600-year-old Veer Shila deciphered

Berhampur: Six hundred-year-old proto-Odia-inscribed hero stone (popularly known as Veer Shila in Odia) was deciphered by Epigraphist Bishnu Mohan Adhikari of Paralakhemundi on Saturday. The inscribed ‘Veer Shila’ measures five feet high and 1.5 feet wide.

Raj Kumar Rate, a lecturer in history at Khariar Autonomous College in Nuapada district, discovered it in Junagarh, Kalahandi, and two more memorial stones from Hirasagarpada during a field survey on his PhD ‘Memorial stones of Undivided KBK districts in Odisha’ on February 7, 2022. Rate brought it to the notice of Adhikari on October 2, as it was undeciphered. Both Adhikari and Rate visited Hirasagarpada for further research on the spot on October 19.

The inscription was engraved below the ‘Veer’ image and it has three-line inscriptions. The hero figure holds a sword on his raised right hand and shield on his left hand. On the upper part, the symbol of crescent moon and female palm in ‘Abhayamudra’ are portrayed. The iconography on ‘Veer Shila’ suggests that it was erected sometime between 12th-14th century CE. Adhikari, who has deciphered 45 new inscriptions of Odisha, found in and outside

Odisha till now, says this ‘Veer Shila’ describes a boy named Madana/Mardana, who suppressed some rebellion or agitation. Adhikari observed the engraved inscription in proto-Odia letters in the lower section. Those characters belong to Eastern Ganga region. He also mentioned, “We are getting two Ganga era inscriptions of Eastern Ganga dynasty in a nearby area (Kalahandi Dandapata). Hence there is much possibility of this and mentioned Madan was associated with Ganga ruler Bhanudeba.”