- Halmidi inscription
The Halmidi inscription is the oldest known
Kannada language inscription in theKannada script , dating to the 5th or 6th century A.D. The undated inscription was discovered in 1936 by Dr. M. H. Krishna, the Director of Archaeology in the (princely) State of Mysore (present-dayKarnataka region of India), inHalmidi , a village in the Hassantaluk .The original inscription is kept in the Office of the Director of Archaeology and Museums, Govt. of Karnataka, Mysore, [Harvnb|Gai|1992|p=297] and a
fibreglass replica has been installed in Halmidi.Discovery and dating
In a report published in a Mysore Archaeological Department Report (MAR) in 1936, Krishna dated the inscription to 450 A.D., on paleographical grounds. [Harvnb|Gai|1992|p=297] [Harvnb|M. A. R.| 1936|pp=72-81] Later scholars have variously dated the inscription to 450 A.D., [See
*Nagraj, D.R., "Critical tensions in the history of Kannada literary culture" in Harvnb|Pollock|2003|p=323;
*Bhatt, K.P., "Language (Kannada)" or Seshagiri Rao, L.S., "Literature (Kannada) in Harvnb|Datta|1989|pp=2255, 2378
*cite book |author=Olson, David R.; Taylor, Insup |authorlink= |editor= |others= |title=Scripts and literacy: reading and learning to read alphabets, syllabaries, and characters |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |location=Boston |year=1995 |origyear= |pages=97 |isbn=0-7923-2912-0 |quote=The earliest documented inscription is from Halmidi inscription dated 450 AD
* "first record of written Kannada is the Halmidi inscription of C. 450 AD" - Arun Kumar Biswas (Book: "Indic literature", pp 134)
*cite book |author=Mills, Margaret H.; Claus, Peter J.; Diamond, Sarah |authorlink= |editor= |others= |title=South Asian folklore: an encyclopedia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2003 |origyear= |pages=326 |isbn=0-415-93919-4 |quote=(Kannada language) .... has a literary history of about 1,500 years. The oldest writing in Kannada is the Halmidi inscription of 450 AD.
* "The earliest Kannada record is in the form of inscriptions. The first inscription is Halmidi inscription of 450 AD. The language of inscription is known as pre-old Kannada." - R. Śrīhari, B. Ramakrishna Reddy, Dravidian University ("Word-structure in Dravidian", pp 23, year 2003)
*Sahitya Akademi (1988), pp. 1717, 1474] 470 A.D., [Harvnb|Master|1944|pp=297-307] 500 A.D., [Harvnb|Mugali|1975|p=2] "about 500", [Harvnb|Pollock|2006|pp=331-332] and "end of the fifth century A. D. or the beginning of the 6th century A.D." [Harvnb|Gai|1992|pp=300-301] Epigraphist,D. C. Sircar has dated the inscriptions to "about the end of the 6th century," [Harvnb|Sircar|1965|p=48] and epigraphist Richard Salomon to the "late sixth or early seventh century." [Harvnb|Salomon|1998|p=106]Epigraphist, K. V. Ramesh has written about the differing estimates:He also hypothesized that, compared to possibly contemporaneous Sanksrit inscriptions, "Halmidi inscription has letters which are unsettled and uncultivated, no doubt giving an impression, or rather an illusion, even to the trained eye, that it is, in date, later than the period to which it really belongs, namely the fifth century A.D." [Harvnb|Ramesh|1984b|p=58]
Epigraphist
G. S. Gai however disagrees with the view that Halmidi is a record of the Kadamba dynasty identified with King Kadamba Kakusthavarman. According to Harv|Gai|1992, the inscription, which is dedicated to, "Kadambapan Kakustha-Bhaṭṭōran," refers to another ruler, Kakustha of the Bhaṭāri family, who is explicitly identified in line 13, "baṭāri-kuladōn=āḷu-kadamban;" in addition, the inscription does not "include any of the epithets like "Mānavya-gōtra", "Hāritī-putra", and most important "Dharma-maharājā" [Harvnb|Gai|1996|p=26] that are a part of all Kadamba inscriptions.Textual analysis
The inscription is in
verse form indicating the authors of the inscription had a good sense of the language structure.Harvnb|Datta|1988|p=1474] The inscription is written in pre-old Kannada ("Puruvada-hala Kannada"), which later evolved into old Kannada, middle Kannada and eventually modern Kannada. [M. Chidananda Murthy , "Inscriptions (Kannada)" in Harvnb|Datta|1988|p=1717] The Halmidi inscription is the earliest evidence of usage of Kannada as an administrative language.Sahitya Akademi (1988), p. 1717]Text
The pillar on which the inscription was written stands around convert|4|ft|m high. The following lines are carved on the front of the pillar:
