Category Archives: Nature

Armyman To Fruitman !

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

Jampa Sangyal’s tryst with dragon fruit 

Many people find no ideas to utilise their retirement life and while away days doing nothing. But Jampa Sangyal, a resident of Gurupura near Hunsur, a retired Indian Armyman, is cultivating dragon fruit organically.

He started dragon fruit cultivation in the fallow land near CSD-Gurupura School and invested money in the idea that is considered to be rare to this region. Pouring sweat in the soil makes your body healthy and also that you get income from farming. Doing something and making income after retirement adds to your joy, he told Star of Mysore. 

He evinced interest in dragon fruit farming after he learnt ideas about the farming from various sources including online and through consultation with fellow growers. He learnt that the dragon fruit could be cultivated in a land where irrigation facilities are not so good. Gurupura is an arid land and there is not much rain here. 

Indigenous to Americas

The dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) is indigenous to the Americas. It grows on the Hylocereus cactus also known as Honolulu Queen, whose flowers only open at night. The plant is native to Southern Mexico and Central America. It goes by many names like Pitaya, Pitahaya and Strawberry Pear. 

Its name comes from its appearance — leather-like skin and scaly spikes on the exterior of the fruits. It was introduced to home gardens in India in the 1990s and it gained wider popularity among farmers due to its profitability and the fact that it needed lower inputs once established.

The plant sustains yield for more than 20 years and is high in nutraceutical properties and good for value-added processing industries. The low maintenance and high profitability of dragon fruits has attracted the farming community throughout India. 

Jampa Sangyal owns three acres of land and he grows over 35 quintals of the fruit.  He has designed his farm scientifically with stone poles where four saplings are planted. A discarded rubber tyre acts as a grip to the plants. The gap between each pole is 8 feet.

Assisted by wife 

He maintains his farm organically with waste like jaggery manufacturing residue and other organic manure. He guards his farm from raiding elephants and pigs as if he is at the country’s border. He does not employ any labourers and he is assisted by his wife Tsesung Lhamo. 

He retired from the Indian army on March 21, 2012 after serving for 21 years from 1991. “My red dragon fruits are tastier than normal white ones available in the market. Buyers and middlemen ask the fruit for dirt cheap rate. The organic fruits grown here do not fetch much but sadly, the inorganic and imported dragon fruits are in demand,” Jampa Sangyal lamented. 

Almost every type of soil can hold a dragon fruit plant. However, sandy soil and good irrigation are preferred. Jampa Sangyal has just studied till 3rd standard at his native CSD-Gurupura School.

He learnt about fruit cultivation through online videos. “My friends and community members turned away when I asked for help. But I have inspired many and they have taken up fruit cultivation now. I have raised this farm with whatever little I learnt. Many school children come here to see the plants and fruits. I give them fruits free of cost and I love children as they are our future citizens.”

Not deterred by lack of market for his dragon fruits, Jampa Sangyal wants to plant olives. “What is wrong in trying? I will be busy till my last breath,” he said.

Anger at China

Jampa Sangyal has served the Army in Ladakh, Assam, Kargil, Batalik and the Line of Control. “I have a great respect towards my motherland. My wife was tortured in her childhood by the Chinese and she ran away from her place, crossed the border on foot and reached India with her group of friends. I am ready to fight China even now,” he said, making his hatred evident in his facial expressions.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / August 30th, 2021

City Scientist Saves 10 Dying Neem Trees Inside Park

Agriculture, Amazing Feats, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

Wilt, canker, rust, decay, burns, pathological and fungal diseases — anything can hit a tree in our locality. What else can we do other than letting it die? No, think twice. Dying trees can be saved as this ‘tree doctor’ from city has proved it by saving Neem trees that are considered as a ‘doctor tree’ thanks to its medicinal properties. 

City’s Agri Scientist and avid researcher Dr. Vasanth Kumar Thimakapura, who is popularly known as ‘plant doctor’, has saved ten Neem trees of a Park in Vijayanagar Third Stage. The model adopted by him can save many dying trees at Parks and green areas inside Mysuru city. 

