ‘Kirukkalaam Vaanga 2.0’ (Come Let’s Scribble) to create awareness about heritage sites after seeing how rock paintings were vandalised in rural Coimbatore. There are cave paintings at Kummittipathi near Coimbatore, which are 5,000 years old. When we visited the site, people had scribbled their names and initials over the paintings with charcoal,” he told TOI.
“We found a shard of a burial urn at Perur, which would be about 2,000 years old. We found the word ‘Eema Thazhi’, meaning a funeral urn, inscribed on it in Tamil Brahmi script. This was the only inscription evidence of the word Eema Thazhi, which is found in Sangam literature. It’s ironic how the scribbles of prehistoric people are resources for us, but we are vandalising them by scribbling over them,” Kumar said.
The rock and cave paintings have lasted millennia as they were made using animal fat and herbs, president of the society Rajashekar said. “If people scribble over them using paint or ink, we can’t remove it without damaging the painting permanently.”
Curator of the government museum C Sivakumar said the event is being held for the second year. “We planned it on a national holiday as more people would visit the place. We see names, heart and peace symbols over inscriptions in historic temples. People need to be sensitised on this issue,” he said.
Those who took part in the scribbling session were also shown pictures of important archaeological sites in and around Coimbatore. “I have been to some of the sites the volunteers spoke about. While I have not vandalised them, I learnt about their importance today,” said Ramu, a college student.
Kumar is planning to display some of the scribblings at the museum.
Once they finished scribbling, the groupvolunteers of the Tamil Nadu Heritagers Societyexplained the importance of heritage sites and monuments, and requested them to preserve such places by not scribbling on them.
They travel in search of archaeological remains and document them, district secretary of the society S Ananda Kumar said. “We launched ‘Kirukkalaam Vaanga 2.0’ (Come Let’s Scribble) to create awareness about heritage sites after seeing how rock paintings were vandalised in rural Coimbatore. There are cave paintings at Kummittipathi near Coimbatore, which are 5,000 years old. When we visited the site, people had scribbled their names and initials over the paintings with charcoal,” he told TOI.
“We found a shard of a burial urn at Perur, which would be about 2,000 years old. We found the word ‘Eema Thazhi’, meaning a funeral urn, inscribed on it in Tamil Brahmi script. This was the only inscription evidence of the word Eema Thazhi, which is found in Sangam literature. It’s ironic how the scribbles of prehistoric people are resources for us, but we are vandalising them by scribbling over them,” Kumar said.
The rock and cave paintings have lasted millennia as they were made using animal fat and herbs, president of the society Rajashekar said. “If people scribble over them using paint or ink, we can’t remove it without damaging the painting permanently.”
Curator of the government museum C Sivakumar said the event is being held for the second year. “We planned it on a national holiday as more people would visit the place. We see names, heart and peace symbols over inscriptions in historic temples. People need to be sensitised on this issue,” he said.
Those who took part in the scribbling session were also shown pictures of important archaeological sites in and around Coimbatore. “I have been to some of the sites the volunteers spoke about. While I have not vandalised them, I learnt about their importance today,” said Ramu, a college student.
Kumar is planning to display some of the scribblings at the museum.
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