British ruled India from 1612 until 1947. The rulers of many native Indian kingdoms were involved in various battles against the British colonial rule. Tippu sultan, who ruled the Mysore Kingdom from 1782 to 1799, is one among them. Tippu is hailed as the “Tiger of Mysore” for his enormous valour.

This cannon model is made of brass. It has decorative carvings, representations of tiger's face, head and Urdu inscriptions.

Burial urns are the crucial sources of prehistoric material evidences of probably a civilised ancient Tamizhagam as well as the possible ancestral worship or the Cult of Dead. From Thermo luminescence dating, it has been concluded that most of the Urns of Tamil Nadu are not less than 2000 years old. Burial urns have been unearthed from different types of geographical zones throughout Tamil Nadu. The ones excavated from Adhichanallur (Tuthukudi), Keezhadi (Sivagangai), Mandapam (Kanchipuram), Kilpauk (Chennai), Thillayadi (Nagapattinam), Sengamadai (Ramanathapuram) are noteworthy.

Though, burial urns have been got from various regions of the world, the material, shape, size, technique, etc, widely differs from one place to another. Burial urns of Tamil Nadu were made exclusively out of terracotta. The size, on an average, ranges from about four to eleven feet height and one to two feet in diameter. 

The pear shaped urns come mostly with a conical bottom while few have flat ones. In some urns earthenware utensils, notably ‘Kalayam’ (bowls), pots perforated with tiny holes, lamp, etc., made of slow wheel and disintegrated burnt human bones remains were there. Black and red ware is the dominant variety of pottery found associated with these urns. In Adhichanallur urns, contain decorative articles made of terracotta, copper and iron were found in abundance. Complete human skeletons have also been recovered from few urns. In some areas, empty urns also were dug out. Although, Cairn Circles over the surface of the graves to mark the exact burial spot were discovered, sites without Cairn Circles were not uncommon in Tamil Nadu. Graffiti marks were spotted on urns and burial pottery. Urns with lids have also been identified in some regions. The burial urn displayed here was brought from Kulathur village in Chengam Taluk.

Sarcophagus is a type of horizontally long burial container, with supporting legs at the bottom, in which the body of the deceased was placed and buried. While burial urns were found throughout Tamil Nadu, Sarcophaguses, so far, have been identified only in the northern part of Tamil Nadu. They are all over two thousand years old. The sarcophaguses made of terracotta, are of varying sizes depending on the height of the deceased. Human skeletal fragments, earthenware utensils such as cups, pots, bowls, iron nails, etc., have also been recovered during sarcophagus excavations at many places.

The most curious element observed onfew burial urns and sarcophaguses is a peculiar feature probably assumed asa ‘placental’ representation. It presumably suggests, the faith in afterlife or the journey of the deceased to another world, opine the experts; for this reason, it is speculated that the articles they used were buried with them, with the belief that they would be utilized by them in their future lives.

The sacophgus displayed here was obtained from a village called, MagamayiThirumani, in VandavasiTakuk of Tiruvannamalai District.