Dr. R. Nagaswamy #6B8E23 A large number of terracottafigures of interest are found in the Berlin museum. Over eight such figures areon show. All of them represent nude females standing some with hands and somewithout. But all of them have their faces ontheir belly. Above the belly their headdress is shown some with hairs tied ashigh hairdo with two knots and others carry a plate in which they carry someround tablets. What these strange figures represent deserve special attention.That all of them are female figures is seen from their nudity. One figure isseen holding the plate on its head with its hands. It is known that several terracottahave come to light, particularly from Candraketugarh, in Bengal representing aGoddess identified variously as Pancacuda . There is reason to believethat these are imitations of Roman Terracottas some of which are on show in theBritish museum in the Roman gallery. These are assignable to the first secondcentury AD. It is of interest to note that there was well-established tradecontact between the Roman world and the Indian subcontinent in the first fewcenturies of the Christian era. Among Indian finds one may draw attention tothe Roman artifacts and terracottas found at Ter, the anicent Tigara, inMaharashtra that includes terracotta figure of the nude goddess Lajja Gauri.The Lajja Gauri figures are found in all parts of India and most of thembelonging to first century and later. The Panca-cuda figures found inCandraketugarh and other places are similarly attributed to the same period. Another interesting figure is agolden pendant also on show in the museum. The figure is interesting as depictsa goddess with its head, but the legs and arms are shown curved similar to thefigure known to Indologists as Lajja Gauri in Indian context. That it is agoddess is made explicit by the breasts shown prominently. The resemblance tothe Lajja Gauri figure is so striking one is tempted to draw naturally acomparison between the two. There are some metal images similarto the Berlin pendent, which are the symbol called Srivatsa shown on the chestof Lord Vishnu, either on the right or in the center of the chest. The Berlinpendent was meant to hang in the chest need to be noted. I have drawn attention to the Romaninfluene in Tamil nadu from Tamil literature in my work on “Roman Karur”.  Dr Carol Bolon has drawn our attention tovarious forms of this nude Goddess Lajja Gauri in her excellent work on theNude Goddess. I have shown in my work “Aditi to Kundalini – Prehistoricvisirikkal to Lajja Gauri”, that the form of Srivatsa  is a derivation. Itseems to me that the forms of  LajjaGauri figures may have been related to these nude terracotta figurers. At this stage it may be pertinentto mention that some metal implements have been found in Harppan sites and alsoGangetic region resembling very much the Srivatsa symbols. They are calledceremonial bronze figurines or anthropomorphic images. For example thefollowing account appears in the “current collection” vol II of theMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York. “It is a flat piece of copper in theshape of a human being. Dating from 1500 to 1000BC it is no doubt related tothe anthropomorphic form found with the copper hoard at Indian archaeologicalsites primarily in the Gangetic basin Orissa and Madhyapradesh. We are fairlysure that the origin of the copper hoard objects was indigenous to the sites.Such distinctive anthropomorphic forms have not been unearthed outside of India.”Some of these are fairly large enough and date back to the Harappan times, 2ndmillennium BC. Therre is another metal object inthe Berlin museum, that represents a container with a lid. In south India onenotices several metal containers found as treasure troves . These containerswere used to store coins, gold, silver or copper.   The shape is obsolutely alike andit is not impossible it is derived from Roman Casket. In several instancesRoman Coins were found in such containers in Tamilnad. Later day coin hoardswere also found in such containers. Such containers were used for coins isknown from hundreds of such containers found all over Tamil Nad. I have shown that the Tamils made use of many Roman caskets eitherbrought or made by the Yavanas- Roman in the first few Centuries of the firstmillennium AD. I have also shown that the Samgam age Tamils started issuingTamil Coins, such as the Kollippurai, Makkotai, and Kuttuvan Kotai issues, inimitation of Roman coins. The Berlin Finds seem to confirm closer artisiticcontact, South India had with the Roman World.