What's in a name?

What is in a name, you may ask. “Everything”,  is the answer if it is Bangalore. Unlike many other cities in India, Bangalore was never known or founded by that name.

When Kempe Gowda founded Bangalore it was called Devarayanapura and this was the name that Kempe Gowda the first gave to the City he founded. This name was in honour of Achuta Deva Raya, the Emperor of Vijayanagar who permitted Kempe Gowda to not only found the City and build a fort but also construct petes where each of the locality was allowed in trade in a particular commodity.

Thus the founding of Bangalore and the origin of the petes and there were 84 in all when it all began goes back to the reign of Achuta Deva Raya (1529-1541). However, there is another historical view that Kempe Gowda named his new city as Devarayanapura in honour of Krishna Deva Raya (1509-1529).

There is enough evidence to suggest that Krishna Deva Raya did visit Bangalore and that he stayed at a temple or adjacent to a temple in Madiwala.

Though there was no Bangalore when Krishna Deva Raya stayed in Bangalore, Kempe Gowda might have seen him. That he had heard of  Krishna Deva Raya is undeniable. Kempe Gowda also saw Hampi or Vijayanagar and decided to construct a City on the same lines.

He then set about the process of City building. He first harnessed a pair of bullocks to four carts and sent them away in each of the four directions. He asked his soldiers to accompany the bullock carts and he directed them to mark the exact place where they stopped.

The place where the bullock carts stopped were to be the boundaries of the new city. The centre from where they went out in the four directions is what is today known as Doddapete Circle. Unfortunately, the circle is lost in the hustle and bustle of daily life and not even a  handful of the thousands who pass by the busy circle spare a thought to the history of the circle they are traversing across.

Bangalore was never the name Kempe Gowda gave to his nascent city. Bangaluru near Kodigehalli was the place where his wife came from and where his in-laws lived. His wife came to the new city with a fairly large retinue of servants and relatives. Soon, other inhabitants of Bangaluru followed when they realised that Kempe Gowda meant business and that he was a master of  construction. The many temples that Kempe Gowda built, the tanks and lakes he planned, the petes he set about to plan so assiduously and above all the mud fort at the present City Market gave these people a sense of security.

The people of Bangaluru voluntarily shifted from their village and settled down in the city. Soon, the new city overtook other small habitations around such as Magadi, Yelahanka, Anekal, Bangaluru, Begur and Hoskote.

The new city also worsted the old and established cities of Kolar, Chennapatna and Savandurga. It then came to be known as Bangaluru and the one hundred and one years of  the rule of Kempe Gowdas made the city famous by that name.

Gone were the earlier names of Bangalore such as Kalyanipura and Devarayanapura. Bangalore soon became famous and even the British took to the name.

Though the Adil Shahis first and Marathas and Hyder-Tipu wrested control of  Bangalore over different periods, they could never change the name of Bangalore. After the British took over the administration of Mysore from the Wodeyars, they shifted the capital from Mysore to Bangalore. They too preferred Bangalore as a name.

When the British handed back the kingdom to the Wodeyars, the capital was once again shifted to Mysore. But the Wodeyars never changed the name of Bangalore though the Dewans of the state and sometimes even the Maharajas preferred to stay on in Bangalore.  

When India became Independent, Bangalore was unanimously chosen as the capital of the Mysore State. After the integration of the States and the formation of Karnataka, the city of Bangalore continued to retain its name and also the character as capital of the State.

Today, Bangalore has become Bangalooru and there is no unanimity on how this name came about and whether at all it had anything to do with the Hoysala Emperor, Veera Ballala and the story of boiled beans (Benda Kalluru).

Did Benda Kalluru become Bangalore or did Bangaluru become Bangalore.

Whatever the origin of the name, one thing is clear. Human habitation existed in and around today’s Bangalore even during pre-historic times.    

Several Stone Age weapons dating to periods between 2000 BC  to 1000 BC have been found near Jalahalli, Siddapura and Gavipuram. Besides, relics belonging to the Iron Age dating to about 800 BC have been discovered in Kannur, Jadigenahalli and  Koramangla.

