Monday, 23 September 2013

This was once part of the famed
Vijayanagar Empire and the Vijayanagar Emperor, Achutedeva Raya had
commissioned a man made tank here.

The Emperor had constructed an
anecut and a bund across a river flowing here. He also built an agrahara or a
settlement to house Brahmins and priests. This was sometime in 1532.

Inscriptions dating back to the
Vijayanagar period tells us that the anecut was built on the banks of the
Arkavathi river and a temple for Chandramoulishwara constructed.

When the Agrahara became
populated, it was called Siva Samudra Agrahara.
A few years later, Kempe Gowda, the founder of Bangalore
received this Agrahara and Bangalore
along with twelve hoblis from the Vijayanagar Emperor.

Kempe Gowda then went on to
form the province
of Bangalore and Siva
Samudra Agrahara was part of it. Over centuries, the small tank served the water
needs of the people, catering to the domestic
and irrigation needs of the area.

During the time of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, the Agraha came to
be more popularly known as Hesarghatta. During the Wodeyar rule, the small tank
was upgraded into a major water supply project.

Recommissioned in 1894, the
manmade reservoir was expected to meet the drinking water needs of Bangalore. The credit for
this project, called Chamarajendra Water works, goes to the then Diwan of Mysore, Seshadri Iyer and the then Chief Engineer of MysoreState,
M.C. Huthcins.

Once the TG Halli became
operational, Hesarghatta was neglected and it was in 1994 that it last filled up.
Since then, there has not been any water in the vast lake except in a few
patches.

Thankfully, this year has
seen copious rains in Karnataka and other parts of the country. The rains have
led to the HesraghattaLake showing signs of revival
and today it holds around eight feet of water. This may not mean much as the reservoir
can hold upto thirty five feet of water but the fact that water has started
flowing indicates that the water body, one given up for dead, can be revived.

If the State Government and
the authorities are serious about ensuring that the water once again continues
to flow into the reservoir, they have to clear the encroachments, repair the
infrastructure in and round the reservoir, revive the water source and clear
the water channels.

The total catchment area
draining into the reservoir is 73.84 km2 (2189 mi2), out of
which the direct draining catchment is 2.68 km2 (6.86 sq mi2). There
are 184 tanks built in the Arkavathy river basin upstream of the Hesaraghatta.
These needs to be revived.

The Arkavaty originates in
the Nandi Hills in Chikaballapur district and it joins the Cauvery
in Kanakapura after flowing through Kolar and Bangalore rural districts. The Vrishabhavaty
and the Suvarnamukhi are the tributaries which drain part of Bangalore
and Anekal taluks into the ArkavatiRiver.

All these needs to be taken
into consideration for reviving the Hesarghatta.

By the way, there is a
Government plan to pump water from Ethinahole to the Hesarghatta and TG Halli reservoirs.
This is the plan of the Urban Development Department.

These two reservoirs were Bangalore’s major source
of drinking water until the Cauvery project was implemented in 1971.

The Urban Development
Department wants to go ahead with the project and the Water Resources
Department has agreed to give 2.5 tmcft of water from Ethinahole. This water
would be pumped to TG Halli and Hesaraghatta lakes, be treated and then it will
be pumped to the city.

For this to be effective,
Hesaraghatta has to be restored before
water is pumped into it. The water holding, pumping and supply infrastructure in
Hesarghatta has not been used since 1986.

When Hesarghatta supplied
water, it was initially taken by gravity through a 1.4 m dia (42" dia)
Hume pipe to the Soladevanahalli pumping station. Water was then pumped,
initially using steam pumps and later electric pumps, to the Combined Jewel
Filters (CJF) plant at Malleswaram for treatment and supply.

The pipes must have rusted
and broken down at some places. There is need to repair the existing pipes and
also lay new ones if the Urban Development Department wants to reuse the
Hesarghatta for water supply.

The department scheme
envisages pumping water from the west-bound Ethinahole river through canals to
a collection centre near Sakaleshpura. From there, the water would be allowed
to flow in an open canal till Tumkur and the BWSSB will pump the water to TG
Halli and Hesaraghatta reservoir from there.

At present, 19 tmcft of water
has been allocated from the Cauvery and the BWSSB has the capacity to supply
1,400 MLD of water from all the five Cauvery drinking water projects. The
available water is expected to meet the city’s demand till 2015

Is the water in Hesarghatta a
sign for urban planners that all is not lost and that there is still hope for
reviving the lakes and water bodies in and around Bangalore. The answer is yes and it is high
time that the Government and urban planners launched along term plan involving
people, Government agencies and NGOs to bring back water naturally to
habitations.

Ask anyone about Vyasa
Prathistha Hanuman in Bangalore and the most
probable answer would be GaliAnjeneyaTemple
in Byatarayanapura on Mysore Road,
the Minto Kannuaspatre on Alur
Venkata Rao Road in Chamarajpet and the KoteAnjaneyaTemple in City Market.

However, did you know that
there are at least two dozen more Vyasa Prathistha Hanumans in BangaloreCity
limits alone and more than a dozen in Bangalore
urban and rural district.

Vyasa Raja or Vyasa Theertha
was born in Bannur near Mysore
sometime in 1460. He initially studied in Abbur near Chennapatna under the
tutelage of Bramanye Theertha and then under Sripadaraja in Mulabagal.

Vyasa Raja became the perceptor
of six Vijayanagar Emperors, including Krishna Deva Raya. He also performed
pooje at the Lord Venkateshwara shine in Tirumala from 1480 to 1492.

An avatar of Prahalada and
Bahlika Raja, Vyasa Raja consecrated 732 temples to Hanuman and of them 365 are
in Penukonda alone. The rest are a scattered all over India and the
Bangalore-Mysore-Mandya-Chennapatna belt was the place where he consecrated the
maximum number of Hanumans in Karnataka.

One of the first is the GaliAnjaneyaTemple on the bans of the
Vrushabhavati.

