400-yr-old 'Linga Mudra' stone found in Udupi

Mangaluru: A 'Linga Mudra' stone with inscriptions of the Sun, Moon, a Shivalinga and a Nandi has been found in Udupi district of Karnataka, officials said on Monday.The stone, estimated to be around 400-years-old, was found while levelling work of the proposed Ashoka Park in Basrur gram panchayat of Kundapur taluk was going on with the help of local people.

The matter was brought to the notice of a historian. The message on the stone appears to suggest that the empire of the ruling king lives till the Sun and Moon are intact, history researcher Prof T Murugeshi said in a statement.

He said it was common for Shaivites to venerate Lord Shiva, Vaishnavites to Lord Vishnu and Jains to the Thirthankaras. Shaivites used to install Linga Mudra stones on their land borders while Vaishnavas used to put Vamanamudra stones and Jains used Mukkode stones. It was their way of identifying the borders of their land.

In accordance to this, the Linga Mudra stones found at Basrur were put to identify the borders, he said. "The cooperation and support of the public is required to preserve the stone inscriptions, war memorials and border stones of history. The record should be mentioned in the history of our land," Murugeshi said.