A fruitful expedition through Lakkur

While walking towards Lakkur from the Dobbspet railway station in search of such inscriptions, I saw the number 1891 etched on a stone slab on the surplus weir of a nearby lake, indicating its year of construction, writes Kirti Malhotra.

Last month, when my Bengaluru-Tumakuru passenger train left the railway platform, I overheard a gentleman telling his friends about a Central Industrial Security Force battalion campus coming up at Lakkur, a village on the way. Lakkur has a national highway and a state highway within its limits. 

When I looked up Lakkur in the archives, I realised there were many villages with the same name in Karnataka and other states as well. After filtering through these results I found that the village had some historic significance. 

Volume nine of Epigraphia Carnatica (1905) provides details of an inscription from 1657 of a stone in Rajaa Husen Sahib’s field in Lakkur village. The inscription contained details about the grant of land to Bavanur Ahmed. 

Author C K Srinivasan’s book ‘Maratha Rule in the Carnatic’ (1944) also expands on the matter. According to the article, during the rule of Ajarkan Maharaj Shri Sahuji Raja Saheb, the lands were sometimes given away for various purposes – personal merit was one of the chief causes.

While walking towards Lakkur from the Dobbspet railway station in search of such inscriptions, I saw the number 1891 etched on a stone slab on the surplus weir of a nearby lake, indicating its year of construction.

Enthused, in the hot sun, I proceeded to the nearby Lakkur farmlands. Here, I came across a beautiful hero stone with a man and a woman with two bulls. This land belonged to Lakkur resident Mangalamma.

Road-widening project

During my scout, I happened across the bust of an ancient Nandi idol lying unattended near Lakkur’s Hanuman temple. A nonagenarian gentleman informed me of having seen a huge inscription slab near the Koratagere state highway. 

Unfortunately, the slab has been missing since the road-widening project was undertaken. This was confirmed by other villagers too, when I visited the old Shri Lakshmi Devi Devasthana in the area. 

Searching for the fields of Rajaa Husen Sahib and the inscription, I started moving carefully from one field to another. This was when I noticed three hero stones and a Udbhava Kallu, all within a radius of 100 meters. 

I observed another deeply-embedded hero stone, apart from many broken pillars lying in the bushes, near Basaveshwara temple. I also found two tall pillars on a rocky surface amid greenery. These pillars had carvings on all sides. 

It was when I was here that it started raining heavily, prompting me to take shelter near a concrete blocks factory.

And lo, there was another hero stone hidden in the tall maize crops! Here, I was informed that I had crossed over from Lakkur to Madenahalli to Nijagal Kempohalli. It was there that someone hinted about something more interesting if I could venture towards the hill on the far horizon.

I took it as a gifted challenge and moved ahead, navigating through a eucalyptus grove. What a great treasure was waiting for me!  An ancient mantapa and scores of lines etched on a rocky surface full of broken bottles emerged. Afterwards, I learnt that these remains pointed to the ‘Sakuniranga hill of Manne village’, described in Epigraphia Carnatica Volume 9. The set of two inscriptions were ‘Staana-Maanya’, dated 1319 and 1527, wherein the entire village was given as a grant. 

I returned home after enjoying the cool breeze from the lake waters, getting baked in the hot sun and fully drenched in the downpour, all in a span of a few hours. It was worth spotting so many hero stones and shaasnaas within a short distance of 5-6 km. The wonderful hill on the northern side, visible throughout my odyssey in the lush green fields of Lakkur, Madenahalli, Nijagal Kempohalli and Karimanne, appeared to be inviting me for another trek, beckoning me to discover more treats

An inscription spotted on a rock at Shakuniranga Hill. 

A mantap atop the Shakuniranga Hill in Lakkur which has three inscriptions.