TREASURE: The Hosagunda hero stone.
A hero stone that was found during the conservation and renovation of the 12th century Uma Maheshwara Temple at Hosagunda in Sagar taluk of Shimoga district has thrown new light on the founder of the dynasty of Hosgunda. Earlier, it was believed that Aliya Beerarasa was the founder of the Hosgunda dynasty. An inscription on the hero stone says that it was Kumara Birarasa who founded the Hosgunda dynasty, according to a team of scholars of the Malenadu Research Academy. G.V . Kallapur, Jagdish and S.G. Samak are studying the inscription on the hero stone that was found in the vicinity of the Uma Maheshwara Temple recently while the ground was being levelled. The hero stone has, in all, 18 lines written on the panels. The figure on the stone depicts a hero fighting his enemies. In the panel in the middle, the hero is being taken to the heavens by nymphs while the third and the topmost panel depicts the hero attaining “Veera Swarga” (martyrdom) in the abode of Lord Shiva. The inscription, which belongs to 1100 AD, seems to be the earliest of the inscriptions found at Hosagunda. It is said to belong to the Santara family of Hosagunda. The language used in the inscription is Kannada. According to the inscription, the land grant was made to a hero, Tailana, who was the son of Abbiyabbe. He sacrificed his life while fighting the enemies. At that time, Kumara Birarasa was ruling Hosagunda and Mahamandaleshvara Bhujasbala Santara was ruling Humcha, a famous Jain pilgrim centre in Hosnagar taluk of Shimoga district. The dismantling of the ancient Uma Maheshwara Temple is going on as part of the conservation which has been taken up by the Dharmasthala Srikshetra Trust in consultation with the State Department of Archaeology and Museums.
Pramod Mellegatti in Shimoga
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