The other temples are the RamanjaneyaTemple
opposite the Bus Stand at Shivaji Nagar; the Hanuman idol in Marenahalli, JP
Nagar, 2nd stage; the VaradanjaneyaswamyTemple in RBI Layout in JP Nagar 7th
Phase; the VeeranjaneyaSwamyTemple
in Uttarahalli; the Anjaneya temple in Beniganahalli on old Madras Road and opposite the police
station at Upparpet.

The other temples where Vyasa
Raja consecrated Hanuman idols are on Kilari
Road in Balepet; Kodigenahalli on Bellary Road;

and the GutteAnjaneyaSwamyTemple
near Lalbagh which is located behind the main HOPCPMS outlet.

Apart from these, the KarenjiAnjaneyaTemple in Gandhi Bazar, Basavanagudi,
is one of the most famous temples of Bangalore.
But this temple has nothing to do with Vyasa Raja. Another famous temple is the
Maruti Mandira in Vijayanagar, the huge idol of Hanuman in front of ISCKON which
is located in Mahalakshmi Layout. The Hanuman temple in Banaswadi is also famous
and it is more than 150 years old.

The mammoth HanumanTemple
at Agara too is old. This is the Hanuman who crossed the Indian
Ocean to rescue Sita.

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

India is a land
of Gods and temples and
there was a period when the number of people equaled the number of Gods. But no
longer. The number of Gods stands at 32 million or 33 million, while our people
are much beyond a 1000 million or a billion.

Just as there are Gods, so
are there temple and every village, town and city has one or two temples at the
least. There are temples dedicated to Rama, Krishna,
Srinivasa, Narasimha, Ganapathy, Lakshmi, Hanuman, Shiva, Parvathi and a host
of other gods and goddesses.

But in the pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, some do not have a
temple, while others have only rarely.

Bangalore is fortunate that it not only has the largest number
of temples in Karnataka, but it also has some of the oldest and rarest too.
Where else but in Bangalore
can you find the Grama devethes still dominating the urban landscape long after
the city ceased to be the village that it was.

If Bangalore has one of the rare temples dedicated
to Dharmaraya, it also has a temple dedicated to Sugreeva. Yes, this is perhaps
one of the few temples dedicated to Sugreeva, the brother of Vali and the
Vanara who led his armies to Lanka alongside Rama and Lakshmana to rescue Seeta.

The Sugreeva temple is a
rarity in India
and there are quite a few of them. But in Bangalore,
this is the only temple dedicated to Sugreeva and as can be expected it is
located in one of the petes or old areas of Bangalore.

The temple is just off the
bustling Balepet Main Road.
No wonder the temple is even today better known as SugreevaVenkateshwaraTemple.

A casual glance would make
one assume that the idol is of Hanuman but a closer look will show you that
there are two teeth protruding from the mouth and it is only this that
distinguishes this idol from Hanuman.

Located on the Balepet main
road, the inner shrine has a beautiful idol of Lord Venkateshwara on a pedestal. The idol
of Sugreeva, which is six feet in height, looks strikingly like Hanuman. The
long teeth on either side of the mouth are the only thing which differentiates
it from Hanuman.

Both Venkateshwara and Sugreeva
face each other in two separate temples constructed for them. Incidentally,
Venkateshwara is consecrated in the temple facing the smaller door. The locals
believe that the Sugreeva idol was submerged in the Kempambudhi tank and one of
the devotees got a dream asking him to lift it from the waters and place it in
the temple.
Local residents say that the temple was built by Kempegowda-I for the Uppara
community.
The temple is situated in such a busy area, that thousands of passers by each
day continue to walk past it, ignorant of the SugreevaVenkateshwaraTemple.

Incidentally, Bangalore had another
temple dedicated to Sugreeva. This was the present SriVenugopalaswamyTemple in Shivajinagar.

This temple was constructed
sometime in 1902 and it was originally dedicated to Sugreeva. Now it houses the
idols of Rulmini, Krishna or Venugopala Swamy
and Satyabhama, which were shifted here from Viveknagar locality.

Apart from these two temples,
the Chokanatha temple in Domlur has pillars depicting Sugreeva and Vali. This
is considered among the oldest temple
of Bangalore and it was built by the
Cholas when they ruled over Bangalore
more than a thousand years ago.

Sunday, 15 September 2013

It once belonged to Sir Mark
Cubbon, the British Commissioner for the MysoreState.
It was the place from where the British Resident set out on his rounds.

The movement of the Resident on
the road gave the road the name Residency Road. Today, the place from where the
Resident began his jamboree and the Residency Road are caught in a “commercial”
trap, a sign of Bangalore’s
urbanisation.

The Residency Road is a hotchpotch
of old buildings, convents, new structures a one-way system that is maddeningly
slow. The erstwhile building housing the Resident has disappeared behind other
buildings and today it exists only in books of Bangalore history and in photographs.

Very few persons today can
access the old Residency as it is now the home of the Chief General Manager of India’s
largest bank,

State Bank of India (SBI).

The building is Hopeville and
it is situated or rather hidden behind the local office building of the SBI on
St, Marks Road.
Thankfully, the SBI has preserved the house in almost mint condition and the
house boasts of furniture and artifacts dating back to the period of Cubbon.

This house has a crucial link
with the local history of Bangalore.
It was the home of several Residents from 1831 till the post was abolished in
1843.

It was also the place where C.B. Sanders, Judicial Commissioner of Mysore
who held charge of MysoreState for a while after
Mark Cubbon, too stayed.

The British style bungalow
was built by Cubbon and its original furniture is more than 160 years old. It
came into the hands of the Bank of Madras in 1864 when it purchased it for Rs.
30,000. This was five years after Cubbon resigned from the post of
Commissioner.

By then, the house had passed
into the hands of Charles James Green, a
retired Major General of the Madras Army. The sale by him to the bank not only included
the iconic Hopeville but also twelve acres of lush green park surrounding it.

Hopeville is one of they few
buildings which still retains vestiges of the British Raj. The house still
preserves the teak furniture and many wood artifacts that go back to the 1850s.
There are also several paintings, including one which depict the Mysore Durbar.
This painting is dedicated to Queen Victoria and Price Albert.

