Tamil bell - Revision history

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2026-02-13T00:11:59Z

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	The '''Tamil Bell''' is a broken [[bronze]] [[Bell (instrument)\|bell]] discovered in approximately 1836 by [[missionary]] [[William Colenso]]. It was being used as a pot to boil potatoes by [[Māori people\|Māori]] women near [[Whangarei]] in the [[Northland Region]] of [[New Zealand]].		The '''Tamil Bell''' is a broken [[bronze]] [[Bell (instrument)\|bell]] discovered in approximately 1836 by [[missionary]] [[William Colenso]]. It was being used as a pot to boil potatoes by [[Māori people\|Māori]] women near [[Whangarei]] in the [[Northland Region]] of [[New Zealand]].

	The bell is 13 cm long and 9 cm deep, and has an inscription. The [[inscription]] running around the rim of the bell has been identified as old [[Tamil script\|Tamil]]. The inscription reads "Sikaiyya Tanava {{nbsp}}... Kappal udaiya Mani", which translates to "The bell belongs to Sikaiyya Tanasva's ship".<ref name="sridharanp1980">{{cite book\|title=A maritime history of India\|first=K.\|last=Sridharan\|year=1982\|publisher=Government of India\|pages=45–46, 405\|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.219650\|access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> The inscription had previously been misread as "Mohoyideen Buks", which led to a theory that it was connected to an ancient shipwreck bearing the name "Mohoyd Buk" found on the coast between [[Raglan, New Zealand#Geography\|Raglan]] and [[Aotea Harbour]]s. The theory has since been generally discounted by academics.<ref name="oconnor2012">{{cite news \|last=O'Connor \|first=Tom \|date=30 July 2012 \|title=A mystery wreck and a ~~ship’s~~ bell \|url=https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/waikato-times/20120730/281968899818555 \|work=Waikato Times \|page=14 \|access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> Some of the characters in the inscription are of an archaic form no longer seen in modern [[Tamil script]], thus suggesting that the bell could be about 500 years old, possibly from the [[Pandyan Dynasty\|Later Pandya]] period.<ref name="sridharanp1980" /> It is thus what is sometimes called an [[out-of-place artefact]].		The bell is 13 cm long and 9 cm deep, and has an inscription. The [[inscription]] running around the rim of the bell has been identified as old [[Tamil script\|Tamil]]. The inscription reads "Sikaiyya Tanava {{nbsp}}... Kappal udaiya Mani", which translates to "The bell belongs to Sikaiyya Tanasva's ship".<ref name="sridharanp1980">{{cite book\|title=A maritime history of India\|first=K.\|last=Sridharan\|year=1982\|publisher=Government of India\|pages=45–46, 405\|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.219650\|access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> The inscription had previously been misread as "Mohoyideen Buks", which led to a theory that it was connected to an ancient shipwreck bearing the name "Mohoyd Buk" found on the coast between [[Raglan, New Zealand#Geography\|Raglan]] and [[Aotea Harbour]]s. The theory has since been generally discounted by academics.<ref name="oconnor2012">{{cite news \|last=O'Connor \|first=Tom \|date=30 July 2012 \|title=A mystery wreck and a ship's bell \|url=https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/waikato-times/20120730/281968899818555 \|work=Waikato Times \|page=14 \|access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> Some of the characters in the inscription are of an archaic form no longer seen in modern [[Tamil script]], thus suggesting that the bell could be about 500 years old, possibly from the [[Pandyan Dynasty\|Later Pandya]] period.<ref name="sridharanp1980" /> It is thus what is sometimes called an [[out-of-place artefact]].

	[[File:Tamilbell2.JPG\|thumbnail\|Bell from a different source]]		[[File:Tamilbell2.JPG\|thumbnail\|Bell from a different source]]

imported>TimofKingsland: Used more complete quote from elsewhere in book and removed content that's now redundant.

2021-09-04T11:06:15Z

Used more complete quote from elsewhere in book and removed content that's now redundant.

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2020}}
[[File:Tamilbell1.JPG|thumbnail|Bell with its inscription and translation]]
__NOTOC__
The '''Tamil Bell''' is a broken [[bronze]] [[Bell (instrument)|bell]] discovered in approximately 1836 by [[missionary]] [[William Colenso]]. It was being used as a pot to boil potatoes by [[Māori people|Māori]] women near [[Whangarei]] in the [[Northland Region]] of [[New Zealand]].

