Halmidi inscription

The inscription was discovered in 1936 by Dr. M. H. Krishna, the Director of Archaeology of the (princely) State of Mysore (present-day Karnataka region of India), in Halmidi, a village in the Hassan district.

"[8] Epigraphist, K. V. Ramesh has written about the differing estimates: And I attribute the origin of this doubt in their minds to the fact that scholars, even the reputed ones, have held differing views, mostly to prop up their preconceived notions, on the palaeographical dating of any given undated or insufficiently dated inscriptions.

The undated Halmidi (Hassan District, Karnataka) inscription, allegedly written during the reign of Kadamba Kakusthavarman, is taken by some scholars to belong, on palaeographical grounds, to the middle of the 5th century AD, while a few other scholars have held, on the same grounds of palaeography, that it is as late as the second half of the 6th century A.D.He also hypothesized that, compared to possibly contemporaneous Sanskrit inscriptions, "Halmidi inscription has letters which are unsettled and uncultivated, no doubt giving an impression, or rather an illusion, even to the trained eye, that it is, in date, later than the period to which it really belongs, namely the fifth century A.D."[10] Epigraphist G. S. Gai however disagrees with the view that Halmidi is a record of the Kadamba dynasty identified with King Kadamba Kakusthavarman.

[13] The Halmidi inscription is the earliest evidence of the usage of Kannada as an administrative language.

The following lines are carved on the front of the pillar: 1. jayati śri-pariṣvāṅga-śārṅga vyānatir-acytāḥ dānav-akṣṇōr-yugānt-āgniḥ śiṣṭānān=tu sudarśanaḥ 2. namaḥ śrīmat=kadaṁbapan=tyāga-saṁpannan kalabhōranā ari ka- 3. kustha-bhaṭṭōran=āḷe naridāviḷe-nāḍuḷ mṛgēśa-nā- 4. gēndr-ābhiḷar=bhbhaṭahar=appor śrī mṛgēśa-nāgāhvaya- 5. r=irrvar=ā baṭari-kul-āmala-vyōma-tārādhi-nāthann=aḷapa- 6. gaṇa-paśupatiy=ā dakṣiṇāpatha-bahu-śata-havan=ā- 7. havuduḷ paśupradāna-śauryyōdyama-bharitōn=dāna pa- 8. śupatiyendu pogaḷeppoṭṭaṇa paśupati- 9. nāmadhēyan=āsarakk=ella-bhaṭariyā prēmālaya- 10. sutange sēndraka-bāṇ=ōbhayadēśad=ā vīra-puruṣa-samakṣa- 11. de kēkaya-pallavaraṁ kād=eṟidu pettajayan=ā vija 12. arasange bāḷgaḻcu palmaḍiuṁ mūḷivaḷuṁ ko- 13. ṭṭār baṭāri-kuladōn=āḷa-kadamban kaḷadōn mahāpātakan 14. irvvaruṁ saḻbaṅgadar vijārasaruṁ palmaḍige kuṟu- 15. mbiḍi viṭṭār adān aḻivornge mahāpatakam svasti The following line is carved on the pillar's left face: 16. bhaṭṭarg=ī gaḻde oḍḍali ā pattondi viṭṭārakara