Krishnagiri: Acoustic' stone stuns visitors

Krishnagiri: In a remote fringe village of Millithikki, five km from Anchetti in Denkannikotta taluk of Krishnagiri district, quite inside the reserved forest area, it is an unusual ‘acoustic’ stone that is making news in this part these days.

Tap or bang the stone with any object, it sounds like a bell, as though something live and organic had been petrified ages ago. It may not be like a musical stone that one finds in temples like for Lord Nellaiappar in Tirunelveli down south, but Krishnagiri is ringing a new discovery with this stone.

While historians would look for a scientific method to uncover the mystery of this ‘bell’stone, villagers have a different story to say on why this stone in this village, on Urigam-Anchetti road, sounds like a ‘bell’ when tapped or hit with objects.

Historians wish for the scientific method to uncover the mystery but the villagers say a different story for the stone that sounds like bell when hit with objects. Locals, meanwhile, are busy escorting scores of new comers searching for this stone found in a reserve forest area.

The visitors unmindful of the risk involved enter the forest habituated by  wild elephants, trek few km with the local people to the spot where the ‘stone’, measuring over 3 feet and about 2.5 feet tall, is seen.

The ‘acoustic stone’ sits on another boulder that looked fractured into two pieces, leaving a crevice between two rocks. Small cup-shaped holes are also found at the top surface of the ‘acoustic stone’.

Pointing to this, the villagers believe that the small cup shaped cavities are similar to the one found in macula, locally called as ‘pallankuzhi’, which according to them was the game played by the village goddess ‘Dodda Amma and Chikka Amma’ at the place.

A shrine for ‘Dodda Amma’ and ‘Chikka Amma’ is located deep inside the forest and for which the annual festival is being held. The festival starts with special ‘poojas’ for the ‘acoustic stone’.

“This stone is unique for us because it was jointly created by the elder Dodda Amma and her younger sister Chikka Amma for the siblings to play pallan kuzhi,” 82-year-old village headman M. Muthu Goundar told DC. 

Some historians tend to agree with it, saying the small cup-shaped cavity formed in the stone is related to the goddesses' worship in ancient religions and practiced by agriculture communities having the custom of conducting annual festivals to ensure good harvest and wellbeing of society.

“Some say that the stone belongs to the period much before the Iron Age. A detailed study including carbon dating needs to be done to unravel the mystery of the stone,” says K.A. Manoharan, president of the Krishnagiri district historical research centre.