This is where it all began

This is one of the oldest roads in Bangalore and it dates back to the time Bangalore was founded by Kempe Gowda. This means that the road was formed sometime in 1537 which is when Kempe Gowda is believed to have founded Bangalore.

The road is also the place from where Kempe Gowda harnessed four bullock to four carts and sent them in each of the four directions. Kempe Gowda constructed towers at the four places where the bullock stopped.

The place where the journey of the bullocks began is also part of the road, but Bangaloreans seem to have forgotten this romantic slice of their urban history.

The road was also the place which divided the erstwhile Peta or Pettah into different localities and each locality was populated by a different trading community. Thus we had bangle sellers concentrating in Balepet, rice sellers and commodity sellers in Akkipet and other communities occupying different areas which radiated from this road such as Chickpet (small market), Nagarthpet which houses craftsmen, Tharagupet which mainly dealt in grains, Sunkalpet (limestone sellers’ market), Kumbarpet (potters’ market), Gollarpet (cowherds’ market).

During the Adil Shah period when Bangalore was under Muslim rule from 1638 to 1687, Shahaji had his beautiful palace at Chickpet, which is just off this road. His two sons from Jijabai-Sambhaji and Shivaji and his son from Tulabai Mohite-Ekoji all lived and played in the vicinity and honed their skills in guerilla warfare and statecraft here.

A large number of Marathi speaking people migrated to Bangalore and occupied high positions under Shahaji who was the Governor of  Bangalore province. These people settled in Pettahs around this road and they were instrumental in pushing back Kannada and making Marathi the main language of Bangalore and also the administrative and political language of the province.  

After the Mughals conquered Bangalore in 1678, they too made this road an important thoroughfare and the Mughal Commander Kasim Khan or Quasim Khan occupied Shahaji’s palace in Chickpet. The Pettah area soon the birth of a new language and this was a mixture of Marathi, Urdu and a little of Hindustani. This new language came to be called Rektha and it rapidly spread to north India, particularly in Mughal Delhi and Nawabi Lucknow.

Once the Mughals sold Bangalore to the Wodeyars, the road was repeopled by Kannadigas and the old fort of Kempe Gowda repaired.

When Bangalore passed into the hands of Hyder Ali (1721-1783) and Tipu Sultan (1750-1799) sometime in 1758, the road once again became an important throughfare and two of  the many gates of the fort opened onto the road-Yelahanka gate and Ulsoor or Halasoor Gate .

The vast open space adjacent to the road also saw the British camp there during the third Anglo-Mysore War and finally overcome the forces of  Tipu Sultan. The area commenced from what is today Ulsoor Gate police station-Corporation and extended upto State Bank of Mysore or SBM or Mysore Bank Circle.

After the fall of Tipu in 1799, the road was once again part of Wodeyar Kingdom. It slowly began taking the shape of what it is today and by the turn of the 20^th century, it looked almost as it is today.

This is Avenue Road, which once led directly from the fort towards the Sampangiramanagar tank. One of the intersections of the road is Doddapet Circle and this is believed to be the exact spot where Kempe Gowda harnessed four bullocks and sent them on the way so that he could subsequently demarcate Bangalore’s boundaries.

A little away from Doddapet circle and in preset day Chickpet was the palace of Shahaji. Unfortunately, the building did not survive and we have only Maratha and Adil Shah accounts of Shahaji and his family living in the palace.

Hyder Ali is believed to have camped here in the vicinity around 1758 and forced the Marathas to retreat from Bangalore. The Marathas too camped here when they took Bangalore from the reigning Wodeyars of Mysore under whom Hyder was a mere commander.

One of the heroes of the Indian War of Independence, Tatiya Tope, took shelter in the Kashi Visvesvara temple which is at the junction of Chickpet and Balepet. The Venkateshwara temple was built by Chikadevaraja Wodeyar more than 300 years ago. This is the only temple in Bangalore to display the names of people who helped build the structure and endowed it.
The Anjaneya temple at SBM Circle and Ganapathy temple, which is of recent origin, are important landmarks.  

