Tuesday 28 October 2014

Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion Facts and Figures

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the nation’s health protection agency:
Children and teens are more likely to get a TBI, including concussion, and take longer to recover than adults. TBI symptoms may appear mild, but the injury can lead to significant life-long impairment affecting an individual’s memory, behavior, learning, and/or emotions. Appropriate diagnosis, management, and education are critical for helping young athletes with a TBI recover quickly and fully.
IT’S WIDESPREAD
  • Each year, U.S. emergency departments treat an estimated 173,285 sports- and recreation-related TBIs (traumatic brain injuries), including concussions, among children and adolescents, from birth to 19 years
  • During the last decade, emergency room visits for sports- and recreation-related TBIs, including concussions, among children and adolescents increased by 60%
WHO’S AT RISK?
  • Overall, the activities associated with the greatest number of TBI-related emergency room visits included bicycling, football, playground activities, basketball, and soccer.
  • Numbers and rates are highest in football and girl’s soccer
·         Some 71 % of all sports and recreation-related TBI emergency room visits were among males and 70.5% were among persons aged 10-19 years
  • Children from birth to 9 years commonly sustained injuries during playground activities or while bicycling
  • Females aged 10-19 years sustained sports- and recreation-related TBIs most often while playing soccer or basketball or while bicycling

Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion Facts and Figures

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the nation’s health protection agency:
Children and teens are more likely to get a TBI, including concussion, and take longer to recover than adults. TBI symptoms may appear mild, but the injury can lead to significant life-long impairment affecting an individual’s memory, behavior, learning, and/or emotions. Appropriate diagnosis, management, and education are critical for helping young athletes with a TBI recover quickly and fully.
IT’S WIDESPREAD
  • Each year, U.S. emergency departments treat an estimated 173,285 sports- and recreation-related TBIs (traumatic brain injuries), including concussions, among children and adolescents, from birth to 19 years
  • During the last decade, emergency room visits for sports- and recreation-related TBIs, including concussions, among children and adolescents increased by 60%
WHO’S AT RISK?
  • Overall, the activities associated with the greatest number of TBI-related emergency room visits included bicycling, football, playground activities, basketball, and soccer.
  • Numbers and rates are highest in football and girl’s soccer
·         Some 71 % of all sports and recreation-related TBI emergency room visits were among males and 70.5% were among persons aged 10-19 years
  • Children from birth to 9 years commonly sustained injuries during playground activities or while bicycling
  • Females aged 10-19 years sustained sports- and recreation-related TBIs most often while playing soccer or basketball or while bicycling

Monday 27 October 2014

Assistant Professor - The Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison : Madison, WI, United States

Working Title: Assistant Professor
Official Title: ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Degree and area of specialization: Ph.D. in microbiology, biochemistry, genetics, cell and molecular biology, or related field.
Minimum number of years and type of relevant work experience: At least 2 years of postdoctoral experience.
Principal duties: Tenure Track Position in Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Academic (9 month) appointment.
The Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (http://www.bact.wisc.edu/) invites applications for a faculty position in bacteriology/microbiology at the Assistant Professor level. The Department is seeking candidates whose research is at the forefront of any area of microbiology with an emphasis broadly on molecular mechanism in any domain of life. The University and Department provide an excellent environment for the development of an outstanding research program. The position carries a commitment to the three functions of resident instruction, research, and outreach/service, as appropriate to the position and rank. Thus, the successful candidate will be expected to develop a vigorous, extramurally-funded, independent research program and to participate in undergraduate and graduate teaching and university service.
Employee Class: 
Faculty
Department(s): CALS/BACTERIOLOGY
Full Time Salary Rate: Negotiable 
ACADEMIC (9 months) 
Term: N/A
Appointment percent: 100%
Anticipated begin date: AUGUST 24, 2015
Number of Positions: 1
TO ENSURE CONSIDERATION 
Application must be received by: OCTOBER 31, 2014
HOW TO APPLY: 
All materials should be sent by email to the Bacteriology Faculty Search Committee (facultysearch@bact.wisc.edu) and received by October 31, 2014 to ensure full consideration.
Applications should be sent as a single pdf that includes: a cover letter referencing position vacancy listing #80284, a curriculum vitae documenting research and teaching experience, a research plan, teaching interests, and names and contact information for three individuals who will serve as references. Please also ask three referees to submit letters of reference to the same email address (facultysearch@bact.wisc.edu) with the applicant's name in the header.
UW-Madison is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
We promote excellence through diversity and encourage all qualified individuals to apply.

