Miscellaneous News

Guttala Sculptural Inscription

May 26 , 2025 17 hrs 0 min 18 0

A sculptural inscription was discovered near Chandrashekara temple at Guttala in Haveri district of Karnataka.
It has documented the death of 6,307 people due to drought in the local area.
Thus, it was making it the first such historical record of a humanitarian disaster caused by a natural calamity in India.
It is also marking it as one of the large-scale natural calamities documented epigraphically in Indian history.
The inscription is dated Saka 1461, Vikari, Bhadrapada su.5, which corresponds to August 18, 1539 CE.
It is in the Kannada language and script.
It notes that their bodies were buried by Marulaih Odeya, son of Nanideva Odeya of Guttavalala.
He buried the dead in baskets to earn merit for ruler Timmarasa Svami.