Halmidi inscription
The Halmidi inscription is the oldest known Kannada-language inscription in the Kadamba script. While estimates vary slightly, the inscription is often dated to between 450 CE - 500 CE. The inscription was discovered in 1936 by Dr. M. H. Krishna, the Director of Archaeology of the (princely) State of Mysore (present-day Karnataka region of India), in Halmidi, a village in the Hassan district.
The original inscription is kept in the Office of the Director of Archaeology and Museums, Govt. of Karnataka, Mysore,[1] and a fibreglass replica has been installed in Halmidi.
Discovery and dating
[edit]In a report published in a Mysore Archaeological Department Report (MAR) in 1936, Krishna dated the inscription to 450 AD, on paleographical grounds.[1][2] Later scholars have variously dated the inscription to 450 AD,[3] 470 AD,[4] 500 AD,[5] "about 500",[6] and "end of the fifth century A. D. or the beginning of the 6th century A.D."[7] Epigraphist, D. C. Sircar has dated the inscription to "about the end of the 6th century."[8]
Epigraphist, K. V. Ramesh has written about the differing estimates:
And I attribute the origin of this doubt in their minds to the fact that scholars, even the reputed ones, have held differing views, mostly to prop up their preconceived notions, on the palaeographical dating of any given undated or insufficiently dated inscriptions. ... The undated Halmidi (Hassan District, Karnataka) inscription, allegedly written during the reign of Kadamba Kakusthavarman, is taken by some scholars to belong, on palaeographical grounds, to the middle of the 5th century AD, while a few other scholars have held, on the same grounds of palaeography, that it is as late as the second half of the 6th century A.D.
— K. V. Ramesh[9]
He also hypothesized that, compared to possibly contemporaneous Sanskrit inscriptions, "Halmidi inscription has letters which are unsettled and uncultivated, no doubt giving an impression, or rather an illusion, even to the trained eye, that it is, in date, later than the period to which it really belongs, namely the fifth century A.D."[10]
Epigraphist G. S. Gai however disagrees with the view that Halmidi is a record of the Kadamba dynasty identified with King Kadamba Kakusthavarman. According to (Gai 1992), the inscription, which is dedicated to "Kadambapan Kakustha-Bhaṭṭōran," refers to another ruler, Kakustha of the Bhaṭāri family, who is explicitly identified in line 13, "baṭāri-kuladōn=āḷu-kadamban;" in addition, the inscription does not "include any of the epithets like Mānavya-gōtra, Hāritī-putra, and most important Dharma-maharājā"[11] that are a part of all Kadamba inscriptions.
Text
[edit]
The inscription is in pre-old Kannada (puruvada-hala Kannada, the ancestor of modern Kannada) verse.[12][13]
Victorious is Achyuta who is embraced by Shri but has the bow Sharnga bent (ready for use) and who is a fire occurring at the end of the Yugas (cycles of time) to the eyes of the Danavas (demons) but looks pleasing (is a defensive discus) to good people.
Salutation!- During the reign of king Kakustha, the ruler of the Kadambas, who is devoted to the bestowing of gifts and is the enemy of the Kalabhora. the governors(?) in the Naridavile province were Mrigesa and Naga, who were terrible as the lord of beasts (the lion or Shiva) and the lord of elephants (or serpents-Airavata or Ananta).
These two, made a grant for military service of Palmadi and Mulivalli to the beloved son of Ella Bhatari, Vija-Arasa, who in the presence of the heroic men of the two countries, Sendraka and Bana, fought the Kekayas and Pallavas, pierced them and attained victory at the word of the moon to the spotless firinament called Bhatarikula, named the great Pashupati who is a Pasupati (or Siva) to the Ganas who are the Alapas and who is full of heroism and action in giving away (slaying) cows (sacrificial beasts) in many hundreds of sacrifices which are battles in the great Dakshinapatha (Southern India) and is praised as the Pasupati (or Siva) in bestowing gifts.
Alu Kadamba of the Bhatarikula. He who takes away this grant is guilty of the great sins.
