Bengaluru: Digitised inscriptions unearth origins of 11th-century temple

Findings from a conservation project that digitally maps stone inscriptions in and around Bengaluru have led to the discovery of a 11th-century Siddeshwara temple, coordinators of the project said.

The Mythic Society Bengaluru Inscriptions 3D Digital Conservation Project team has tagged two inscriptions it found in Kumbarahalli village in Hesaraghatta to other documented inscriptions from the region, to identify the temple.

The two inscriptions, dated 1033 CE, were found on stones in a grove in Kumbarahalli. The inscriptions — one in Kannada and the other in Tamil — denote "the boundary of God Sri Siddeshwara’s land" (Sri Siddeshwara devara bhumiya sime), the verbal approval sought by a person identified as Vamanayya from King Rajendra Chola 1 to donate the land to Siddeshwara, and the king’s order sanctioning the request.

Another 1033 CE inscription in Tamil found on the basement of the Venu Gopalaswamy Temple in Ivar Kandapura states Vamanayya’s instructions to mark the donated land with an inscription. Udayakumar P L, director (honorary) of the project, said while the temple structure remained, the deity was likely to have been changed over the course of history.

Udayakumar is documenting inscriptions in the multi-phased conservation project along with Madhusudhana M N, Shashi Kumara Naik K C and Yuvaraju R.

"The original temple structure which has the inscription, at the Venu Gopalaswamy temple, was found intact. Last month, we excavated the inscription which is now visible to the public. All findings put together, we now have inscriptions on the land marking, the land donor’s announcement and the temple priest accepting the land as donation. These validate the vintage of the temple,” Udayakumar told DH.

In the Tamil inscription in Kumbarahalli, Cholisampurasai is mentioned as the location of the Siddeshwara temple. Though not identifiable now, the location is referred to as Koliyamburcchchey and Kolisambucchai in inscriptions in Alur and Ivar Kandapura, according to the team.

The findings are the result of the Bengaluru-based Mythic Society’s ongoing work on conserving stone inscriptions in Bengaluru Urban and Rural, and Ramanagara districts. The team has discovered over 90 so far-unpublished inscriptions from the scoped regions. “Most of the recorded inscriptions pertain to land being donated for the construction of temples and lakes, and martyrs who are celebrated on hero stones. It is a significant initiative because it involves combing of entire regions and the number of findings is higher,” Udayakumar said.

The project findings are from areas including Chikkabanavara, Yelahanka, Anjanapura, Domlur, and Bannerghatta. Seven inscriptions related to the Domlur Chokkanathaswamy Temple have been traced to 1301 CE, when the Hoysala king Veera Ballala ordered standardised inscriptions to be enrgaved in temples in the Bengaluru-Kolar region. In Yelahanka, a 1440 CE Kannada inscription records a merchant building a kamba for a Hanumantha temple.

The team uses hand-held digital scanners to scan the inscriptions. Later, 3D models are built, aided by sophisticated software that also brings out images of the inscriptions in enhanced quality. The models could be used for studies and even to create accurate physical replicas.