Category Archives: Historical Links, Pre-Independence

Musicians of Rudrapatna

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

Rudrapatna is not a forest, a mountain, a trekker’s delight or a water body, although there is one nearby. Rudrapatna is for music lovers and if you love carnatic music, then this place is worth a visit. It is said the village is an abode of Veda, Nada, and Taranga and its music is famous and goes back hundreds of years in time.

Some of the greatest carnatic musicians such as RS Keshavamurthy, RK Srikantan, RK Srinivasamurthy, RK Suryanarayana, RN Thyagarajan and RN Tharanathan (also known as the Rudrapatnam brothers), RK Raghavan, RK Prakash, RK Prasanna Kumar, RK Padmanabha, RS Ramakanth, RN Sreelatha and Rathnamala Prakash  and others had hailed from this village.
The story goes that two groups of people from Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu settled in the area. While one group performed rites like yagna and yaga, the other spent their time on music. Many musicians in the state today relate to Rudrapatna. The influence of music is obvious in the village. For example, a temple has been built in the shape of a veena and the garden is filled with artistic works of musical instruments.
A temple at the village built in the shape of a veena

While on a trip to Rudrapatna, one can also visit Ramanathapura, a village on the banks of the Cauvery. Sitting on the banks here while the sun sets is a soothing experience. The fish in the river are an attraction, so much so that vendors sell puffed rice with which visitors feed the fish. Local villagers have converted the area into a ‘fish sanctuary and have banned fishing at this spot. Besides, the fish sanctuary, there are a couple of temples dedicated to Lord Ram. It is believed that Ram had visited this place. The architecture of the temples, located on the banks of the river, is also worth noting.

Food: There are no big hotels near Rudrapatna or Ramanathapura, but one can get food either from Holenarasipur or Arkalgud.
How to get there
Hit the Nelamangala Road and head to Channarayapatna and from there to Holenarasipur. From Holenarasipur head to Ramanathapura. Those who plan to visit Shravanabelagola can also visit Rudrapatna. The road is in fairly good condition.
source: http://www.BangaloreMirror.com / Home> Columns> Quick Getaways> Story / by Sridhar Vivan / Wednesday, January 16th, 2013

Those were the days

About Bangalore(Bengaluru) / Karnataka, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Travel

Bangalore was once famous for its free spirit and culture. A few loyalists are trying to preserve a slice of the city they knew and love

If you happen to be a newcomer to  Bangalore , and get into conversations with some of its older residents, be careful about showering their city with compliments. If you remark that it is green, they will tell you it used to be greener. Talk about the great weather, and they will tell you it used to be much better. Bangalore, they will tell you (wistfully, angrily or with an air of resignation, depending on who you are talking to), is not the place it used to be. And the nostalgia is not unwarranted. Every so often, there will be an article in a newspaper about an old Bangalore joint going out of business because it can’t afford the escalating rent and of customers rushing to have that last cup of tea or sandwich, or just to shoot the breeze, at their old hangout. Some Bangaloreans, though, are trying to do their bit to preserve a slice of the city they knew, in their own way.

 

“Bangalore used to be the kind of place where people gathered at parks every evening and someone would invariably take out his guitar, where people would dance at clubs till five in the morning, and where the greatest crime was to go around without a cycle lamp!” says Paul Fernandes , artist and former advertising executive, occasionally referred to as the city’s  Mario Miranda . Fernandes has recaptured that era in a series of 60 evocative watercolours, on display at his recently opened gallery, “aPaulogy,” in Richards Town. Each of the watercolours, set in ’70s Bangalore, has a personal memory or association for the artist. But anyone from those days would have an association with the places he has sketched, he adds.

 

One shows a boy on a cycle riding away with hand outstretched from a constable whose hat is in the air, titled “Potential visitor at Cubbon Park police station? “Oh we all used to do that — slap their hats off and then speed away and if you were caught, you had to spend the night in the lock-up,” Fernandes says with a laugh. Another shows two young bucks doffing their hat to a pretty young lady emerging from her house. Look carefully and you will espy an old gent with a rifle taking aim at the young men. “I have a very pretty sister and young men from all over the city used to come from all over to see her… and my uncle used to use his rifle to threaten them,” says Fernandes, which he later corrects to “seven pretty sisters”. The rifle is also there, next to the watercolour.

