Stone on soldier’s sacrifice after failing to save king found in Tiruvannamalai

S Balamurugan, the research centre secretary, who led a 4-member team, said that the inscription was found on the rear of a 4-feet-high and two-feet-wide stone sculpture at the Vediappan Temple on the west bank of the Cheyyar river at Kadaladi.

The inscription states that it was sculpted during the 17th year of the reign of the Rashtrakuta King Kannaradevan.

Athivarman, the local chieftain, died at Vengai Nadu and Parai Padai Valluvan, his soldier/bodyguard, who failed to save his life immolated himself on his leader’s funeral pyre. The sculpture reveals a figure sitting surrounded by flames, Balamurugan added.

While it was common for women to die on the funeral pyres of their husbands in the past, this was the first time that evidence revealed a solider killing himself for failing to save his leader, Balamurugan said.

This practice was common among the Cholas where special bodyguards would take a vow to safeguard their king’s life, failing which they too would immolate themselves on their leader’s funeral pyre.

It was also noteworthy that Kadaladi area in the district bore the same name for more than a 1,000 years, Balamurugan noted after the rare finding.