The Keeladi excavations in Tamil Nadu have pushed the known timelines of ancient Tamil civilisation by at least three centuries. But puzzlingly, unlike most inhabited sites, the Keeladi sites did not reveal any human bones. Then, as archaeologists expanded the area under excavation, they reached a village called Konthagai, where they found a large number of skeletons and burial urns. Could Konthagai have been a burial site for Keeladi? How did ancient Tamils deal with death? What are burial urns and how do the findings at Keeladi, Korkai, Adichanallur and other places corroborate the information about Tamil burial rites mentioned in Sangam literature? This video digs deep into the different funerary customs practised in the oldest settlements of south India – from cremations and the use of burial urns to the erecting of hero stones and Nishidhi pillars to commemorate the dead.

#keeladi #keezhadi #Konthagai #adichanallur #korkai #sangamliterature #porunai #thamirabarani #vaigai #Burialurns #Nishidhi #storytrails #storiesofindia #tamilnadutourism #TamilCivilisation
#indusvalley #indusvalleycivilisation #AncientCivilisations #EgmoreMuseum #southindianhistory #indianhistory #AncientTamil

Produced in partnership with:
Saint-Gobain: https://www.saint-gobain.com/en (@SaintGobainTV)
Tamil Nadu Tourism: https://www.tamilnadutourism.tn.gov.in/ (@TamilnaduTourismOnline)
The Egmore Museum, Chennai

Editing credits: Venkat Krishna
Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay

IMAGE CREDITS: To view attributions for images used in this video, click on this link – https://storytrails.in/culture/ancient-burial-practices-in-tamil-nadu-keeladi/

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29 Comments

  1. Congratulations and Thanks to you, Sir!

    The fact that Keezhadi did not yield any burial remnants till now is actually an extremely satisfying and enlightening evidence itself!

    Our ancestors were so civilized and hygienic in their socio-economic structure that they respectfully laid their dead in a separate and isolated spots of land as "Idukaadu-роЗроЯрпБроХро╛роЯрпБ-burial land" and "sudukaadu-роЪрпБроЯрпБроХро╛роЯрпБ-crematorium" specially allocated for burial and cremation purposes alone.

    Unlike other religions, Hindhus never installed burial or cremation sites in the midst of dwelling.

    And even more as economic is that they never built cemeteries for the dead in most deaths.

    They erected "Hero Worship Stones"-ро╡рпАро░ ро╡ро┤ро┐рокро╛роЯрпНроЯрпБроХрпН роХро▓рпН" in the form of stone reliefs at the sport where the heroes met their fate. Most of these became "Clan Deities"-роХрпБро▓ родрпЖропрпНро╡роЩрпНроХро│рпН. Only the most noble persons were offered a cemetary.

    The excavations not yielding human bones may also suggest that they practiced cremation in most of the occasions of death in order to reduce the bone garbage. It was a practice in those days that after every big war, that were mostly engaged in far away fields preferable river banks,

    people performed mass cremation on the mounds of dead warriors and horses and elephants.

  2. I think, all of these excavation sites, burial sites and cremation remains are just luring us towards the Ultimate Kumarik Kandam-роХрпБрооро░ро┐роХрпН роХрогрпНроЯроорпН!"
    And to the most ancient civilization the Sangam Literature hail as "родрпЖройрпН рокрпБро▓родрпНродро╛ро░рпН, that flourishes there over a millennium ago!

  3. These ancient archeological sites are invaluable in uncovering the lifestyles and practices of our fore fathers. These new discoveries reconfirm the antiquity of the civilizations that thrived in this region.
    However, there is something odd in the narration. The gentleman is explaining about the ancient dead and burial practices with a smiling face which is totally at odds with the context. Or am I just imagining things?

  4. Fantastic! I'm obsessed with history. Especially our south Indian history. I'm Sri Lankan, living in London and have watched all videos on your channel. Will share your channel on all what's app groups I'm part of. Keep up the good work. Please do a video about the origins and history of bharathanaatyam!

  5. Hindus in other parts also practice burial long before Judaism was even born. Burials are usually reserved for Hindu monks or sadhus and children who haven't got their upanayan ceremony and whoever wants to be buried that way, rest go for cremation( maximum Hindus opt for cremation now). In fact, my mom's grandmom's sister had her ashes buried in a urn and a Allaya( its an Odia word for small cemented/thatched roof shaped graves of enlightened spirits who served humanity) erected to commemorate her, offerings were buried with her and my maternal house still gives her offerings as she led a pious life as a Hindu preacher of Bhagavatam and we are Odias, the only Indian group with no Muslim or Christian influence still existent to this day, pure Vaishnavaite Sanatani culture of the Odias.
    Hindus also practice embalming, usually a sage's body is done so and worshipped or his ashes are collected in a urn and buried in a mound, worshipped like that for centuries, most of the Vaishnavaite ans Shaivite saints in Odisha are worshipped that way only. You don't get samadhis like that, Jains and Buddhists also do the same otherwise we won't get the crystallized remains of Buddha in various stupas too. These ancient Tamil practices are pretty consistent with rest of India as well as Indus valley civilization, although Veerakaals are only found in South India, we just have village deities of women/Men who fought with Mughal-Turkic-British rule, like Vasulei, Jagulei. There are immortalized in the history of Odisha as warriors who protected our culture from foreign invasions. Remember, Odisha was the last state in Northern India to come under Muslim rule, that too lasted for 2 decades and we had periods of independence and then, being a vassal kingdom. We are also the last state in India to enter the British empire in 1803, we might have been independent if Nepalese and Punjabis hadn't conspired against us.

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  7. Good effort in bring out the truth ….KEELADI INDUSTRIAL ZONE( smelting techno of over 1500c heat generated) dating back to 3000years old …wht dies this implies?
    Thamil Navigators reached Australia some 40k- 50k years ago….one way travel .

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