The paintings is dated 1850
and you can see Cubbon in the painting.

The bungalow is huge and it
has five rooms, five bathrooms and two large living rooms. It is two-storied
white structure. There is a secret passage that runs under the house and goes towards
CubbonPark. It has now been closed and nobody
has dared to get it open.

Coming back to the how the
house became the property of the SBI, the Bank of Madras became Imperial Bank of India and in
1955 it transformed into the State Bank of India.

The building served as an
inspiration for other structures such as the Bangalore Club, Balabrooie and Raj Bhavan,
all in Bangalore.

Friday, 13 September 2013

Well, justice has been
delivered at last and the rapists who savaged Nirbhaya in Delhi are to hang. Of course, the convicted are
going to appeal first in the High Court and then possibly in the Supreme Court.

While we can be sure of an
appeal in the High court as the law mandates that the court which sentenced a
person or persons to death must send the reference (death sentence) to the High
Court, there is no such rule of taking
the High court verdict to the Supreme Court.

Whatever the result of
further appeals, one thing is sure and that is rapists from now on cannot get
away with their crimes and a fast track court in Saket in Delhi has shown the way such cases could be
decided.

The ruling has come as a
warning to the predators who roam around and tease, molest, rape and in several
cases kill or murder women. Delhi would now be
rejoicing over the verdict but the question is how is Bangalore going to take the verdict.

Bangalore was always known as a city with a low crime rate and the
occasional murder decades ago made national headlines such as the murder of
Belur Srinivasa Iyengar at his house in Gandhinagar.

However, despite incidents of
crime, Bangalore was always considered a safe
city when compared to Delhi, Kolkata, Madras-now Chennai and Mumbai.
But no longer. The City, over the last decades has witnessed a horrific rise in
the number of crimes against women and this is nothing short of shameful for Bangalore which led India,
nay Asia, in the IT revolution and showed the
world that it could match the best.

The IT hub of Bangalore has the dubious distinction of being the rape
capital of Karnataka and it also figures among the top ten cities in India to have
reported maximum number of rapes.

The sudden rise in rape cases
in Bangalore
has not only flummoxed the police but left the people bewildered. The rise in
rape has also been recorded in the data which was recently by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which
brings out reports on crimes in the country.

The NCRB statistics shows
that Bangalore is next to Delhi in the crime against women..

The report for 2011 shows
that Bangalore has recorded 1,890 instances of crime against women and this accounts
for 5.6 per cent of such crimes in the
country. Delhi topped the list with 4,489 cases,
which constituted 13.3 per cent of all cases registered in India. Next to Bangalore came Hyderabad
with 1,860 cases, forming 5.5 per cent.

During 2010, Bangalore had recorded 1590 cases against
women and this had constituted 6.5 per cent of such crimes in the country.

What is more shocking is that
the State Crime Record Bureau (SCRB) statistics reveal that in 85 per cent of
cases of rape registered in Karnataka during 2012, the perpetrator was known to
the victim. It says 621 rape cases were registered and in 526 cases, the rapist
was known to the victim.
The same trend is visible in Bangalore.
The SCRB data shows that in 56 of 90
rape cases registered during the year, the rapist was known to the victim. And
who form this known category- they are parents, close family members, relatives and neighbours.

Of the 90 cases in Bangalore, two were raped
by parents or family members, one by a close relative, 18 by neighbours and 35
victims were raped by friends, friends of their relatives and colleagues.
This alarming situation is not restricted to Bangalore alone. In Mangalore, of the six
rape cases, neighbours were guilty in three. In Shimoga district, in all the 14
cases registered, neighbours were the perpetrators.
If we take the nation wide data, the NCRB says 24,923 rape cases were registered
last year and 24,470 victims were raped by known persons. In 88 cities, including
Bangalore, 3,025
rape cases were registered, and in 2,897 cases, it was known persons who were
the culprits.

It also says Karnataka on an average reports
two rapes a day and between January and June this year 457 cases were reported.
In the last three years, the total number of rape cases in the State which were
reported stood at 2163.

What is absolutely unbelievable
is that SCRB records show shows that 471 or 75 per cent of women raped in 2011
were 18-year-olds and 21 of them were below the age of 10.

The SCRB statistics also
indicate a rise in other crimes against women such as molestation, sexual
harassment , cruelty against women and dowry deaths. And Bangalore tops the list in all these
categories

What boggles the mind is that
the incidents of rape seem to be increasing every year in Karnataka. It was 509
in 2009 and it went up to 586 cases in 2010 and in 2011 it stood at 636.

What does the statistics
indicate. Does it prove that Bangalore is as
unsafe to women as Delhi
and other places. Sadly, yes. Then what is the answer. Better policing,
stricter law enforcement, harsher punishment and greater awareness is the need
of the hour.

Wednesday, 11 September 2013

One of the legendary
Hindustani singers of our times has been Gangubhai Hangal (1913-2009). Born in
Dharwad, she was an exceptionally talented singer of the Kirana Gharana and her
range and mastery left one spellbound.

Though she gave hundreds of
concerts and attended scores of seminars and workshops, she never sang at the
Rama Seva Mandali of Chamarajpet. This was not because she was not invited. She
was invited several times but she could not make it to the programme for a
variety of reasons. And the one time she did, she came only to watch and not
sing.

The Rama Seva Mandali of
Chamarajpet has a fairly long history of organising concerts on the occasion of
Rama Navami in March and April every year. It has today become one of the leading
organizers of Rama Navami concerts in Bangalore
and almost all legendary singers and musicians have graced its celebrations.

However, the only shining
star of Hindustani music that is missing in the annals of the Rama Seve Mandali
rolls of honor is Gangubhai Hangal.

Once Gangubhai Hangal showed
up at the concert. This was not to sing but listen to Bismillah Khan who was giving
a concert. The moment passed and neither the organisers nor Hangal could plan
her concert at the Mandali festival.

Her constant tours,
subsequent ill health kept her away from the concerts. She passed away in Hubli
of cardiac arrest in 2009 and even today the Mandali organizers regret not
having been able to arrange for a concert at one of their annual events.