 

Fernandes thought of doing the sketches when he noticed that whenever he and his friends were talking, the conversations would begin with “Do you remember” and it would invariably turn out to be a happy conversation. The push came when his mother’s house, which his father had bought in 1947 when he returned from England, was sold and demolished. “That’s when I started drawing the old buildings,” he says. Fernandes now plans to bring out a book of the watercolours, titled Bangalore Blue — A 1970s Roundabout.

A different attempt to make sense of the rapid changes that took place in Bangalore and the city’s struggles to come to terms with it, while holding on its familiar aspects, is a film by city-based filmmaker  Sushma Veerappa . TitledWhen Shankar Nag Comes Asking, the film tackles these issues by examining what it would take for two auto drivers, Ramanna and Mahadeva, at Shankar Nag Auto Stand to “belong” in Bangalore today. When asked what she made of the changes in Bangalore, and the loss of old “institutions,” Veerappa says, “Of course there is much nostalgia value to something tangible like buildings. But as a documentary filmmaker, I am more concerned with what replaces those buildings — and I don’t mean just the glass façades. How and where does one carry those memories associated with that demolished old building? How do they translate into the everyday?” The changes that have happened, she says, is less about the “loss” and more about the sense of alienation and how insecurities play out. “The making of the documentary helped me understand the many ways of seeing,” she says.

 

But not all change is unwelcome. “I’m not depressed (about the changes) at all. Life has become better in many ways as well,” says Fernandes. Yet, on being told that Kohinoor Hotel on Brigade Road, a hangout for many Bangaloreans since the late ‘50s, had downed its shutters while he was abroad, Fernandes can’t keep that note of regret out of his voice when he says he will not be able to visit it for one last of glass of its famous suleimani chai with his old friends…

(aPaulogy, located on 15 Clarke Road, near the entrance of Richards Park, is open from 11 am to 7.30 pm Tuesday to Saturday, and 12 to 7.30 pm on Sunday (closed on Mondays); There will be a series of public screenings of When Shankar Nag Comes Asking in February, the details of which will be posted on the director’s Facebook page(sushma.veerappa/facebook))

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source: http://www.Business-Standard.com / Home> Life & Leisure / by Indulekha Aravind / Bangalore, January 13th, 2013

Discoverer of Sri Krishna’s Dwaraka passes away

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

Bangalore, Jan. 4

Scientist and archaeologist Dr. S.R. Rao, who discovered the legendary Dwaraka city of Sri Krishna su-bmerged in the Arabian Sea 3,500 years ago [see pic alongside], passed away at his residence in Jayanagar here yesterday afternoon.

Last rites will be held at the burial ground near T.R. Mill in Chamarajpet today, according to family sources.

Dr. Rao had two major path-breaking excavations to his credit, namely the Harappan port of Lothal and the submerged city Dwarka of Lord Krishna. Dr. Rao had carried out excavation work at north Gujarat’s Siddhpur- based Rudramahal site amid protests by local Muslims. He had discovered a Mandir within the structure of converted mosque.

Dr. Rao had led the sixth marine archaeological expedition of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, which discovered hitherto unknown features of Dwaraka. During Nov. 1987 to Feb. 1988 the expedition said it had come across the inner and outer gateways of the proto-historic port city, flanked by circular bastions built of massive blocks of sandstone. From the inner gateway, a flight of steps led to the Gomati river, the submerged channel of which has been traced over a length of 1.5 km in the seabed. Excavations done by Dr. S. R. Rao (one of Bharat’s most respected archaeologists) at Dwaraka prove that the descriptions as found in these texts are not to be discarded as fanciful but are to be treated as based on actualities as seen by their authors.

Before the legendary city of Dwaraka was discovered, some scholars were of the view that the Mahabharata being only a myth it would be futile to look for the remains of Dwa-raka and that too in the sea. Others held that the Mahabharata battle was a family feud exaggerated into a war.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / Home> General News / January 04th, 2013

Tipu’s rocket court in Sr’patna to be converted into museum

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, Science & Technology

Models of missiles and related information will be on display

Chief controller of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) W Selvamurthy said that appropriate measures will be taken to convert the rocket court (Garrison Ball Alley) of Tipu Sultan reign in Srirangapatna, Mandya district into a museum.

