The Byadarahalli inscription and hero stone is a passage of Kannada text inscribed on a standing stone situated in Byadarahalli, a locality in the Herohalli ward of Bengaluru, India, off Magadi Main Road. More generally, hero stones are memorial stones commemorating the honourable death of a hero in battle, and are located all over India.
The Byadarahalli hero stone has been dated to the 14th century CE, and the inscription on it features a unique engraving of the Gandabherunda, a mythical bird in Indian iconography and the only known example in the Bengaluru region. The stone is currently located on the footpath outside the Mahadevamma Temple in Byadarahalli.
Physical characteristics The inscription is 159 cm tall and 77 cm wide. The Kannada characters are approximately 4 cm tall, 3 cm wide, and 0.21 cm deep.
The front side of the stone bears an engraving of the mythical bird Gandabherunda fighting a tiger (the royal emblem of the Hoysalas), and below that, an engraving of a warrior fighting a tiger. The image of Gandabherunda gained prominence when it was adopted as the royal insignia of the Mysuru Wodeyars (also spelt Wadiyars of Mysore), a family of Mysore maharajas from the Urs clan who assumed the title Wodeyar, meaning ‘Lord’ in Kannada. The Gandabherunda was subsequently adopted as the official symbol of the Karnataka state government.
The stone also bears an engraving of the sun and moon, signifying the infallibility of the grant mentioned in the inscription.
Places mentioned in the inscription The inscription mentions Haruvahalli, a locality approximately one km north-northeast of Byadarahalli known today as Herohalli, where the stone is located. The name Haruvahalli can be broken up into its constituent parts of haruva and halli, and like the terms agrahara and mangala, haruva was used to denote places where brahmins stayed. Therefore Haruvahalli can be understood to have been a place where brahmins lived.
Kukkala Naadu was an administrative division mentioned in the inscription that existed from the 8th to the 16th centuries CE, and has been referred to by various other names including Kukanare Naadu, Kukanur Naadu, and Kukala Naadu. The name is likely derived from the region's rugged geological features and its abundance of small ponds and lakes. This administrative division is mentioned in at least six other hero stone inscriptions, including those in Ramasamudra, Haligevadeyarahalli, Kyatamranhalli, and Bommavara in Bengaluru taluk (local administrative unit), as well as in Manthalu, Banasvadi, and Huralichikkanahalli in Nelamangala taluk.
The village of Kittanelli mentioned in the inscription was located roughly seven kilometres northwest of Byadarahalli in the Kukkala Naadu administrative division, and exists to this day.
Dating and significance of inscription The Byadarahalli hero stone and its inscription were identified during field surveys based on information in the Epigraphia Carnatica Vol 9 of 1905. The inscription includes the text "sakhavarusa saṃda 1252 yiva saṃvatsarada māgha ba 1 so" in Kannada script, enabling it to be precisely dated to Monday, 29 January 1336 CE (Julian calendar).
The inscription itself is composed of 48 lines of text, in three sections.
First section The first 18 lines of the inscription are devoted to the prashasthi (meaning praise or celebration) of the Hoysala king Veera Ballala III, and contain a wealth of information about him, including the following birudavali (series of honorary titles conferred on the king): KannadaIASTಮಹಾರಾಜಾಧಿ ರಾಜಂ ರಾಜಪರಮೇಸ್ವರಂ ಪರಮಬಟಾರಕಂ