The two and Vija Arasa of Salbanga granted Kurumbidi to Palmadi. The destroyer of this grant will incur great sin.
In the gross produce of this rice land a revenue of one tenth is granted to the learned Brahmins free of taxes.
— Annual report of the Mysore Archaeological Department for the year 1936[14]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Gai 1992, p. 297
- ^ M. A. R. 1937, pp. 72–81
- ^ Ramesh 1984b, pp. 55–58
- ^ Master 1944, pp. 297–307
- ^ Mugali 1975, p. 2
- ^ Pollock 2006, pp. 331–332
- ^ Gai 1992, pp. 300–301
- ^ Sircar 1996, p. 48
- ^ Ramesh 1984b, p. 55
- ^ Ramesh 1984b, p. 58
- ^ Gai 1996, p. 26
- ^ Datta 1988, p. 1474
- ^ M. Chidananda Murthy, Inscriptions (Kannada) in Datta 1988, p. 1717
- ^ Annual report of the Mysore Archaeological Department for the year 1936. Government Press, Bangalore. 1938. p. 74. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
References
[edit]- Datta, Amaresh, ed. (1988) [1988], Encyclopaedia of Indian literature - vol 2, Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 81-260-1194-7
- Datta, Amaresh, ed. (1989) [1988], Encyclopaedia of Indian literature - vol 3, Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 81-260-1194-7
- Encyclopædia Britannica (2008), Kannada literature, Encyclopædia Britannica Online
- Gai, Govind Swamirao (1992), Studies in Indian History, Epigraphy, and Culture, Karnataka, India: Shrihari Prakashana. Pp. 346
- Gai, Govind Swamirao (1996), Inscriptions of the early Kadambas, New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research and Pratibha Prakashan. Pp. xv, 170, 88 plates, ISBN 81-85268-47-9
- Habib, Irfan (2000), "India", in Al-Bhakhit, M. A.; Bazin, L. A.; Cissoko, S. M. (eds.), History of Humanity, Volume IV: from the Seventh to the Sixteenth century, Paris: UNESCO and London: Routledge. Pp. xxiii, 682, 44 maps, 138 plates, pp. 398–410, ISBN 0-415-09308-2
- Master, Alfred (1944), "Indo-Aryan and Dravidian", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 11 (2): 297–307, doi:10.1017/s0041977x00072487, S2CID 170552998
- M. A. R. (1937), Mysore Archaeological Department, Annual Report-1936 (MAR 1936), Bangalore: Government Press, pp. 73–80
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) - Mugali, R.S. (1975), History of Kannada literature, Sahitya Akademi, OCLC 2492406
- Pollock, Sheldon (2003), Literary cultures in history: reconstructions from South Asia, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-22821-9
- Pollock, Sheldon (2006), The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India (Philip E. Lilienthal Books), Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-24500-8
- Pollock, Sheldon (2007), "Literary Culture and Manuscript Culture in Precolonial India" (PDF), in Simon Elliot; et al. (eds.), Literary Cultures and the Material Book, London: British Library, pp. 77–94, ISBN 978-0-7123-0684-3, archived from the original (PDF) on 24 June 2010, retrieved 28 April 2008
- Ramesh, K. V. (1984b), Indian Epigraphy, Sundeep
- Sircar, D. C. (1996), Indian Epigraphy, Motilal Banarsidass Publications, ISBN 978-8-1208-1166-9
- Stein, Burton (1980), Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 550, ISBN 0-19-561065-2
- Various (1988) [1988], Encyclopaedia of Indian literature – vol 2, Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 81-260-1194-7
External links
[edit]
- Editio princeps: Annual Report of the Mysore Archaeological Department for the Year 1936. Bangalore: The Government Press, 1938. Pages 72–74. [photographic facsimile, transliteration and translation (into English)]
- Banavasi Old Kannada Inscription
- Halmidi Inscription
- Halmidi village finally on the road to recognition
- Language of the Inscriptions — Archaeological Survey of India [The last sentence of second last paragraph mentions the Halmidi inscription.]