Speaking to press persons during his visit to unit, which is said to be world’s first rocket court, he observed that the unit has become dilapidated, while the surrounding area has been encroached. Houses have been built illegally on the way to the monument.

Elaborating on the project, he said that DRDO will acquire the houses and convert the space into road and will be used for other necessary purposes.

He mentioned that the important monument had been subjected to negligence as there has been a confusion between State archaeology department and
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) about who has to take care of the court.

Noting that a letter of correspondence will be done with both the departments and even chief secretary of Karnataka government, he said, appropriate measures will be taken immediately to conserve the place.

Selvamurthy said, models of all missiles developed in the country will be on display including the original one of Tipu reign.

Information regarding development of missile will also be made available for public.

Many do not know that India was the country which introduced missile to the world. The museum will stress on such facts and which will stress on further researches.
Prior to this, Selvamurthy visited Daria Doulat.

Director of Defence Food Research Laboratory Harsha Vardhan Batra, additional director Radha Krishna, Satish Kumar and others were present.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> District / Srirangapatna (Mandya Dist.), DHNS / December 28th, 2012

Unravel secrets about Tipu Sultan in Kere Thonnur

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

 

While a lake provides relief from the Mysore heat, temples at  Kere Thonnur  shed new light on Tipu Sultan’s legacy, shares, Arjun Kumar…

The inner sanctum of the Narayana temple was cloaked in inky darkness which my eyes could not penetrate. That did not deter the elderly priest from walking swiftly past me, his eyes either better accustomed to the dark or his soul more enlightened to see the Lord where I could not.

A moment after he entered the Lord’s chamber, the darkness was broken by a tiny spot of light. The spot quickly increased in size and intensity in the process dispelling darkness from all but the corners of the inner sanctum. If I sound a shade philosophical, put that down to to the influence of Kere Thonnur. I go into a region mentally preparing myself to find traces of  Tipu Sultan , a man who spent more time at war than at peace, and a man who – as some historians say – was a religious fanatic.

And then I tumble into Kere Thonnur. There is no trace of conflict here, no broken fortifications as there are in nearby Srirangapatnam and no tombs of warriors, old or new.

Instead, I drive past a mix of well-built houses and mud huts, glance quickly at what looks like an old wall on my right and go on to the hill yonder. It is a very short drive up the hill. On the way I pass a group of people happily splashing around under a mini waterfall. I find myself wondering what the source of the cascading water could be.

That question gets answered at the top of the hill for on the other side is a lake, an expanse of clear blue water. The water is clean, something quite remarkable in today’s age. On a weekend, there are a couple of dozen people milling about, enjoying the water and vista.

The cool water invites me to jump in for a swim and as I look around I find half-a-dozen people who accepted similar invitations and taken the plunge.

The water of the lake is deep in parts but there is no one to warn people to be careful. Instead, there is a partially submerged idol of  Nandi  – Shiva’s celestial bull – which looks ready to pray for your soul if you venture too far.

This place is called the Thonnur Lake, also known as the Tirumala Lake. That it is not crowded is because it has not been discovered by the residents of Bangalore and Mysore.

I go back to the village and this time, I drive slowly. And I stop at the place where I saw the old wall, leaving my vehicle to walk up for a closer look. I end up circumambulating the old wall on the track and find a huge gateway looming before me. It stands by itself at a distance from the wall, looking like part of a building block puzzle someone forgot to put in.

On the left is a gap in the wall, which is the doorway to a temple. This is the Krishna Gopal Swamy temple, one of several in Kere Thonnur dedicated to the God  Vishnu  or his incarnations.

Passing through that doorway, I find myself in a large courtyard at the centre of which is the main shrine. On my right is a pillared structure which looks like a shelter for devotees to gather. All around the inside of the old wall – which looms up to about 15 feet in height – runs a pillared corridor with small shrines at the corner. The most interesting feature of this temple is the set of drawings on the walls. These are outline drawings and not full paintings. Gods and goddesses, elephants and birds are all depicted here.

