Doddaballapura inscribes a tale of secularism in stone
The inscription also finds place in the 9th volume of Ephigraphia Carnataka written in 1905 by B Lewis Rice.
Bengaluru: For those who thought that secularism was a modern day concept born out of western democracy and liberal ideas, this could come as an eye-opener. For in the Doddaballapura taluk office in the outskirts of Bengaluru rests a stone inscription dating back to 1267 AD in not one but two diverse languages-old Kannada and Persian!
What makes the inscription which speaks about the charitable grants to a Hindu temple, all the more unique is that it was saved from being used as building material four centuries later by Sheik Abdulla, also known as Farukh, the Muslim ruler of Doddaballapura and a representative of the Mughal rulers based in Shahjahanabad (Delhi). The inscription is therefore a living example of how the secular foundations of the country were laid down with a ruler of Mughal ancestry preserving a Hoysala inscription on the contributions to the Gavareshwara temple which then existed in Doddaballapura.
The inscription also finds place in the 9th volume of Ephigraphia Carnataka written in 1905 by B Lewis Rice.
The interesting history of the inscription came to light after Uday Kumar P.L., a corporate professional turned conservator of inscriptions revealed how communal harmony had sunk deep roots even in ancient and medieval India and how a local ruler of the Mughals took painstaking efforts to save a Hoysala era temple inscription.
In fact, the Persian engraving explains how the stone was stopped from being used as building material by Sheik Abdulla. It also has a reference to Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb's rule and how Khasim Khan took over the Maratha fort from Shivaji's son Sambhaji. The message in Kannada at the bottom records the funds granted by swamis and Shettys for repair and functioning of the Gavareshwara temple. The inscriptioin was tracked by renowned conservationist and historian Uday Kumar who works in and around Bengaluru and has always nursed a passion for preservation of inscriptions. "I used to find inscriptions at streets corners, in dilapidated buildings, but this inscription was found right inside the premises of the taluk office," he explains.