Ballari: The world heritage site of Hampi is famous for its remains of the 15th century Vijayanagar empire, but now there is fresh evidence to suggest that it was also once the abode of tribes that may have migrated to it from the Indus Valley civilization which flourished between 2500 BC. and 1750 BC.
Around 20 drawings from that era on a boulder atop a hill near Taalrighatta, adjacent to the river Tungabhadra in Hampi are drawing historians, anthropologists and linguists from around the world eager to know more about Hampi’s possible Indus Valley connection.
"Eminent historians and anthropologists from Europe and the USA have been showing a great deal of interest in coming to Hampi after the discovery of pictographs with Sindu (Harappan) culture script in Gondi dialect on the boulder," says local tourist guide, Virupakshi.
Gondi script experts have deciphered an innocuous statement -"On the goddess Kotamma temple, woollen market way, there is a rocky roof shelter for shepherds and sheep to stay the night upto the morning" on the rock, using root morphemes of the Gondi dialect, thought to be a proto Dravidian language, to arrive at the translation.
Although the finding has set the tone for more research to establish the Gondi-Harappan connection to Hampi, the drawings are receiving scant attention from the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) which has not notified the area or taken any steps to protect it.
