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S3/E2: Siddapura — Deeper Into Nowhere

If Brahmagiri was the middle of nowhere, Siddapura is further still.

Two kilometres from the first edict, on a rocky hillock surrounded by granite boulders, sits a second Ashokan inscription. No signboard pointed us to it. No path led there. We found it only because a local farmer agreed to walk us through his own fields to reach it.

This is Episode 2 of Series 3 — Siddapura.

The Story

There is no road to Siddapura. To get there, we crossed slushy farmland, climbed over fences, and walked through several different farmers' plots before even reaching the base of the hillock. Without someone local willing to guide us, this site is, in practical terms, unfindable.

The inscription itself sits on a boulder that local farmers call Emme Thammana Gundu — a folk name with no apparent connection to the Mauryan emperor whose words are carved into it. The edict is, in content, essentially identical to the one at Brahmagiri: the same dhamma message, sent down the same administrative chain from Suvarnagiri, in the same Brahmi script and Prakrit language.

But Siddapura has something Brahmagiri doesn't: stone steps, deliberately built through the granite boulders, climbing up to the inscription. Someone, at some point, thought this site mattered enough to construct formal access to it. You don't build steps to a place nobody visits.

There's one more detail worth noting. This entire cluster of edicts — Brahmagiri, Siddapura, and the third site still ahead of us in this series — sits along the banks of a river called the Jangi Halla (also known locally as the Sanna Hagari or Chinna Haggari). Today, much of its flow is captured by the Rangaiahana Durga Dam downstream, and the land around these edicts is dry farmland. Whether that matters to the larger question this series is asking — why an emperor would place not one but three near-identical messages in what is now remote countryside — is something we'll keep circling back to.

Key Insights

Lipi: The Siddapura edict is, content-wise, a near-duplicate of Brahmagiri's — same emperor, same officials, same script, two kilometres apart. Two formal royal inscriptions this close together, both requiring real effort to carve, is not a casual gesture.

Nambikke: The local name "Emme Thammana Gundu" carries no memory of Ashoka, no story about why the boulder matters, and no explanation for the steps. Farmers know where the site is — they simply don't know why it's there. The Nambikke here, like at Brahmagiri, is mostly silence.

The new question: Someone built formal stone steps to this inscription. Steps imply regular foot traffic, which implies a community, which implies a reason to come back again and again. Two episodes in, the pattern is becoming hard to ignore — and the river running past all of these sites may be part of the answer.

Travel Information

Location: Siddapura, roughly 2 km from Brahmagiri, near Chitradurga, Karnataka.

How to reach: There is no marked path or road. The site sits within active farmland, and reaching it requires crossing multiple farmers' plots and climbing over fences. A local guide — ideally a farmer from the area — is not optional here; without one, the site is very difficult to find.

Best time to visit: Avoid the monsoon months. The farmland approach becomes slushy and difficult to cross even with a guide.

What to bring: Sturdy, mud-capable footwear, water, and patience — this is a longer and more physically demanding approach than Brahmagiri.

Nearby sites: Brahmagiri (2 km, Episode 1) and Jatinga-Rameshwara (a few kilometres further, Episode 3) complete the cluster — all worth visiting in a single day if you have a knowledgeable local guide.

Watch the Field Visit

See the crossing through the farmland and the stone steps up close:

Listen to the Full Episode

The full investigation — including the walk through the farmland and the Jangi Halla river research — is on all podcast platforms:

Series 3 — Ashokan Minor Rock Edicts near Chitradurga

← Previous: S3/E1 — Brahmagiri

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