Can you read old Kannada? The Society needs you.
More than a hundred of Bengaluru's inscriptions are already lost to the city. The Society has scanned what survives — but a scan is not a reading. If you can read the old script, you can help turn stone into text that anyone can search, for good.
How it works
You are given one stone
One inscription at a time, with what is already known about it. Sign in with Google — readings are credited to you by name.
You type what you can read
Line by line, in Kannada. Mark any line you are unsure about. Reading three lines of thirty is a real contribution.
Others read the same stone
Where readings agree, the line is settled. Where they differ, that disagreement tells the epigraphists exactly which letters are genuinely unclear.
The Society confirms
A Society epigraphist reviews and confirms. That — and only that — becomes the published reading.
You are credited, permanently
“Read by …, confirmed by …” stays with the inscription in the Society's corpus.
The stones stay protected
You see a reading copy, watermarked with your name, one stone at a time. The archival scans never leave the Society.
Try it — stone 1 of 2
In the working pilot this is a reading copy served by the Society's corpus service, watermarked with your name. No image is stored by this website.
Type what you can read. Leave blank what you cannot.
The pilot so far
stones open
Published inscriptions, chosen by the Society.
readings submitted
Yours could be the first.
stones in the wider project
If the pilot works, this is what waits.
Questions about the script, or want to help regularly? Ask a librarian — the Society's epigraphy team answers in Kannada or English, and runs a monthly beginners' series on reading inscriptions.