Tamil bell: Difference between revisions

The bell is 13&nbsp;cm long and 9&nbsp;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]].