Of course, this does not mean
that Gangubhai Hangal, the nightingale of Hindustani music, did not give concerts in Bangalore. She had a huge fan following in Bangalore and she did give
many performances but none at the Rama Seva Mandali.

Tuesday, 10 September 2013

Close to two and half million
tourists visited the main palace in Mysore and all of hem had
to remove their footware if they wanted to enter the palace.

The main palace is the most
visited building in the world after Madam Tussads in London. But unlike Madam Tussads, all
visitors here have to compulsorily remove their footware if they want to have a
glimpse of the interiors of what
tourists say is the world’s best palace.

However, the walk from the ticket
counter to the palace interiors and from there to the Maharaja’s private museum
will be a rather “hot” one during summer. The sand and concrete pathway to the
palace gets so hot during March, April, May and June that tourists, particularly
foreigners, find it difficult to tread across the hot sands.

The summer experience of bare foot walking was all the more painful
this year when Mysore
experienced a torrid climate and temperatures soared, making people fret and fume.

Many visitors and others,
particularly foreigners and they number more than 10,000, complained to the Mysore
Palace Board about the boiling sand they would have to walk on to reach the
palace. Women, elderly and children found it difficult to walk barefoot. Seeing
their discomfiture, the board decided to take a leaf from the Dharmastala temple
management which had paved the footpaths leading to the Manjanutha temple with
heat resistant slabs.

These newly designed walkways
gave pilgrims at Dharmastala a little relief from the sweltering summer. The
Mysore Palace Board decided to go in for such a walkway so as to make walking a
walking a pleasure for tourists, even as
they enjoyed the sight of the palace.

It, therefore, built a 150-feet
heat-resistant walkway on a trial basis, which it plans to extend to other
areas in a phased manner. The walkway is about two feet wide and it has been
painted white. The white paint will absorb the heat and thus ensure that the
soles do not get scorched by the heat of the sand.

The white paint does not
allow the heat to settle and disperses it. The paint diffuses the ultra violet
rays and, therefore, the temperature remains much less than the temperature on
the concrete.

The Board has spent Rs. 42
per square feet to develop the 150-feet walkway. It now plans to extend the white
pathway to other paths that tourists take within the palace compound.

In vase you visit the palace,
walk on the white path and ten on the concrete so that you can literally fell the
difference.

How we wish that the
Government takes notice and ensures that similar heat resistant walkways are introduced
at major tourist attractions and in places where the Sun seems to shine the
brightest such as Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal, Banashankari, Mahakuta, Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur,
Hampi, Bijapur, Lakkundi, Lakshmeshwar and many other town and villages. As it is these places record high temperatures during summer
and walking on the road or even footpath barefoot is a nightmare, more so if it
is a place of religion.

It is one of the most visited
monuments in India
and it rivals the Taj Mahal of Agra in recording the number of footfalls. It
was built during the last years of the nineteenth century and it took fourteen
years to complete.

Though it overshot the
budget, the entire cost of the construction of this magnificent structure was a
little more than Rs. 41 lakhs. It overshot the budget by a few lakhs but today,
the structure inspires awe and disbelief.

One of the world’s largest
palaces, it was built in Indo-Saracenic style and combines the best of Hindu,
Islamic, British, Rajasthan styles. If the cupolas remind you of the palaces of
Rajasthan, the tall tower on which is crowned by a bulbous structure gives it a
distinct Gothic or Church style.

Some of the towers give us a
feel of the Chattaris of Rajasthan as does the protruding balconies in the
south and north side of the palace.

The tall and massive columns
remind one of Greek structures and the
paintings are typical Mysorean in style and substance. The woodwork adds to the
design and enhances the beauty of the palace.

The Gajalakshmi atop the
five-storied main arch is typical Hindu.
The square shaped towers on either side of the palace gives the palace a
distinct English or Gothic feel, which is typical of many European castles. The
seven arched façade resembles a Hindu structure and the huge arches lend a
distinct local touch and it is this that resembles the older wooden palace,
that burnt down, closely.

The tinted glasses inside and
the huge chandeliars brings to our memory some of the best Venetian and French
structures. The carved wooden doors remind us of huge temple doors and the
curving staircases blend seamlessly with the interiors.

Each part of the palace has
its own story to tell and though the palace is of rather recent origin, it has a tale of its
own. This is the Main palace of Mysore, which is often erroneously known as AmbaVilasPalace.

This palace was built on the
foundations of the old wooden palace which burnt down during a wedding ceremony
of Princess Jayalakshmamma in 1897. A
new palace-the fourth to come up-was commissioned just a few months after the
fire mishap and it was completed by 1912.

Coming back to Amba Vilas, it
is one of the many sections of the palace that are open to the public. It was
generally used by the Wodeyar Kings for private audience and it is often called
as one of the most spectacular rooms.

Though the palace was
designed by Sir Henry Irwin, who also designed the Viceregal lodge in Shimla,
Himachal Pradesh, it was

Irwin had just then retired
as Consulting Architect of the Government of Madras and he received the
contract as his plans were approved.

Mr. Naidu first studied the
designs supplied to him and then he toured Calcutta,
Delhi and Agra
and incorporated the designs of many buildings located in those cities. .

Incidentally, he is also credited
with designing and constructing the new bazaar building and JaganmohanPalace.
He ensured that the work commenced in
October 1897 and the palace was completed in 1912 at a cost of Rs. 41,47, 913.

Maharani Vani Vilas, the
Regent, commissioned the new palace and she was undeterred when the old structure
burnt down.

He was asked by the Wodeyar
family and Sir Irwin to use locally available construction material to the
extent it was feasible. This was also the first palace in India that adopting
fire safety norms. It also was the first building of such a size to get lifts.
Check out the Durbar Lift.

The palace literally rose
from the ashes not once but twice. Tipu is believed to have let the old palace
decay after he forcibly shifted the Wodeyar family from Mysore to Srirangapatna. When he died on May
4, 1799 and the British handed back the Kingdom to the Wodeyars, there was no
big building in Mysore.
The new king- Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar- had to, therefore, be enthroned from
a temporary structure constructed in Nazarbad.