Faculty Position in Computational Biology : Kansas City, MO, United States

The Stowers Institute for Medical Research invites innovative young scientists to apply for a faculty position in Computational Biology at the rank of Assistant Investigator.

The successful candidate is expected to develop a groundbreaking, innovative and independent research program while complementing the institution’s existing strengths in genetics and epigenetics, cell and chromosome biology, stem cells and regenerative biology, developmental biology and evolution, and biochemistry and neuroscience.
The position is fully funded throughout the candidate’s appointment. This includes $600,000 per year for full salary support and research funding, in addition to start-up funds and ongoing needs for equipment. The initial appointment is for 6 years and is then subject to renewal every 6 to 7 years. In total, the package for a junior position is more than $3.5 million over the first term and increases significantly after promotion. In addition, investigators may take advantage of exceptional core facilities and technology centers staffed by over 100 scientists. Stowers investigators have multiple opportunities to be involved in the Institute’s Graduate School program.
Qualifications
Candidates must have a Ph.D. or equivalent degree and postdoctoral experience demonstrating innovation and excellence in their field. Candidates will be expected to possess a long-term vision of their scientific interests, to establish a vigorous and innovative research program, and to actively contribute to the Institute’s mission and collegiality.
Deadline and Application Information
Deadline for applications is October 31, 2014. Applicants should submit a cover letter, a CV, a research plan and vision statement, and arrange for the submission of three letters of reference through our application page at: http://www.stowers.org/facultysearch.

Germany : PhD Scholarships in East Asian Studies

Twelve candidates will receive a grant FUNDEDthrough the Graduate School, up to two PhD candidates can be considered for special funding provided by the DAAD (GSSP Program). The Graduate School will also consider to accept up to three candidates who receive funding either from other Freie Universität Berlin programs, from partner institutions in East Asia (CSC, etc.), or through scholarships provided by German or international organizations.

Scholarship details: We offer PhD stipends of € 1365 €/month (plus 103 €/m research allowance). Fellowships will initially be granted for one year, and contingent upon a positive evaluation after each year of study, fellowships will be extended for another year. The fellowship may be granted for a maximum of three years.
Research focus: Doctoral dissertations at GEAS are expected to analyze the institutional environment of social, political, cultural and economic actors in the East Asian region (China, Japan and/or Korea). All dissertation research at GEAS will be conducted in the context of the three interconnected research lenses of its academic profile: (1) the origin and change of institutions in East Asia, (2) the effects institutions have on processes related to globalization and modernization in East Asia on the side of governments, bureaucracies or business and individual life-styles or related preferences, and, finally, (3) the interdependencies of institutions in East Asia within and beyond its regional boundaries.
Eiligbility: Successful applicants will have an above average master’s degree in either area studies (Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies, Korean Studies) or a discipline represented at the Graduate School (Political Science, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Business, Economics, Law, History, Cultural Studies, Humanities, Theatre Studies, Environmental Policy) with a focus on East Asia. The language of instruction is English. Successful candidates will also show proof of language skills in an East Asian Language (Chinese, Japanese, or Korean) at a level of B2 (CEFR) or higher.
Selection criteria: Applications should include a CV, a letter of academic interest, a brief outline of the prospective dissertation topic (maximum 6 pages), a schedule for the dissertation, and copies of certificates of your relevant degrees and language skills. Two letters of recommendation shall be sent directly by your referees to GEAS via the online application system. For more information and guidelines as well as for applications, please register online.
Application deadline:  January 16, 2015.
The screening takes place in January and February 2015. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed (via Skype) in April 2015. Candidates accepted for admission into GEAS will receive notice by early to mid-May 2015.
How to apply: Online portal at https://apply.drs.fu-berlin.de/eas 
For additional information, please check our website and feel free to contact us. No legal entitlement shall be constituted by applying to the program. Reasons for rejections will not be disclosed.

Application Deadline : 16 January 2015

Contact Adress: Graduate School of East Asian Studies,
Contact Email: application@geas.fu-berlin.de

Friday 17 October 2014

A Family Battles Over a Disappearing Trove of Chinese Paintings

For more than a decade, the family of C. C. Wang, a collector whose name graces a gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has been battling over a trove of classical Chinese paintings and scrolls that has been described as among the finest in the world.

Now, the feud has escalated. In the past month, two of Mr. Wang’s children, who have been fighting in Surrogate’s Court in Manhattan since his death in 2003 at 96, filed lawsuits in state and federal courts accusing each other of looting and deceit.

