A once thriving City that is now an obscure village

What do Banavasi, Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal, Halebidu and Belur, Somanathapura, Manyakheta or Malkhed, Mayurkhindi, Talakad, Manne have in common with Gundlavaddigeri.

Gundlavaddigeri is a small village, just a little over a hundred kilometers from the City of Hospet in Bellary taluk. It has a population of less than a thousand people and we at the post are sure that its name has never been heard of by a majority of people.

But what is it that makes us place its name along with well-known places such as Banavasi, Badami, Belur and other places.

Banavasi, as all of us know, was the capital of the Kadambas (345-525), the first Kannadiga dynasty of our State. The beauty of Banavasi was such that even Kalidasa, the greatest Sanskrit poet of all times, admired it and mentioned it in his work, Meghadoota.

Kalidasa had been sent to Banavasi as an Ambassador of the Guptas. Today, Banavasi has a few temples that speak of the glory of  the Kadambas.

Similarly, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal are well-known for their Chalukyan temples. Badami, which was earlier known as Vatapi,  was the capital of the powerful Chalukyas (543-763) and it has some of the most magnificent temples and cave temples of the Chaluyka period, some of which were built by Pulakeshi (609-642), who is often particularly described as one of the greatest Emperors of Karnataka.

Talakad was the capital of the Gangas (400-1000) and it was one of the major cities of its times until it was sacked by the Hoysala Emperor, Vishnuvardhana. Today, Talakad is nothing but ruins in a sand.  

Similarly, Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura are renowned for their exquisite temples belonging to the Hoysalas (1026-1343). All these places have ruins of temples.

Malkhed or Manyakheta and Mayurkhindi were once the capitals of  the Rashtrakutas (753-982) who ruled over large parts of south and Central India.

All these centres mentioned in earlier paragraphs were once known as major cities or urban conglomerates and each of them have had their tryst with history. Even today, they are in the news and they attract hordes of tourists and visitors. But how does Gundlavaddigeri get into this list of illustrious cities.

Gundlavaddigeri was earlier in Bellary district and it is today placed in Koppal district.

Archaeologists and historians now have discovered that Gundlavaddigeri was one of the biggest cities of its times in Karnataka and this was prior to the establishment of the Vijayanagar Empire in 1336 by Hakka and Bukka.

A 12th century stone deed in Halegannada (old Kannada), belonging to the Vijaynagara dynasty and some weapons used by people have been unearthed in the village.

The old Kannada inscription says that a lake was built in Gundlavaddigeri in memory of Yankubi, son of Kumbara Ponnayya. The inscription says the lake was constructed for  irrigation purposes.

The inscription has three lovely figures, a wheel of eight swords,  cow and a calf, which are the symbols of Shaivism.

Research has shown that Gundlavaddigeri was a big city before the founding of Vijaynagara. Even today, the village boasts of scores of  dry lakes and this is a testimony to the extent of the City that once Gundlavaddigeri was.

The stone inscription, measuring four feet by three feet, stood facing the North with a four-line script in Halegannada.

Gundlavaddigeri is surrounded by Gangavathi taluk towards North, Sandur taluk towards South, Koppal taluk towards west and  Hagaribommanahalli taluk towards South. All these taluks headquarters too were big cities at one point of time but while they are all fairly well-known even today, Gundlavaddigeri is even today an obscure and forgotten village.
Today, Gundlavaddigeri is surrounded by Bellary, Gangavati, Hospet, Sandur, Mundargi and Tekkalakota. Kannada is the local language here and there are less than 150 houses. The total area of Gundlavaddigeri is just 629 hectares and compare this to the thriving town it was more than nine hundred years ago.

What does this post tell us or rather what does it teach us. It tells us that just as centuries passed by, cities rose and fell and some like Gundlavaddigeri fell into obscurity, never to rise again.  

Fighting it out with sticks

If today a majority of people sit back on Vijayadashami and watch the magnificent Dasara procession of Mysore on television, there is a small village bordering Andhra Pradesh where people have a go at teach other on this auspicious occasion.

The villagers here of course do pray on Vijaya Dashami and they also go to temples. But unlike in Mysore, the festivities do not culminate into a procession-the grand Jumboo Savari. Instead, we literally have fight where lathis, sticks, poles, bamboos and hands are so liberally used that people do get injured. Some have even died. But. No; the police are expected to remain mute spectators and they do not even register a case. After all, what is in a game, they may ask.

This village transforms itself into a war zone every Vijaya Dasham and a large number of people come from nearby areas to get their eye in onto the unique festival.       

Thousands of villagers congregate at Devaragudda (Neranaki village) near Holagunda on Vijaya Dashami as part of the Malamalleswara Swamy utsava. You see, Malleswaram Swamy is the village deity and the “war” is in his honour.

The festival begins on panchami when Lord Mallayya is engaged' to Goddess Mallamma. Their marriage is on Vijayadasami.

On this day, which also happens to signal the end of Dasara, the deity is carried by a person, who fasts for five nights.

The lathi-wielding devotees accompany the deity. The villagers of Neranaki guard the deity from being taken away by the people of other villages, especially those of Yellarthi and Arakeri.

