Bengaluru, July 27 -- A rare 1,175-year-old hero stone (Veeragallu) bearing an early Kannada inscription from the Western Ganga dynasty has been unearthed in Karnataka's Nelamangala taluk, shedding fresh light on the region's martial traditions and prompting calls for its immediate protection by the Archaeology Department.
The stone, dating to around 850 AD, was discovered while farmer Rangaswamy was ploughing his field at Byrasandra village near Dabaspet in Bengaluru Rural district.
Historians and epigraphy experts who examined the find identified it as a tiger-hunting hero stone, describing it as a rare and significant relic from the Ganga period.
The Kannada inscription records that Sivamarenadi, son of Thanniyarattammarodeya, served ...