That Bangalore was known to foreigners can be evidenced from the fact that Roman coins belonging to Roman Emperors Augustus, Tibirius, Cadius, and Caligula have been unearthed from Yeshwantapur and HAL localities.

Another legend says sometime in the 5^th century the Ganga rulers constructed a small settlement near Kengeri for their guards. The guards were known as Bengavalu in Kannada. Their dwelling place became Bengavaluru, which later became Bengaluru.

What is interesting is that the word Bengaluru first appeared in an inscription of  890 A.D. found in Begur. However, this Bengaluru is different from the Bengaluru near Kodigehalli near Hebbal.

Bangalore was also the place where many hero stones or veeragallu  have been found. The hero stones in Lalbagh and Kengeri (10th Century), lake in Krishnarajapura (11th Century), near Railway Housing Colony (13th Century), and near the band-stand in Lalbagh Glass House (13th Century) tell us that Bangalore was inhabited during those periods.

Apart from coins and implements, a host of inscriptions and historical evidences belonging to various periods - Talakadu Gangas (2nd to 10th Century), Cholas (1004-1116), Hoysalas (1116-1336) and Vijayanagar (1336 to 1537) and of course Kempe Gowda – reveal the antiquity of Bangalore.

Yet, the most romantic story of  how Bangalore got its name comes from the hunting  anecdote of  Veera Ballala. This story goes back to the 12th century.

A few historians say that Venkataru was the City built by Kempe Gowda. As Venkaturu had several temples dedicated to Venkataramana Swamy, it became Benkaturu and finally Bengaluru. Yet another story says Bangalore is the name that came after Benacha kalluru (Benachu is the quartz stone that is found in and around Bangalore). The many Benge trees found in Bengeuru also contributed to the name of Bengaluru.

Ironically, we hardly get to see any Benge trees in Bangalore.

When the twin cities became one

Generally when two cities grow near each other or in close proximity with each other, they are labeled as twin cities. In India, one of the best known twin city is Hyderabad and Secundrabad in Andhra Pradesh. Both these cities have managed to retain their distinct identity and made a name for themselves.

In Karnataka, the cities of Gadag-Betagiri is among the most known. Both Hyderabad-Secundrabad and Gadag-Betagiri have retained their entity and distinctness. However, till 1947, Karnataka had one more twin city that was separated by a beautiful park and a huge body of water. If the older part of the city was ruled by a native prince, the newer part was controlled by the British.

Both the older city and the newer part had separate administrators and each had their own municipality and rules governing them. Each developed separately and till Independence they each retained their identity.

It was only after August 1947 that both the cities were merged and today both are an integral part of the bigger conglomerate of  Bangalore. The old city, till 1947, was called the Pettah or Pete area and the new British area was called the Cantonment.

Even today, the Cantonment retains vestiges of  British style of planning and architecture and the Pettah area the Indian style. Surprisingly, till the late 1920s, it was the British built Cantonment that had more population and also collected more revenue from levy of taxes on people than its Pettah neighbourhood.

The history of old Bangalore or the Petah goes back to several centuries and the discovery of Roman coins have proved that Bangalore was an important trading centre even during the Roman times. Inscriptions of the Nolambas (they ruled over large parts of Kolar and Bangalore), Gangas, Cholas and Hoysalas prove that Bangalore was a fairly well-populated city and it was also an important military centre during the middle ages.

It was, however, Kempe Gowda or Hiriya Kempe Gowda (1510-1569), who gave a push to Bangalore and made it politically significant.  His descendent, Kempe Gowda, the third, had to surrender Bangalore to the Adil Shahis in 1637 and retire to Magadi.

Bangalore from 1637 to 1686 remained under the Adil Shahis of Bijapur. During that time, the Adil Shah granted Bangalore as a Jagir to Shahaji, the father of Shivaji. In 1687, the Mughals under Quasim Khan captured Bangalore and then sold it for Rs. 3 lakhs to Chikadevaraja Wodeyar.

The Marathas once again captured Bangalore in the mid 1700s. Their claim to Bangalore lay on the fact that Bangalore along with Kolar, Doddaballapur, Chikaballapur, Hoskote and Kanakagiri was part of  Shahaji’s jagir. Hyder wrested Bangalore from the Maratahs and his son Tipu held it till his death in Srirangapatna on May 4, 1799.

