A new artificial intelligence model trained on regional script variations has successfully deciphered a series of fragmented stone inscriptions from the Vaigai River Valley. The texts, written in a rare hybrid of Old Tamil and Brahmi, outline a complex legal framework for the seasonal distribution of water and the maintenance of check-dams during the 9th century.
The inscriptions detail specific penalties for over-extracting water and guidelines for collective labor in desilting reservoirs. This discovery proves that medieval South Indian kingdoms possessed a highly specialized science of hydrology and a sophisticated bureaucratic system for managing common-pool resources during drought periods.