Abstract

Inscription stones (shila shaasanas) in the Bengaluru region are original documentation of the people of the region, their culture, religion and language dating back to as early as 750CE. These stones give us fascinating insights into the social fabric of the past, including original evidence of linguistic plurality amidst people, construction of lakes, tax practices, donations, grants, governance and suchlike. Rampant urbanization in Bengaluru has led to destruction of a majority of the 150 stones in the old ‘Bangalore’ region documented by B.L. Rice and others from 1894 to 1905 in the remarkable twelve-volume series Epigraphia Carnatica. #InscriptionStonesOfBangalore is a crowd-sourced, civic activism project to raise awareness and protect ancient inscription stones found in the Bengaluru region. The project has received appreciation from UNESCO for using technology (social media, mapping, 3D scanning, 3D printing, OCR) to protect, preserve & restore the dignity of the last few remaining ‘Inscription Stones Of Bangalore’. In a first of its kind crowd funding campaign conceptualized and executed by ordinary citizens, technologies such as 3D scanning & 3D printing were leveraged for archaeological preservation and raising money towards restoration of the oldest known inscription stone (ca. 750 CE) discovered in Hebbal, Bengaluru in 2018.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/inscriptionstones
Twitter: @inscriptionblr
UNESCO: https://twitter.com/UNESCO/status/1030152542368477184