A team of archaeology enthusiasts from Tiruppur recently discovered two hero stones dating back to probably the 15th century in Kallapuram village near Kinathukadavu.
The team from Virarajendran Archaeological and Historical Centre, Tiruppur, discovered these hero stones – one depicting a hero fighting with a tiger and another depicting a fight with an elephant. S. Ravikumar, Director of the Centre, who led the team of three members, said that the stones do not have any inscription on them. “We compared these with a hero stone discovered at Bellathi village near Karamadai to estimate its age,” he said, noting that the Bellathi hero stone had inscriptions.
Both the hero stones measured 60 cm in width and 70 cm in height and the hero is depicted to have a similar posture on both the stones, he said. “This shows that both the hero stones might be sculpted by the same person,” he said.
There were two significant aspects of these hero stones, according to Mr. Ravikumar. “A hero stone depicting an elephant is rare,” he said as many elephants were domesticated by the people. The heroes were generally depicted fighting tigers as they attack the cattle. Prior to this, a hero stone with an elephant was discovered in Anamalai nearly three years ago, he said.
Secondly, location of these hero stones, which was at the junction of roads, seemed to affirm the tradition of sandhi vazhipadu (junction worship) as described in literature from the Sangam era. “Hero stones could either be placed in either a public meeting location ( mandram ) or a road junction ( sandhi), according to Sangam literature,” Mr. Ravikumar said.