The British too noted the
lack of a palace for the new king and the then Duke of Wellington noted that “there
was no stately structure or house at all in the city suitable for the
enthronement of the young raja”, and therefore the coronation took place in a shamiana in Nazarbad.

The next reference by the
British to the MysorePalace is by Col. Wellesley who says that the “Raja's
family has moved into old Mysore
where their ancient palace has been rebuilt in the same form in which it was
earlier.”

The only photograph of this
wooden palace is by John Birdwood, s a lancer in the Mysore Army, who later
went on to become the Commander in chief of the British India Army. He
presented this photograph to the royal
family in 1929 when he visited Mysore.

Coming back to the palace,
Sir Irwin built it around an open
courtyard with a majestic gate on the east. The actual construction was
executed by Mysore engineers and the entire
building was supervised by Mysore
masons.

Very few know that credit
must go to Narayanaswamy, who was working as the civil engineer at the MysorePalace
then, for designing the marvellous durbar hall and also the imposing
Jayamarthanda Gate.

Though a large number of
masons and other workmen were brought in from across India, native workmen too showed
their expertise. They used mostly stone and iron materials and this was done to
prevent another fire tragedy.
Most of the stones used during the construction were mainly from quarries in
the then Mysore
state. The quarries at Turuvekere furnished a unique kind of trap which allowed
for the intricate and elaborate carvings.

Initially, masons from
Trichy, Madras and other districts from South India were at first able to work only with pointed
chisels. They found it difficult to work with masons from Kolhapur,
Jaipur and other places in Northern India who
preferred to work with sharp-edged tools.

When masons from Agra and other places went back after a quarrel, Mysore masons decided to
go ahead with the work and today we can see that they really performed an
admirable job that has stood the test of time.

One of the best descriptions
of the work going on during the construction of the palace is by a Scottish
traveler, William G Burn, in 1905.

Another notable feature of
the palace is the 96,000 bulbs that light up the structure in the evenings. The
lit up palace is nothing short of a dream. Check it out.

Monday, 9 September 2013

In an earlier post, more than
ay year ago, the post had carried an article on FreedomPark
and the few remnants of the old jail.

Many readers and visitors
wanted to know more about the gallows, which is still preserved as a relic n
the park. They also wanted to know when was last hanging.

Well, though Bangalore
had one of the biggest jails and though it was classified as a central prison,
it never had a hangman and all convicts sentenced to death were sent to Belgaum to be hanged.. Therefore,
Belgaum had a hangman, while Bangalore and other jails did not.

Yes, a few high profile
convicts were kept in the prison on Seshadri
Road but when a sessions court pronounced the
order of death, the convicts were immediately shifted to Belgaum, irrespective of the result of their
appeal or the reference to the High Court.

Coming back to the history of
the gallows, they were preserved as they have a 142-year-old history. Official
records or records with the Department
of Prisons point out that eleven persons
were sent to the gallows between 1943 and 1968. They included among others five
satyagrahis of Esoor village in Shimoga district.

Unfortunately, we do not have
detailed information on hanging prior to Independence
as the records are not available. However, there must have been several
hangings and almost all of them were Indians.

Information in the public
domain suggests that the satyagrahis, who killed police officers at Esoor, were
hanged on March 8, 9 and 10, 1943 respectively. They had claimed to have fought
for a “responsible government,” a term used to describe the freedom movement in
the princely State of Mysore, while the police and the prosecution said they
had rebelled and indulged in anti-national activities, besides committing
murder.

The last convict to mount the
gallows in Bangalore
was Srikantha, son of Venkatappa. He was hanged on August 21, 1968 on a charge
of murder.

Earlier, three persons were
hanged in 1958, and one each on December 10, 1962 (Narayanappa, son of Nagappa)
and September 17, 1965 (Bora, son of Badanemane). Another convict to be hanged on
December 18, 1958 was Krishna Reddy, who had murdered all the members of the
family of Belur Srinivas Iyengar, a lawyer, who had a house in Gandhinagar.

Other accomplices to face the
hangman’s noose along with Krishna Reddy were Muniswamy and Govinda Reddy. They
had murdered on June 6, 1956 in cold blood Belur Srinivasa Iyengar, his wife,
two sons, mother-in-law and a servant.

The bungalow of Belur
Srinivasa Iyengar was situated at the spot where the building of the Syndicate
Bank is built today. Krishna Reddy and others were angry that Mr. Iyengar had won
a case against them and they had sworn to take revenge.

The gallows were once situated
behind a tiled building, which was demolished. The gallows was surrounded by a
wall and this was to prevent other jail inmates from watching the act of
hanging.

Incidentally, the Bangalore jail never had
a hangman on its rolls. One of the officers of the Prison Department played the
part of a hangman. Even today, the new jail at Parappana Agrahara does not have
gallows or the post of a hangman.

The last hanging in the State
was at the Belgaum
jail in 1983. Today, if you want to see the real gallows where convicts are
hanged, you have to travel to Hindalga hail in Belgaum. The Hindalga jail also has a
separate cell for housing convicts on the death row.

However, if you would like to
know what the gallows looked like and how it was operated, head for the FreedomPark where the old gallows are still
there, a ghastly relic of a past.

Saturday, 7 September 2013

The Mysore Dasara is just a little more than a month away and the State Government has made all arrangements to ensure that the event passes off without a hitch.

Mysore is all decked up for the magnificent spectacle. However, there is a hitch or two. The Ambari Ane or elephant that carries the Golden Howdah is in Mast and animal lovers are up in arms against the practice of making the elephant carry the 750 kilogram howdah.

In the brouhaha, very few care to remember that Dasara never originated in Mysore. The Dasara, as we see today, had its beginning in Hampi or Vijayanagar. Once the mighty Vijayanagar Empire fell in 1565, Dasara stopped at Hampi as the Muslim states of the Deccan plundered Hampi and left it in a state of ruin.