“I noticed ten Neem trees during my routine walks and I thought that the trees can be saved. I took up the treatment voluntarily with some of the plant medicines developed by me and within three months the trees have recovered beyond recognition. All the trees I treated have recovered fully and they look much more healthy and vigorous now,” he told Star of Mysore. 

Normally, controlling soil-borne root diseases is practically not possible especially in tree species. Root is the most important organ of the plant for its anchoring to the soil and also to get its supply of water and nutrition to the above ground parts. 

“Initial stages of any infection of roots go unnoticed until the symptoms of the damage are visible on the leaves and branches of the plant or tree, as roots are underground and invisible. Hence, root infections are noticed only at advanced stage of the infection where the plant starts to wilt. That is the reason why it is difficult to control them as the infection would have crossed manageable levels,” he said. 

Further, it is more complicated as the cause of the problem could be multifaceted and it is impossible to take a look at the damaged root for diagnosis and suitable treatment. May be because of these reasons such wilting trees do not get any attention and they are left to die, he added. 

“I regularly see many trees wilting at places including Manasagangothri campus, Kukkarahalli Lake and surroundings. These trees are left to die and it is a loss for our city. Unfortunately, we do not have permission to enter the campuses and take up voluntary tree treatment. I am ready to help the authorities if they join hands with me for tree rejuvenation.”

— Dr. Vasanth Kumar Thimakapura

Explaining the process of saving the trees, Dr. Thimakapura said that the medicines were diluted and directly poured onto the roots and gradually the trees came back to life. “We took up the task during dry months where we poured diluted medicines directly to the roots. We poured 10 to 20 litres of the diluted solution per tree depending on the size of the tree,” he said and added that this treatment is similar to the treatment given to the roots of pepper vines. 

He said that the same model can be adopted by authorities to save many trees that are dying inside the Parks and green landscapes. 

Dr. Thimakapura has many achievements to his credit. He recently published a book titled ‘Plant Doctor’ which is a practical and pictorial manual for diagnosis and management of deficiencies, diseases and insect pests. He has developed a product called ‘Power Plus’ that cures even virus diseases of many crops especially Papaya Ringspot Virus.

He can be contacted at: vasanth.greenlife@gmail.com for any help regarding plant health.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / June 14th, 2021

How to grow a mini forest in a year

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All

A tiny two-cent patch of land in Katpady town in coastal Karnataka isn’t quite the Western Ghats, but close. Spatially and figuratively.

Mahesh Shenoy enjoys a walk in his forest-like backyard | express

Udupi : 

A tiny two-cent patch of land in Katpady town in coastal Karnataka isn’t quite the Western Ghats, but close. Spatially and figuratively. It houses a minuscule fraction of the richness of the Western Ghats which is roughly 30km away. The plot of land in Udupi district is owned by Mahesh Shenoy, a 43-year-old businessman, and used to be fallow until a year ago. But today, his son Ameya, who is in Class 10, and daughter Anvitha, who is in Class 7, are growing up watching a Miyawaki forest grow.

Discussions with friends in Bengaluru introduced Mahesh to the concept of a Miyawaki forest. He researched online, and learned more about the urban afforestation method using local species of plants and trees created by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki.

Enamoured by the idea, he and his friends – Vishu Shetty, Ganeshraj Saralebettu, Nithyanand Volakad and Ravi Katapady — who also live in Udupi, formed a group called Organic Living, and got to work to create what might be Udupi district’s first Miyawaki forest. “Miyawaki promoted natural vegetation by raising mini forests along Japan’s coastline. I have adapted that model and customised it for the weather conditions of Udupi,” Mahesh says.

Mahesh and his friends dug up the soil on October 13, 2019, added manure, and monitored its nutrition levels for three months. Meanwhile, they chose the species they would plant. In January 2020, they planted around 220 saplings including teakwood, rosewood, Indian beech, neem, and almond — procured from government-run nurseries and acquaintances — a metre apart. “Amid problems of increasing groundwater depletion and rising urban heat, this Japanese method of forest creation is a ray of hope,” Mahesh says. “Many did not believe me, and said it was impossible, but I proved them wrong.”