The deity is then taken to Mulgandi, Padalgatti, and Rakshapade  villages before being returned to the temple at about 4.30 a.m. The ritual  of wielding of lathis continues till the deity is taken to a pre-designated place at the foothills of the hillock.

It is only when the deity reaches the spot, the lathi ritual comes to an end. Till then, the devotees, numbering thousands clash with each other with sticks and lathis and throw turmeric powder on one another even as they dance wildly to the beating of the drums.

The “battle of the sticks” reaches a crescendo as the utsava murthi called Guddada Mallaya, is brought in a procession from the temple sometime around midnight to the pre-designated spot. The temple is locates atop a small hillock. When the idol reaches the plains below the hill and torches are lit as it is evening, the devotees shout war cries and in a frenzy attack others. These devotees are all men and they literally cane and hit each other with gay abandon. If you thought that you can see such beatings only in films, come here and look at this spectacle.

This strange or rather bizarre ritual is held in two phases - the first time is when the deity is taken out from the temple and again on its way back- with an interval.

The men literally have a go at each other. The hits are really painful and in scores of cases, we can see blood oozing out. But who cares? Neither the man oozing blood nor the police on the scene do anything.
Minor injuries are passed over and although many people suffer injuries, the participants and the crowd care tow hoots. The spirit of the crowd is so high that they act as am intoxicant to the participants.

A few have been killed too or so claim the locals. Some whisper that it was an act of revenge. Bit who known and how cares. The law does not take note of this event and the policemen deputed to the festival, hold their lathis without making use of it.
Slowly the “Hit festival” comes to an end and the priest of the temple comes to the centrestage making prediction of the coming years. Once this is done, the idol is taken back to the temple.

This year, people from nearly 30 villages surrounding the temple at Alur in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and also from Bellary and Sirguppa taluks in Karnataka, arrived with lathis studded with iron rings at one end.

The participants came in all mode of transport: from bullock carts to tom toms, tempos to lorries, cars, tractors, two-wheelers and some even took walk.

Talk to the villagers here and they will tell you that this time, two persons died and the condition of two injured, including a circle inspector of police, is still serious. More than a hundred suffered bleeding head injuries and this is as per the record maintained by the health officials. Only grievous injuries, where stitches or sutures are necessary, are entered. There is no entry in the register for people treated as outpatients. A 15-member team comprising doctors and para-medical staff attended to the injured.

When daylight dawns, the festival ends. The warring crowd turns devout and they propitiating the deity with fruits and flowers and then they light camphor. The devotees then make their way home, nursing their bruises and pretending as if nothing happened. Time is their only healer and this is till the next year. Neither do they lodge any complaint nor do the police intervene.

Ask both the people and the police about the injuries and fatalities. All they say is everything is fair in love and war. And though there is no love lost between the warring factions, there is probably no hate too. There is only gamesmanship and a devotion to tradition and this is one of the thousands of local traditions that make our people and country so unique in the world.    

The singing rocks of Kupgal

Who has not heard of rock music and rock bands. Rock music as a genre traces its origin to the “rock and roll” of America in the 1950s. It later developed into a range of different styles in the United Kingdom and the United States. But did you know that Indians did create rock music several thousands of years ago. Yes, it may be strange but true but Indians did create music from the rocks that were found on hills and mountains. One such site of rock music still exists in Karnataka. Unfortunately, the rock bands here are long gone and visitors come here, bang the rocks so that they can hear the sounds and then vanish. Very few of such visitors stop to stand and contemplate at the ingenuity of the ancient Indians in literally making music from the rocks. These rocks are also called the musical rocks and they are found at Kupgal in Bellary district. Bellary is famous for the largest open air museum in the world-Hampi and lakhs of visitors pour into the erstwhile capital of the Vijayanagars to see for themselves the poetry in stone. Alas, only a handful of them are aware of these rocks and of them only a miniscule take time off to view the poetry of the rocks. There are hundreds of boulders scattered over a fairly large area in Kupgal. The rocks, carved from Granite, were the percussion instruments, for ancient Indians to make music. The huge rock art site is a treasure trove where the ancients made music during particular rituals. Even today, when these rocks are struck, they  emit deep, gong-like notes.  The hill where these rocks are found are called Kupgal Hill. The rocks here have unusual depressions or hollows that were meticulously cut or  designed to be struck for making a particular tone. These Kupgal stones were believed to be lost after they were first discovered in 1892. It was only recently that archaeologist and geologist have rediscovered the original rock music sites.  The Kupgal Hills are just 5 km north-east of Bellary. There are several granite hills here and the biggest of them is called Hiregudda or Peacock Hills. These rocks are petroglyphs and many of them date back to the Neolithic age.  Some of the rocks have been painted. A few of the rocks had erotic paintings and these can be described as the earliest of such paintings in India. They depict a man having sex. Did such rock stones influence the ancient Indians in constructing temples and structures that emitted a musical note when struck like the stone pillars of Hazare Rama in Hampi. Only research can tell. Till then, head to Bellary, enjoy the beauty of Hampi, Anegundi and Nava Brindavana and make your own rock music at Kupgal.