Group takes up risky trek towards Muttathur’s rock paintings

VILLUPURAM: A dangerous trek of climbing atop a 2,000-feet rock in Muttathur. A group of seven youngsters from the village knew what they had to do to get a glimpse of an archeological marvel. Waiting for them there, were remnants of the glorious history of ancient rock paintings. They were up for the risk, and last Monday, the team, under the guidance of Villupuram District History and Culture Council Coordinator and writer K Senguttuvan, undertook the task to get an eyeful of the past.

A Suryakanth, a participant, said, “We reached the place with great difficulty. The interior of the rock is painted dark red. It features a human figure and an animal. It was fascinating to see the paintings.” After a two-hour journey through rough rocks with no path, they found a smooth flat rock with the red paintings, said the team.

Senguttuvan told TNIE, “Ancient rock paintings have already been discovered at 16 places including Keezhvalai, Alambadi, and Sethavarai. The rock paintings found at Muttathur hills are of historical importance because the hill is situated between the villages of Arasalapuram, where the historic chicken hero stone was found, and Mandakapattu, where the first cave temple of the Pallavas is located.” He said many parts of the painting were seen blurred and distorted.

When asked about the paintings, Ananthapuram K Krishnamoorthy, a senior epigraphist who discovered the Keezhvalai rock paintings, said the paintings maybe 5,000 years old. “A group of human beings can be seen in this collection of paintings. Being a hunting community, they practised fighting animals. It also features the image of an animal.”

Insisting on the importance of the paintings and the apathy towards their maintenance, Senguttuvan said the Archaeology Department and the district administration should protect the paintings as they are a historical and cultural symbol of the Tamils.