Using conventional methods, a teakwood sapling would grow a couple of feet a year, but under the Miyawaki method, it grows about 6-10 feet a year. Some of the trees are 15-20 feet tall, have thick branches, belying the fact that they are barely a year old, and are home to dozens of birds. Mahesh named the forest Ganapathy Vana, after his grandfather.

Gowri Shenoy, Mahesh’ wife, became a full-fledged supporter of the venture when she learned that the forest would need work for only about two years, after which it would take care of itself. During the past year, Mahesh has worked hard to ensure that the four-layer forest in his backyard was watered, weeded and manured. He pretty much single-handedly took care of the work. He spent Rs 40,000 including the cost of saplings and manure.

Although Vanamahotsava is observed during the monsoon each year, in Mahesh’s view, “Vanamahotsava is not yielding much result, but creating a forest under this method is practicable. I want to show people that anybody can have a mini-forest in their backyard,” he says.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Prakash Samaga / Express News Service / January 31st, 2021

Indigenous tribe that worships tigers helps protect the species

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All, Travel
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Spirituality isn’t usually considered a factor in conservation efforts. But indigenous peoples who worship wildlife may be helping protect endangered species from extinction.

The Soligas tribe in the Western Ghats of India reveres the Bengal tiger. Their coexistence in India’s Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve has helped the tiger population flourish, says Shadi Atallah, a natural resource economist in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at University of Illinois.

Atallah first learned about the Soligas from a BBC article that discussed how the tiger population doubled from 2010 to 2014, after the tribe obtained property rights to their ancestral land.

“The BBC article stated that the local tribe venerates the tiger and that worshiping relationship makes them the best conservationists,” Atallah says. “We could not find anything in the conservation economics literature that backs that claim. There was nothing that accounted for spirituality ecosystem service values.”

He and co-author Adrian Lopes wanted to investigate how the tribe’s spiritual beliefs might make them effective conservation stewards.

The researchers conducted a case study to assess spiritual value of the Bengal tiger for the Soligas tribe and show how such values can be harnessed as an economic tool for promoting sustainable wildlife conservation.

Atallah and Lopes used bioeconomic modeling to estimate four different management scenarios: Whether or not the Soligas tribe had property rights to the land, and whether or not poaching fines were implemented for illegal harvesting of the tigers.

Their results were clear: Tribal property rights were by far the best policy to protect the tigers.

“We observed that if you remove the property rights and poaching fines, the species goes to extinction in 49 years. Implementing poaching fines alone delays the extinction by nine years but does not prevent it,” Atallah says.

He suggests the tribe’s veneration of the tiger makes them less likely to look for the quick reward of illegal poaching.

There is little precedent for including spiritual values in economic models , Atallah notes.

“Putting a dollar value on spirituality is controversial,” he says. “But by leaving it out of economic calculations, we assume it has a value of zero.”

Bioeconomic models include biological information such as status and growth rate of a species and economic policies such as property rights and fines. They can also account for the values generated from wildlife ecotourism. But so far, they have not included wildlife spiritual values, Atallah states.

“If we can place a value on spiritual ecosystem services the way we do for ecotourism, we would not be under-accounting for those services when governments make policy decisions,” he notes.

Conservation efforts often consist of establishing protected areas by separating humans and wildlife. Such policies may involve expulsing indigenous communities and are controversial on ethical and humanitarian grounds. But Atallah and Lopes’ research also provides an economic argument by showing that local tribes are, indeed, the best conservationists.

The Indian Forest Rights Act grants indigenous tribes property rights to their ancestral lands; however, the tribes need to provide documentation for their claim to the land, and lack of proof has in some cases led to expulsion.

“Our research shows if a government has to decide which policy instrument to use, spending money in courts to secure the property rights of the local tribes is much more effective than spending money on catching and fining poachers,” Atallah says.

“If you care about the survival of the species, securing the property rights of the tribes that venerate them is the best tool you can have,” he concludes.

source: http://www.phys.org / Phys.org / Home> Biology> Plants & Animals / by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign / January 29th, 2021

‘Milking’ opportunities: Karnataka farmers collab with company to produce organic dairy products

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature

Rangegowda and Nagaveni who live in Karnataka’s Tiptur village, were farmers inundated with debt. Making matters worse, the bank wasn’t waiving their agricultural loan.

