Unsung heroes from past come alive, digitally

Bengaluru: History buffs, there is some exciting news for you. In what is likely a first-of-its-kind initiative, over 600 hero stones scattered in and around Bengaluru can now be traced thanks to a freely accessible interactive digital map launched recently by a team of heritage conservationists. 

The Bengaluru Inscriptions 3D Digital Conservation Project at The Mythic Society has created a GIS-based digital archive of at least 625 hero stones in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural and Ramanagara districts. 

Hero stones ('veeragallu') are typically etched in honour and memory of heroes who lost their lives in battle or self-sacrifice.

What is striking about the hero stones found in these three districts is that most of them  commemorated the unlikeliest of heroes – regular citizens who, without being called upon, stepped up for the greater good and died in service.

“The idea is to perpetuate the memory of heroes who sacrificed themselves for either social, religious or political reasons. Hero stones help us understand about the people of that era and learn about these heroes that are largely forgotten, Udaya Kumar P L, founder of the conservation project, told DH. 

Upon clicking any of the tiny photographs on the interactive map, one will find a comprehensive explanation of each hero stone, including its type, present location if it has been moved, the period it most likely dates back to and its conservation status. At least 100 of them also have written inscriptions.

Similar to the  'Inscription Stones of Bengaluru' map created by the same team, map users can type in keywords such as ‘tiger’, ‘sati’, ‘bali’ (sacrifice) and ‘bete’ (hunt) to obtain a list of all hero stones that have these carvings.

Even within hero stones, there are several subtypes that refer to a specific manner of death, such as death while preventing harassment of a woman or an unknown skirmish.

For example, a 9th-10th century hero stone from Begur, now in the Government Museum at Kasturba Road, honours a man named Baydukura Kerega as he died while defending cattle from thieves and preventing the destruction of property.

Similarly, a hero stone now inside the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus depicts the death of a person while hunting tigers in the 13th-14th century, an indication that tigers possibly roamed in the Yeshwanthpur region several centuries ago.

“Bengaluru city has at least 60 heroes and people have largely forgotten about them. To recognise these heroes, we can build libraries and name scholarships in their honour to set them up as role models and inspire people,” said Kumar.

The hero stones can be explored at: https://bit.ly/herostonesblr

Hunting the hero Unique feature of hero stones found in B'luru Urban, B'luru Rural and Ramanagara dists is they honour regular citizens In the digital archive, a user can click a photo on the map to find a comprehensive explanation of each hero stone At least 100 of these hero stones also have written inscriptions beside the carving of the hero

Bengaluru city has at least 60 heroes and people have largely forgotten about them. To recognise these heroes we can build libraries and name scholarships in their honour to set them up as role models and inspire people Udaya Kumar P L founder of Bengaluru Inscriptions 3D Digital Conservation Project