Yuva Brigade volunteers give facelift to historical place on banks of River Cauvery

Mysore/Mysuru: Western Ganga dynasty or Gangas of Talakad constitutes one of the most enduring and celebrated royal dynasties of Karnataka. The Ganga dynasty is always remembered for its contribution to the State’s culture, art, sculptures and architecture. Talakad was their capital and the remnants of their rule are still visible in the form of temples and ancient stone inscriptions.

Among the Ganga kings, Sripurusha ranks among the more important rulers and was known for his military prowess. Though ample literature and historical evidence are available about his military prowess and administrative skills, many do not know that his tomb lies at Mudukuthore, a pilgrim centre situated on the banks of River Cauvery in T. Narasipur Taluk.

Sripurusha’s tomb which was in a neglected state for decades has been given a facelift by volunteers of the Yuva Brigade Mysuru Unit yesterday. The stones that were scattered all over were assembled in a proper way with the help of cranes and the weeds and plastic waste around the tomb were cleared in an operation that began at 6 am.

The volunteers learnt about the bad shape of the tomb through social media posts.

A team of 15 volunteers landed at the site and found that the place was used by villagers, who had little knowledge about the tomb, to defecate and dump waste. Even the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage which has the responsibility of protecting such structures neglected it.

Who is Sripurusha?

Sripurusha ruled from 726 to 788 CE and according to the Javali inscription, he ruled for 62 years. Known for his military prowess, Sripurusha defeated Pallava rulers and sent back the Rashtrakutas as far as Kampli in Ballari district.

Sripurusha could implement many administrative reforms and was also known for his scholarly status. He is the author of ‘Gajashastra’. He used titles such as ‘Muttarasa’, ‘Rajakesari’, ‘Bhimakopa’ and ‘Ranabhajana’ and was known to have undertaken significant irrigation projects. After Sripurusha, Gangas had to concede their absolute powers to Rashtrakutas and become their feudatories.

Structure designed and cemented

After arranging the scattered stones of the tomb with the help of a crane — after numbering them and identifying the exact shape of the tomb as existed earlier — the volunteers did the cementing work.

Yuva Brigade Mysuru Convener S. Chandrashekar told Star of Mysore that their ‘Shramdan’ lasted till 6 pm and even the surroundings of the tomb were cleaned so that people do not dirty them again.

The task was accomplished under the leadership of volunteer Chethan. District Convener Ramanuja, Taluk Convener Gopal and volunteers Tilak, Ramesh, Manju, Anil, Mohan, Subramanya, Charan, Sanketh, Nikhil and others participated.