Three grinding stones and a hero stone belonging to the ninth and 13th Century respectively were identified by a team of archaeology enthusiasts at Sanarpalayam village in Bhavani Taluk recently.
Based on information from Jambai Palaniappan, a team comprising Ponnusamy, Sudhakar Nalliappan and Kumaravel Ramasamy, found the grinding stones, each measuring 90 cm in diameter and 40 cm in depth. They were placed for common usage of the people. In one stone, a three-line inscription was found and the readable form of the word carries the name Valavaraya.
Inscriptions identified in Kongu region until the period of 10th Century do not carry the names of any rules or kings. “Only regional leaders were involved in such social work and he could be the person who created the stone”, said the members.
The hero stone, measuring 135 cm height and 115 cm breath, has a fully carved with embossed feature of a hero in which the inscriptions were deciphered. “The hero holds a long sword in his right hand and a flat shield in his left hand readily facing the enemy while his clothes look like fluttering in wind”, they added.
Inscription speaks about a hero who lost his life to protect his people from quarrel. The word Oorali meaning, 'person who rules', is seen in another hero stone inscription from the same area and is used to denote the head of a society. “The hero stones do not carry the name of the hero and are created to praise his sacrifice”, they said and added that of the 500 hero stones identified in the Kongu region, 90% of the stones do not carry any inscription. “Hero stones with inscriptions are highly significant”, they said.
Team members said that cultural values of Kongu region, along Amaravathi river bank at the southern Kongu region and Bhavani river bank at the northern Kongu region, are unspoken. “Currently very few historical monuments and traces can be seen where most others are gradually destroyed by day-to-day activities of people in these region”, they said and wanted more excavations to be done to unearth more history of the region.