However, today not much of  the past remains on the road. Though it is named Avenue road, there were hardly any avenue trees and it is a mystery why this road was so named.

The road today is a buyer’s delight offering everything from stationary to books, card board boxes to old and antique items, craft materials, jewellery, textiles, plastic goods, silk sarees, sweets, electronic goods and many other commodities at wholesale rates.                      

Avenue Road stretches from Mysore Bank Circle to City Market and the narrow road is clogged with street vendors, hawkers, push carts sellers and whole sale and retail dealers.

All the pettahs were linked to Doddapete road or avenue road which is more than a kilometer on length. The meandering road measures 4.8 metres to 7.5 metres.

Another landmark on the road is the Rice Memorial church. It was built in 1852 as a memorial to Rev Benjamin Holt Rice (1814-1887), who came to India as a missionary. His son, B.L. Rice is known for his magnum opus, Epigraphia Carnatica and the Mysore Gazetteer.

Avenue road is today among the busiest roads of Bangalore. If students and academicians frequent it for second hand and rare books, old timers throng the area to shop in their favourite shops, while women in thousands frequent the busy lanes and bylanes around Avenue Road looking for gold and ornaments.

There are scores of shops and establishments which are decades old and they sell a range of products. A stroll down the road is nothing but a walk down memory lane.  

Shahaji and all his sons

Scores of people, including historians and heritage buffs of Bangalore, are aware of the Bangalore’s rather close association with Chatrapathi Shivaji (1627-1680) and his father, Shahaji Bhonsale (1602-1664).

There are Maratha, Adil Shah, English, Dutch and even Mughal  records that speak about the Marathas in the Deccan, including Bangalore, and their wars. We have in earlier posts such as “The little known brother of Shivaji”, “When a language was born in Bangalore”,  “The palace of Shahaji”, “When Marathi displaced Kannada as the language”,  taken you to the history of Bangalore and the domination of the Marathas in and around Bangalore for almost half a century.

But what many do not know is that the Maratha association of Bangalore is not limited to Shahaji and his son Shivaji.

Infact, Bangalore perhaps could be among the handful of cities and provinces that saw all the sons of Shahaji-Sambhaji, Shivaji, Ekoji or Venkoji, Koyaji and Santaji or Santoji- either staying or ruling over Bangalore. Apart from Shahaji and his family, there are other Maratha heroes who bonded with Bangalore and this post is about them.

Shahaji and his two wives, the legendary Jijabai-the first wife and Tukabai, the second wife, lived in Shahaji’s palace in Chickpet for several years. It is in Bangalore that Shahaji ensured that the ten-year-old Shivaji was trained in warfare and statecraft along with his elder brother Sambhaji and younger half-brother Ekoji or Venkoji.

Shahaji was perhaps the first Maratha and definitely among the first in the period to realise the effectiveness of guerilla warfare. He imparted this training to all his sons, including Shivaji who seemed to be fascinated by the magnificent horses that his father reared.

Shivaji saw from close quarters the life and style of  the Bangalore court and came into contact with the people, who told him stories about the Vijayanagar empire which existed a little less than six decades before his birth.    

Shivaji was also married a second time in Bangalore. He took Soyarbai Mohite as his wife on the insistence of his father. Contemporary Maratha records speak of Bangalore being dressed up for the wedding and the couple being taken in a procession on a caparisoned elephant.

It was in Bangalore that Shahaji decided on bifurcating his jagir. He decided to let Sambhaji retain Kolar, he kept Bangalore for himself and allowed Shivaji and Jijabai to return to Pune and govern the Maratha territories from there.         

It should be remembered that the Marathas first made their first foray into Bangalore sometime in 1638 when Shahaji Bhonsale and Ranadullah Khan, both frontline commanders of the Adil Shahis of Bijapur, laid siege to Bangalore. Shahaji married Tukabai in Bangalore sometime in the 1630s.  