Dasara then came to Srirangapatna which was a principality of the Vijayanagar Empire. Initially, the Viceroys of Srirangapatna owed their allegiance to the Vijayanagar Empire and ruled the province on their behalf.

They continued the practice of the Dasara and historical texts and accounts of the period say that the area around the RanganathaSwamyTemple in Srirangapatna were host to the Dasara procession.

Raja Wodeyar (1578-1617) managed to oust the Vijayanagar Viceroy, Sriranga Raya, and he shifted his capital in 1610 from Mysore to Srirangapatna. It is to him that the distinction of commencing the Dasara in a grand manner goes. He not only continued the Vijayanagar practice but substantially improved upon it.

However, the early accounts of the Dasara at Srirangapatna do not mention that the howdah was mounted on an elephant. Yes, elephants along with other animals such as camels, horses, cattle formed part of the Vijayadashami procession and some of the Viceroys did sit on elephants but there never was a howdah of the present size mounted on the pachyderm.

Even after Hyder an Tipu took over the reigns of the MysoreKingdom from the Wodeyars, they allowed the Mysore Kings to conduct the Dasara.

Contemporary accounts tell us how Tipu allowed the King to attend the Dasara but how he took great care to ensure that the people did not turn against him.

The Dasara at Srirangapatna stopped in 1799 when Tipu was defeated and killed by the British on May 4, 1799. From then on, the Dasara was conducted in Mysore and Krishnaraja Wodeyar III became the first Maharaja to conduct the Dasara at Mysore.

Though the Dasara continued at Mysore, it was only in 2007 that the district administration of Mandya woke up to the heritage value of the festival and began conducting Dasara at Srirangapatna.

According to Hindu archives, the Dasara was first celebrated as Nada Habba during the Vijayanagar period and then at Srirangapatna before coming to Mysore.

Historians believe that Raja Wodeyar initially commenced Dasara celebrations as a victory parade when he defeated the Vijayanagar Viceroy. Each year, the procession gained in fame and pomp and it ended in 1799.

However, when Mysore kingdom was handed over by the British to in 1799, after the fall of Tipu Sultan, the capital was shifted to Mysore. Dasara festivities were also shifted to Mysore. Thereafter, Srirangapatna lost its traditional richness though it was the town where Dasara was first introduced.

The Srirangapatna Dasara too was celebrated over a ten day period and almost all the temple there were bedecked for the special occasion.

Today, Mysore is known for its Dasara, while the Srirangapatna Dasara is slowly making a mark. There is no reason why the Srirangapatna Dasara can complement the Mysore Dasara and also act as an independent magnet on the lines of the Madikeri Dasara.

One of the most important
Hindu festivals is upon us and all Hindu households celebrate it with fervour.
This is one of the first major festivals of the Hindu calender and after this
comes a long list of other festivals.

This festival is unique in
the sense that it is as much a private affair as it is public. Just like the
Rama Navami and Raghavendra Swamy Aradhana and Ayudha Pooje, this festival too
is celebrated by other communities too and the public celebrations go on much
after the poojes at home.

This is the Ganesha Pooja.

Ganesha is the son of Shiva
and Parvathi and he is one of the most loved gods in the world. He is perhaps
one of the few gods with the head of an animal-an elephant-and he is,
therefore, also known as Gajanana, Gajamukha and many more names of elephants.

One of the unique features of
this festival is that people of an area collect donations and set up pandals
where Ganesha is placed on a pedestal.

In cities like Bangalore, hundreds of
Ganesha pandals spring up and the police have decided to regulate them. The
police have made it mandatory for residents to obtain permission before
installing Ganesha publicly.

In addition, Ganesha is also
installed in offices and business establishments. Ganesha is also installed on
the Karnataka High Court premises by the Advocates Association. Interestingly,
there are several Ganeshas in the High Court itself. If the Advocates
Association has one Ganesha, the law clerk association which is housed near the
place where several freelance typists sit, also have their own Ganesha.

The staff of the Advocate
General (AG) office in the High Court also have their own Ganesha.

There are hundreds of Ganesha
pandals in Bangalore
and a majority of them are installed with donations from the public. But the Ganesha
Pandal in Rajajinagar III Block 14th Main -
Vidya Ganapa Gelatiyara Sangha - is unique as it is a girls-only group.

It's been more than a decade since
the Ganesha pandal has been coming up here and the women took over seven years
ago, after the original group split up.

The BBMP has warned the pandals
that they cannot keep the Ganesha idols beyond September 20. They say all the
idols have to be immersed in water by the date. This deadline, however, does
not stand for houses.

The BBMP has also designated
places in lakes for immersing Ganesh idols. On their part, the police have said
permission should be taken from them for setting up pandals in public. BESOM
has urged the pandals to apply for permission to draw temporary power.

It is only in the recent
decades that Bangalore
saw pandals coming up for the Ganesha festival. However, Shahaji is believed to
have popularized the Ganesha festival way back in the 16th century
when he wrested Bangalore
from Kempe Gowda. Bangalore
for more than half a century remained under Maratha rule and Marathi was made
the State language. Ganesha festival became popular during this period.

However. the festival became
less of a public show after Hyder and Tipu conquered Bangalore from the Peshwas. The festival
became a family affair during the times of the British and the Wodeyars and it
was only four decades ago that the first public celebration began.

Having said that, what is really
strange is that the public celebrations of Ganesha goes on months even after
the ten day period. More shockingly, some install Ganesha idols during the Pitru
Paksha or the 16-day lunar period which starts in a fortnight.Pitru Paksha is
considered to be inauspicious, given the death rite performed during the
ceremony, known as Shradha or tarpna. In southern and western India, it falls in Bhadrapada, September–October, beginning with
the full moon day (Purnima) that occurs immediately after the Ganesha festival and
ends with the New Moon day known as Amavaysa or Mahalaya Amavaysa.

The organisers of some of the Ganesha pandals have scant regard for such
religious customs and of course none for the people. They play film music and
organise dance and other events which is not even part of the Ganapathy rituals.
Blaring loudspeakers, ostentatious sets, pompous speeches and a huge waste of
money mark the celebrations by such pandals.

