Through The Lens

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx9tIpAd_NM]

interesting discovory.
the script on these(in halagannada as mentioned) may through some more light

i remember people worshiping stones/idols “Maasti Kallu”, i guess these are the images remebering courageous women who go “Sati”, may be “Mahaasati” became “Maasti”

A peek into historical memorials.

Praveen Chamarthi 2006-2007

Veeragallus (Hero stones) are memorial stones erected in honor of people who have died in warfare or fighting with thieves or during a hunt.
The Veeragallus are normally found intact from the Hoysala period and post-Pallavas of the Vijaynagar period are particularly good. Even though a Veeragallu is also a kind of shasana, it all may have a little of inscription or none at all. Hoysalas used schist and the sculpture speaks for itself. Veeragallus are surprisingly intact over Karnataka inspite of the centuries of persecution.
There are normally three panels that tell a story — lower most a fighting scene (probably to protect animal wealth), the middle one the martyr being carried to heaven and the top veera at Kailasa (Abode of Lord Shiva). One leaves wondering why people don’t pay sufficient attention to whatever is left of a glorious heritage. The hero stone normally found has sculptures in three panels - a man fighting with a tiger, the man being taken to heaven by a few ladies after death and the man appearing in the abode of God.

Enroute to Magadi after covering a distance of about 12 Kilometers from the city, our car got struck while trying to meander through a particularly big crater (man-made). One of us happened to see these strange looking stones from the state highway (SH17E). After reaching the spot which was an agricultural land we discovered three stone edicts measuring 5×3 ft were in rows of inscriptions in Halegannada (Old Kannada) on all the front sides.

It is quite unfortunate that some of these edicts have been broken or partially destroyed by vagaries of time. Preliminary evidences suggested that the edicts and hero stones belonged to the 13 or 14th century (Hoysala or Chola period). A stone slab possessing a sculpture of a man riding a horse was of particular interest to us due to its resemblance to such sculptures found at Hampi thereby indicating its probable history linked to that era.
 
A man fighting with a tiger was a common scene we found in most hero stones. These are stones erected in memory of those who died fighting with wild animals to guard their cattle or to those who died during a hunt.

Interestingly, here the men have tuft (knot of hair) on their head which are normally a precursor for unearthing ancient wells; grain storage containers, tank bunds, ponds etc have been found from places suggesting human inhabitation in the past several centuries although it is not clear as to why these settlements were destroyed.

Unaware of the historical importance of these edicts and hero stones, many of them have also been destroyed by the locals. Early measures have to be undertaken to protect these archaeological evidences, which would help in rebuilding the history of the region.
These Veeragallus erected in memory of warriors who sacrificed their lives for the protection of kings, needs to be protected and only by doing that will they throw light on our rich historical past which is sadly in a state of disarray and will help to counter opportunistic manipulations intended to portray our culture otherwise.
Author: Girish Ninjur