Bapanattam

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This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

Bapanattam

Village in the Palmaner taluk of North Arcot District, Madras, situated in 13 5' N. and 78 41' E., 17 miles from Palmaner. It is noteworthy for its extraordinary collection of prehistoric kistvaens, which are called by the natives the temples of the Five Pandavas. There are others elsewhere in the taluk, but nowhere are they so numerous as near this village. A few of them were explored by Lieut.-Colonel Branfil of the Trigonometrical Survey, who described the result in a paper in vol. x of the Indian Antiquary.

They are of unusual interest from the size, shape, and arrangement of the slabs of which they are composed, as well as from their great number. It has been suggested that these kistvaens are tombs of the Kurumbas, a tribe who are still very numerous in this neighbourhood and were once, according to tradition, a powerful clan. They are sometimes called kurumbarkudi (' Kurumbas' houses ') in Tamil.