Do Bangaloreans deserve such celebrations. Let the pandals organise
religious functions, discourses, cultural events for families and children but playing
Western music and Hindi music at full blast is a little too much.

Friday, 6 September 2013

Normally, Kempe Gowda I or simply
known as Kempe Gowda, the ruler of Bangalore, is
credited with having founded the metropolis of Bangalore.

He is also known as Hiriya
Kempe Gowda or Bangalore Kempe Gowda. He was the son of Kempananje Gowda.

Kempe Gowda is also credited
with having made Bangalore
the capital after shifting base from Yelahanka.

Many tanks and lakes, fort,
temples are ascribed to him as are the many petes of the old town that exists
even today. The petes-Chickpet, Doddapet, Nagarthpet, Ranasinghpet, Balepet
exist even today.

However, Kempe Gowda is known
for one more achievement of which little is known. He is credited with the
composition of a Yakshagana composition “Ganga Gowri Vilasamu”.

This work is in Telugu and it
is the earliest known Yakshagana in Bangalore
and also among the first of such works in Telugu.

The fact that Kempe Gowda
wrote in Telugu and not in Tamil gives credence to the fact that they were Morasu
Vokkaligas from near Kolar and that even if their forefathers came to Karnataka
from near Kanchi, they could not have been native Tamils.

They had first settled at
Avati from where the family branched out to different places-Yelahanka, Magadi
and Anekal.

The branch that first settled
at Yelahanka and then moved to Bangalore
was the Kempe Gowda family. Apart from founding Bangalore and investing it with so many
facilities that it quickly became a centre of trade, commerce and business, it
also was a place of art and literature.

Kempe Gowda himself
encouraged art, sculpture, architecture and literature. His Ganga Gowri
Vilasamu has 44 songs in different ragas. It closely follows the Bayalatta
style of composition.

Though Yakshagana is native
to coastal Karnataka, particularly, Utara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Shimoga
and Udupi, the fact that Kempe Gowda wrote one such play is testimony enough
that this form of art had spread to south Karnataka as well and that it was a
popular form of entertainment then apart from Javali singing.

Kempe Gowda’s work came when
Yakshanaga in Telugu and even in other languages were just beginning. It was
only a few decades later that Yakshagana developed into what it is today.

Even today, the Vilasamu is
staged in Bangalore
city by several troupes. However, apart from the field of literature, Yakshagana
and research, not many are aware of
Ganga Gowri Vilasamu.

Kempe Gowda died in 1569,
having ruled for about 56 years. A metallic statue of Kempe Gowda can be seen
at the Gangadhareshwara temple in Shivaganga. This was installed in 1609.
Another statue of Kempe Gowda was
installed in 1964 and this was in front of the Corporation offices in Bangalore.

A few days ago, the Karnataka
High Court did not interfere with the issue of one of the elephants during
Dasara carrying the Ambari or Golden Howdah.

The Ambari Anne or elephant
carries the howdah with the idol of Godddess Chamundi on Vijayadashami, the
last day of the Dasara. This is called the Jumbo Saavari.

The golden howdah weighs
upwards of 750 kilograms and it is taken out only during the Dasara.

During the rest of the year, the
howdah is placed in the MysorePalace and unlike the Golden
Throne, it can be viewed by visitors. The website of the Palace Board says that
the core of the Howdah is a wooden structure in the form of a mantapa which is
covered with 80 kilograms of Gold Sheets.

These gold sheets have been
intricately designed and they comprise of
scrolls, foliage and flowers. The thread is made from the thinnest gold or
silver wire.
A few decades earlier, the last Maharaja of Mysore, Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar
used to sit in this howdah and participate in the Dasara procession. After his
death, the Government decided to place an idol of Chamundi or Chamundeshwari in
the howdah.

When the Maharaja sat in the
howdah, it had two lights-red and green. These lights were battery operated and
the Maharaja used them to control the pace of the Vijayadashami procession.

Thus, this tradition
continues to this day but Nature lovers and wildlife enthusiasts had objected
to the heavy howdah being used. They had suggested to the Government to use a
lighter replica, which could be made of wood.

They felt that carrying the
750 kg howdah with the added weight of another 150 kgs would be a burden on the
elephant. This, they said, amounted to cruelty. They had first represented to
the Government to use a lighter howdah.

The State Cabinet, headed by
the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah discussed the issue and rejected the
suggestion. It also rejected the suggestion of the Elephant Task Force, which
too had recommended reducing the weight of the howdah.

The Cabinet also did not accept
the Task Force’s proposal to put in place a Karnataka Elephant Expert Group
within the State Wildlife Board mandated with planning, advising and assisting
in elephant conservation management in the State

The nature lovers then moved
the High Court. Their point was that the elephant always did not carry the
howdah. Several decades ago, the elephants pulled a cart on which the howdah
was placed.

The Law Minister, T B
Jayachandra, has gone on record saying that carrying the golden howdah during
Mysore Dasara procession has sentimental value to the people. Besides the elephant
carrying the howdah is well trained and its diet is strictly monitored.

There is no doubt that the Jamboo Savari on Sunday will be the prime
attraction of the Dasara. It marks the grand finale of the 10-day Dasara
festivities.

The elephant carrying the golden
howdah will be accompanied by eleven other caparisoned elephants.

Historians and art lovers are
not sure about the exact origin of the howdah and its antiquity. However, we
know that the last Maharaja to sit in the golden howdah was Jayachamarajendra
Wodeyar in 1969.

When the Dasara festivities
were revived by the State Government after the death of the Maharaja, it
decided to place the idol of Chamundi in the golden howdah on the caparisoned
elephant.

Incidentally, the earliest
representation of the Dasara is depicted in a mural is at the JaganmohanPalace
where the Maharaja is seated in a wooden chariot drawn by pairs of elephants.
This mural has a caption saying Vijayadashamiya Jamboo Savari and it shows the
procession during the tenure of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III. Therefore, it is believed
that it was this Maharaja who later in his reign used elephants for the Jamboo
Savari.

