At the beginning of 1910, the journey to the codaicanal was an unfinished work. The workers expanded the bridle created in 1878 to achieve a star lake created by the then collector Madurai, Sir Vere Henry Leving, in 1863 offered Hills and their healthy climate from the deployment heat of planes. The workers moved to complete the motor road, which is assumed by the main law of GC. But for the earliest recorder Dolmens Kodaikanal, Father Anglade, it was an anxiety and tension. The journey was completed in 1914 and was opened until 1916. Before the road was laid, using the path of the Uns, the field paths used by the Paliyar trunks, the Jesuit priests went up the hills in 1895.
First survey
This seminar, a monastery place for meditation and rejuvenation of the spirit, also allowed Jesuit priests to indulge in their passion for biology and history. It was here – where the only sounds were chirping birds, a soft whisper of rain, or, on a long night, a loud buzzing of Cicadas carried by a cold breeze – Reverend Anglade SJ and Reverend LV Newton SJ wrote Dolmens of Pulney Hills.
The work was perceived as an urgent need for fathers. As mentioned: “The destruction is still near the villages and along the roads. The best group Dolmens Machur near the forest bungalow to turn the Ghat Ao road in 18.
Together with the Paliyar men, Father Anglade, also a well -known botanist and father of Newton, maybe they went through the immersion and hollows of the hills, recorded Dolmens and the rich flora and fauna of this unique area. The affected by numerous dolmens distracted in these slots and the model started the first survey of Dolmens in the hills.
The ancient Dolmens found near the Thandiku from Kodaicnal in the Dindigul district | Photo Credit: G. Karthikeyan
Dolmens, which are megalithic structures, could be dated to 5,000 years. Father Anglade writes: “From the current place and the position of the dolmens and the harsh materials that are visible nearby … it is quite easy to create the idea of the structure. Neither on the stone walls or on the chamber boards there is no sign of cutting or dressing with any tool.”
It imagines that the perhaps the boss of the tribe chose a specific location for the construction of Dolmens and the number of chambers was determined according to the number of boards available in the immediate vicinity with size depending on the actual boards. Builders would be completely dependent on natural quarries in the area. As a result, in Kodaikanal, most of the Dolmens are always built on rocky ridges or slopes or immediately below the large area of the rock. Even today, in some places, can be seen boards of different dimensions from the surface of the rock due to the whims of nature.
Another interesting observation of these first archaeologists was that the large stove, which was placed on top of four vertical boards, had a gentle slope. This rainwater led to the outflow from Dolmens. Dolmens also had an opening at the bottom end to prevent rain water accumulation in the chambers.
Dolmens found in the debris near Thandiku from Kodaikanal in the Dindigul district | Photo Credit: G. Karthikeyan
Research work written by RN Kumaran and M. Saranya, “(before) funerals from the Iron Thandiku, Tamil Nadu”, in 2015 he says that Thandiki was well connected by the main traditional trade routes. “One of the trade routes that connects Musiri on the west coast and Madurai inland Pollachi, Palani, Dindgul and Madurai. And on this route there are early records of Dolmens, Cists, UNS and Cairn-Circles. routes.
In further work, archaeological investigation in Thandiku, K. Rajan, N. Athiyaman, VP Yatees Kumar and M. Saranya In 2008, the terrain could play a big role for the early residents of the region. “Almost 90% of the archaeological sites of this area fall within a range of 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the mean sea level. This altitude provides a congenital environment for forest products such as pepper and cardamom,” says the article. For forest collectors of the past days, this could have been one of the reasons to inhabit the tracts at this altitude.
Occupation from the age of preliminary iron
In 2004, the first phase of the excavation was carried out at the funeral site, which occupies about 40 hectares on the right bank of Marudanadhi. It extends along the right bank, starting with a forest bungalow in the west to the bommakada in the east.
The artifacts such as black and red products and carnene beads, which were dug out of some of these megalithic structures, conclude that preliminary age graves could be placed at the highest point of the funeral complex, which would just opposite the net hill on the second bank.
Dolmens, type of megalithic tomb, in Pethuparai on the hill Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu | Photo Credit: G. Karthikeyan
And as the funeral complex grew over the years, the graves gradually moved from the dwelling. Surveys of Jesuit fathers and subsequent excavations carried out in pepper and cardamom plantations in the lower hills of Palani reveal continuous occupation from the age of pre-gel to this day.
In Pethuparai near Perumal Malai, you can see a slightly oblique ridge, Dolmens, who were fenced by an archaeological survey of India (probably). Dolmens disappears in Thandiki and some slowly disappeared during strong vegetation. It may have been a premonition of Father anglade when he writes in his work, ”Out of the Three Groups Near Near Saddle, at the foot of Perumal Malai in our Days and Under ur Eyes, IT Needs No Special Gift of Prophecy to Foresee That Before Long Not a single stone along the public road and within the reach of contracors and their coolies will escape their desolation.
Lobbo Christian, who works on Sacred Heart College, digitizes numerous old records, fears that the prophecy can come true because only less than 50% of Dolmens, recorded by Jesuit Father, can be seen uncertainly standing in these hills and reveals a key role in Tamil over the ancient history.
Published – 26 September 2025 06:30
