Byse is a village in the

Shimoga district Shimoga district, officially known as Shivamogga district, is a district in the Karnataka state of India. A major part of Shimoga district lies in the Malnad region or the Sahyadri. Shimoga city is its administrative centre. Jog Falls view ...

of Karnataka, India. It is located around 140 km from

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

, in the Nagara

hobli A hobli, nad or mágani is a cluster of adjoining villages administered together for tax and land tenure purposes in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, India. This clustering of villages was formed mainly to streamline the collection of t ...

of the

Hosanagara Hosanagara is a panchayat town in Shimoga district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is nested in western ghats of India. The World Cattle Conference with main emphasis on cow was held in month of April 2007 in Hosanagar. The different use ...

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

History

Megalithic structures have been found at Byse at a site called ''Nilaskal Byana'' ("the field with the standing stones"). The villagers have long been aware of the presence of these megaliths, and a 1975 thesis by A. Sundara mentions the site as containing

menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found ...

s arranged in no particular order. In 2007, Professor Srikumar M Menon from the Manipal School of Architecture and Planning, Manipal University noticed the stones during a trip to the Nagara Fort at Byse. Subsequently, the researchers from the

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the ...

(TIFR) and

Manipal University Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) is a private deemed university located in Manipal, India. The university also has campuses in Mangalore, Bangalore and Jamshedpur in India , and global campus in Dubai and Malacca (Malaysia). As of ...

surveyed 26 stones during 2007-10. The researchers speculated that the stones could be dated prior to 1000 BCE, though carbon dating is yet to be done, as of March 2012. Using computer simulation, the researchers concluded that at least one of the stone alignments at Byse has "strong astronomical associations", which indicates that the site could have been an ancient astronomical observatory. The tallest menhir is 3.6 m in height, 1.6 m in width and 25 cm in thickness. Two menheirs are used by the villagers for a form of

ancestor worship The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...

Geography

The Kusannanakere water tank is located in Byse.

Administration

The habitations that fall under the Byse

gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bo ...

include: * Baise * Konanahalli * Kardigere * Kuppaduru * Kannamane * Hokoppalau * Chikalli * Dhummadhagadde * Doddagundi * Niraballi * Gundigadde * Athikodige * Sulagodu * Channakodige

Culture

The Chidambareshwara Devaru and Nethrabylu Choudi Devasthana Hindu shrines are located in Byse.

References

{{Archaeological sites in India Villages in Shimoga district Archaeological sites in Karnataka Megalithic monuments in India