Thursday, 5 September 2013

Ever since its founding, Bangalore has always had
to face water shortage. But the first recorded water shortage was sometime in
the 1870s when several tanks were dug and the Hesarghatta reservoir was
commissioned.

Yet, even almost one hundred
and fifty years after the first water scarcity, Bangalore has never been able to quench the
thirst of its citizens. Today, we have four stages of Cauvery, TG Halli and
ground water.

All the water sources put
together have not been able to meet the demands of the people. What makes the
water situation worse is that 50.9 per cent of the City’s drinking water is
allowed to go waste. This may sound incredulous but this is a fact and it has
been validated by none other than the Union Ministry of Urban Development.

The Union Ministry, in a
nation wide survey of twenty eight cities, ranked Delhi as the city wasting the maximum
quantity of water. Delhi was followed by Bangalore and then Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

If Delhi
wasted a little over 52 per cent of the water supplied to it, Bangalore with no major source of drinking water
nearby, was equally generous-wasting 50.9 per cent of the water supplied.

The rest of the cities wasted
anything between 13 per cent to 50 per cent and even among the 28 cities, the
mega cities of Bangalore, Delhi,
Mumbai, Kolkota, Chennai, Hyderabad
and Ahmedabad took the honors, outdoing other cities and leading in the wastage
race by a huge margin.

A bigger metropolis like
Mumbai was estimated to waste a little over 13 per cent. Chennai was seventeen percent
and both these cities have oceans adjacent to them, while Bangalore has no such luxury.

The study also says that only
50.8 per cent of Bangalore’s
population has access to piped water supply. The rest depend on unorganised
water supply sources like open wells and bore wells.
The wasted water, which can be classified as non-revenue water, is fed into the
system and it does not reach the consumer. The reasons are many: pilferage, leak
in pipes, theft, illegal diversion and even non-metering.
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which manages Bangalore’s water supply, has
managed to meter 97 per cent households
it supplies water too. However, it has not bee as successful in reducing wastage.Bangalore gets
900 million litres of water per day (MLD) against a demand of 1,125 MLD. In
addition to this, the BWSSB is gearing itself up to provide 45,000 new water
connections. This doubles the pressure on water supply and the BWSSB has been
struggling to meet the demand for water.

Last year, the water scarcity
reached such proportions that this May, the BWSSB had to switch off its pumps
for the first time in 30 years.

Former Additional Chief
Secretary V Balasubramanian has gone on record saying that Bangalore needs Rs 26,000 crores to purify
its water. Of this, Rs 5,000 crores is required to re-acquire encroached lakes,
while at least Rs 10,000 crores in urgently wanted for developing 850 km of stormwater drain (rajakaluve) and Rs
2,750 crores for sewage treatment plants.
The BWSSB, however, has its own figures. It says it supplies close to 1,100 MLD
to Bangalore everyday and loses 396 MLD in transmission and
distribution — with a loss percentage of 36 per cent.

Very few people know that the
water loss between Cauvery and bulk storage reservoirs in Bangalore account for less than 3 per cent. The
water treatment plant at TK Halli from where Cauvery is pumped to Bangalore is situated 400 metres below Bangalore. The distance between TK Halli and Bangalore is about 94 km.
Therefore, water is pumped to Bangalore
through three stages of pumping-TK Halli pumping station, Harohalli and Thataguni.

From Tataguni, water is
pumped to 55 ground level reservoirs and from them to the consumers.

The leak till the ground
level reservoir is less than three per cent. The bulk of the loss of water has
been traced to the distribution system of over 5000 kms of pipeline, which is
old. Other reasons are theft, water supply to 500 odd slums and in other cases
unmetered connections.

Consider another fact. Mysore consumes 180 MLD of water every day and Bangalore loses twice the
quantity every day.

A project to curb these
losses to 16 per cent is expected to finish only by 2015. This project is being
taken up in six Assembly constituencies of Basavanagudi, Chamarajpet,
Padmanabhanagar, Jayanagar, BTM Layout and Bangalore South to get data on
unaccounted water. The project would be completed in 18 months.

Other measures by the water
board which include compulsory registration of borewells and compulsory rainwater harvesting
have met with limited success.

Every year on Independence
Day and Republic day, Lalbagh comes alive florally. This is not to say
that during other times of the year the beautiful botanical garden is barren.

It is during these two events
that flower shows are held and they attract lakhs of visitors both from India and all
over the world.

The event is organised
jointly by the Department of Horticulture which looks after Lalbagh, CubbonPark
and other parks and the Mysore
Horticulture Society.

Tthe main theme
for the flower shows changes for every show and they form the centre of attraction. This year,
the floral boat was the main attraction apart from the Ikebana, Indian floral
art, Bonsai and vegetable carving competitions.

The floral boat was thirty five
foot long and it was at the centre of
the Glass House where the event is held. The boat was made of two lakh roses of
different colors. It took 35 workers
several hours to create it.

A vertical garden with more
than 5,000 plants was on display at the beautifully landscaped lawns. This painstakingly
created garden measured 40 feet in length and 17 feet in height.

The other major attractions
include a 13-foot floral boat, floral pots, demonstration of roof garden
concept and Bonsai plants. The flower show also showcased hundreds of orchids,
zinnia, nastardium, crysantamums, daisies, marigold, cacti, fuchsia, jasmine,
geranium single roses, dahlias and several other species.

The show opened on August 7
and concluded on August 15. This was the 198th flower show.

Apart from the stalls selling
a variety of products such as wooden
toys, jute bags, toolkits for gardening, plant seeds and books, a large
collection of bottled grape wine prepared by the Karnataka Wine Board was
also on display. As many as 14 wine brands were be on display till August 15
but they were not for sale.

This year drew huge crowds
and there was no place for parking inside Lalbagh. Instead, the police had
designated several areas and roads around the garden for parking.

As can be expected, the crowds
littered Lalbagh, leaving behind plastic, cups, containers, filth and rubbish.
The geological rock bore the brunt of Bangalorean’s insensitivity as the many
eatable stalls there did roaring business. Yet, none of them had the sense to
clean up the area and it was left to the Horticulture Department to clean it up.