Bangalore epitomizes the spirit of the New age India. This happening City Beautiful, the Silicon Valley of India, has thrown open the flood gates of opportunities to people across the globe who are comfortably ensconced in its salubrious climate and swalpa adjust maadi residents. The wheels of its economic progress smooth ride in its Malls, high rise buildings –its real estate is rated the third in the world in terms of floor occupancy, pubs (250 at the last count-Bar-galore??), cuisine from across the globe, the latest in two and four wheelers despite cratered roads and state of art hospitals etc. The city has spread beyond the four towers of Kempa Gowda II and a downpour highlights woefully the inadequacy of our civic amenities. Behind this unprecedented growth that the City planners had not envisaged, is concealed a fascinating history in its Northern fort walls. The remnants near the K.R.Market area pay a silent tribute to the great visionaries who have shaped it, having realized its strategic importance militarily and commercially. If one listens hard enough the metal clangs as the Yelahanka Nadaprabhus fought the Marathas, of Tippu’s cry as Cornwallis treacherously gained entry can be faintly heard. It has always been two cities-the pettah (pâté) and the Cantonment then and now Bangalore city and Electronic City. The tale of two cities is also discerned in its beautiful gardens, lakes, the serial blooming of the trees for ten months, the ring of the temple bells, quaint Greco Roman monuments and of course it’s People. These silent sentinels salute the forethought of the likes of the Gangas, Cholas, Hoysalas, Kempe Gowdas, the Wodeyars, Haider and Tippu, Krumbeigel, Javare Gowda, and the succession of Dewans among the few.

Surprisingly Bangalore takes its hoary history to 4000 BC, as stone implements of the Middle Stone Age era were unearthed at Jalahalli, Siddhapura and Jadigenahalli and burial grounds were discovered in the valley of Koramangala and Chikkajala which historians have dated it to 1000 BC.Coins of the Roman emperors Augustus and Claudius were also unearthed at Yelahanka and HAL pointing to its trans oceanic contacts. A ninth century edict of Begur records the name of a village Bengaluru as part of the Ganga territory. In 1024 AD it became a part of the Chola Empire with today’s South Bangalore area known as Nikarilacholamandala.

Bangalore was a pawn on the chequered history board. It was founded by KempeGowda in 1537 AD, conquered by the Bijapur Sultanate, sold by the Mughals, purchased by the Wodeyars with the British developing it as one of the biggest cantons in South India to becoming the capital of the Karnataka State in 1956(Fazal Hasan). In fact it was “that spot” of England sans the torrid Indian summer or the bitter winter of England that appealed to the Resident to shift base here proclaiming its political importance. Nearly a hundred years after the founding of Bangalore, in 1637 AD Ranadullah Khan with Shahji Bhosle captured Bangalore. Md.Adil Shah, the Sultan of Bijapur gifted it as Jahgir to Shaji the father of Shivaji the great Maratha. Shivaji spent eight months and his second marriage took place here. Bangalore was inherited by his half brother Ekoji who decided to sell it to Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar; the king of Mysore. Aurangazeb ruled it for three years as part of the Sira province. In 1759AD Hyder Ali received B’lore and nearby environs as Jahgir from Krishna raja Wodeyar. Fortifying the southern fort, it became an army town where the sepoys were trained for his Mysore army. Aesthetically inclined he developed 40 acres of Lal Bagh with plants from Delhi, Lahore and Multan. His son Tippu expanded the garden adding exotic plants from Turkey, Mauritius, Kabul and Persia. This lung space is a joy for sore eyes today, though the birds go elsewhere. After death of Tippu in 1799 the British as per the Partition treaty restored B’lore to the Wodeyars.

In 1809, the mosquitoes (swamps of Cauvery) drove the British from Srirangapatnam to establish the cantonment at Halsooru.In 1831; alleging misrule by Krishna Raja Wodeyar III the British took over the administration of the Mysore kingdom and till 1881 B’lore was the administrative HQ of the Mysore kingdom. It was during this period of fifty years that the Cantonment developed, rail tracks laid and post and telegraphs introduced. Currency was changed from the Kantheeraya to Rupee, Sunday declared as the weekly holiday, and Sir Mark Cubbon the first Sole Commissioner promoted coffee growing in the Western Ghats.Bangaloreans developed the coffee drinking habit. Churches were built with the cemeteries at a distance as they probably did not want to be reminded of the vulnerability of existence far away from home. Setting Educational establishments gained importance. The administrative offices (Attara Kachery) situated at Tippu’s palace were shifted to the old public office which is today’s High Court. It took nearly a century to shift to the opposite Vidhana Soudha, the magnificent and the biggest State legislature and Secretariat building in the country.

In 1881 the Mysore kingdom was rendered back to the Wodeyars and a succession of brilliant Dewans administered an impressive range of development projects, transforming Bangalore into a modern city. In the late 19th century telephone services were commissioned, hospitals built, the first car rolled out to give us the smells of the exhaust fumes in later days. The early 20th century marked Bangalore as the first city in India to be electrified, and its men of letters-Masti venkatesh Iyengar, G.V.Gundappa, G.P.Rajaratnam, T.P.Kailasam etc made a valuable contribution to Kannada literature. Personalities like Sir C.V.Raman, Winston Churchill have added glamour by residing at Bangalore. In the latter 20th century major industries like HAL, BEL, HMT, ITI made their presence felt. Sir M.V set up many pioneering educational institutes during is tenure as Dewan.In the 70’s it became the science and technology capital of India, which is validated today with the Nobel peace committee choosing Bangalore alone in the country for showcasing the 100 years of its founding at the Visveswarayya Science Museum. Parthenium got rooted to make Bangalore its home too. The happy combination of industry and research is a factor in its recent emergence as a world class computer hub.

Unusual Bangalore among the Indian cities can be better understood if one is aware of its cultural history, as the association then becomes more meaningful.

Please E-mail your comments/feedback about the above write-up.

All Rights Reserved. Contact Webmaster at webmaster@discoverbangalore.com

DiscoverBangalore@2005-2008