A few months ago, Udaya Kumar, an executive at a private firm in Bengaluru and a resident of Rajajinagar learnt about the existence of an inscription dating back to the 1300s in his neighbourhood. “It was supposed to be located near my house. It piqued my interest. I always imagined that the locality was only about 60 years old and the city itself was only about 550 years old.
“The presence of a 700-year-old inscription near my house was a huge revelation. It made me read up on the history and I spent time pouring through old maps. I finally was able to locate the spot where the inscription was supposed to be. I got hold of 12 volumes of BL Rice's work on inscriptions in Karnataka. In the book, he talks of almost 150 inscriptions spread across Bengaluru. Many of them date back to 700 AD.”
The expanding city, however, has resulted in most of these inscriptions being lost. “Most of the damage has happened in the last 10 years. I think that it is shameful that people who call this city their home could not be bothered to preserve an important part of heritage. Only 29 inscriptions survive. With a group of friends, I decided that we should exhibit these inscriptions to make more people aware of their existence. We felt that it would help in preserving inscriptions and offer citizens a glimpse to the history of the land.”
This was the genesis of the Inscriptions Of Bangalore exhibition that was recently held at the Government Museum in the city, where Kumar and his friends showcased 29 inscriptions in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, found across the city.
The group used posters of the inscriptions, with a translation of the text and their time frame with QR codes. Scanning them with your smartphone will lead you to 3D models of the inscriptions, made by stitching together hundreds of high-resolution photographs. “We also took some of the exhibits that were available in the museum.”
The inscriptions tell us multiple stories, from the establishment of villages to land grants, battles and wars fought in the region and so on. “It is a historical record that must be preserved. We photographed these inscriptions, translated the text and placed them in a particular historical context. We were thrilled by the response. We hope to conduct many more programmes soon.”
Udaya adds, “We are also conducting walks in specific areas to help spread awareness about an important part of our heritage. Few people realise that we have living history in our midst.”