Rangegowda’s dairy farm

To stave off hunger, Rangegowda had no option but to think of selling his cows—his primary means of sustenance. Just in time, he met officers from Karnataka-based Akshayakalpa, a rural entrepreneurship initiative, and an organic milk brand. That fortuitous encounter resulted in circumstances reversing for the better.

The farmer collaborated with the company to employ scientific dairy methods such as free-stalling, making soil chemical-free, machine milking, organic fodder cultivation and antibiotic and hormone-free milk production. Together, they share the common vision of empowering smallholder subsistence dairy farmers to become entrepreneurs.

Rangegowda’s activities at the farm start at five in the morning with close observation of all cows. He grows his fodder crops free of chemicals and makes silage, a type of fodder made from green foliage crops, available at all times, that provides balanced minerals and proteins.

Subsequently, the couple opened their own organic fodder production unit that cultivates Napier grass, excellent fodder for cows. The dung is collected in a slurry pool and is used to fertilise fodder crops. Such measures have helped him optimise farm costs. He was able to pay back his loan and expand his farm by investing the profit.

Such kind of exposure has led him and his fellow dairy farmers to use apps like Stellapps, a herd management solution through which he monitors his farm production closely through a component called ‘mooON’ that assists farmers track health records, including records of vaccination, deworming, artificial insemination, pregnancy detection and more.

So far, low farm and cattle productivity and lack of scientific management of farms have led to higher costs and lower profitability for Indian farmers. “Indian dairy farmers are predominantly smallholders with an average herd size of two cattle. Delivering services to a fragmented group of many smallholder farmers is a costly affair for banks, veterinarians, feed providers and others. The lack of access to credit further restrains the farmer from expanding their farm and investing in mechanisation,” says Shashi Kumar, CEO, Akshayakalpa.

Shashi Kumar

 Through Stellapps’ mooPay FinTech solutions, farmers can avail loans easily. Easy access to credit helps them invest and start new enterprises. “It helps that funds are directed to the farmer’s bank account. This helps them to buy cattle through partner banks,” says Ranjith Mukundan, CEO and Co-founder, Stellapps. Such wealth-creating initiatives enrich villages, agitations nothwithstanding. 

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Bindu Gopal Rao, Express News Service / January 24th, 2021

New device measures rate of evaporation in minutes

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology

Can help farmers, weather stations and botanists, says IISc. team

In what is touted to be a more efficient and inexpensive alternative to existing methods, a team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) has developed a device that can measure the rate of evaporation within a couple of minutes.

Apart from being an integral process in the water cycle, evaporation plays a major role in regulating water loss in plants through a process called transpiration, an IISc. release explained. “Being able to measure the evaporation rate is useful for farmers to gauge water requirements for their fields and in weather stations to characterise the local atmospheric conditions. It is also widely used by botanists to study the dynamics underlying transpiration by plants,” said IISc. in the release.

Currently, pan evaporimeters – resembling large pans that are filled with water – are the most commonly used devices to measure evaporation rates. The change in water level over a day gives the evaporation rate from that area for that day.

“The disadvantages are that the evaporation rates are for one whole day, and over a large area, one square metre. One needs an open ground to place the device. But we have a simple method of directly measuring evaporation from a small surface – at the order of a couple of centimetres, and over a short period of time. Our method allows you to get a much more realistic measure of transpiration from plants and evaporation from soil,” the release quoted Jaywant H. Arakeri, Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc., and senior author of the study, which was recently published in the Journal of Hydrology, as saying.

The proposed device consists of a filter paper connected to a capillary tube that takes water from a reservoir to the filter paper, wetting it and mimicking an evaporating water surface. By measuring the distance travelled by the lower meniscus in the capillary tube over a couple of minutes, the evaporation rate is estimated. The innovation lies in being able to measure the very small amount (about 1 microlitre) of water that is lost in evaporation from the surface in a minute, the release explained.

As the evaporation rate is affected by a number of factors such as temperature, wind velocity and humidity, the device can show the evaporation rate within a niche environment. It would be useful to scientists studying the physiological process of transpiration in plants because of its ability to measure the evaporation rate over small areas over short periods of time.