After Tipu’s death, Bangalore initially was held by the British. The British restored the Mysore throne to the Wodeyars and established their Residency in Mysore city itself. They later shifted the Residency to Bangalore in 1804. The Residency was abolished in 1843 and revived in 1881. It survived till 1947.

The British planned a Cantonment to house their troops in Bangalore and construction of this township started in 1806. The Cantonment was planned away from the Pettah area and the British compelled the Wodeyar King to hand over the vast area covering the present Ulsoor to them. It was divided from the Pettah by Cubbon Park and Sampangiramanagar tank.  

In just a few years, both the Pettah and Cantonment began developing in contrasting styles and soon they became among the first twin cities in Karnataka.

The Cantonment had broad and clean streets and footpaths and huge bungalows. The military were housed in barracks surrounded by rolling lands. The British introduced gardens to the city by surrounding their houses and offices with flowers and fruit trees. The localities came to be well laid out and beautifully designed.

In sharp contrast, the Pettah area continued to be “dingy, dark and ugly.” The roads were narrow and winding. The houses were small. Sanitation was almost absent. The drains were narrow and mostly clogged. Since the Pettah was under the control of the Wodeyars, all decisions could be taken only in Mysore. The decision making process thus was delayed unlike the Cantonment which enjoyed a free hand.

The old Bangalore had more temples and more historic structures than the Cantonment. On its part, the Cantonment had more churches and educational institutions.  If the Pettah was the epitome of a typical Indian city, the Cantonment had an European flavour.

While drinking water to Bangalore was from several lakes and  tanks like Dharmambudhi and Sampangi initially and Hesaraghatta and Thippagondanhalli reservoir in the later period, water to Bangalore Cantonment was mainly supplied from Ulsoor, Millers tank, Sankey tank and Shoolay tank.

When Bangalore was under the Wodeyar rule for 68 years from 1690 to 1758, it was governed by administrators known as Parupathegars. There were 26 such administrators who governed Bangalore.

In 1758, Immadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the second, gifted Bangalore as a Jagir to his able Commander Hyder Ali. Under Hyder and Tipu, the Kannada speaking Parupathegars were replaced by Muslim Amildars.

When Bangalore came back to the Wodeyar fold again in 1799, it came to be ruled directly by them. Thus, the history of the two cities began unfolding in distinct ways. It was on March 27, 1862 that Cantonment got its municipality. It was called Bangalore City Municipality (BCM).  This municipality was set up under the provisions of the Improvement of Towns Act of 1850. The first nine members of the municipal board comprised Indian officials, non-officials and British officials.

A few years later, the pettah too got its municipality. The two bodies were legalised in 1881, but both continued to function independent of each other. In 1882, the system of election was introduced to induct non-official members in the municipality. The same year saw the introduction for the time property tax on houses and business establishment.

The British also conferred the right on property tax payers to become eligible to elect non-official members to the board of each of the two civic bodies. It was only in 1920 that the British agreed on the idea of electing a president.

Thus the president was the same for both the municipal boards and this system was in force till 1949, after which the two boards were legally merged to form the Corporation of the City of Bangalore, Now it is the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike.

Dr. J.H.Orr was the first to head both the Bangalore and Cantonment municipal bodies.

When a census was conducted in 1891, the population of Cantonment outstripped that of Bangalore, As per this census, Bangalore had a populace of  80,285. Of this, 67,388 were Hindus and Jains, 10,472 Muslims and 2,425 were Christians. In  contrast, the Cantonment’s population was 1,00,081. Here, the Hindus including Jains numbered 58,251, Muslims 23,892 and Christians numbered 17,902. Of the Christians, 4,985 were classified as Europeans, 2,649 Eurasians and the rest Indian Christians.

However, till the mid 1920s Cantonment outstripped Bangalore in both population and collection of taxes, particularly octroi. Till 1923, the area of Cantonment exceeded that of Bangalore and it was only in later years that Bangalore expanded rapidly.  

The following table shows the comparative population of both the municipal bodies.  

