Stories inscribed on hero stones

At two places in this hilly country, the sandalwood tree comes to a great perfection; namely, at Jalamangala, between Magadi and Chinapatam; and at Mutati Habigay, near Capala-durga.’ This is what geographer Francis Buchanan wrote on June 19, 1800 in his travel diary. It was later published in 1807 as ‘A Journey from Madras, through the countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar’. He was undertaking this journey under the orders of Richard Wellesley, the Governor General of India. 

Buchanan was investigating the ‘countries’ acquired by the East India Company from Tipu Sultan. On that day, he was staying at Magadi, aiming to complete his collection of forest trees and procure specimens of the stones from the best quarries. I decided to go to Jalamangala first, since I also wished to trek and explore the Jalamangala hill.

A five-foot-tall hero stone in the vicinity of the Jalamangala hill in Ramanagara district.

Intriguing past

While searching for more information about Jalamangala, I referred to the Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency 1896, Epigraphia Indica Volume IV and Epigraphia Carnatica (EC) Vol IX and XII, which refer to the copper plates dated 812 AD found at Kadaba in Tumakuru district. I also referred to books on Jainism in early medieval Karnataka, and found an association between rulers of various dynasties, Jainism and Jalamangala.

After travelling by train to Ramanagara and then taking a KSRTC bus, when I got down at the ‘Shaale’ bus stop in Jalamangala, I was in for a surprise. At the Someshwara temple near the bus stop, among a patch of thick grass and plants, were ancient hero stones with beautiful carvings, lying partly embedded in the ground. 

What was intriguing about the smaller stone in which only the upper panel is visible, is that it depicted a woman with her braid flying in the air, worshipping Shivalinga. In the larger one with two visible panels, the bottom panel depicts the hero seated in a palanquin being lifted towards heaven by two apsaras and the top panel shows the hero worshipping Shivalinga. On a higher platform are a broken Nandi and an eroded Ganesha, while on the other side of the steps is a slab with the faint image of Hanuman. In front of Ganesha are five Nagarakallu — the snake gods. 

There is a beautiful five-foot-tall hero stone inside the compound of a house adjacent to the temple. It depicts in the bottom panel, a rare scene of a hero fighting with a lion to save a cow and in the top panel, his arrival at Kailasha. EC IX describes an inscription inside the temple; However, the stone walls and ceilings are heavily painted, obscuring the inscription.  

Steep climb

From this temple, I started my trek to the hill popularly known as Shri Lakshmi Narayana Betta.

Climbing up through boulders and thick thorny bushes, I faced a steep obstruction that had been created while making a new path for vehicular movement. Having no other alternative, I trekked along the long spiral route till the newly created middle-level parking area. For this last stretch to the top, I chose to climb on the rocks rather than the newly carved steps. 

Jalamangala hill and the lake adjacent to it.

Reaching the top, I observed the broken walls of a fort supposed to have been built by the great visionary Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda. Close to the eight flowering Plumeria rubra trees (devakanagale) is the main Vishnu temple where regular prayers are offered on specific days of the month. 

There are two water bodies here, known as Akka-Thangi Donne. From the top, I could see many large water bodies and hills around this region, including Savandurga and the twin rocks of the Kootagal hills. Sadly, I could not locate any sandalwood trees in and around the hill.

After coming down, I walked around the Annaiah Kere and watched the white-winged birds flying over the waters against the backdrop of the hill. Sitting on the shore with my legs in the lake waters rejuvenated my spirits for the long walk to the bus stop.