An epitaph dating back to 1801 has been discovered near Dhali Palayampattu, a village 14 km off Udumalpet, near Pollachi.
Dr S Ravi, a Kovai-based epigraphist, who traced the epitaph, claimed that the inscription was on a 19th century grave of an Englishman hanged by freedom fighters in Kongu region. “The instances of Indian rulers hanging foreigners are very few,” said Ravi, who traced the tomb with the epitaph.
The epitaph, written in Tamil, reads that an English messenger was hanged to death by Malayandi Ethalappa Naicken, who is believed to be a kin of Veerapandiya Kattabomman, who was hanged to death by British in 1799.
Ethalappa Naicken was the then chieftain of Dhali Palayapattu, which was under Panchalankurichi region ruled by Kattabomman. Ravi said that Dhali Palayapattu was formed after Vishwanath Naicker formed 72 Palayapattus in Kongu region for fighting against the British. “Ethalappa Naicken is believed to have participated in the first Panchalankurichi war along with Kattabomman against the British. After Kattabomman’s public hanging, several local chieftains in the region united under Ethalappa Naicken and fought against the British in the second Panchalankurichi war, which is believed to have happened in 1801.
British officials made a list of chieftains who led the war and found that Ethalappa Naicken was in the forefront. Later, they sent messengers to Ethalappa Naicken’s fort. Irked by Kattabomman’s hanging, Ethalappa Naicken caught the head of the messengers and hanged him to death,” Ravi said. As per the epitaph, the messenger leader buried in the tomb is ‘Andre Katie’. The date on the epitaph is April 23, 1801, a Thursday.
Ravi said that the name could be pronounced in two ways as it is written in old Tamil script.
“Senior archaeologist Y Subarayalu has also read the inscription and opined that the name can be read as Andre Katie,” Ravi said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service – Coimbatore / August 05th, 2013