The authors also suggest that it could be used in oceans to study changing evaporation patterns in the open sea and in weather stations to estimate evaporation rates in the atmosphere, an important parameter that is currently not measured.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / December 05th, 2020

‘Elephant Man’ Ajay Desai passes away in Belagavi

Agriculture, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Nature, Records, All, Travel
Elephant expert Ajay Desai (right) with a forest guard.  

He was a pioneer in the study of elephant movements using radio collar and a consultant to some State governments

Field biologist and wildlife conservation expert Ajay Adrushyappa Desai passed away in Belagavi on Thursday night. He was 62.

Family sources said he suffered a heart attack in his sleep. Mr. Desai is survived by wife and two children.

Fondly known as “Elephant Man”, he spent decades in the research of species specific behaviour of Asiatic elephants. He was a consultant to World Wildlife Fund and some State governments in resolving man-animal conflicts.

Mr. Desai’s family hailed from Konnur in Bagalkot district but had settled in Belagavi decades ago. After schooling in Belagavi, he joined the Bombay Natural History as a researcher. Mr. Desai spent years studying elephant track formation and herd leadership in Mudumalai and in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Desai was a pioneer in the study of elephant movements using radio collar. His studies included problems such as elephants entering agricultural fields and pastures. Based on scientific research, he argued that deforestation and destruction of wildlife habitations were forcing elephants to come to villages and towns seeking food and water. He advocated a holistic approach towards conserving nature and wildlife, along with forest areas. He also served as chairman of the elephant expert committee of the International Union of Conservation of Nature. “He was a wildlife photographer, scholar, and a conservation activist. But more than that, he was a great human being. His passing is a great loss to the cause of wildlife conservation,” said Jaideep Siddannanavar, wildlife photographer and a long-time friend.

‘A great loss’

Mysuru Special Correspondent reports:

Conservationists and wildlife activists described Mr. Desai’s understanding of elephant behaviour and ecology as monumental.

Sanjay Gubbi, a wildlife biologist and who along with Mr. Desai, was the member of the State Board for Wildlife said he was a true conservationist by heart and stood firm for wildlife issues.

His knowledge of elephants was unfathomable and Mr. Desai’s death was a great loss to conservation, Mr. Gubbi said.

Praveen Bhargav of Wildlife First recalled working with Mr. Desai on many committees of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and how his explanation and analysis of animal behaviour in general and elephants in particular provided insight to other members of the committee to formulate policy measures.

He also gave a report to NTCA on the imperatives of further investment to reclaim the Srisailam Tiger Reserve which was recovering from naxalism.

Human-elephant conflict

He was also working on policy guidelines to mitigate human-elephant conflict under the National Elephant Action Plan (NEAP) which was to be submitted in due course and the conservation community had lost a great friend in his demise, said Mr. Bhargav.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Belagavi – November 21st, 2020

Exploring ancient skies

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Nature, Records, All, World Opinion

Former Planetarium director studies stone inscriptions to understand past celestial events

Bengaluru :

Looking at the stone and understanding the sky is what she does. And she is leaving no stone unturned to understand the celestial events of the past. The celestial world has always fascinated B S Shylaja. And therefore, opting for astrophysics to understand the astronomical occurrences and phenomena was not at all surprising. In 1994, she joined as an educator in Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bengaluru. Till her retirement in 2017 as the Director of Planetarium, she taught basics of astronomy and astrophysics to graduate students.

But now she is busy studying inscription stones to know how much ancient people knew about celestial occurrences and how they followed and recorded some rare and common events. Usually Indian stone inscriptions are edicts for grants and donations of land and kind to individuals or temples. The tradition of getting edicts recorded on stone can be traced back to 3rd century BCE. Stone inscriptions have been studied, translated and published right from 19th century by Indian epigraphists, British scholars and is now continued by the Archaeological Survey of India.

However, these inscriptions also provide records of eclipses, solstices and planetary conjunctions, Shylaja informs. She has studied not only Indian inscriptions but extended her studies to South and South East Asia – Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand. This has thrown light on many new aspects such as the evolution of calendars independently from the influence of Indian system of time measurement as early as the 3rd century BCE.