Unfortunately, the flaking of plaster from the walls has severely damaged some drawings while in other places, blurring of the outlines has caused the image to become barely visible.

Across the road from the Gopal Swamy temple is the Narayana temple. Like the former, this temple too has a high wall around it. The most striking feature of this temple is the solid stone pillar in front of it.

About 40 ft in height, the pillar has iconography representing Vishnu on all four sides. Between the pillar and the temple entrance is a small stepped tank, used for cleansing.

Of singular architectural importance in this temple is that the inner sanctum is protected by a wall at the back.

The space between the wall and the shrine thus forms a  parikrama  where devotees can move around the shrine in ceremonial prayer . Within the sanctum, the place comes alive when the priest lights a small lamp. As the flame gradually increases and touches the far corners of the sanctum, I look around in wonder at the idols tucked away into alcoves all around, forming a protective army for the main idol of Vishnu.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Life & Style> Travel / by Arjun Kumar, TNN / September 27th, 2012

A 17th century bell that continues to chime

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

Mysore :

St Bartholomew’s Church , the oldest church in Mysore, is preserving a bit of history that dates back to the 17th century.

Bartholomew’s Church was established in 1830 for Europeans in the region. The single-storey church is known for its history and architectural qualities, but its fascinating association with the past is not quite well known.

A well-kept secret, the place of worship on the ever-busy Bangalore-Nilgiri Road is home to a relic from 17th century. The Church Bell which is still in use was cast in France in mid 17th century for the French Army Base Church  at French Rocks Erode village (now Pandavapur), some 25km from Mysore. After Mysore ruler  Tipu Sultan  was defeated in the war in 1799 and his ally, French Army, left from the area and the capital was moved to Mysore.

About 125 years later, the French Rocks church was broken down when Mysore administrators started building Irwin Canal (now Visvesvaraya canal). The dismantled materials from the church was gifted by the British Army to the then Chaplain Rev G A A Wright of this church. In this way, the majestic bell came to adorn this church, according to a stone plaque at Belfry of St Bartholomew’s church.

Some records claim that the church was reserved for European worshippers for sometime and British VIPs while they were touring the region. It is also said that governor general Lord William Bentinck while on visit to Mysore in 1834 visited this church.

Wilson Dev Prasad, a senior member of Bartholomew’s church, told TOI that before the present Belfry was constructed in front of the church in early 2000, the bell was at the rear end of the church.

According to the commemorative inscription, the foundation stone for the Belfry was laid on October 30th 2002 and was dedicated on December 30th, 2002, by Rev Dr C L Furtado, then Bishop of Church of South India, Karnataka Southern Diocesan. Rev Premkumar Soans was presbyter-in-charge of the church then.

Bartholomew’s Church presbyter-in-charge K P Devkumar says the bell is used every Sunday before the church service commences, during celebrations and marriages. He confirmed that the church bell is over two centuries old.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Mysore /  by Lawrence Milton & H M Aravind, TNN / December 08th, 2012

His 99th Xmas is coming

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All

So you can understand when he finds the festival ‘stale’. Here he recalls the memorable ones to Khushali P Madhwani

Ashley Homes is an old age home situated on an isolated street in Horamavu. It is here that I met, Allan Arthur Wash, seated in the sunny verandah of the home, with an edition of Bangalore Mirror in hand. He was following the story of the “Chinese making a move on the Japanese” – it must’ve brought back old memories for he spent three years in a Japanese prison as a soldier.

