Saturday 5 February 2022

Nagaswamy - 7 Dolmens: Hero Stones

Dolmens, cairn circles, hero stones are megalithic burial sites seen all over Tamilnadu. Dolmens go by various names like Vaaliyaar veedu, kurakku pattadai, Pancha Paandavar padukkai and more popularly as veerakkal or nadukal.  Often personal effects of the buried are also found in small pots with the sarcophagus.


Megalithic cairn circle, Tirupporur
Photo : VSS Iyer


Dolmen 1
photo: Sukavana Murugan

Dolmen 2
photo: Sukavana Murugan

While usually dated to 7th and 8th centuries BC,  some have been dated to as late as the fifth century AD.

Tolkappiyam lists six stages in planting a memorial stone – nadukal

  • Selection of suitable stone
  • Quarrying it
  • Soaking it in water
  • Planting and consecrating after carving the image
  • Offerings
  • Prayers

Other texts list similar stages, but include a final stage where a King or Chieftan builds a temple over the planted stone. These are also listed as kaatchi kaadhai, kalkoL kaadhai, neerpadaik kaadhai, nadukar kaadhai and vaazhthu kaadhai in Silappadikaram.

A Purananuru poem on the death of Kopperunchola by the poet Pottiyar ends “Let us sing the glory of our patron who has become a planted stone.”

A burial urn was made for Nedumavalavan, and a poem addresses a potter that to make his urn, “the whole world should be used as a wheel, and lofty mountain as a lump of clay, suited to his fame.”

Burial urn, Adichanallur, Tamilnadu
Inscriptions Exhibit, Madras University 


A poem of Avvaiyaar on the death of Athiyaman Neduman Anji says a Nadukal was erected for him. It was decorated with peacock feathers and liquor was sprinkled

Nagaswamy connects these customs with current Hindu cremation ceremonies. He cites the contemporary funeral of a Brahmin woman, after whose death two stones were planted, one on the bank of a river, another at the entrance to the house of the deceased; called nadi-theera-kuNDa and gruha-theera-kuNDa respectively. Water was sprinkled over the stone with a towel (vasa udaka) and sesame seeds ( tilodaka ) offered. A potful of drinking water was placed over the stones.A lamp was kept burning throughout. This Vedic ceremony strongly resembles the ceremonies for Athiyaman sung by Avvaiyaar.

The very large number of dolmens and hero stones suggest that these were for all classes of people, including women, in the ancient times. Later this was limited to men of valour and fame.

Bodhyana, Katyayana, and the Vaikhanasa Sutra describe procedures for burial of dead or their ashes. Udayana’s elephant Badraapati which fell in war, was honored by a life size stucco image in a temple and regular worship was arranged, as related in Perunkadai

In later times Raja Raja built a colony of housing for dancers around the Big temple. A colony of dancers was established around the temple, Brahmins were fed monthly and a water shed erected for travelers. There were arrangement for exposition of kaavya-s and puraaNa-s. This shows that deification of dead and customs to commemorate them were universalised.

Photo Credits

Dolmens: Sukavana Murugan, Pennar archaeological forum, Krishnagiri 

Burial urns : Inscriptions Exhibit, University of Madras

Cairn circle : VSS Iyer

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This essay is one of a series of summaries of papers presented in international seminars by Dr Nagaswamy. The summaries in this series were presented by me at a lecture titled Nagaswamy - Beyond Borders at Tamil Heritage Trusts' Pechu Kacheri 2014 at Tatvaloka, Chennai.

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