Jalahalli (Bengaluru) Inscriptions and Herostones

Jalahalli 1506CE Inscription

Jalahalli is a locality in North Bengaluru, Jalahalli is a prehistoric site of a Microlithic Tool Factory in the Bengaluru region which was discovered during the World War II. and currently houses a 16^th century Kannada donatory inscription. The village of Jalahalli derives its name from the combination of two terms : "Jala", a tree and "halli" for village. Trees found in a place often lent their names to the name of the village itself. The complete information of the donatory grants made cannot be deduced as the text is effaced but from the available text it seems that the inscription records a grant by Tipparasayya, an official of King Virapratapa Bhujabala, the inscription does not mention the name of the king explicitly except for the titles of the king, However, based on other inscriptions, we can deduce that the King during that period was Vira Narasimha, who happened to be the half-brother of the renowned King Krishnadevaraya. The official position of Tipparasayya is not clear from the inscription text. The inscription can presently be found in a private site behind Muthyalamma & Anjeneya temple in Jalahalli.

Physical Characteristics

The inscription is 92 cm tall, 81 cm wide. The Kannada Characters are approximately 3 cm tall, 2 cm wide & 0.24 cm deep (shallow depth). A figure of Sun and the Moon inscribed on the stone serve as symbolic representations indicating that the grant was intended to be perpetual or everlasting in nature. The inscribed Sudharshana Chakra indicates the grant was very likely made to a Sri Vaishnava temple.

Transliteration

The transliteration was first published in the Epigraphia Carnatica, Volume 9. The transliteration below is the rereading of the inscription published in the journal of the Mythic Society.

Line Number	Kannada	IAST
1	೦ ಶುಭಮಸ್ತು ಸ್ವಸ್ತಿ ಜಯಾಭ್ಯುದಯ ಶಾಲಿ	0 śubhamastu svasti jayābhyudaya śāli
2	೦ ವಾಹನ ಶಕ ಸಾ ೧೪೨೮ ಕ್ಷಯ ಸಂವತ್ಸರದ	0 vāhana śaka 1428 kṣaya saṃvatsarada
3	೦ ಕಾರ್ತ್ತಿಕ ಶು೧೨ ಲು . ಮಂಮ್ಮಹಾಮಂಡಲೇ	0 kārttika śu12 lu śrī maṃmmahāmaṃḍale
4	೦ ಶ್ವ[ರ] ಶ್ರೀವೀರಪ್ರತಾಪ ಭುಜಬಲರಾಯ	0 śva[ra] śrīvīrapratāpa bhujabalarāya
5	೦ ರೂ ಪೃಥ್ವಿರಾಜ್ಯಂಗೈಉತಂಯಿರಲು ಅ	0 rū pṛthvirājyaṃgaiutaṃyiralu a
6	೦ ವರ ಕಾರ್ಯ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಕರ್ತ್ತರಾದ ತಿಪ್ಪರಸಯ್ಯ	0 vara kāryyakkĕ karttarāda tipparasayya
	( ಮುಂದೆ ಬರೆದಿಲ್ಲ)	( Not Written further )