Shylaja says, “We find a wealth of information on planetary positions in a limited geographical region. The words that are used to describe vary from place to place and from time to time. It must be possible to find many more records in India and nearby countries by a detailed scrutiny. Many interesting records of planetary conjunctions are also available.” This voluminous exercise has involved scrutiny of 38,000 inscriptions from 6th to 17th century and gathering of 1,100 useful information about celestial events.

The result of her effort has led to deciphering records of solar and lunar eclipses, solstices, equinoxes and planetary conjunctions. In all these cases, the dates and timings are meticulously written down while the details on the positions of planets are also available. She has also traced Kannada inscriptions to far off regions like Myanmar. She was assisted by Geetha K G (project assistant/co-researcher) for some discoveries in 2016.

Data was sorted out using software but was not an easy task. Astro-information was hidden as an adjective or as a simile in the long texts on praise of a donor/awardee.  Shylaja explains, “The event descriptions are very long, phrases are hidden, language tough with many technical terms. Simple phrases were hidden, difficult to scoop out. We undertook to scrutinize all inscriptions which require knowledge of astronomy and language command.

Our minute study has been useful in understanding observational tools and methods for eclipse predictions.” In the 2016 studies, Shylaja and Geetha mainly dealt with inscriptions found in and around Karnataka. Shylaja says, “A good number of Kannada inscriptions are found in AP, TN, Maharashtra and Goa. Many are bi-lingual. All inscriptions in Tirupati are in Kannada, Sanskrit and Telugu and at times, Tamil.

Three volumes from Tirupati cover 15-17th century — the peak period of Vijayanagar empire. During Krishnadevaraya reign, every auspicious event was used as an opportunity to offer gifts and donations.”


Most inscriptions begin with information about dates. In some, an eclipse is mentioned in the beginning of the text or at the end. The earliest stone inscription of total eclipse in 754 CE has been found in Pattadakal. In fact, European visitors learned the procedures of calculations from Indians. Records of total eclipses have made for an exciting study for Shylaja.

The mentions of totality in eclipse records have provided data for understanding the variation of the speed of rotation of earth over centuries. Now how has ‘time’ been marked on inscriptions? They are recorded as Saka Year, Samvatsara (a cycle of 60 years), lunar month, tithi (the phase of the moon) and Vara (the week day). “We see examples of the naksatra citation (each day is associated with a star, naksatra, the one closest to the moon among the 27), while in some examples, lagna, the ascendant zodiacal sign is cited, giving the time of the day,” Shylaja says.

GROUPING OF 6 PLANETS
There is one prominent mention of planetary grouping in 1665 when there was a solar eclipse. This is recorded as śadgraha yóga – grouping of six planets. They are sun, moon, descending node (Kétu) considered as planet and the other three planets. This occasion was used to donate special grants called “tulāpurushadāna”, which means gold of weight equivalent to the weight of the king was disbursed. This particular record pertains to the then Mysore Maharaja.

LANGUAGES USED         
Languages used in earliest inscriptions are Pali, Prakrit, Nagari and Sanskrit. Subsequent ones are in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Persian. Earliest Kannada inscription dated back 
to 450 CE.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Meera Bharadwaj / Express News Service / November 22nd, 2020

Two inscriptions dating back to 14th and 18th centuries discovered in Rajanukunte

About Bangalore(Bengaluru) / Karnataka, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Nature, Records, All, Travel
The team of history buffs with the inscription, dating back to the 14th century, found at Kadatanamale, near Rajanukunte, Doddaballapura.   | Photo Credit: Handout E Mail

Both pertain to land grants in the erstwhile ‘Yelahanka Nadu’

A team of history buffs, which includes a BMTC bus driver and a retired Kannada professor, has discovered two inscriptions, one dating back to the Hoysala kingdom during the 14th century and the other to the Wodeyar rule in the 18th century, near Rajanukunte, Doddaballapura.

Both inscriptions pertain to land grants in the erstwhile ‘Yelahanka Nadu’. The local villagers have initiated steps to conserve them.

K. Dhanapal, a driver and tour guide on BMTC’s Bengaluru Darshana, has been an epigraphy enthusiast who has discovered and helped conserve several inscriptions in the erstwhile Yelahanka Nadu, including a rare 9th century inscription discovered in Jakkur. He came across the two inscriptions in October.