Ramrod straight, an open smile and twinkling eyes match is suave self dressed in clothes as neat and crisp as rice paper. “I was always told to patch up your clothes, polish your shoes and dress your hair,” reminisces this retired army officer. And he’s been following it for the last several decades.
Wash was born in Madras on March 13, 1914. Yes, he has an elephantine memory and can rattle of time, date and year without any difficulty. He lost his father when he was a boy. His mother couldn’t support him and his sister, so he was sent to a “home in Madras called Civil Orphan Asylum” where he could “live and study too. I studied in this school till 1923.” Christmases were mostly spent in the hostel. “On Christmas day we would be served pulao, chicken, sweet, fruit custard and bread pudding.”
At 17, he began working as a telephone operator. “We had to plug the receiver and shout loudly and people would scream loudly to us. I couldn’t do it,” Wash recalls. Two years later, Wash joined the army. Today four medals – Campaign medal, star medal, victory medal and independent medal – keep him company, reminding of the bygone days.
After his stint in Bangalore, he was posted in Malay, Singapore. In 1924, he was captured by the Japanese and remained imprisoned for the next three years. “The Christmas I spent in captivity was a poor Christmas,” says Wash.”I remember eating maize and palm oil.” After three years of incarceration, he returned to India. “I lived in Hyderabad for sometime before moving to Bangalore. “The Bangalore today is not the same as I remember it. As I see it, it is the dirtiest city in the country,” he says. Wash today receives 30,000 as pension, which he passes on to his 62-year-old daughter who cares for him. “At this age what should I buy and what should I spend it on? The Lord has kept me free from wants,” he says.
While in the army, Wash married Pamela in Mysore. He had four girls and four boys. After retiring from the army, Wash worked at Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysore. “I didn’t like civil life. Today, the civil officers are highly corrupt,” he says. In 1962, the government gave Wash eight acres of land on which he built a house. His family stayed with him on this farmhouse till 1978. “Some of Pamela’s people, her brothers and sisters joined us in the farm in 1971 for a memorable Christmas. “They made sweets. We had all kinds of meat dishes…” recalls Wash. But, his all-time favourite Christmas meal, he says, will always be the custard and roast chicken prepared by his wife. Oh, yes and he also remembers what she wore on the Christmas of 1968, “She wore a gorgeous red and black checked plaited dress stitched by a good ladies tailor from Goa.” That Christmas, Wash’s eight children and grandchildren joined them in the celebrations. When the kids were little, they would set up a tree at home, decorate it and give their Rugrats gifts. “The girls got dolls and the boys got toy trains,” he says.
In 1975, Wash spent Christmas in Mysore with an Anglo Indian German gentleman and his brother, who threw a grand party for all friends. The hosts were dear friends of Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, who looked after them. “Srikantadatta Wadiyar was a little boy then. I got some novels and something to take home… I think it was a vase,” says Wash. In 1986, Wash and Pamela entered Little Sisters of the Poor in Mysore. After nine days his wife passed away. Like last year, even this year, Wash intends on going to his daughter’s house for Christmas to be with his children and grand children.
“Christmas has become stale because it is the same thing over and over again. It is the same meal, same recipe only the environment and company changes,” says Wash. Celebrating 99 Christmases will get to me too, I guess /
source: http://www.BangaloreMirror.com / Home> Sunday Read> Special> Story / by Khushali P Madhwani / December 23rd, 2012

From vinyl neglect to virtual safety

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Science & Technology, Uncategorized

Vikram Sampath with his prized collection

Vikram Sampath’s book My name is Gauhar Jaan recounts the dramatic life-story of celebrated courtesan Gauhar Jaan, who was also India’s first singer to record on the gramophone. It was during the research for this book that Vikram’s penchant and passion for gramophone recordings was stirred.

“Gauhar had cut close to 600 records in her lifetime and I ended up collecting over 150 records of hers alone from the grey markets in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai,” he says. “In the process, I also stumbled upon priceless recordings of several of her contemporaries in the north and south of India, all tucked away in unknown quarters of the country.”

In 2010, after the book was published, Vikram went to Berlin on a visiting fellowship and came upon a treasure of recordings by Indian artistes at sound archives across Europe. “The constant refrain everywhere was, ‘Why doesn’t India have a national sound archive?’” says Vikram, the BITS Pilani alumni, who is a banker.

In the course of a conversation with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who invited him for a tete a tete, after reading the book, Vikram brought to her attention a need for an archive. “It was a revelation to see her speak so knowledgeably and passionately about classical music,” says Vikram. “I brought up the archive idea with her and she was excited about it and immediately made connections with several government agencies.”

With a recommendation from such a high level, one would have thought the project was a done deal. But Vikram sighs, and says, “The proposal just kept moving across departments and academies, which gave empty promises.”

