Heritage enthusiasts have discovered the remains of an ancient temple in Bengaluru which is dated back to 1539 AD. It is a mysterious engraved stone in a village near the city that led the explorers, including Dhanpal M, a bus driver with BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation), to the interesting discovery.
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The stone has been standing in Jakkur village for ages. But the importance of it was never realised until Dhanpal and his team explored the area. Following the stone and its inscriptions, the team went ahead for another search which led to the larger discovery.
The finding led to the conclusion that inscription found on the stone was Allalasandra Shaasana which belonged to the temple of Lord Allalanatha which once stood in that area. Archaeologists found that the temple was built by Sadashiva Raya, the son-in-law of emperor Krishnadevaraya, the great emperor of Vijayanagara.
"It is a site with a compound wall. There were remnants of a temple and I reported this to the archaeology department. Three epigraphists and researchers studied the pillars and came to a conclusion that this was where the Allalanatha temple once stood. The area's name Allalasandra has been derived from this deity,'' Dhanpal told Bangalore Mirror.
Apart from the pillar-like stones, idols, a mantapa, broken veeragallu, a paanipeeta (a plank on which a deity is kept in a temple) have also been discovered in the site, reports Bangalore Mirror.
A team of epigraphists and researchers comprising KR Narasimhan, PV Krishnamurthy and S Karthik, has deciphered the ancient inscriptions. They revealed that the Allalasandra Shaasana is one of the oldest inscriptions of Jakkur that belonged to 975 AD.
"The hero stone found in the temple site talks about a martyred brave soldier and calls the village Jakkiuru. If the temple premises are excavated, we will get more insights,'' S Karthik explained.
The archaeology department applauded Dhanpal's enthusiasm that shed light on an important phase in the cultural heritage of the area and promised to take up further explorations in the area.
The director of the archaeological department, R Gopal told Bangalore Mirror, "What has been found on the temple premises is new and an unpublished inscription of the veeragallu. The department will take up exploration of the temple basement after which excavation work will begin.''