“I got information about an inscription stone at a temple in Kadatanamale village,” he told The Hindu.

Prof. K.R. Narasimhan, a passionate epigraphist who led the study team, said the inscription was actually found around five years ago. The villagers had put it on display for the public, half buried in concrete.

“Last week, we led an effort to unearth the inscription and read it. It’s dated 1310 AD, during the reign of Hoysala king Veera Ballala III. The inscription is written in 14th century Kannada, easily understood even today, and has 18 lines. It says Kameya Dandanayaka, son of Ponnanna Dandanayaka, the prime minister of Veera Ballala III, ruling over Elahakka Nadu, has donated all the land of Kadatanamale for the welfare of the people of the village,” he explained.

The inscription stone was found in the Kambada Anjaneya temple in which the sanctum sanctorum has a pillar on which there is an engraving of Anjaneya.

“The pillar is a Garuda kamba, usually placed outside a large temple. Now, only a portion of the pillar remains, which has become a temple in itself. This site probably had a large temple in the 14th century,” Prof. Narasimhan speculates.

The inscription refers to Yelahanka as Elahakka Nadu. “Over 50 inscriptions have been found in this region that date back to the Hoysala period, especially to the reign of Veera Ballala III. When studied together, they show this particular king had taken keen interest in the development of this region,” Prof. Narasimhan said. “Earlier inscriptions dating back to the Chola period refer to this region as Ilaippakka Nadu.”

While the team was at Kadatanamale, they were tipped off about a similar inscription near a sweet water well in Arakere, a neighbouring village.

Mr. Dhanapal said, “That inscription too was half-buried next to a well, and the water had erased many lines. As we unearthed the inscription, we realised it was probably cut in two, and this was only one part of it. Despite an extensive search, we could not find the other half.”

Prof. Narasimhan said, “The second inscription dates back to 1750 AD, to the time of Wodeyar rule. It is also a land grant, but since the inscription is incomplete, we do not have the details.”

Villagers at Kadatanamale and Arakere have come together to conserve these inscription stones.

“The government and the villagers need to preserve these inscriptions in these villages, with a plaque educating visitors of their contents and significance,” Mr. Dhanapal said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by K.V. Aditya Bharadwaj / November 10th, 2020

Hampi Zoo to have first wildlife rescue and rehab centre in North Karnataka

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All

The rescue centre is coming up at the zoo premises and will be constructed at a cost of Rs 80 lakh.

The view of veterinary hospital at Ballari zoo premises near Hampi. (Photo | EPS)

Ballari

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee Zoological Park in Hampi of Ballari is all set to expand its services to the region. The zoo which is also known as Hampi Zoo will now have a rescue and rehabilitation facility for the wildlife animals such as woof, leopard and sloth bear.

The move comes a month after Mysuru Zoo helped the Hampi zoo set up a veterinary hospital on their premises. The rescue centre aims to help in mitigating the human animal conflict and will also have state-of-art facilities to deal with any kind of wildlife situation in the Kalyan Karnataka region.

The rescue centre is coming up at the zoo premises and will be constructed at a cost of Rs 80 lakh. This will be first such facility in North Karnataka and third in the state after Bengaluru and Mysuru. The centre will also take up treatment for the injured wildlife.

Kiran M N, Executive Director Hampi Zoo said that the new centre will reduce the response time during man-animal conflict, thus helping to save the animals. “The Daroji Sloth Bear sanctuary in Ballari has numbers of bears and leopards which come into conflict with humans on many occasions. The rescue centre will also act as rehab facility for the injured animals,” he explained.

Currently Ballari zoo houses white tiger and lions besides other animals. The rescue centre will be set up in the zoo premises and will have separate staff for the facility.

“There will be three dedicated staff at the rescue centre and during field operations we can use staff from zoo and local forest divisions depending on the case. There have been instances were leopards and bears are injured or seen regularly in human populated areas and during such times the role of rescue centre is very important. This will help mitigate conflict,” pointed out a wildlife expert from Ballari.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Kiran Balannanavar / Express News Service / October 19th, 2020