Carved stone

[Greensleeves]

I'd appreciate the ideas of RCers on a stone which was pulled out of the river in our Welsh village this evening.  Photo below, nothing known about it but what a lovely, mysterious thing!  Would love to have any suggestions/opinions etc regarding its origin.

Regards
GS

[jess5athome]

Hi, I have not got a clue, but as you say, what a mysterious thing, wouldn't you just love to own it.
Frank.

[Greensleeves]

How true, Frank. I was helping to clear out the river not more than a meter away when it was found!  Wish I had been the discoverer....

[charismayo]

At the risk of being wildly off-based, I'm going to guess these are devanagari letters, so some kind of Sanskrit or Hindi term perhaps? In the photograph, the letters are oriented "upside down." Any Hindi-speakers in the village who might help you out? As you say, it is a lovely object indeed.

Regina

[Greensleeves]

Interestingly, Regina you are the second person to suggest a devangari origin and that the pic was upside-down.  As I couldn't actually tell which way up it should be, I did photograph it from both ways, and post the other view below.

The strange thing is that we live in a small village at the foot of the Black Mountains in mid Wales, so anything which arrives in the village via the river must have come from up in the wilds of the mountains ..... we are the first port of call after that wilderness.

[Viktoria]

 When I saw it  thought it looked like  a Mayan or Aztec carved stone but I did not think about a devangari connection.
It must have been thrown in the river at some time, but why----?
 How interesting.
                        Viktoria

[cms]

I would take it to the nearest museum. They should have an idea, or at least  know who to ask. Doesn't look Welsh does it. Intriguing.

[Skoosh]

Amazing find, could it be something to do with Hindu funeral rites and therefore not in the river that long?

Skoosh.

[Greensleeves]

We are not terribly multi-cultural here in the Black Mountains which is why it is so surprising to find a stone such as this in the river.  Our village  is the first settlement that the river meets after it comes down off the mountain (shown below)  so not as though there are any connurbations upstream - only wild hills, red kites, buzzards and ravens.... and being Wales, an awful lot of sheep!