The bell is 13 cm long and 9 cm deep, and has an inscription. The [[inscription]] running around the rim of the bell has been identified as old [[Tamil script|Tamil]]. The inscription reads "Sikaiyya Tanava {{nbsp}}... Kappal udaiya Mani", which translates to "The bell belongs to Sikaiyya Tanasva's ship".<ref name="sridharanp1980">{{cite book|title=A maritime history of India|first=K.|last=Sridharan|year=1982|publisher=Government of India|pages=45–46, 405|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.219650|access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> The inscription had previously been misread as "Mohoyideen Buks", which led to a theory that it was connected to an ancient shipwreck bearing the name "Mohoyd Buk" found on the coast between [[Raglan, New Zealand#Geography|Raglan]] and [[Aotea Harbour]]s. The theory has since been generally discounted by academics.<ref name="oconnor2012">{{cite news |last=O'Connor |first=Tom |date=30 July 2012 |title=A mystery wreck and a ship’s bell |url=https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/waikato-times/20120730/281968899818555 |work=Waikato Times |page=14 |access-date=4 September 2021}}</ref> Some of the characters in the inscription are of an archaic form no longer seen in modern [[Tamil script]], thus suggesting that the bell could be about 500 years old, possibly from the [[Pandyan Dynasty|Later Pandya]] period.<ref name="sridharanp1980" /> It is thus what is sometimes called an [[out-of-place artefact]].

[[File:Tamilbell2.JPG|thumbnail|Bell from a different source]]
[[Indology|Indologist]] [[V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar]] states in his ''The Origin and Spread of the Tamils'' that ancient Tamil sea-farers might have had a knowledge of [[Australia]] and [[Polynesia]].<ref name="tamils_spread">{{cite book|title=Origin and Spread of the Tamils|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.34321|last=Dikshitar|first=V. R. Ramachandra|authorlink=V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar|publisher=Adyar Library|year=1947|pages= 30}}</ref> The discovery of the bell has led to speculation about a possible Tamil presence in New Zealand, but the bell is not in itself proof of early Tamil contact with New Zealand'.<ref>Kerry R. Howe (2003). ''The Quest for Origins: Who First Discovered and Settled New Zealand and the Pacific Islands?'' pp 144–5 Auckland:Penguin.</ref> Seafarers from [[Trincomalee]] may have reached New Zealand during the period of increased trade between the [[Vanni (Sri Lanka)|Vanni]] country and South East Asia. The bell might have been dropped off the shore by a Portuguese ship, whose sailors had been in touch with the Indians.<ref>{{cite book | title=New Zealand Journal of Science | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CHEVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA58 | accessdate=3 June 2013 | year=1883 | publisher=Wise, Caffin & Company | pages=58 }}</ref> Also, a number of Indian vessels had been captured by the Europeans during the period; thus, another possibility is that the bell might have belonged to such a wrecked vessel, cast away on the New Zealand shores.<ref name="NZI1872">{{cite book | author=New Zealand Institute | title=Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Po42AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA43 | accessdate=3 June 2013 | year=1872 | publisher=New Zealand Institute. | pages=43–}}</ref>

The bell was bequeathed by William Colenso to the Dominion Museum – now the [[Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]].

==See also==
* [[Indian copper plate inscriptions]]
* [[Laguna Copperplate Inscription]]
* [[Pallava script]]
* [[Tamil copper-plate inscriptions]]
* [[Tamil inscriptions]]
* [[Tamil script]]
* [[Theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* {{cite book|title=The lost caravel|author=Robert Langdon|publisher=Pacific Publications|pages=243–244|isbn=978-0-85807-021-9|year=1975}}
* {{cite book|title=The journal of the Polynesian Society, Volume 84|pages=477–483|publisher=Polynesian Society (N. Z.)|year=1975}}
* {{cite book|title=Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, Volume 4|pages=40–41|year=1872|publisher=Royal Society of New Zealand}} http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_04/rsnz_04_00_000580.html#n43
* {{cite book|title=Digging up the past: New Zealand's archaeological history|pages=99|author=Michael Malthus Trotter|author2=Beverley McCulloch |author3=John Wilson |publisher=Penguin Books|year=1997|isbn=978-0-670-87440-8}}
* {{cite book|title=The New Zealand journal of history, Volumes 4–5|pages=10|publisher=History Department, University of Auckland|year=1970}}
* {{cite book|title=Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori|url=http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_04/rsnz_04_00_000600.pdf|work=Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, Volume 4|year=1871|publisher=National Library of New Zealand|pages=22–23}}

==External links==
*[http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/SriLankans/1/ENZ-Resources/Standard/3/en Picture of the bell] at [[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]]
*[https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/213397 The Tamil Bell] from the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

[[Category:History of New Zealand]]
[[Category:Tamil history]]
[[Category:Individual bells]]
[[Category:Out-of-place artifacts]]
[[Category:Tamil inscriptions]]