8 B. E.. Branfill — Rtule Ilegalitldc MonmienU in Nortli Arcot. [No. 1,. 



Sude Megalitliic Ilonumenis in North Arcot. — 

 By Lieut. -Colonel R. B. Branfill. (With a Plate.) 



I have just had an opportunity of visiting the disused tonib -field at 

 Iralabanda Bapanattam, in tlie Palmaner taluk o£ North Arcot. 



The tombs here are of unusual interest from the size, shape and ar- 

 rangement of the slabs of which they are composed, and the rarity of their 

 chief characteristic. 



The usual kistvaen or megalithic sepulchral cell is enclosed by three 

 concentric rings of upright stone slabs, each slab having its top rudely 

 worked (chipped or hammer-dressed) into a semicircular or a rectangular 

 shape, and set closely side by side alternately, the round-heads standing 

 higher than the intermediate flat-heads by the amount of their semi-diame- 

 ter, i. e., the height of the rounded portion, so as to form a parapeted wall 

 of rounded merlons with flat silled emhrasures. 



These walls or parapets rise in three concentric tiers on a slight 

 mound or cairn, a foot or so above the general ground level. 



The outer circle or tier consists of some 24 slabs, nearly 3 feet wide, 

 half of them being semicircular at top and standing about 3 feet high, the 

 whole forming a ring fence or enclosing wall about 30 feet in diameter. 



The second tier has 16 slabs, 8 of them round-headed, rising to a 

 height of 5 or 6 feet above the cairn or mound ; the whole forming ' an in- 

 termediate ring-wall about 22 feet in diameter. 



The third or inner wall is composed of four prominent round-topped 

 slabs, 8 to 10 feet wide, and 12 or 15 feet high above the cairn, and 4 or 5 

 feet higher than the other four flat-headed slabs that stand between them 

 and complete the inner ring, an octagon of some 16 feet in diameter, or 

 rather a sc[uare of 12 to 15 feet, with the corners cut off. 



The kistvaen or sepulchral chamber nearly fills up the internal space, 

 the capstone or covering slab of which sometimes projects horizontally 

 beyond the chamber below it, so as to fit closely to the four great round- 

 headed slabs that enclose it, the 4 flat-headed corner stones being only 

 about the same height as the capstone, and narrower than the others. 



The only entrance to the interior was apparently intended to be solely 

 by small holes broken in the two or three central slabs on the east front, 

 and nearly opposite to the similar hole in the eastern wall-slab of the kist. 

 There is a kind of antechamber or closed portico between the inner 

 chamber and the inner enclosing wall, provided with a moveable shutter 

 stone or slab. 



The stone slabs used throughout are comparatively very thin, being 

 usually about 3 inches thick, and even the great capstones seldom exceed 6 

 inches. 