The then Adil Shahi Sultan, Muhammad Adil Shah, who succeeded Ibrahim Adil Shah, was not particularly happy about the prospect of another Hindu Kingdom replacing Vijayanagar which had been decimated by a confederation of Muslim states in the war of Talikota or Rakasa Tangadi in 1565.

Kempe Gowda was the ruler of Bangalore and the Bangalore province was attracting attention for its wealth and prosperity. Another province, Sira or Shira near Bangalore and now in Tumkur district was also emerging as a powerful entity. The Wodeyars of Srirangapatna and the Palegars of Chitradurga and Bedanur were also asserting their independence.

The Adil Shah was naturally concerned about these political developments. After the fall of Vijayanagar, his kingdom had extended upto the borders of the once invincible city of Hampi and now his southern most province was being threatened. It was then that Muhammad Adil Shah decided to reign in the Hindu states.

The Adil Shah had a galaxy of outstanding commanders in his service and the best among them were Ranadullah Khan and his protégé Afzal Khan and Shahaji.

All the three marched towards Bangalore. Ranadullah Khan permitted Shahaji to take the honors of subduing Bangalore, while he asked Afzal Khan to subdue Sira. While Shahaji gave an honorable exit to Kempe Gowda, the third, and also allowed him to retain Magadi and Savandurga, Kasturi Rangan, the palegar of Sira was not so lucky. He was lured to the negotiating table under false pretences and killed in cold blood by Afzal Khan.

The Bijapur Sultan gifted Bangalore as a Jagir to Shahaji who in turn began governing the new province which comprised the regions of Doddaballapur, Kolar, Sira, Kanakagiri, Hoskote and surrounding regions.

Shahaji asked his son Sambhaji, the elder brother of Shivaji, to govern Kolar. Unfortunately, Shahaji had little time for Bangalore since he was busy with the frequent military expeditions.

In 1648, Shahaji was called back to Bijapur and imprisoned for a short while. He was released and the jagir of Bangalore restored to him. The Adil Shah forces then attacked Bangalore which was under the command of Shivaji’s elder brother, Sanbhaji (not the Sambhaji who is Shivaji’s son). Sambhaji valiantly defeated the Bijapur contingent.  

However, Shahaji lost interest in Bangalore soon after his release and pitched camp at Kanakagiri. By then, Sambhaji had been slain in the battle to regain Kanakagiri which had revolted against the Adil Shah. After Shahaji's death in 1664, his second wife's son, Venkoji or Ekoji (1626-1687), became the Jagirdar of Bangalore.

Contemporary Maratha accounts portray Ekoji as weak, selfish, and extravagant and one who failed to understand the local conditions. Alarmed over repeated raids of Mughals and wary about Shivaji, his half brother, Ekoji decided to sell off Bangalore and settle down permanently at Tanjavur. This was sometime in 1675.

Shivaji came to know of the step motherly treatment that Ekoji had meted to his beloved Bangalore where he had stayed for two years (1640-1642) and where he had married. He marched against Ekoji and occupied his father’s jagir in 1677 comprising Bangalore, Kolar, Kanakagiri and forced Ekoji to come to the negotiating table.

Ekoji wrote to the Adil Shah Emperor complaining against Shivaji but the Emperor wisely refrained from interfering in what he called a family dispute.   

Shivaji forced Ekoji to sue for peace and he kept Doddaballapur, Chikaballapur and Kolar under his control even as he magnanimously returned Bangalore to Ekoji. He dictated the terms of an agreement that he had arrived with Ekoji whereby he made sure that Ekoji’s wife, Dipa Bai, would receive Bangalore as Choli Bangadi or pin money.

Santoji, another half-brother of Shivaji, was part of  Shivaji’s victorious Deccan campaign. He was subsequently rewarded with the province of Vellore and surrounding areas to rule. Santoji defeated Ekoji in two battles.     

