Statue of Goddess Amman Found

From deccanchronicle.com Amman idol, copper coins unearthed near Mannargudi [Tamil Nadu state, India] January 25th, 2010 By Our Correspondent Jan. 24: A three-and-a-half foot stone idol of goddess Amman and a mud pot containing a hoard of ancient copper coins were unearthed by construction workers at two different places near Mannargudi. Jayalakshmi of Ambedkarnagar in Neduvakottai who wanted to construct a house decided to relocate the mango tree located in her site. The workers dug a four-ft deep pit on the border of the site on Saturday when they stumbled upon idol of goddess Amman. Later, they handed over the idol to Mannargudi tahsildar Elangovan. In another incident, the workers were levelling the site owned by Sundararajan of Keezhanemmeli village for constructing a house on Saturday. They brought a load of sand from the site owned by Selvam of Serumangalam Athikottai to close the unused well located on Sundararajan’s land. There, the workers stumbled upon an ancient mud pot containing a hoard of copper coins weighing 11.6 kg.Sundararajan, however, did not hand over the treasure trove to the revenue officials. On a tip off by an anonymous caller, the revenue officials led by tahsildar Elangovan rushed to the village and questioned Sundararajan. The revenue officials retrieved the broken mud pot and copper coins and took the treasure trove to taluk office. Tahsildar Elangovan, however, expressed ignorance of which period these two treasure troves belonged to. “We will come to know which period/century these copper coins and idol stone of goddess Amman only after the experts of Archaeological Survey of India ascertain it,” Elangovan said.