ಯಾದವ ಕುಲಾಂಬರ ದ್ವಿಂಮ್ಮಣಿ ಸರ್ಬ್ಬಗ್ನ ಚೂಡಾಮಣಿ ಮಲೆರಾಜ
ಮಲಪರೊಳು ರಂಡರಂ ಗಂಡ ಬೇರುಂಡ ಕದನ ಪ್ರಚಂಡ ಆಸಹಾಯ ಸೂರ
ಏಕಾಂಗಿ ವೀರ ಸನಿವಾರ ಸಿಧಿ ಗಿರಿದುಗ ಮಲ್ಲ ಚಲದಂಕರಾಮ ಲೋಕಯಿಕನಾಥ
ಪಗೆವಗಂಠಕಾಸೂಲ ಅನ್ವಾಥ ಸ್ವಯಂಬು ದಾರವಥಿಪುರವರಾಧೀಸ್ವರಂ
ಮಾಳವರಾಯ ಮಸ್ತಕಾ ಸೂಲ ಗೂರ್ಜರರಾಯ ವಜೀರಾ ಬಯಿರವಅಂ
ಹೆಂಮಿರರಾಯ ಬ್ರಂಹ್ಮರಾಕ್ಷಸಂ ಆದವರಾಯ ಬಂಜನಾಮೂರ್ತ್ತಿ ಚೋಳರಾಯ ಸ್ತಾಪನಾ ಚಾಡ್ಯ
ಪಾಂಡ್ಯರಾಯ ಪತಿಷ್ಟಾಚಾರ್ಯ್ಯ ಮಗರರಾಯ ನಿಮ್ಮೂಲ ಕಾಡವರಾಯ ದಿಸಿಪಟ ವಯಿರಿಬ
ಕಂಟೀರವಂ ದಕ್ಷಿಣಾಮೂರ್ತಿ ನಿಸಂಕ ಪ್ರತಾಪ ಚಕ್ರವರ್ತಿ
ಹೊಯಿಸಳ ಶ್ರೀ ವೀರನಾರಸಿಂಗದೇವ ಕುಮಾರ ಶ್ರೀವೀರ ಬಲ್ಲಾಳ ದಿವರಸmahārājādhi rājaṃ rājaparamesvaraṃ paramabaṭārakaṃ
yādava kulāṃbara dviṃmmaṇi sarbbagna cūḍāmaṇi malĕrāja
malaparŏlu ̤ raṃḍaraṃ gaṃḍa beruṃḍa kadana pracaṃḍa āsahāya sūra
ekāṃgi vīra sanivāra sidhi giriduga malla caladaṃkarāma lokayikanātha
pagĕvagaṃṭhakāsūla anvātha svayaṃbu dāravathipuravarādhīsvaraṃ
mālavarāya mastakā sūla gūrjararāya vajīrā bayiravaṃ
hĕṃmirarāya braṃhmarākṣasaṃ ādava rāya baṃjanāmūrtti colarāya stāpanā cāḍya
pāṃḍyarāya patiṣṭācāryya magararāya nimmūla kāḍavarāya dissipaṭa vayiriba
kaṃṭīravaṃ dakṣiṇāmūrti nisaṃka pratāpa cakravarti
hŏyisala śrī vīranārasiṃgadeva kumāra śrīvīra ballāla̤ divarasa
Second section The second section of the inscription records a generous tax-free grant made to the brothers Mayileyanayakka and Cheneyakka in the presence of the gavundas (village leaders) of Haruvahalli, namely Bommanna, Barachirayya, and others. Mayileyanayakka and Cheneyakka served as chieftains of Kukal Naadu, having inherited the rule of the region from their father, Kadeyanayaka. The inscription mentions various taxes of an unclear nature that are also assigned to Mayileyanayaka and Channeyanayaka, although the specific reason for singling those taxes out remains unclear.
The donation was made by a group of nine sons of Honnagavuda, a resident of the village of Kittanelli in the administrative region of Kukkala Naadu during the reign of the Hoysala King Veera Ballala III, namely: Chikkanna, Honnappa, Gantegavuda, Maleyapa, Manchapa, Chikkahonnappa, Chokkanna, Gopagavuda, and Ramanna. This section of the inscription also mentions Naada Senabhova Jakkana as a witness to this significant act.
The inscription's colloquial language and orthographic quirks make it challenging to discern why the proceeds from a location already within the bounds of Kukala Naadu are being donated back to the rulers of Kukala Naadu.
Third section The third section of the inscription has final imprecatory verses called the shapashaya, a common format in Kannada inscriptions intended to sanctify the inscription and prevent it from being harmed by people. The shapashaya in the Byadarahalli inscription states that any individual who fails to honor the donation documented on the stone will incur demerits equivalent to committing the grave act of killing a kapile (an orange-brown sacred cow) on the banks of the sacred Ganga River. According to the Garuda Purana, the act of killing a cow is believed to result in the rebirth of the killer as a hunchback in their next incarnation.
Transcription of the text The text below is a rereading of the inscription in Kannada and IAST that was published in the Mythic Society journal.Digital images of each of the characters of the inscription, images of the inscription itself, a summary, and other information about the inscription can be found at https://mythicsociety.github.io/AksharaBhandara/#/learn/Shasanagalu?id=115051.
