Coimbatore :

Memorial tablets and gravestones, which mark the end of a life actually go way back to its early days. Except, back then only the valiant and deserving were immortalized in stone – usually with a spot of art to mark them apart. These prototype memorials were called hero stones and they were typically reserved for heroes or those who served their community. A 2-day national seminar held last week in Hosur, titled The Days of Heroes, uncovered new facts about these stones and pointed to their prevalence in the south.

Sugavana Murugan, a hero stone expert and convener of the seminar pointed out that Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts are known as the land of hero stones. “Multi-lingual people lived here in harmony and

their hero stones bear inscriptions in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. These stones range from the 5th to 18th century AD. “Inscriptions on hero stones usually describe the political, social and cultural history of the region. These stones commemorate people for their valour in a cattle raid, for the retrieval of captured cattle, fighting and killing wild animals, death in battle, sati or heroic death for a public cause,” he says, adding that fertility and ritual stones have also been identified there.

This was the first time since 1974 that a national seminar on hero stones was conducted in south India. Organised by the Krishnagiri District Historical Research Centre, the conference drew together scholars from 15 universities across the country, who presented papers on various aspects of hero stones. One of these was also from Pakistan, describing hero stones in the Sindh region.

Professor V Selvakumar of Tamil University, Thanjavur presented his paper titled ‘Hero stone worship and its significance in Tamil Nadu’. Although hero stones have been discovered in many parts of Tamil Nadu, particularly near its borders with Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, no detailed study has been conducted on the subject so far. According to Selvakumar these stones are referred to in Tamil as planted stones or natukal and in Kannada as virakkal (stone of valour).

“The concept of hero stone or hero worship evolved from the megalithic burial tradition,” he said, “The worship of heroes could have begun in the Iron Age when megalithic monuments were erected for the dead.

While we do find different types of burial sites in the Iron Age, some of them, especially menhirs (standing stone), appear to have been erected for heroes. They used different surface markers to convey the status of the dead and they were probably erected only for certain individuals, as we do not find them in large numbers, like burial urns.”

From Pakistan came a paper by Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro on ‘Memorial Stones of Sindh, Pakistan’. “This practice was widespread in the early medieval period in Sindh,” he said. Like Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri, many of the hero stones in Sindh were erected in memory of heroes who died at the hands of cattle-lifters, Kalhoro said. “In other districts of Sindh are memorial towers erected in the memory of cattle retrievers. They are found in the hilly regions of Karachi, Thatta, Jamshoro and Dadu districts, which relied heavily on cattle.”

V Ramabrahmam, assistant professor at Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, said the practice of erecting hero stones in India was recorded in Vedic texts. “The erection of a monument in memory of the dead and the practice of forming a mound with an attached post is described in the Satapatha Brahmana (9th- 8th century BC),” he said, “During the days of King Asoka (3rd century BC) hero stones were erected on wooden, and subsequently, stone posts. The origin of memorial stones of the later periods originates from here.”

What’s the difference between a memorial stone and hero stone? “Memorial stones contain funeral remains, whereas hero stones are only plaques commemorating a death, without any funeral remains. Incidentally, sculptures on hero stones not only convey the art of the times, but also a social and cultural commentary on the region in that time,” he explained.

More than 2,500 hero stones have so far been excavated from the state. Devarakonda Reddy, president of the Karnataka Itihasa Academy, said this may have something to do with the frequent fights between local  kings and chieftains. It’s where the area’s history is set indelibly in stone. An imminent book titled ‘The Days of Heroes’ will incorporate the research papers presented at the seminar.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by M. T. Saju,  TNN /  June 30th, 2014