Year	Population of Bangalore Pete	Population of Bangalore Cantonment
1901	69,447	83,599
1911	88,651	1,00834
1921	1,18,556	1,18,940
1931	1,72,357	1,34,113
1941	2,48,331	1,58,655
1951	5,00,786	2,78,191

So we see that Bangalore Pete began developing only from the mid 1920s and since then there has been no looking back. Today, Bangalore is the fifth largest municipality in India and it was only  Independence that brought both the entities together.    

The battleground that was Bangalore

Bangalore is one of the few cities in India that has never seen a war in over 250 years. The last time cannons boomed, swordsmen hacked at each other and bayonets used was in the final Anglo-Mysore war of 1799.

The British troops had overcome Mysore and several other towns before proceeding to Srirangapatna where Tipu died on May 4, 1799, defending his island capital. Since then, Bangalore has never seen any major battle.

This really appears rather strange as Bangalore was coveted by almost all dynasties and kingdoms right from the time of the Cholas.

The Cholas, who were basically a Tamilian dynasty, wrested Bangalore from the Western Gangas (350AD-1000AD) first and other local rulers before they were forced to ceded it sometime in the 12th century to the Hoysalas.

However, the name Bangalore is believed to have much earlier history than the advent of the Hoysalas. The earliest reference to the name of Bangalore is in a ninth century Ganga inscription, on a hero-stone (viragal) in Begur village, about 14 kms south west of Bangalore.

The inscription clearly mentions the name Bengaluru, and it also refers to a battle that was fought at that place. Historian Rao Bahadur R Narasimhachar, in his Mysore Archaeological Report,  (1914-15) dates the inscription to the 9th century A. D.

The Ganga rulers, Vishnugopa (410-430) and Madhava III Tandangala (430-469) and their eastern territories comprised modern Bangalore, Kolar and Tumkur districts. Bangalore then was known as  Benga-val-oru, or the City of Guards as it is known in Hale Kannada or old Kannada.

After the fall of the Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas managed to subjugate the Gangas who had they had their provincial capital at Manne. Later, the Ganga Emperor Shripurusha (728-788) made Manne or Manyapura, today a small village in Bangalore district which even today has a few temples belonging to the period, as his capital.

Subsequently, Bangalore fell to the Rashtrakutras. When Indra IV (973–982 CE), the last Rashtrakuta Emperor committed Sallekhana or death by starvartion, Bangalore automatically came to the Gangas.  

In 1024 C.E, the Cholas captured Bangalore. Today, little evidence can be seen of this period except for a few temples in and around Bangalore. One such temple is that of Chokkanatha or Chokka Perumal Temple in Domlur, Bangalore. Located just off the Old Airport Roar, it was commissioned by the Cholas.

A small village in south Bangalore and another village in Ananthapur district in Andhra Pradesh bear the Chola name but the residents today mainly comprise natives.

In 1117 C.E, the Hoysala king Veera Ballala II defeated the Cholas in the battle of Talakad which lead to the downfall of the Chola empire and the Hoysalas gained Bangalore.

With the death of  Veera Ballala III (1291–1343), the Hoysalas disappeared from history and left the scene for the Vijayanagars to rue over large parts of  Karnataka, including Bangalore, Tamil Nadu  and Andhra Pradesh.    

Kempe Gowda I (1510–1570), who is fondly regarded as founder of modern Bengaluru was a feudatory of the Vijayanagars. He took the permission of the Vijayanagar Emperor, Achuta Deva Raya, to build a mud fort in 1537.

Kempe Gowda and his descendents ruled over Bangalore and surrounding areas till they were defeated by the mighty Adilshahis in 1638.

The Adil Shahis were led among others by Shahaji, the father of Chatrapathi Shivaji and the redoubtable Ranadulla Khan. However, during the siege of Bangalore, Shivaji's elder brother Shambaji was killed by Shahaji’s rivals, led by the Ghorpade of Mudhol, for which Shivaji was to later exact revenge.

Bangalore remained under the Bijapur Kingdom till 1686. It soon became the southern military headquarters of the Adil Shahis who appointed Shahaji as Governor.

Though Shahaji had little time for administration, he made Marathi one of the languages of the area and very soon Bangalore became the centre for Marathi and Marathi also became the official language displacing Kannada.