(The line numbers are not part of the original inscription - including them is a default practice with inscriptions.) Line NumberKannadaIASTಮುಂಭಾಗFrontside1ಸ್ವಸ್ತಿ ಸಮಸ್ತ ಬುವನಾಸ್ರಯಂ ಶ್ರೀsvasti samasta buvanāsrayaṃ śrī2ಪ್ರಿಥುವಿ ವಲಬಂ ಮಹಾರಾಜಾಧಿprithuvi valabaṃ mahārājādhi3ರಾಜಂ ರಾಜಪರಮೇಸ್ವರಂ ಪರಮಬಟಾrājaṃ rājaparamesvaraṃ paramabaṭā4ರಕಂ ಯಾದವ ಕುಲಾಂಬರ ದ್ವಿಂಮ್ಮಣಿ ಸrakaṃ yādava ku ̤ lāṃbara dviṃmmaṇi sa5ರ್ಬ್ಬಗ್ನ ಚೂಡಾಮಣಿ ಮಲೆರಾಜ ಮrbbagna cūḍāmaṇi malĕrāja ma6ಲಪರೊಳು ರಂಡರಂ ಗಂಡ ಬೇರುlaparŏlu ̤ raṃḍaraṃ gaṃḍa beru7ಂಡ ಕದನ ಪ್ರಚಂಡ ಆಸಹಾಯ ಸೂರṃḍa kadana pracaṃḍa āsahāya sūra8ಏಕಾಂಗಿ ವೀರ ಸನಿವಾರ ಸಿಧಿ ಗಿರಿದುಗ ಮಲ್ಲekāṃgi vīra sanivāra sidhi giriduga malla9ಚಲದಂಕರಾಮ ಲೋಕಯಿಕನಾಥ ಪಗೆವcaladaṃkarāma lokayikanātha pagĕva10ಗಂಠಕಾಸೂಲ ಅನ್ವಾಥ ಸ್ವಯಂಬು ದಾರgaṃṭhakāsūla anvātha svayaṃbu dāra11ವಥಿಪುರವರಾಧೀಸ್ವರಂ ಮಾಳವರಾಯ ಮvathipuravarādhīsvaraṃ mālavarāya m12ಸ್ತಕಾ ಸೂಲ ಗೂರ್ಜರರಾಯ ವಜೀರಾ ಬಯಿರವstakā sūla gūrjararāya vajīrā bayirava13ಅಂ ಹೆಂಮಿರರಾಯ ಬ್ರಂಹ್ಮರಾಕ್ಷಸಂ ಆದವṃ hĕṃmirarāya braṃhmarākṣasaṃ ādava14ರಾಯ ಬಂಜನಾಮೂರ್ತ್ತಿ ಚೋಳರಾಯ ಸ್ತಾrāya baṃjanāmū ̤ rtti colarāya stā15ಪನಾ ಚಾಡ್ಯ ಪಾಂಡ್ಯರಾಯ ಪತಿಷ್ಟಾಚಾರ್ಯ್ಯpanā cāḍya pāṃḍyarāya patiṣṭācāryya16ಮಗರರಾಯ ನಿಮ್ಮೂಲ ಕಾಡವರಾಯ ದಿಸಿಪmagararāya nimmūla kāḍavarāya dissipaಹಿಂಭಾಗBackside17ಟ ವಯಿರಿಬ ಕಂಟೀರವಂ ದಕ್ಷಿಣಾಮೂರ್ತಿ ನಿṭa vayiriba kaṃṭīravaṃ dakṣiṇāmūrti ni18ಸಂಕ ಪ್ರತಾಪ ಚಕ್ರವರ್ತಿ ಹೊಯಿಸಳ ಶ್ರೀ ವೀರsaṃka pratāpa cakravarti hŏyisala śrī vīra19ನಾರಸಿಂಗದೇವ ಕುಮಾರ ಶ್ರೀವೀರ ಬಲ್ಲಾಳ ದಿವರಸnārasiṃgadeva kumāra śrīvīra ballāla̤ divarasa20ರು ದೋರಸಮುದ್ರದ ಬೀಡಿನಲಿ ನಾನಾ ವಿನೋದ ಸುru dorasamudrada bīḍinali nānā vinoda su21ಕದಿಂ ಪ್ರಿತುವಿ ರಾಜ್ಯಂಗೆಯುತಂವಿರಲು ಸಖವkadiṃ prituvi rājyaṃgĕyutaṃviralu sakhava22ರುಸ ಸಂದ ೧೨೫೨ ಯಿವ ಸಂವತ್ಸರದrusa saṃda 1252 yiva saṃvatsarada 23ಮಾಘ ಬ ೧ ಸೋ ಶ್ರೀಮನು ಮಹಾ ಸಾವಂತಾಧಿಪmāgha ba 1 so śrīmanu mahā sāvaṃtādhipa24ತಿ ನರಲೋಕ ಗಂಡ ಮಯಿಲೆಯ ನಾಯಕ ಚಂನೆಯti naraloka gaṃḍa mayilĕya nāyaka caṃnĕya25ನಾಯಕರು ಕುಕ್ಕಲನಾಡ ನಾಳುತಂವಿದ್ದಲಿ ಆnāyakaru kukkalanāḍa