These stones are typically found in South India, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. They can be broadly categorized into three types based on their content: those with only inscriptions, those with only sculptural representations, and those with both.commemorating the honorable death of a hero in battle. They often carry inscriptions and a variety of ornaments, including bas-relief panels, frieze, and figures in carved stone. The inscription on the stone is usually a narrative of the battle. Those that are carved with inscriptions narrate the act of the hero and the name of the king who fought the battle. A hero stone is usually divided into three or more panels depending on the event depicted on it. The three spheres, i.e. bhumi, antariksha and svarga which are situated in ascending or- der from bottom to top, as conceived in the narratives, found their appropriate place in this scheme. The lower panels would display the battle scenes as being played out in this earthly world with the hero battling his enemies or animal and the middle panel depicts the hero in seated in a palanquin or a shrine being lifted toward the heavens by apsaras and finally, the upper panel depicts the subject after having reached Heaven worshiping deity such as a Shivlinga, Vishnu or Jain Tirthankara as conforming to the warrior's religious beliefs.
This hero-stone that is of interest to us can be seen in the vicinity of the Eshwara temple in the abandoned Ancharagatte Tavaragere village that is near the Hirekallavarthi village in Shikaripurata- luka of Shivamogga district in Kamataka. In this hero stone The lower panel shows two warriors engaged in combat using long-bladed swords. The warrior on the left has blocked the right arm of his opponent and is seen thrusting his sword into the belly of the adversary on the right
The Patta swords on the Hero-stone
The swords being wielded by both warriors is what is called a Patta sword. This type of sword has a gauntlet integrated into the hand guard and has a long blade of length between 24 to 36 inches though shorter blades are also known. It is believed that the blade of this type of sword was in the early period of its evolution often leaf-shaped and so the name Patta (leaf) fell for this weapon. The Gauntlet hilt is often seen decorated with chiseled figures of zoomor-phic forms like tigers, elephants, swans, Makara, yalis, etc, and found much favour with warriors in the Deccan and among the Rajputs. Many blades on such swords are of European manufacture. As the entire palm of the user of the patta till the wrists can be inserted into the hilt, this kind of sword though heavy makes for a very effective weapon.
The interesting thing is depiction of what is evidently Gauntlet hilt sword is most curious on an early 12th Century hero stone. This is because it was thought that the evolution of such hilts started much later. By the 16th Century, we have a profusion of references to gauntlet hilt swords in paint ings and sculptures. Both the Seshagiriyar Mantapa at the Ranganath temple in Srirangam and the Jalakanthesvara temple Mantapa in Vellore dating back to the 16th Century CE have sculptures of warriors on foot as well as on horseback wielding what looks clearly to be gauntlet hilted swords and daggers.
However, the first documented evidence of a Gauntlet hilt in India is from Ibn Battuta's Travels across India (1333-1342 CE) where he mentions a group of Hindu villagers attacking a King of his country with a piece of iron resembling a plough bladeone end of which is hollow so you can insert your hand and which cover the forearm'. There are no references to similar hilts before this period. Now the evidence from this hero stone places the existence of a Gauntlet hilt sword back by more than 200 years since this Hero-stone is dated to the year 1127 CE which is clearly 2 centuries prior to Ibn Batuta's reference to such a weapon. Thus we have clear evidence that the Gauntlet hilt war has been in use from or before the early 12th Century among warriors in India and particularly in Karnataka. In this collage i had added the pictures of the hero stone and Indian pata gauntet swords, from the Deadly Beauty exhibit at the Oriental Museum, Russia
Reference:
The author is gratefulto Mr. Manjappa, researcher, Dr. Jagdish, Engineer cum
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