The Colas c12.41

c12.41

Even the common soldier when he fell fighting was cherished by his compatriots. The spot was usually marked by a stone bearing on it the name and the fame of the fallen hero. Such hero stones also sometimes became objects of worship.⁴² This custom survived till at least the tenth century in the Tamil and Kannaḍa country where several inscribed hero stones bearing dates in the ninth and tenth centuries and answering to the description given of them in Śaṅgam literature have been brought to light. The setting up of memorial stones for this and other purposes was so common that, at an early date, literary convention came to standardise the procedure adopted on such occasions.⁴³