Halmidi is a small village in the

Hassan district Hassan is one of the districts of Karnataka, 31 districts of Karnataka, India. The district headquarter is Hassan, Karnataka, Hassan. It was part of ''Manjarabad Faujdari'' between 1832-81 (Mysore Commission, Commissioner's Rule of Mysore). In ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

state, India, near the temple town of Belur. Halmidi is best known as the place where the oldest known

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

exclusively in

Kannada language Kannada () is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, an ...

, the Halmidi inscription, was discovered. Anterior to this, many inscriptions with Kannada words have been discovered, such as Brahmagiri edict of 230 BCE of Emperor Ashoka. However, this is the first full length inscription in Kannada.Language of the Inscriptions – Sanskrit and Dravidiian – Archaeological Survey of India
/ref> This inscription is generally known as the Halmidi inscription and consists of sixteen lines carved on a

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

slab. It has been dated to 450 CE and demonstrates that Kannada was used as a language of administration at that time.K.V. Ramesh, Chalukyas of Vatapi, 1984, Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi p10 The inscription is in primitive Kannada with distinctive characteristics attributed to those of Proto-Kannada and uses Kannada script similar to Brahmi characters. Halmidi village is located between

Chikmagalur Chikmagalur (officially Chikkamagaluru, ), previously known as ''Kiriya-Muguli'' is a city and the headquarters of Chikmagalur district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the foothills of the Mullayanagiri, Mullayanagiri peak of the We ...

city and Belur town. In recognition of the cultural importance of the inscription, and the role played by the village of Halmidi in its preservation, the Government of

has spent 25

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

on developing infrastructural facilities in the village, and on building a ''mantapa'' to house a

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

replica of the original inscription. The Government has also begun to promote the village as a place of historical interest. Halmidi OldKannada inscription

References

External links

Picture of the Halmidi inscription

History of Karnataka Cities and towns in Hassan district {{karnataka-stub

See also

References

External links