Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c11.4

c11.4

At the same time, vows of self-destruction were not confined to execution on the death of patrons. They were also entered into for the purpose of securing the accomplishment of some cherished desire. In these cases beheading seems to have been the usual method of despatch. In about 991, we are told (Sb 479) that a man vowed to give his head to a goddess at Hayve in order that the king Śāntivarmma might have a son. His wish having been obtained, he surrendered himself to the soldiers and was beheaded. In 1050 a servant had his head cut off in order to die with the king Pompala (Ct 31). But in 1123, a cowherd, when Bopparasa and his wife paid a visit to a temple in the rice-fields, perhaps with a view to offspring, vowed that he would give his head to swing on the pole before the god at Koṇḍasabhāvi if the king should obtain a son (Sk 246). In 1180 a chief gave his head in order that the army to which he belonged might be victorious in the war to which it was marching (Gd 41). In 1185 a man who had taken a vow that he would die with the queen, at her decease was reminded of it by her husband, and instantly gave himself up to be beheaded (Sk 249), for, as the inscription says, a word spoken with full resolve must not be broken. In 1215 a woman gave her head to the hook on the death of her chief's mother (Mk 12). From sculptured representations it appears that the process of these ghastly decapitations was as follows. The votary was seated close to an elastic rod or pole fixed in the ground behind. This was forcibly bent down over the head of the victim, and the hook at the end made fast to the top-knot of hair. On being severed from the body, the head flew up, carried with the rebound of the rod released from its tension.