But beyond the family strife, a broader issue is dismaying Chinese-art experts for whom the Wang collection has long been a source of wonder.

Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of works from an estate once valued in court papers at more than $60 million have gone missing, including an 11th-century scroll, “The Procession of Taoist Immortals,” that is viewed in China as a national treasure.

“This is heartbreaking, and it is happening right here in the city,” said Laura B. Whitman, a specialist in Chinese art formerly with Sotheby’s and Christie’s, who used to visit Mr. Wang at his apartment in New York to view his collection.

Divining who rightfully owns these works, and who is to blame for the disappearance of so many of them, has consumed the family for more than a decade.

The case has become so complex, and so expensive, that the Surrogate’s Court has suspended discussing matters of inheritance until it can come up with a reliable inventory of what was initially in the collection to see if the estate will be able to pay lawyers and other creditors.
Among the few certainties at this point is that Mr. Wang demonstrated the ability to acquire objects of historical importance, objects that since his death have increased many times in value as the Chinese art market has boomed.

Born near Suzhou, China, in 1907, he moved to the United States during China’s political upheavals in 1949, settling in Manhattan, where he built a career teaching, consulting at Sotheby’s, and dealing in real estate and in art. He became the dean of the rarefied market for Chinese art in New York and was an accomplished artist in his own right. By the end of the 1990s, the Met had bought some 60 works that were once part of his collection and named a gallery in his honor.

Among the Met acquisitions was a colossal hanging scroll titled “Riverbank,” attributed to the 10th-century painter Dong Yuan, but which attracted its own controversy after some scholars declared it a 20th-century forgery.

Maxwell K. Hearn, chairman of the Met’s Asian art department, said Mr. Wang acquired much of his important collection early on, when the market for Chinese art didn’t exist.

“He saw their continued relevance as sources of artistic inspiration,” Mr. Hearn said. “Now, they have become enormously valuable, because people are recognizing their cultural significance and acknowledge him as a source of validation.”

Before his death, Mr. Wang left some works to his daughter Yien-Koo Wang King, now 79, and some to his son, Shou-Kung Wang, now 85, both of whom served during different periods as confidant and business agent to their father.

But they have battled over the legacy, particularly the validity of a 2000 will that listed Mrs. King as executor and of a competing will, drawn up shortly before Mr. Wang’s death, that named Shou-Kung Wang’s son, Andrew, as executor, and disinherited Mrs. King.

Amid the fighting, estimates differ widely about how many classical Chinese paintings were in Mr. Wang’s collection when he died, from about 240 to 438.

Together, since 2003, the son and daughter have surrendered more than 120 artworks to the estate for sale, but have also accused each other of hiding many more of the most valuable paintings in the United States, in China or elsewhere.

The Internal Revenue Service is seeking more than $20 million in estate taxes, based on its own inventory of paintings, real estate and other possessions at the time of death, though that fee is based on a valuation of some paintings that may well now be missing.

The tax bill and claims for lawyers’ fees so outweigh the value of the handful of remaining classical works held by the estate in a warehouse in New Jersey that the Surrogate’s Court decided it was not worth proceeding until a proper accounting can be made.

The latest legal actions are an effort to break the deadlock. In a filing in federal court in Manhattan last month, Mrs. King and her husband, Kenneth, said that her brother and his son had conspired to loot the estate through sham art sales and had lied about the whereabouts of works.

Mrs. King said in her filing that Shou-Kung Wang’s son, Andrew Wang, 53, who shares fiduciary duty for the estate with the public administrator of Surrogate’s Court, made up bogus addresses of buyers, and even, in one case, shipped $1.4 million worth of the art to his home in Shanghai.

The lawsuit also accuses the Wangs of giving conflicting accounts of the location of one work, “Album of Landscapes” by the 13th-century painter Ma Yuan. A decade ago, Shou-Kung Wang told the court that his father had given him the painting and it was in his possession.

But lawyers for Mrs. King have produced a 2011 television interview in China in which a collector there says he bought the painting from C. C. Wang’s family after his death, for what the lawyers say was more than $5.5 million.

Asked recently in court about the discrepancy, Andrew Wang said that his grandfather had in fact sold the painting shortly before he died. He said Shou-Kung Wang had believed that he still owned the painting at the time of his testimony because Andrew and C. C. Wang had concealed the sale.
A lawyer for Shou-Kung Wang and Andrew Wang, Carolyn Shields of Liu & Shields in Queens, denied Mrs. King’s allegations.