1. jayati śri-pariṣvāṅga-śārṅga vyānatir-acytāḥ dānav-akṣṇōr-yugānt-āgniḥ śiṣṭānān=tu sudarśanaḥ 2. namaḥ śrīmat=kadaṁbapan=tyāga-saṁpannan kalabhōranā ari ka-
3. kustha-bhaṭṭōran=āḷe naridāviḷe-nāḍuḷ mṛgēśa-nā-
4. gēndr-ābhiḷar=bhbhaṭahar=appor śrī mṛgēśa-nāgāhvaya-
5. r=irrvar=ā baṭari-kul-āmala-vyōma-tārādhi-nāthann=aḷapa-
6. gaṇa-paśupatiy=ā dakṣiṇāpatha-bahu-śata-havan=ā-
7. havuduḷ paśupradāna-śauryyōdyama-bharitōn=dāna pa-
8. śupatiyendu pogaḷeppoṭṭaṇa paśupati-
9. nāmadhēyan=āsarakk=ella-bhaṭariyā prēmālaya-
10. sutange sēndraka-bāṇ=ōbhayadēśad=ā vīra-puruṣa-samakṣa-
11. de kēkaya-pallavaraṁ kād=eṟidu pettajayan=ā vija
12. arasange bāḷgaḻcu palmaḍiuṁ mūḷivaḷuṁ ko-
13. ṭṭār baṭāri-kuladōn=āḷa-kadamban kaḷadōn mahāpātakan
14. irvvaruṁ saḻbaṅgadar vijārasaruṁ palmaḍige kuṟu-
15. mbiḍi viṭṭār adān aḻivornge mahāpatakam svastiThe following line is carved on the pillar's left face:
16. bhaṭṭarg=ī gaḻde oḍḍali ā pattondi viṭṭārakara
Notes
ee also
*
Indian inscriptions
*Indian copper plate inscriptions References
*citation |last= Datta|first=Amaresh (Ed.) |title= Encyclopaedia of Indian literature - vol 2|origyear=1988|year=1988|publisher=
Sahitya Akademi |location= |isbn=8126011947
*citation |last= Datta|first=Amaresh (Ed.) |title= Encyclopaedia of Indian literature - vol 3|origyear=1988|year=1989|publisher=Sahitya Akademi |location= |isbn=8126011947
*citation |last = Encyclopædia Britannica | first = | title = Kannada literature | year = 2008 | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica Online | url = http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9044579
*citation | last = Gai | first = Govind Swamirao | authorlink = G. S. Gai | title = Studies in Indian History, Epigraphy, and Culture | year = 1992 | publisher = Karnataka, India: Shrihari Prakashana. Pp. 346 | url = http://books.google.com/books?lr=&ei=UjQDSLmPF5jWyATKo9x3&num=100&id=nOMbAAAAIAAJ&dq=&pgis=1
*Harvard reference | last = Gai | first = Govind Swamirao | authorlink = G. S. Gai | year = 1996 | title = Inscriptions of the early Kadambas | publisher = New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research and Pratibha Prakashan. Pp. xv, 170, 88 plates | isbn = 8185268479
*Harvard reference | last=Habib | first = Irfan | authorlink = Irfan Habib | chapter = India |pages = 398-410 | year = 2000 | title=History of Humanity, Volume IV: from the Seventh to the Sixteenth century | editor1-last = Al-Bhakhit | editor1-first = M. A. | editor2-last = Bazin | editor2-first = L. A. |editor3-last = Cissoko | editor3-first = S. M. | publisher = Paris: UNESCO and London: Routledge. Pp. xxiii, 682, 44 maps, 138 plates | isbn = 0415093082 |url = http://www.unesco.org/culture/humanity/
*
*citation |last = M. A. R. | first = | title = Mysore Archaeological Department, Annual Report-1936 (MAR 1936)| year = 1937 | publisher = Bangalore: Government Press| pages = pp. 73-80
*
*
*
*cite book | last = Pollock | first = Sheldon | authorlink = Sheldon Pollock | chapter = [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/mealac/faculty/pollock/mss_cult.pdf Literary Culture and Manuscript Culture in Precolonial India] | editor = Simon Elliot et al (ed.) | title = Literary Cultures and the Material Book | year = 2007 | place = London | publisher = British Library | pages = pp. 77–94 | isbn = 0712306846 |url =
*
*Harvard reference | last = Salomon | first = Richard | year = 1998 | title = Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Other Indo-Aryan Languages | publisher = Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 378 | isbn = 0195099842 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=XYrG07qQDxkC&pg=PA106&dq=indian+epigraphy+halmidi&sig=3GleGj1g7gMFsJsx5JMSZ-gfLaU
*
*Harvard reference | last = Stein | first = Burton | authorlink = Burton Stein | title = Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India | year = 1980 | publisher = Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 550 | isbn = 0195610652
*cite book |last= Various|title= Encyclopaedia of Indian literature – vol 2|origyear=1988|year=1988|publisher= Sahitya Akademi|isbn=8126011947External links
* [http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/kar/literature/history1.htm Banavasi Old Kannada Inscription]
* [http://www.hoysalatourism.com/halmidi.htm Halmidi Inscription]
* [http://www.hindu.com/2003/11/03/stories/2003110304550500.htm Halmidi village finally on the road to recognition]
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