BENGALURU: A rare hero stone with an inscription dating back to the 850 AD era of the Ganga and Rashtrakuta dynasties was discovered at Bhyrasandra near Nelamangala in Bengaluru rural district recently.
The ‘hulibete veeragallu’ (tiger-hunting hero stone), which is about 8 feet long and 2.5 feet wide, was unearthed when farmer Rangaswamaiah used an excavator to remove eucalyptus trees from his land.
Recognising its significance, he informed Vijayakumar Hosapalya, a local journalist and history enthusiast.
With the help of the farmer’s son Ashok, Hosapalya shared the information about the discovery with historians Balasubrahmanya G Rao and Dr Vedavathi S, who confirmed it to be a heroic stone.The experts K Dhanpal, Narendra M and Shanthakumar, who examined it, affirmed it.
The script in ‘halegannada’-ancient Kannada language though had no mention of the period in the inscription. The experts, based on the script, determined it belongs to the Ganga-Rashtrakuta period, that is around 850 AD.
The sculpture depicts the hero fighting with a tiger, and he, who died a heroic death, is being taken to heaven by nymphs. The hero is holding a sword in his right hand and fighting with the tiger’s foreleg in his left hand.
The inscription records that the hero was Sivamarenadi, the son of Thanniyarattammarodeya, and was the servant of Maramman, the chieftain ‘Nadagounda’ of Manne Nadu. As agriculture and animal husbandry were integral parts of Indian society, fighting was inevitable when protecting agriculture and crops from wild animals.
Sivamarenadi was honoured by a memorial, the hero stone. Scholars have identified the area that included most of the Nelamangala, Magadi, and Doddaballapur taluks, along with some parts of Hesaraghatta hobli, as Manne Nadu. Manne was the capital of the Gangas.
The stone has been restored to a temple, and the concerned Archaeological Survey of India officials were informed to take further action, said Rao.