An auto-rickshaw driver, a waterline valve-man, a painter and mason were among the people of Singapura who joined hands to literally dig up the history of their village from a debris-filled lake. Singapura, now boasts of an inscription naming it dating from 1528, almost a decade before its now illustrious neighbour Bengaluru city was established by Hiriya Kempegowda.Srinivas V, who works as a plumber and a part-time auto-rickshaw driver and Mohan Nayak, a waterline valve operator were among the residents of Singapura village, (near Hessarghatta) who were piqued when they saw a video on Facebook about an inscription in Chikkabettahalli, about four km from Singapura. The inscription, first documented by BL Rice in his Epigraphia Carnatica in the late 19th century, mentions a grant made by a person in Chikkabettahalli to the Varadarajaswamy Temple in Singapura. This inscription is dated 1524 CE and is the oldest reference to Singapura.When they saw this video, they tried to get in touch with Uday Kumar PL, the man behind the movement Inscriptions of Bengaluru, an initiative that is trying to trace the nearly 150 inscriptions of Bengaluru mentioned in Epigraphia Carnatica. “They wanted me to visit Singapura and check out. Frankly, I was skeptical. But they were relentless.What they had discovered there was a previously unrecorded inscription,” Kumar said.Mohan says there was a belief in the village that the temple dated back to the Chola occupation. “When we saw the video on the inscription in Chikkabettahalli, we asked the elders in the village. One Ramachandrappa said that there was an inscription stone on the lake bund which was shifted some years ago. We searched for it and found it in a farmhouse nearby. Uday Kumar and Prof Narasimhan have found that it dates from 1528,” said he.The discovery has sparked interest in the history of the village among the people of Singapura. The date of 1528 means that it was a year before the death of Emperor Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara. “The sanctum of the temple is said to be from the Hoysala period. So we now know some history of our village. We put tiles on the temple floor some years ago. There may have been inscriptions there,” says Manoj. Srinivas says it was the love for his village that inspired him. “Around 15 years ago, the fort-like compound of the Varadarajaswamy Temple was demolished and a new moder one built. If we had known about the historical value then, we would have retained it.”Second discoveryA second inscription was also discovered by villagers. “They pooled in money to hire an excavator. As children, they used a boulder as a slide and remembered that it had a few lines on it which they could not read as it was in an ancient script. The lake bund on which it was covered with 50ft of debris. They uncovered it too,” says Uday Kumar. The villagers have come together to celebrate the discovery. As part of the Ganesha festival, on Sunday, a video that will explain the details of the inscription will be screened in the village. Apart from the one discovered in the village, two other inscriptions from Chikkabettahalli (1524) and Herohalli (1530) which mention the name of Singapura will also be featured in the video. All three are about grants made to the Varadarajaswamy Temple.“We are not rich people and managed to pool in some money. We are shifting the inscription to a nice place and get a board to describe it, just like what the Archeology Department places near monuments. They say that a replica of the inscription can be made and placed for display. But it costs money. It will not be easy for us to spend on it,” says Mohan. Uday Kumar has become a celebrity of sorts. “I am not charged for food or beverages in shops there. The love for language, history of their place and people is strongest in these people. People in Bengaluru may comment a congratulatory message or click a smiley when we post about a discovery on Facebook. But when you ask them to join us in an effort, most back out. People like Mohan and Srinivas made it out of their love for their history. Not working for a day sets them back financially, but they still put their money and effort in this,” says Kumar.The last four lines of the inscription is covered in concrete and is still to be cleaned and deciphered. What is known now is that it is a grant made in 1528 CE to the Varadarajaswamy Temple. It mentions the name Singappa Nayaka of Singapura. This is one of the nine new inscriptions discovered in the last two years through the efforts of locals and Inscriptions of Bengaluru. Of the around 150 inscriptions mentioned in Epigraphia Carnatica by Rice, only about 30 of them survive today. Most of the others have been destroyed in the last two decades as Bengaluru’s real estate business gobbles up more land destroying local history.