The Adil Shahis established a garrison in Bangalore and also set up training camps, military bases and  ammunition dumps. Shahaji soon appointed natives of Maharastra as officers and Pandits in his palace and office.

Shahaji had a palace enclosed within high walls in the petes. Maharashtrian officials soon occupied all major posts in the Adil Shahi durbar in Bangalore.

After Shahaji's death in 1664, his second wife’s son, Venkoji or Ekoji, became the Governor of Bangalore.  

It then fell to the Mughals who extinguished the house of the Adil Shahis under Emperor Aurangzeb in September 1687.

After conquering Bijapur, the Mughals under Khasim Khan, marched to Sira and then arrived in Bangalore, which was then being ruled by Shivaji's brother Vyankoji Bhonsale or Ekoji as a Jagir of Bijapur.

However, Vyankoji or Ekoji had no stomach for a fight. He failed to resolve problems of Bangalore. In 1675, he left to Thanjavur and settled there never to return to Bangalore. When Shivaji heard of this, he forced his half-brother to arrive at a compromise and cede part of Bangalore and surrounding areas to him. He marched into south Karnataka in 1677 and occupied his father's Jahagir, keeping to himself Kolar, Chikkaballapur, and Doddaballapur. He, however, gifted Bangalore as Choli-Bangdi (pin money) to Ekoji's wife, Deepabai.  

Once an agreement was reached on sharing of the revenue of his father’s Jagir (Bangalore), Shivaji chivalrously went back. Shivaji died in 1680 and the Mughals began pressing hard in the Deccan to defeat the Marathas.

Ekoji then tried to sell off Bangalore to Chikkadevaraya Wodeyar, for Rs. 3 lakh. Unfortunately for him, before the sale  materialised,  Sambaji's army from Ginji and Aurangazeb’s army from Golconda, marched towards Bangalore. The Mughal Commander, Khasim Khan, marched faster and captured Bangalore in 1687.

Thus, the Mughals occupied Bangalore. They held Bangalore for three years before leasing it to the Wodeyar King Chikkadevaraja in 1689.

The Mughals gave up Bangalore but formed a new province in 1687 A.D., with Sira as its capital. The new province composed of

of Basvapatna, Budihal, Sira, Penugonda, Doddaballapur, Hoskote and Kolar. The Mughals made the states of Harpanahalli, Kondarpi, Anegundi, Bednur, Chitradurga and Mysore as tributary states.

Bangalore remained under the Wodeyars till 1759, when its Commander-in-Chief, Hyder Ali, assumed de facto powers of the Mysore Kingdom. Most of the Mysore Kingdom, including Bangalore, came under the sphere of influence of Hyder.   

During the reign of Hyder and his son, Tipu, Bangalore saw a few battles but none as ferocious as the one on the third Anglo-Mysore 1791.

Hyder realised the importance of Bangalore militarily and he kept a fairly big army. He repulsed several attacks by the British on Bangalore, particularly, in 1768. The then British Colonel Nicholson of the British Army was forced to lift his siege of Bangalore.

The commander of the British forces, Lord Cornwallis, had to face the valorous and fearless fort or Quila Commander of Bangalore, Bahadur Khan, who gave a stiff fight to the British on March 21,  1791.

The scene of the battle was the area surrounding the Ulsoor Gate police station and Siddi Katte (City Market). The Madras Sappers played s vital role in breaching the fort.

This was the last major battle in Bangalore as Tipu demolished most of the fort after 1791 and the present fort was all that was standing during the final Anglo-Mysore war. Since then, Bangalore has become the permanent home of this regiment.

After this war, there was no other in Bangalore and its vicinity. The only other war like events that Bangalore faced was during the two world wars but that is a matter for another post. So till then, Good bye.

History of Bangalore's stone age

We have all dated Bangalore as a new city and gave credit to the Hoysala Emperor for  the founding of  Bangalore and also for calling it Bandakaluru or the City of boiled beans.

Till recently, this theory about the origin of Bangalore held water. It is only in the last few years that this theory is being shredded as historians and archaeologist have found that Bangalore is a much earlier city than many of its neighbours.

