Hero Stones

Abstract

"Declaring are the stones deaf though eared, hear the tones! The hero stones of our land’s nook and corner voice the tender-hard speech of sacrifice of great wives! You are the dead, not we, they declare complains the very silence at every follow with a glare are guts of those days, are zeal of those days. Thus sang the Gyanapeetha awardee the great poet of kannada, Kuvempu about the silent voice of the hero’s tone. More than 25000 Hero stones have been so far found in Karnataka. The Hero’s stones are those erected in honour of valions who sacrificed their lives to protect their villages, their cattle, women on the whole for the welfare of the community. If the edictless Hero’s stones are included, Hero stones are classified recognizing eight kinds of battle on the basis of the subject and culture on Hero’s stones. The first is Turugool Hero stones that is cattle theft Hero stones. Cattles were the prominent assets especially in the villages where agriculture were the main occupation during the middle ages in Karnataka. Under the circumstances attacks on villages and lifting of the cattles by the groups that had opted theft as a profession. Poverty sticken people, Petty rulers and kings with reading tendency were called Turghool and the fights put up by vallions of village in defense of the cattle have been called Turughool Yuddha. Many heros have sacrificed their lifes fighting valiantly in such battles defending the cattle. Monuments erected for such warriors are Turghool Hero Stones. The second type is Penbuyyal Hero stones. At times, attack on villagers would be only to abduct beautiful women. Several stones had been erected in the memory of warriors who sacrificed their lives defending those women. Most of these stones are concentrated in Kolar, Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Bengaluru and Haveri. One reason for this could be the ready availability of suitable boulders and stones, which were muted out of the rocky hills in many places across the state. A veeragallu mainly commemorates the valiant and honourable death of a hero in a battle, while there are also many hero stones that honour the sacrifice of a person for the community’s welfare. Most of these stones have been decoded and deciphered and each stone tells a story. Hero stones called ‘Mastikallu’ have also been erected in memory of women who have committed “Mahasati”( Self- immolation after the death of their husbands). So, These stones, surviving through the ages, offer us a fascinating insight into lives of a bygone era. "