For their part, they argue in a lawsuit filed last week in State Supreme Court in Manhattan that it was the Kings who have diverted assets by hiding works in a warehouse in New York, transferring ownership of them to foreign corporations and selling them.

One of the few things the two sides agree on is that “The Procession of Taoist Immortals,” an ink-on-silk hand scroll that is one of the most important works in the collection, is missing.

Probably a sketch for a mural painting, it depicts a group of Taoist gods in intricate detail. Experts say it is an early and rare example from the Northern Song dynasty of a Taoist theme.

“It is of monumental significance,” said Stephen Little, a curator of Chinese art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Attributed to Wu Zongyuan, it is valued by experts at tens of millions of dollars.
In 2005, both sides put “Procession” in a Shanghai bank’s safe-deposit box. The box was to be opened again only in the presence of both sides.
Hearing reports that “Procession” had been seen outside the bank, Mrs. King demanded that Andrew Wang open the box to inspect the painting with her, but, according to her complaint, he defied a Chinese court order and refused to attend.

When the box was opened in 2009, the result was disappointing, she said. Instead of a treasure, the box contained a cheap, discolored print of the scroll. The theft was reported to the Shanghai police, who declined to investigate what they called a family matter, said a lawyer for the Kings, Sam P. Israel of Manhattan. Shou-Kung Wang and Andrew Wang said they were never told the box was going to be opened and suggest that Mrs. King somehow stole the scroll.
Five years later, its whereabouts remains unknown.

“To think that something like that is out there and is not being seen and preserved and appreciated by humanity is just sad,” Ms. Whitman said.

IRMAA


Tuesday 14 October 2014

Where Is God Located In the Brain? Importance of Religion Is Related To Thickness Of The Cerebral Cortex

Made entirely of gray matter and distinguished by its characteristic folds, the cerebral cortex is the brain's outermost layer covering the hemispheres. Now, researchers from New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University found the importance of religion or spirituality to individuals may be linked to the thickness of their cerebral cortices. “Importance of religion or spirituality, but not frequency of [house of worship] attendance, was associated with thicker cortices in the left and right parietal and occipital regions, the mesial frontal lobe of the right hemisphere, and the cuneus and precuneus in the left hemisphere,” wrote the authors in their study, published this month in JAMA Psychology. Significantly, this relationship between spiritual importance and cortex thickness was observed to be strongest among those at high risk of depression.

Depression Related to Importance of Divinity

In their previous work, the team of researchers reported that among adults in families at high risk for major depression, those that expressed a strong interest in their spirituality had a 90 percent decreased risk of the illness when compared to those who did not find religion so important. The team of colleagues also showed in a previous study that high-risk adults showed large expanses of cortical thinning across the lateral surface of the right hemisphere of the brain. For their new study, the team returned to this issue of cerebral cortex thickness. They began by questioning 103 adults between the ages of 18 and 54 about the importance of spirituality in their lives and how often they attended religious services. Then, they repeated these questions after five years. Some participants were the children or grandchildren of participants in an earlier study about depression and so were deemed at high risk for the illness; others had no family history of this mental illness and so served as a comparison group. The researchers imaged the brains of all the participants to determine the thickness of the cortices. What did they discover?
Those who expressed a stronger spiritual bent also displayed thicker cortices above both the left and right hemispheres. Trying to explain their results, the researchers wrote, “A thicker cortex associated with a high importance of religion or spirituality may confer resilience to the development of depressive illness in individuals at high familial risk for major depression, possibly by expanding a cortical reserve that counters to some extent the vulnerability that cortical thinning poses for developing familial depressive illness.”
Significantly, the researchers stated that their findings are simply correlational; importance of religion does not necessarily cause greater thickness, or vice versa. In an unrelated study, University of Missouri scientists, who similarly searched the brain for signs of spirituality, found that transcendence is associated with decreased right parietal lobe functioning, while other aspects of spiritual functioning are related to increased activity in the frontal lobe.