What is more remarkable is that the archaeological remains and artifacts that have been discovered have pushed bank Bangalore’s antiquity to the Stone Age.

What is more amazing is that there is sufficient historical and archaeological evidence that points out to Bangalore’s close link to the Roman and other ancient Empires, showing the trade between these places. Such a trade link could not have been possible had not any settlement or town been in existence.

Till recently, the first mention of Bangalore was in records from the Ganga era as a small hamlet. Though this mention is in the form of a stone tablet in a temple in Begur, the location of this Bangalore coincides with modern Halebengaluru near Kodigehalli. This area is not all that far away from Hebbal.  

A local legend states that Kempe Gowda built his new capital town in about 1537 AD after taking permission from his Vijayanagar overlords. This was so as Bangalore was a part of the Vijayanagar empire and Kempe Gowda was only a local chieftain.

This new town came up in the vicinity of Ulsoor Gate police station and City Market. Kempe Gowda called it Bengaluru as his mother and wife belonged to the older hamlet of Hala Bengaluru which in Kannada means Old Bangalore.

It had always been believed that the story of  Bangalore began with Kempe Gowda. This is not exactly true now, though there is no argument about the fact that Kempe Gowda did found the modern city of Bangalore and was responsible for many of its development.

Some time ago, Stone Age weapons belonging to 2000 to 1000 B.C., have been found near Jalahalli, Siddapura and Gavipura in Bangalore. This has pushed back the date of  Bangalore’s origin to the Stone Age.

By the way, Jalahalli is very near Kodigehalli and it is in the forests here that the Hoysala emperor Balalla lost himself and was fed a cup of boiled beans by an old woman living in a hamlet.

Coming back to the Stone Ag implements, it was the Directorate of Census Operations which discovered that Bangalore had human habitation as early as 4,000 B.C (Middle Stone Age).

The officials of the Directorate discovered stone implements to back their claim in the localities of  Jalahalli, Sudasandra, Siddhapura, and Jadigenahalli belonging to this period.

Besides, burial sites dating back to 1,000 B.C (Iron Age) were discovered at Koramangala and Chikkajala on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Coins of the Roman Emperors, Augustus, Tyberious and Claudius were found at Yeshwanthpur and HAL. These finds are indicative of a trade between Rome and Bangalore. The earliest Roman coin found in Bangalore can be dated to 27 B.C.

Now how did a transoceanic contact emerge between Rome and Bangalore is a subject matter of further research. It is for archaeologists to probe the issue further and settle permanently Bangalore’s timeline.

Unfortunately, even Bangalore’s growth under the Gangas and Cholas is not properly recorded. How many of us now that when the Cholas overran the Ganga kingdom, south Bangalore was a major part of the Chola province and it was called Nikarilacholamandala. This was sometime in 1024 AD.

Several major battles were fought in and around Bangalore and Yelehanka. Not much importance has been given to them. A deeper study of these events would throw up more light on Hale Bangaluru.

The lost capital of the Gangas

Just over a thousand years ago, the present day Bangalore was nothing but a thick forest. There was no mention of Bendakaluru or any pother place by the name. Yet, this place formed part of a once prosperous and bigger City that finds mention in ancient texts and copper plates of yore.

The Cholas knew about it and so did the Rashtrakutas. Both the Cholas and the Rashkrakutas tried their best to exterminate the city but to no avail. However, nature did to the city what several dynasties could not.

Today, the city is gone and in its place is a small sleepy village which still has some links to its once glorious past. All that remains are three temples that stand as mute sentinels at the very place where the once magnificent city of the Gangas flourished.

The Gangas as a dynasty have long been consigned to the pages of history. However, the buildings they built such as the temples of Talakad, the sculptures that they left behind like the Gomateshwara at Shravanabelogala still continue to tell their tale.

Unfortunately, apart from Talakad and Shravanabelogala, both people and historians seems to have forgotten the other monuments that the Gangas left behind. Infact, we seem to have entirely forgotten the small village of Manne in Nelamangala taluk of Bangalore rural district.

Manne, more than a thousand years ago, was a  thriving city. It was also the capital of the Gangas. The earlier Gangas had Talakad near Mysore as their capital. However, one of is powerful rulers, Sripurusha (725-778 AD), shifted his capital from Talakad to Manne.

