On the wall of a small hall at the Government Museum, Vellore, is displayed an estampage of a bas-relief sculpture with an inscription referring to self-sacrifice . While this sculpture that dates back to the Chola period is still worshipped at a temple in Vinnamangalam in Vaniyambadi taluk, last week’s findings of three bas-relief sculptures at a village in Walajah taluk also belong to the same type of sculpture depicting self-sacrifice of warriors.
Known as ‘Navakandam’ (the body is chopped into nine parts), these sculptures depict a warrior’s self-sacrifice for his people or to save his village. In these sculptures, how a warrior killed himself is depicted, according to K. Saravanan, curator of Government Museum, Vellore.
The estampage displayed at the museum is of a sculpture dating back to 914 AD Chola period. The inscription refers to a warrior who had sacrificed himself by chopping his head – “Thoongu thalai kuduthan kal”. Officials said the three sculptures were found while removing “seemai karuvelam” trees near a temple in Veppur, but villagers maintained that they have been worshipping the sculptures for several decades.
Mr. Saravanansaid the bas-relief sculptures might belong to Vijayanagara period . “In ‘Navakandam’ or ‘Thoongu thalai koduthan kal’ sculptures, the warrior is depicted as sacrificing himself. In one of the sculptures the warrior is holding a sword to his neck, in another, he is holding two swords,” he explained.
He added that many such sculptures might still be worshipped in temples.
Forty-eight-year-old D. Sankar, a resident of Veppur, said the three sculptures were not new findings . “The three sculptures have been here on the Palar riverbed for several decades. The sculptures were in standing position and fell recently as a person took up work to convert an adjacent land into plots. We hold a festival once in a year for the sculptures, which are worshipped as ‘kula theivam’ by many,” he said.
According to Mr. Sankar, officials declared them as new finding without consulting the villagers.
Hero stones are nothing new to Vellore district. The Government Museum, which is situated inside the Vellore Fort, is home to 17 hero stones and one “sati” stone - both known types of “Nadu kal”, a memorial stone, in Tamil. All these stones, which were found in different parts of Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts, have been chronologically arranged on the museum campus. This included hero stones dating back to the Pallava period and Chola period.
“Sculptures showing not only warriors but also their family members who had died also find place here. There is also a ‘sati’ stone showing a man, his wife and a dog,” Mr. Saravanan said.