Location of Spirituality in the Brain

"We have found a neuropsychological basis for spirituality, but it's not isolated to one specific area of the brain," Brick Johnstone, professor of health psychology, stated in a press release. For the study published last year in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, Johnstone and his colleagues studied 20 people with traumatic brain injuries that affected the right parietal lobe, the area of the brain situated a few inches above the right ear. The team questioned participants about their spiritual beliefs, asking how close they felt to a higher power, and if they considered their lives to be part of a divine plan.
They discovered those participants with more significant injury to their right parietal lobe expressed a feeling of greater closeness to a higher power. "Neuropsychology researchers consistently have shown that impairment on the right side of the brain decreases one's focus on the self," Johnstone said, noting that previous studies of Buddhist monks and Franciscan nuns with fully-functioning brains have shown decreased activation in the right inferior parietal lobe during deep meditation and prayer. "Since our research shows that people with this impairment are more spiritual, this suggests spiritual experiences are associated with a decreased focus on the self."
Johnstone also measured the frequency of participants' religious practices, such as how often they attended church or listened to religious programs. He compared these measurements to activity rates in the frontal lobe and found a connection between increased activity in this part of the brain and increased participation in religious practices. "This finding indicates that spiritual experiences are likely associated with different parts of the brain," Johnstone said. "Certain parts of the brain play more predominant roles, but they all work together to facilitate individuals' spiritual experiences."

Sources: Miller L, Vansal R, Wickramaratne P, et al. Neuroanatomical Correlates of Religiosity and Spirituality, A Study in Adults at High and Low Familial Risk for Depression. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013.
Johnstone B, Bodling A, Cohen D, et al. Right Parietal Lobe-Related “Selflessness” as the Neuropsychological Basis of Spiritual Transcendence. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. 2012

Monday 13 October 2014

லஞ்சம் வாங்கினாலும், கொடுத்தாலும் மரண தண்டனை விதித்த மன்னன்: 700 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முந்தைய கல்வெட்டில் தகவல்

தமிழகத்தில் மன்னர்கள் ஆட்சி காலத்தில் லஞ்சம் கொடுத்தாலும், வாங்கினாலும் மற்றும் அதைத் தடுக்கத் தவறிய அரசு அதிகாரிக்கும் மரண தண்டனை வழங்க மன்னன் ஆணை பிறப்பித்த கல்வெட்டு கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. 

கிருஷ்ணகிரி மாவட்டம் காவேரிப்பட்டணம் அருகே உள்ளது பென்னேஸ்வரமடம் கிராமம். இங்குள்ள பென்னேஸ்வரர் கோயில் மிகவும் பழமையானது, பிரசித்திபெற்றது. இந்தக் கோயில் கல்வெட்டில் லஞ்சம் வாங்கினாலும், கொடுத்தாலும் மற்றும் அதை தடுக்கத் தவறிய அதிகாரிகளுக்கும் மரண தண்டணை விதிக்கும் வகையில் மன்னன் ஆணையிட்ட கல்வெட்டு உள்ளது. 

இது குறித்து கிருஷ்ணகிரி மாவட்ட வரலாற்று மையத்தைச் சேர்ந்த ஆய்வாளர் சுகவன முருகன் ‘தி இந்து’விடம் கூறியதாவது:
கிருஷ்ணகிரி மாவட்டத்தில் ஏழு நிலைகளைக் கொண்ட பெரிய ராஜகோபுரம் இருக்கும் கோயில்பென்னேஸ்வர மடம் கோயிலாகும். இது பிற்காலச் சோழர் காலக் கோயிலாகும். சுமார் ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகள் பழமையான இக்கோயிலில் ஏராளமான கல்வெட்டுகள் உள்ளன. சோழர்கள், போசாளர்கள் மற்றும் விஜயநகரப் பேரரசுகளின் ஆட்சியில் இக்கோயிலுக்கு பலவிதமான கொடைகள், தானங்கள் வழங்கப்பட்டதாக கல்வெட்டில் குறிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. 

இவ்வாறு தானமாகப் பெறப் பட்ட நிலங்கள், ஊர்கள் மற்றும் பொது சொத்துகளை சிலர் ஏய்த்துஅனுபவித்துள்ளனர். இதனை அறிந்த பேரரசன் வீர ராமநாதன் ஒரு ஆணையை வெளியிட்டுள்ளார். அந்த ஆணை தொடர்பான கல்வெட்டு தற்போது கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. 