Sripurusha killed the Pallava ruler Nandi Verma, the second, at Vilande in 731 in a war. He also wrote a book in Sanskrit on taming of wild elephants called Gajashasthra. He assumed the title Permanadi after killing the Pallava King.

Sripurusha assumed the title of Muttarasa. The Javali inscriptions says that Sripurusha ruled for 62 years. He married a Chalukya princess and was given the titles Rajakesari, Bhimakopa and Ranabhajana.

The Devarahalli inscription calls Sripurusha as Maharajadhiraja Paramamahesvara Bhatara. The Salem copper plates of  Sripurusha and a few other plates are very useful in reconstructing the history of medieval Kongu and Ganga emperors. He was a close ally of the Chalukya King Vikramaditya.  741 or 742

Sripurusha  established Manne as his capital, which today presents a desolate and pitiable sight. There are just three temples to showcase the Ganga architecture here. The other structures have long crumbled to the onslaught of modernization and official apathy.

What once was a bustling city is now a mere hamlet with a few thousand people. Apart from a welcome arch that proclaims Manne to have been the capital of the Gangas, there is no other written material in and around Manne to give more details of the once beautiful city to tourists and visitors.     

All that remains are a few inscriptions scattered about the village, testifying to the grandeur of the long gone days.

Manne was also called Manyapura. The main temple in the village or rather the chief temple of Manne is Mannemma. Interestingly, this deity is reckoned to be the sister of Annamma, who is the grama devathe of Bangalore. Apart from them, the other sisters are Madapuradamma,  Madhugiri Maramma, Kuralliyamma and  Dandina Sirada maramma.

Another ancient temple is that of  Kapileswara. This is believed to be 1200 years old. Though it is in ruins, it can still give you a feeling of awe. The life-sized Dwarapalakas at the temple, beautifully carved windows and pillars are all that remain of the grand temple that it was.

Apart from this temple, another interesting structure is the Sule Gudi or the temple constructed by a prostitute. This is a Jain Basadi. Inscriptions uncovered by B. L. Rice, an epigraphist and historian, ascribed this temple to a general in the Ganga Army named Srivijaya.

The inscription says Srivijaya built the Jina temple in Mauyanagara or Manyapura. It say Sripurusha granted his General the village of Kru-Vekkur. The priest of the temple was

apparently Prabhachandra, a disciple of Pushpanandi, the learned head of his gana or group.  Pushpandi, in turn, was one of the many disciples of Toranacharyya, who is described as the wisest man of this country.

Thee inscriptions, were engraved on plates and found at Manne itself. They were engraved by Virakarmmacharya, the Royal Engraver.  

Another fine structure is the Someshwara temple which  too is in ruins.

Others temples in the village are dedicated to Hanumanthraya swamy, Eswara, Maramma, Ganesha and Kukkalamma.

Sripurusha had a palace here and once Manne became the capital, it prospered. At that time, Bangalore perhaps was so small that it did not even merit a mention. The Bangalore we see today had not been formed.

Manne soon became the centre of  the Ganga trade and commerce. Sripurusha endowed Manne with some of the most beautiful temples, palaces, lakes, wells, and other structures, including a fort. None, of them survive today.

After Sripurusha, Manne slowly began losing its importance. The Gangas too began losing ground and towards the eleventh century, they were overwhelmed by the Cholas. Manne was their second capital after Kolar.

After the decline of the Cholas, Manne was an important city for the Rashtrakutas. Tamil records state that Mannekadakam or Manne was the headquarters of Rashtrakuta Governor Kambarasa.       

Manne is about 24 kilometres from Nelamangala. To reach the place, travel on the Tumkur road till you reach Budhihal. Take a right turn there and travel for about 16 kms till you reach an arch.

The arch proudly states that this is Manne, the capital of the Gangas.

Interestingly, Sripurusha’s wife, Kanchikabbe, ruled over Agali principality in Andhra Pradesh. Today, Agali is a small village in Ananthapur district. Inscriptions dated 748 AD confirm Kanchikabbe as the ruler of Agali.