Older than the temple

Srirangapatna, the erstwhile capital of Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, has a history dating back to the New Stone Age. But very few of the thousands of visitors and pilgrims who come to this island town are aware of this fact.

The New Stone Age is also called the Neolithic Age and it was a period of human development and technology.

It began sometime in 10,200 BC and ended between 4500 BC and 2000 BC. In south India, the Neolithic period began in 3000 BC and continued till about 1400 BC. The age in Karnataka is characterised by ashmounds.

Robert Bruce Foot (1834 -1912), a British geologist and archaeologist, discovered the first conclusive Paleolitic stone tool (a hand axe) in Pallavaram near Madras. He then along with William King went on to discover more such tools and settlements in South and West India, including Srirangapatna. He is, therefore, often considered as the Father of Indian prehistory.

In 1884 he discovered the 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) long Belum caves, the second largest cave in the Indian subcontinent. Foote spent 33 years, starting as a youth at the age of 24, working for the geological survey.

Foote's father-in-law was the Rev. Peter Percival, missionary, linguist and a pioneering educator of Sri Lanka and South India. Foot’s grandson, Major General Henry Robert Bowreman Foote, was awarded the Victoria Cross during the second Word war.

Coming back to Srirangapatna, other archaeologists have discovered some stone tools such as an axe, hammer and other antiquities of the new stone age culture.

In 1984, Dr C. Mahadeva discovered stone tools such as bone, Ardha chandra and a chopping splinter belonging to the microlithic age. It is significant that these tools are made out of jasper, chert and other stone materials.

The discovery of many microlithic weapons in the area has led archaeologists and historians to believe that this must have been a factory site. Historians have discovered stone age settlements in Pandavapura, Kuntibetta and Srirangapatna. Some remnants of the stone age culture have been found at Hangarahalli

and Ranganathittu on the banks of Cauvery, (Srirangapatna taluk); Maralahalli, Belakawadi, Muttatti, Halagur (Malavalli taluk) Kuntibetta, near Pandavapura and Sanabakoppalu in Pandavapura taluk.

The findings suggest that the population density in this part was very thin. The stone age man who lived around thick forests, river valleys.

Srirangapatna was originally built by Udayaditya, the brother of Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana, in 1120 AD. It soon became an important agrahara during the Hoysala period. In 1454, Timmana Dannayaka, a local chief of Nagamangala, obtained permission from the Vijayanagara king Praudadeva Raya, and built a fort at Srirangapatna. Soon, the Vijaayanagar rulers mde Srirangapatna their provincial capital. 

This fort was captured by Raja Wodeyars from the Vijayanagar Viceroy, Tirumala, in 1610 and it later fell into the hands of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.

The fort was destroyed in May 1799 in the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore war. After the death of Tipu in 1799 A.D., Srirangapatna lost its glory as the Wodeyars shifted the capital to Mysore.

Since the island is home to the first of the three Ranganatha shrines on the banks of the river Cauvery, it is also known as Adi Ranga. As it is located to the west of Srirangam (in Tamil Nadu), it is also called as Paschima Ranganatha Kshetra.

Several inscriptions belonging to the Gangas (2), Hoysalas (2), Vijayanagars (12), Wodeyars of Mysore (15) Hyder-Tipu (14) and others (22) have been found here. Among them, four are in Tamil, 36 in Kannada, eight in Sanskrit, 14 in Persian and two each in Telugu and English.

Thus we see that Srirangapatna has much more to offer than the Ranganatha Swamy Temple and the monuments belonging to the Hyder Ali-Tipu era. A student of  history and archaeology would be interested in the ancient history of the island which is older than the ancient and hoary temple of Ranganatha.

History of Bangalore's stone age

We have all dated Bangalore as a new city and gave credit to the Hoysala Emperor for  the founding of  Bangalore and also for calling it Bandakaluru or the City of boiled beans.

Till recently, this theory about the origin of Bangalore held water. It is only in the last few years that this theory is being shredded as historians and archaeologist have found that Bangalore is a much earlier city than many of its neighbours.

What is more remarkable is that the archaeological remains and artifacts that have been discovered have pushed bank Bangalore’s antiquity to the Stone Age.

What is more amazing is that there is sufficient historical and archaeological evidence that points out to Bangalore’s close link to the Roman and other ancient Empires, showing the trade between these places. Such a trade link could not have been possible had not any settlement or town been in existence.

Till recently, the first mention of Bangalore was in records from the Ganga era as a small hamlet. Though this mention is in the form of a stone tablet in a temple in Begur, the location of this Bangalore coincides with modern Halebengaluru near Kodigehalli. This area is not all that far away from Hebbal.  

A local legend states that Kempe Gowda built his new capital town in about 1537 AD after taking permission from his Vijayanagar overlords. This was so as Bangalore was a part of the Vijayanagar empire and Kempe Gowda was only a local chieftain.

This new town came up in the vicinity of Ulsoor Gate police station and City Market. Kempe Gowda called it Bengaluru as his mother and wife belonged to the older hamlet of Hala Bengaluru which in Kannada means Old Bangalore.

It had always been believed that the story of  Bangalore began with Kempe Gowda. This is not exactly true now, though there is no argument about the fact that Kempe Gowda did found the modern city of Bangalore and was responsible for many of its development.

Some time ago, Stone Age weapons belonging to 2000 to 1000 B.C., have been found near Jalahalli, Siddapura and Gavipura in Bangalore. This has pushed back the date of  Bangalore’s origin to the Stone Age.

By the way, Jalahalli is very near Kodigehalli and it is in the forests here that the Hoysala emperor Balalla lost himself and was fed a cup of boiled beans by an old woman living in a hamlet.

Coming back to the Stone Ag implements, it was the Directorate of Census Operations which discovered that Bangalore had human habitation as early as 4,000 B.C (Middle Stone Age).

The officials of the Directorate discovered stone implements to back their claim in the localities of  Jalahalli, Sudasandra, Siddhapura, and Jadigenahalli belonging to this period.

Besides, burial sites dating back to 1,000 B.C (Iron Age) were discovered at Koramangala and Chikkajala on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Coins of the Roman Emperors, Augustus, Tyberious and Claudius were found at Yeshwanthpur and HAL. These finds are indicative of a trade between Rome and Bangalore. The earliest Roman coin found in Bangalore can be dated to 27 B.C.

Now how did a transoceanic contact emerge between Rome and Bangalore is a subject matter of further research. It is for archaeologists to probe the issue further and settle permanently Bangalore’s timeline.

Unfortunately, even Bangalore’s growth under the Gangas and Cholas is not properly recorded. How many of us now that when the Cholas overran the Ganga kingdom, south Bangalore was a major part of the Chola province and it was called Nikarilacholamandala. This was sometime in 1024 AD.

Several major battles were fought in and around Bangalore and Yelehanka. Not much importance has been given to them. A deeper study of these events would throw up more light on Hale Bangaluru.