But the archive project survived. Help came from T V Mohandas Pai, who was then with Infosys and is now chairman of the Manipal Global Education. “He readily and generously funded the project with seed capital that helped to import state-of-the-art equipment that meets international standards,” he says.

The Manipal University also came forward to host the archive at their premises in Bangalore. A grant from the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) has also helped Vikram to put together important research material around this era. “The Archive of Indian Music (AIM), which I have set up, has several trustees from across the country,” he says.

A not-for-profit trust, AIM will seek to digitise, preserve and disseminate an important slice of the musical and cultural history of our land. “The range of recordings to be covered would not be restricted to Hindustani and Carnatic classical music alone, but also theatre, early cinema, folk music recordings in all languages as also voices and speeches of great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru and others,” he says.

AIM now has 10,000 records—both 78 RPM shellacs and vinyls—already collected from several places; a few donations, and others purchased from the kabadiwalas! “The trustees would help us source these records from their region and send them to Bangalore where my technician Chethan Kumar digitises these records and catalogues them on a daily basis,” says Vikram. “But the archive is going to be a virtual one.”

The website, www.archiveofindianmusic.org, is in its final stage of development in association with Vikram’s partners, Gaurav Vaz, and his company ‘The Random Lines’. It is expected to go live by end October 2012 with about 1,000 clips in the first round. “All these clips will be uploaded there and made available to people on free registration, for listening through streaming audio alone and not for download,” he informs.

Vikram says it is a shame that in a nation where music is so ubiquitous there is no central repository for all kinds of music of our country. “What better way than the arts to achieve a sense of national integration in these troubled times?” he says. “But it’s an endemic problem because as a country we have very little regard for our history and for documentation. Just see the kind of preservation done for even houses of musicians like Beethoven or Mozart, while a Thyagaraja’s house in Tiruvayyaru is broken down to have a garish renovation! ”

Of course there are government bodies, academies and archives. “But they need to make a reality check about whether their holdings are reaching out to anyone, especially in today’s day of technology and the internet with everything being so accessible,” he says.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Sandhya Iyer / December 02nd, 2012

Tipu’s rocket court may be made a museum

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

The unearthing of two cannons belonging to the Tiger of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, in Bengaluru by Namma Metro workers recently, has given rise to hope that the dilapidated rocket court in Srirangapatna, where Tipu designed and fired the world’s first war rocket nearly 250 years ago, will receive the attention it deserves and be converted into a museum.

The cannons’ discovery has drawn the attention of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which is now looking into the matter of conserving the rocket court.

Chief Controller of DRDO , Dr. W. Selvamurthy, plans to visiting Srirangapatna on December 20 to study the condition of the monument and submit a detailed report to the Union government for its protection.

“Tipu Sultan revolutionised the use of advanced weaponry in the battle zone and was the first to introduce rocket technology.

So every piece of this history should be preserved. I feel the rocket court in Srirangapatna should be converted into a museum and the cannons found in Old Bengaluru put on display there”, said Mr. Selvamurthy.

Former DRDO chief controller Dr. Sivathanu Pillai had in 2006 submitted a report on the pathetic condition of the rocket court and recommended that the site be converted into a rocket museum.

Former President , Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, too has shown keen interest in protecting the monument.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Channels> Cities> Others / by S. V. Krishna Chaitanya, DC, Mysore / November 29th, 2012

Rare bronze seal of Wadiyars era found

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Mysore, Nov. 23:

A rare bronze seal belonging to the Mysore Wadiyars period has been discovered near a dilapidated Shiva temple in Besarak Modalli region, near Kongarahalli of Kamagere in Kollegal taluk by Dr. B. Basavaraju Tagarapura, Director, Regional Centre, Karnataka State Open University.

The seal contains three lines of letters which read: ‘Surya, Chandra, Nakshatragala Saakshiyagi Sri Chamaraja Wadiyar Tanuja Krishnaraja Wadiyar.’

Dr. Basavaraju says that the discovery of the bronze seal is quite significant as it establishes the history of the region, fortified by the discovery of inscriptions.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / General News / November 23rd, 2012