Places Archives - Storytrails

History, People, Places

The Cholas as Hydraulic Engineers

The Cholas were known to be passionate patrons of art and culture - and a number of grand temples in Tamil Nadu stand testament to that. But did you know that they also invested heavily in water resource projects? Some of those waterbodies still exist today.

History, People, Places

The Ice King, the Ice Doctor, and the Ice War: The Story of Frederic Tudor

Thanks to a maverick American, Chennai was importing ice from the US even before refrigeration was invented! This is the cool story of the “Ice King” – Frederic Tudor.

Culture, History, Places

Ancient Burial Practices in Tamil Nadu | Keeladi

Burial sites are among the most important sources of information for archaeologists. The excavations at Keeladi, Adichanallur, Korkai and other places in Tamil Nadu have thrown up a host of burial urns, skeletal remains and other grave goods. These finds reveal much about the oldest settlements in south India through the ways in which they dealt with death. This video, the latest in our series around the Keeladi excavations, explores the different burial rites and practices of ancient Tamils and how they help us understand our history and cultures of the past better.

History, People, Places

Chettur Sankaran Nair: The Forgotten Voice of Jallianwala Bagh

On the 13th of April, 1919, the British Army carried out a brutal assault on a large crowd of Indians who had gathered to peacefully protest against British atrocities at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. The massacre was one of the darkest episodes in the history of the Indian freedom struggle. C. Sankaran Nair, a nationalist and a celebrated lawyer, was one of the most vociferous voices against the act. This is his story.

Culture, History, Places

Of Grave Matters and Buried Treasures

According to archaeologists, grave goods are practically buried treasures that can offer valuable information about life in ancient civilisations, strange as it may seem. This story dives deep into the world of grave goods and the fascinating secrets that have been unearthed from various burial sites in India.

History, People, Places

Charles Masson: The Man Who Discovered Harappa

Meet Charles Masson, a soldier turned archaeologist and numismatist. During his lifetime, he was largely unacknowledged for the staggering amount of excavation work he carried out in Afghanistan and parts of modern-day Pakistan, which led to the discovery of entire new chapters in history. He was also the first European to discover the ruins of Harappa, one of the most important the Indus Valley Civilisation sites. This is his story.

Culture, History, Places

The Oldest Settlements in South India: The Keeladi Excavations

How old are the oldest settlements in south India? This video explores the story of the recent excavations at Keeladi, which revealed the existence of a sophisticated Tamil civilisation dating back at least to the 6th century BCE. But did you know that archaeological digs carried out over a 100 years earlier at sites like Adichanallur and Pallavaram had already hinted at human habitation sites in Tamil Nadu dating back thousands of years? How have these path-breaking excavations changed our understanding of ancient south Indian history?

Culture, History, Places

The Story of Indian Scripts – Part 2 | The Potshard Inscriptions of Keeladi

What can a few fragments of pottery tell us about how people wrote 5000 years ago? Quite a lot, as it turns out. The Keeladi excavations of 2015 pointed to the existence of a literate ancient Tamil civilisation that could go as far back as 800 BCE. Among the most significant finds was a series of potshards with different inscriptions, which offered many fascinating insights about the evolution of scripts in India.

History, People, Places

Subramania Bharati: The Poet Who Sang of Freedom

Subramania Bharati was more than just a poet. He was a journalist, a linguist and a passionate freedom fighter. Above all, he lived life on his own terms.

History, Places

Muziris: The ‘First Emporium’ of India

The ancient town of Muziris in southern India attracted traders from all around the world as far back as the first century BCE. Traders from Rome came with gold and left with something they considered even more precious – black pepper. The port thrived until a catastrophic flood wiped out all traces of it in the 1300s. For many years after, Muziris remained shrouded in mystery until recent excavations revealed some of its fascinating history.

Places

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