Cattle Raiding and Pastoral Economy of the Chengam Region as Reflected in Hero-Stone Inscriptions (6th–9th Century CE)

Abstract

Hero-stone inscriptions from the Chengam–Thandrampet tract of present-day Tiruvannamalai district, palaeographically datable to the 6th–9th centuries CE, constitute a primary epigraphic corpus for examining cattle-related conflict in early medieval northern Tamil Nadu. Based on documented stones recorded in the publications of the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology, including the 1974 Seminar on Hero-Stones proceedings, the article analyses inscriptions written predominantly in early Vattezhuthu script that explicitly refer to deaths while protecting cattle or in the recovery of cattle (āṇirai). The recurrence of such formulae across multiple stones establishes cattle as a measurable category of property and a contested economic asset. The study demonstrates that these memorials are local commemorative records devoid of royal titulature, administrative designations or temple affiliations, thereby situating the commemorated individuals within lineage-based rural communities rather than state structures. Patronymic identifiers link cattle defence to household-level economic responsibility, while martial iconography depicting sword- or spear-bearing figures corresponds with inscriptional references to armed confrontation. Spatial distribution along village peripheries and movement routes near the Javadi hill interface aligns with zones of pastoral mobility, reinforcing the inscriptional evidence. Across the chronological span of three centuries, the persistence of cattle-specific memorialisation indicates structural continuity in pastoral practice despite concurrent agrarian consolidation in northern Tamil Nadu. The hero-stones provide verifiable evidence that livestock functioned as transferable wealth integral to subsistence, draught agriculture and social status.