8th century hero stone found in farm land in Nelamangala village

BENGALURU: An 8th-century stone inscription, believed to be from the Ganga-Rashtrakuta era, with the carving depicting a king who fought a tiger like Tipu Sultan, was discovered while working in a field at Byrasandra village in Nelamangala taluk. The land belongs to one Rangaswamaiah.

The stone inscription has the carving of a royal family warrior who hunting a tiger. According to the inscription written in Kannada script from the Ganga period, “Sivamarenadi, son of Thaniyarattammarodeya, was the servant of Maramman, the Nadagouda of Mannenadu. Sivamarenadi attained veeramaranam (heroic death) while fighting a tiger”.

The hero stone, 8 feet in height and 2.5 feet in width, has an image of a warrior wrestling with a tiger. In one hand, the warrior is holding the tiger, and in the other hand he is holding a sword. There is also an image of apsaras from heaven coming to take him after he attained ‘veeramarana’, according to historian Balasubramanya Rao.