Gunduperumbedu Paleobotany site (Kanchipuram - Tamil Nadu) | My Travelogue - Indian Travel Blogger, Heritage enthusiast & UNESCO hunter!

Two things happened... One, ever since I visited Thiruvakkarai, my mom was telling me about a similar site much closer to Chennai. Two, I was taken by a some friends to a ultra-modern temple close to Sriperumbudur. When I was there, I opened my phone's GPS to find where I was exactly. My map showed close by, like within 3-4 km, the place that my mom told about - Gunduperumbedu! So I went back to the location again to see just Gunduperumbedu.

Infact I didn't have to go to Gunduperumbedu village at all. Even before reaching there, just after crossing the previous village, I asked the locals about 'Poo-kal', as they call it. Poo in Tamil means Flower and Kal in Tamil means Stone. Since this is a Paleobotony site where the stones have fossilized on them, they are called Pookkal. That's coining of new word. Sensible, right?

The locals told me to look for a small pond on the road side and a church beside it. Near that area, on the either sides of the road, would be several broken stones and the 'Poo-kal' we're looking for would be among them. I looked for the pond, but I really couldn't find any pond in site. Then I tried to look for a Cross among the buildings to find the church, and I found it. Tried to get into the little lanes and yup, I did manage to find what the pond was. It was a bit on the drier side and I had earlier thought it was just a pit.

After parking the bike there, I started to hunt for the 'Pookkal'. The stones there were pretty interesting. They pretty much reminded me of Thiruvakkarai. I think quite a few stones here are actually paleo-neolithic wood that's petrified, coz I could see images like annual rings on the stones.

After quite a bit of searching, we did find a few stones with print of leaves. But the real treasure if finding stones with impression of leaves and I did manage to find a few. They were everywhere on the road sides.

The location & geography was pretty much similar to Thirupporur & Siruthavur megalithic burial regions.

By the time, the a couple of locals came to see what I was doing and one of them went back to his home and brought in the treasure trove (1st pic of the post). A huge plank of about 5" x 10" with the impression of a long single fern leaf. Well, that piece has been requested by the Botony dept. of Pondicherry University.

Anyways, the sad factors also cannot be ignored. First, the breaking of rocks.I dunno for what? But the rocks in this regions has been broken recklessly. Can you see how the rocks look perfectly cut, like they were detonated. May be they cut it for the construction of road or may be the buildings. In any case, several rocks have been destroyed. Its upto us to protect the rest. Second, this place really really has to be taken over by GSI (Geological Survey of India) before it becomes permanently damaged.

Btw, on a totally different note, did you know Madras just celebrated its 375th birthday??? If you don't know, Madras is presently called Chennai. But for the people of Chennai who've been living here for years together, as we always call it "Chennai is a City; Madras is an Emotion". Its been 375 years, since the British Raj had developed Madras. And as a dedication, Murugappa Group came up with this awesome song. Check it out!!!!

TO GET THERE:
In Chennai
From Tambaram: 16km via Mudichur Road, Manimangalam towards Sriperumbudur.
Buses go upto Kolathur on this road. A left turn at Kolathur leads to Vellarai vilage. Just after Vellarai, even before reaching Gunduperumbedu you'll spot this location.

Dedicated to Venkat