Devankurichi is an archaeology site located near to

T.Kallupatti T. Kallupatti is a panchayat town in the Madurai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Etymology The town has an initial similar to that of a person. Initials in the name, is a common feature of towns in Southern Tamil Nadu. The initial f ...

and 40 km far from

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Devankurichi is a small village on the road towards

Peraiyur Peraiyur is a panchayat town in Madurai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is one of the Revenue blocks of Madurai District. Peraiyur is the headquarters of the Peraiyur taluk. Location Peraiyur is southwest of Madurai and southe ...

. The Devankurichi hill is a symbol of spirituality as one can see it while driving closer to T.Kallupatti. Many people throng the Agneeswaran Temple of Devankurichi for doing the last rites of those who are dead and so its equated to Kasi.

Archaeological excavation

An archaeological excavation in 1976-77, revealed that Devankuruchi was a human habitation even 6,000 years ago. 2,000-year-old black and red wares, stone beads, bangles made of conch shells and burial urns were unearthed during the excavation which prove the existence of megalithic culture. Iron and

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

age evidences were also found during the excavation. The site continued to be occupied in the early historical period, as attested to by the presence of some copper coins and russet coated white painted ware. Analysing the habitation site, it was understood that both

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

and

Saivism Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the supreme being. It is the second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia (predominantly in ...

flourished in the area. ‘Sri Agnieswarar, Gomathi Amman Temple’, the present Siva temple, was constructed during the later

Pandya The Pandya dynasty (), also referred to as the Pandyas of Madurai, was an ancient Tamil dynasty of South India, and among the four great kingdoms of Tamilakam, the other three being the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Cheras. Existing sinc ...

period (12 – 13 CE). Later, it was fully renovated and reconstructed during the Nayak period. Tamil inscriptions belonging to

Maravarman Sundara Pandyan Maravarman Sundara Pandyan I was a Pandyan king, who ruled regions of South India between 1216–1238 CE. He laid the foundation for the Pandya revival, after being dominated by the Cholas for several centuries. Accession Sundara Pandyan ca ...

(1216 CE -1238 CE) has details about donations made to the temple. Though the Jain temple as ruined, Jain sculptures found around the temple reinstates its presence. At the foothills of Devankuruchi, a Nayak period

hero stone A hero stone (Vīragallu in Kannada, Naṭukal in Tamil) is a memorial commemorating the honorable death of a hero in battle. Erected between the second half of the first millennium BCE and the 18th century CE, hero stones are found all over In ...

was established in remembrance of a hero who was killed while fighting a tiger.{{cite news, title=Devankuruchi hillock preserves a rare chalcolithic culture, url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/namma-madurai-slice-of-legend-and-history/article4877195.ece?homepage=true, accessdate=4 July 2013, newspaper=The Hindu

References

Archaeological sites in Tamil Nadu Villages in Madurai district