Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA) is the archaeology department of the

Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...

. Founded in 1961, the department is headed by an

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

(IAS) officer with the designation Commissioner for Archaeology and conducts archaeological excavations in the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is 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 India ...

Headquarters

The department initially functioned from a rented house in

Besant Nagar Besant Nagar is an upscale, exclusive residential neighbourhood in South Chennai, India. It is located along the coast of Bay of Bengal. The neighbourhood is inhabited by highly affluent population and is dotted with many upmarket restaurant ...

, Chennai. In 2003, it moved to its present premises - a newly constructed building named "Tamil Valarchi Valagam" in Halls Road,

Egmore Egmore is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. Situated on the northern banks of the Coovum River, Egmore is an important residential area as well as a commercial and transportation hub. The Egmore Railway Station was the main terminus of the Madr ...

Library

The department has a library at its headquarters in Chennai with over 11,500 volumes on

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

and

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...

. It houses copies of important journals such as ''

Indian Antiquary ''The Indian Antiquary: A journal of oriental research in archaeology, history, literature, language, philosophy, religion, folklore, &c, &c,'' (subtitle varies) was a journal of original research relating to India, published between 1872 and 1 ...

'', ''Asiatic Researches'', ''

Sacred Books of the East The ''Sacred Books of the East'' is a monumental 50-volume set of English translations of Asian religious texts, edited by Max Müller and published by the Oxford University Press between 1879 and 1910. It incorporates the essential sacred texts ...

'', ''International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics'' and ''Journal of Tamil Studies''.

Publications

The department publishes a quarterly journal called ''Kalvettu''. Like the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexande ...

(ASI), it also publishes excavation reports and guide books for tourists, as well as district-wise lists of inscriptions and museum guides.

Epigraphy

An epigraphy wing was inaugurated in 1966. Since its inception, the epigraphy wing has prepared

estampage Estampage or stamping, is a term commonly used in epigraphy to obtain the exact replica of an inscription that cannot be transported. According to Jayanti Madhukar, it is defined as: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as: Etymology Acc ...

s of about 14,000 inscriptions which are preserved at a facility in

Udagamandalam Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and sou ...

. The department started an institute for epigraphy in 1973–74. The institute conducts one year post graduate diploma courses in epigraphy and archaeology for Tamil, Sanskrit or history graduates of the

University of Madras The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigiou ...

List of directors

T. N. Ramachandran T.N. Ramachandran (died 2021) was an Indian art historian, artist, archaeologist and a Sanskrit scholar, specialising in the study and exposition of various aspects of Indian art. He was born to Narayanan (a Sanskrit scholar) & Visalakshi (an a ...

(1964–66) *

R. Nagaswamy Ramachandran Nagaswamy (10 August 1930 – 23 January 2022) was an Indian historian, archaeologist and epigraphist who was known for his work on temple inscriptions and art history of Tamil Nadu. He was an authority on Chola bronzes. Nagas ...

(1966–88) * Natana Kasinathan * T. Udhayachandran (Tamil: த. உதயச்சந்திரன்) Commissioner of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu.

Excavations

So far, the department has excavated 32 sites. #

Anaimalai Anaimalai is a taluk in Coimbatore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Agricultural day work is the main occupation. Paddy, banana, sugarcane and other crops are grown in the area. Anaimalai is a pilgrimage spot, due to the worship o ...

(1968) #

Kovalanpottal Kovalanpottal is a place located in Palanganatham near Madakulam in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, India. As per Tamil epic Silappatikaram, Kovalan is believed to be beheaded here by the orders of Pandyan king Neduncheziyan. It is one of the pro ...

(1980) # Tiruttangal (1994–95) # Teruruveli (1999-2000) #

Kodumanal Kodumanal is a village located in the Erode district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was once a flourishing ancient trade city known as Kodumanam, as inscribed in ''Patittrupathu'' of Sangam Literature. The place is an important ...

# Mangudi # Vasavasamudram #

Karur Karur () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Karur is the administrative headquarters of Karur district. It is located on the banks of River Amaravathi, Kaveri and Noyyal. Karur is well known for the export of Home Textile products to ...

# Alangulam

References

External links

* * * * Tamil Nadu state government departments State archaeology departments of India {{asia-archaeology-stub