nāl ̤ ṳtaṃviddali ā26ಶ್ರೀಮನು ಮಹಾಕುಕ್ಕಲನಾಡ ಮಹಾಪ್ರಬುśrīmanu mahākukkalanāḍa mahāprabu27ಕಿತನೆಲಿಯ ಹೊಂನಗವುಡನ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಚಿಕ್ಕಂkitanĕliya hŏṃnagavuḍana makkalu ci ̤ kkaṃ28ಣ ಹೊಂನ್ನಪ ಗಂಟೆಗವುಡ ಮಲೆಯಪ ಮಂṇa hŏṃnnapa gaṃṭĕgavuḍa malĕyapa maṃ29ಚಪ ಚಿಕ್ಕಹೊಂನ್ನಪ ಚೊಕ್ಕಂಣ ಗೋಪಗವುcapa cikkahŏṃnnapa cŏkkaṃṇa gopagavu30ಡ ರಾಮಂಣ ನಿಧಿಯ ಮಾಡಿಸಿದಿ ಹೊಂḍa rāmaṃṇa nidhiya māḍisidi hŏṃ31ನ್ನಪ ಬೊಂಮ್ಮಂಣ ಬರಚಿರಯ್ಯನೊಳnnapa bŏṃmmaṃṇa baracirayyanŏla32ಗಾದ ಸಮಸ್ತ ಗವುಡುಗಳು . ಮgāda samasta gavuḍugalu . ma33ಯಿಲೆಯ ನಾಯಕ್ಕ ಚೆಂನೆಯಕ್ಕರಿಗೆ ಹಾರುyilĕya nāyakka cĕṃnĕyakkarigĕ hāru34ವಹಳಿಯನು ಸರ್ಬ್ಬಮಾನ್ಯದvahaliyanu sarbbamānyada35ಕೊಡಗೆಯಾಗಿ ಕೊಟೆವಾದ ಯಿ ವೂರಲಿkŏḍagĕyāgi kŏṭĕvāda yi vūrali36ಹುಟಿದ ಸೆಸೆ ಸಿದಾಯ ಪೂಬಿ ಅ ಪೂರ್ಬಾhutida sese sidāya pubi a purbā37ಯ ಕಾಮಯ ದಂಣಾಯಕ ದೇವ ಮಯಿಲೆya kāmaya daṃṇāyaka deva mayilĕ38ಯ ನಾಯಕರ ಹೊದರ ಕಾಣಿಕೆ ಕಡಾಯ .ya nāyakara hŏdara kāṇikĕ kaḍāya .39ರ ಕೊಕು ನೀಡಿದ ಕಾಣಿಕೆ ಮುಂತಾಗಿ ಆರಮra kŏku nīḍida kāṇikĕ muṃtāgi ārama40ನೆಯಲಿ ಏನು ಹುಟಿತ್ತನು ಚೆಂನೆಯನಾಯಕ್ಕnĕyali enu huṭittanu cĕṃnĕyanāyakka41ನೆ ಕೊಂಬನು ಯಿ ಮಾತಿಂಗೆ ತಪ್ಪು ತವಿದಿ ನೀnĕ kŏṃbanu yi mātiṃgĕ tappu tavidi nī42ರು ನೇಣು ಸರ್ಬ್ಬಮಾನ್ಯ ಯಿ ಮರಿಯಾದಿಯru neṇu sarbbamānya yi mariyādiya43ಲಿ ನಾಯಕರ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಎಂಳು . .li nāyakara makkal ̤ u makkal ̤ u ̤ ĕṃlu . .44ನಾಂದರ ನಡವುದು ಯಿ ಮರಿಯಾದಿಗೆ ಆರು ಅnāṃdara naḍavudu yi mariyādigĕ āru a45ಳುಪಿದವರು ಗಂಗೆಯ ಥಡಿಯಲಿ ತಗೆಳು ಕಪಿpi ̤ lṳpidavaru gaṃgĕya thaḍiyali tagĕlu kap46ಲೆಯ ಕೊಂದ ಪಾಪದಲಿ ಹೋಹರು ಯಿ ಮರಿlĕya kŏṃda pāpadali hoharu yi mari47ಯಾದಿಗೆ ನಾಡ ವೊಪ್ಪ ಶ್ರೀಮುಕ್ತನಾಥ ಬರದyādigĕ nāḍa vŏppa śrīmuktanātha barada48ಸೇನಬೋವ ಜಕಂಣ ಮಂಗಳ ಮಹಾ ಶ್ರೀಶ್ರೀಶ್ರೀsenabova jakaṃṇa maṃgala mahā śrī śrī śrī
Translation in English
The translated text has been published in Volume 9 of Epigraphia Carnatica. It reads as follows:
See also
Domlur inscriptions and hero stones Katigenahalli inscription and hero stone
References