Talagunda pillar inscription, Granite pillar inscription at Talagunda, Karnataka, India

The Talagunda pillar inscription is carved on a hard grey granite pillar 1.635 metres high, with an octagonal shaft that tapers upward and a 0.4-metre square top. It stands in front of the ruined Pranavalingeshwara Shiva temple northwest of Talagunda village. The Sanskrit text, in Kadamba script, covers all eight faces: seven faces carry two vertical lines starting at the bottom, while the eighth has a single short line.

The pillar was rediscovered in 1894 by B. L. Rice, then Director of Archaeological Researches in Mysore, who sent a photograph to Indologist Bühler; it was published in 1895. The Sanskrit text, dated 455–470 CE, recounts the Kadamba dynasty and the reign of King Śāntivarma. Rice published a translation in 1902, and Kielhorn a more accurate one in 1906.

The 34 Sanskrit verses open with "Namo Shivaya" and praise Shiva, the twice-born, and King Kakusthavarman. They name the Kadamba family after a kadamba tree tended near their homes, and tell how Mayurasarman, taunted by a Pallava horseman, took up a sword. The text is in Kadamba script.

The site is located in Talagunda village in Shimoga district and is accessible via local roads from the main highway. Visitors should wear sturdy footwear and allow time to examine the carved inscriptions closely on each surface.

The 34 verses are in classical Sanskrit, not Kannada, and begin with Siddham and the invocation "Namo Shivaya". Verses 9 to 13 recount how Mayurasarman, a Brahmin student at a Pallava ghatika, was enraged by a quarrel with a Pallava horseman and took up a sword to conquer the earth, founding the Kadamba line.