Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Hero stones

I read with interest the report on the discovery of ancient hero stones with Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions at Andipatti ( The Hindu , April 4). Prof. K. Rajan and his colleagues in the Epigraphy Department of the Tamil University, Thanjavur, deserve our warm congratulations on this important discovery with far-reaching implications for the study of ancient Tamil Society and culture.

Earlier to this discovery, hero stones have been found in Tamil Nadu dating only from the 5th century A.D. The Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions on the Andipatti hero stones can be assigned to the early 2nd century B.C. on palaeographic evidence. They corroborate the description of hero stones in the sangam poetry. Unlike the Jaina cave inscriptions, the hero stone inscriptions are secular records portraying rural life in ancient Tamil Nadu. Above all, the Andipatti hero stones, taken together with the pottery inscriptions found in abundance in ancient Tamil sites, demonstrate the wide spread literacy in Tamil Nadu from about the end of the 3rd century B.C.

Let me also commend the prompt publication of the discovery and circulation of photographs of the hero stones by the Tamil University to interested scholars to elicit their views. This is an example worthy of emulation by the Central and State departments of Archaeology.

Iravatham Mahadevan,
Chennai

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