போசாள மன்னன் வீர ராமநாதன் கல்வெட்டு
"ஸ்ரீ வீரராமந்நாத தேவரீஸர்க்கு யாண்டு நாற்பத்தொன்றாவது உடையார் பெண்ணையாண்டார் மடத்தி லும் பெண்ணை நாயனார் தேவதானமான ஊர்களிலும் ஒரு அதிகாரியாதல் கணக்கர் காரியஞ் செய்வார்களாதல் கூசராதல் ஆரேனுமொருவர் வந்து விட்டது விடாமல் சோறு வேண்டுதல் மற்றேதேனும் நலிவுகள் செய்குதல் செய்தாருண்டாகில் தாங்களே அவர்களைத் தலையைஅறுத்துவிடவும் அப்படி செய்திலர் களாதல் தங்கள் தலைகளோடே போமென்னும்படிறெயப்புத்த பண்ணி இதுவே சாதனமாகக் கொண்டு ஆங்கு வந்து நலிந்தவர் களைத் தாங்களே ஆஞ்ஞை பண்ணிக் கொள்ளவும் சீ காரியமாகத்தாங்க . . . த. . . போதும் போன அமுதுபடிக் குடலாக ஸர்வ மானிய மாகக் குடுத்தோம். அனைத் தாயமு விட்டுக்கு . . .கூசர் உள்ளிட்டார் பையூரிலே இருக்கவும் சொன்னோம். இப்படியாதே இதுக்கு விலங்கனம் பன்னினவன் கெங்கைக் கரையில் குராற் பசுவைக் கொன்றான் பாவத்தைக் கொள்வான்" என எழுதப்பட்டுள்ளது.
இதன் விளக்கம், லஞ்சம் வாங்கினால், கொடுத்தால் சிரச்சேதம் செய்ய அதாவது தலையை வெட்டும் படியும் அவ்வாறு நிகழாமல் தடுக்கத் தவறினால் அதற்குப் பொறுப்பான அதிகாரிகளின் தலையை வெட்டும்படியும் ஆணை வெளியிட்டுள்ளார். இக்கல்வெட்டு கோயிலின் தெற்கு சுவர் பகுதியில் இருக்கிறது. இக்கல்வெட்டு கிரந்தம் மற்றும் தமிழில் வடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
லஞ்சமாக உணவு அல்லது சோறு கேட்டால் கூட குற்றம் என்றும் அரசர் சொல்லியிருக்கிறார். மேற் கண்ட பேரரசர் வீரராமநாதனின் கல்வெட்டைக் கொண்டும், தலைபலிக் கற்களின் சிற்ப அமைப்பைக் கொண்டும் இவ்வாறு தண்டிக்கப் பட்டிருக்கக் கூடும் என்பது தெரிகிறது. இது தமிழக வரலாற்றில் மிக முக்கியமானதாகும். 

இந்தக் கல்வெட்டை போசாளப் பேரரசன் வீரராமநாதனின் நாற்பத்தி ஒன்றாவது ஆட்சியாண்டில் இந்த உத்தரவுப் பிறப்பிக்கப்பட்டிருக் கிறது. கல்வெட்டு வெட்டப்பட்ட ஆண்டு கி.பி.1295 என குறிப்பிடப் பட்டுள்ளது.
இவ்வாறு அவர் தெரிவித்தார். தமிழகத்தில் 2 ஆயிரம் ஆண்டு களுக்கு முன்பு, பொதுமக்களின் நலனுக்காக அல்லது அரசனின் நலனுக்காக பக்தியில் கொற்றவை என்னும் காளிக்குப் படையலாகவும் தங்கள் தலையைத் தாங்களே அறுத்து பலி கொடுக்கும் வழக்கம் இருந்துள்ளது. 

இதில் நவகண்டம் என்பது, உடலில் ஒன்பது இடங்களில் வெட்டிக்கடைசியாக தன் தலையை அறுத்துக் கொள்வது. அரிகண்டம் என்பது ஒரே வெட்டில் சிரத்தை அறுத்து சமர்ப்பிப்பது. இது தொடர்பான கல்வெட்டுகள் கிருஷ்ணகிரி மாவட்டத்தில் அதிகம் உள்ளன. அதுவும் போசாளர்களின் தலை நகரான ஹளேகுந்தாணியிலும், பையூர் நிலையுடையான் மதுராந்த கன் வீரநுளம்பன் ஆட்சி செய்த பென்னேஸ்வர மடத்திலும்தான் இருக்கின்றன.
தலைபலிக் கற்களை நவகண்டம் அல்லது அரிகண்டம் என்றுதான்நினைத்திருந்தனர். 

இந்த தலைபலி கற்களையும் கோயில் கல்வெட்டுகளையும் ஆராய்ந்த கிருஷ்ணகிரி மாவட்ட வரலாற்று மையத்தைச் சேர்ந்த ஆய்வாளர் சுகவன முருகன், லஞ்சம் வாங்கிய ஒரு அதிகாரியின் உயிர்பலி கல்வெட்டு என்பதை கண்டறிந்துள்ளார்.