Unfortunately, Bangalore’s gift as Choli Bangadi did not last long. Shivaji died in 1680 and Ekoji in 1687 decided to retire permanently to Tanjore to found the Maratha line of Kings. He entered into a pact with the Wodeyar King, Chikadevaraya, for the sale of Bangalore for Rs, 3 lakhs but before the transaction could be completed, the Mughals under Kasim or Quasim Khan and Shivaji’s son, Sambhaji, marched towards Bangalore. If Quasim Khan came with a large force to Bangalore from Golconda, Sambhaji marched with his dedicated army of Marathas from Ginjee. However, the Mughals beat the Marathas to Bangalore and captured the city. The Mughals held Bangalore for some time, there is confusion on whether our City was under the Mughals for three days or three years,  before selling it to the Wodeyars for Rs. 3 lakhs sometime in 1690. Sambhaji then went back to his stronghold of Ginjee, now in Tamil Nadu.

Coming back to the Marathas in Bangalore, Ekoji is remembered even today for his donation of Medaraninganahalli village for maintaining the Kadu Malleswara Temple in Bangalore. Apart from this structure, there is no other monument connected to the Marathas today in Bangalore.

Shivaji's death and the Mughul conquest of the Bijapur kingdom in 1686 exposed Bangalore and surrounding areas of south Karnataka to the Mughuls. Ekoji arrived at a pact with Chikkadevaraya Wodeyar (1645-1703) to sell Bangalore for Rs. 3 lakh. But before the sale was finalised, Sambhaji, the son of  Shivaji, from Ginji and the Mughals under Aurangazeb (1658-1707), from Golconda, marched towards Bangalore.

Khasim Khan then sold Bangalore to the Wodeyars in 1690 for Rs. three lakhs, while retaining Sira and surrounding areas which became a part of the Mughal province.  

Rajaram (1670-1700), a younger son of Shivaji, stayed in Bangalore around 1690 before he escaped from the perusing Mughals to Ginjee. Decades later, the Marathas under the Peshwas captured Bangalore along with Kolar, Hoskote and other places from the Wodeyar King. The Peshwas in 1770 felt that they had a right over Bangalore, Kolar, Mulabagal, Hoskote and surrounding places as it had been a Jagir of Shahaji. They also felt that the Jagir belonged to them as they had been rightfully conquered first by Shahaji, then by Shivaji and later ruled by Ekoji.

It was left to Hyder Ali to drive out the Marathas from Bangalore in 1773. Hyder and his son Tipu Sultan held Bangalore till Tipu’s death in Srirangapatna on May 4, 1799.

Strangely, even after 1799, the Maratha fascination for Bangalore did not end. Ramachandra Pandurang Tope better known as Tatya Tope (1814-1859), one of the heroes of the first war of Indian Independence, stayed at a temple on Avenue Road near Balepet Circle, Chickpet in Bangalore for some time

When Bangalore was gifted as pin money

Bangalore today is a jewel in the crown of India and it has shown the world how IT or information technology can be harnessed for making progress.

Going back to more than a thousand years, modern Bangalore was founded by Kempe Gowda, captured by the mighty Adil Shahis, gifted by Shivaji, overrun by the Mughals and finally traded to the Wodeyars for a few lakh rupees.

However, very few people would believe that just a little more than three centuries ago, Bangalore was given as pin money or as Choli Bangdi.

“Choli Bangdi”, according to the custom prevailing in those days among the then royal families of India was the gift made to a daughter at the time of her marriage. This can be termed as pocket money or money to meet the personal expenses.

Bangalore was given as Choli Bangdi by none other than Chatrapathi Shivaji, one of the greatest Emperors of India and the foremost Maratha leader. Shivaji personally came to Bangalore and ensured that the Choli Bangdi was carried out.

Astounding as it seems today, Bangalore then was snatched away by Shivaji who then graciously handed back the city to the wife of his half-brother as Choli Bangdi.

This is how the incident occurred.

It was 1638 and Mohammad Adil Shah was striving to ensure that another Hindu Kingdom did not rise in the south after the demise of the Vijayanagar Empire. When he heard about the riches of Bangalore and the rise of the Kempe Gowdas, he decided to decimate the principality.

Mohamma Adil Shah sent a huge army under two of his ablest commanders-Ranadullah Khan and Shahaji Bhonsale, the father of Shivaji. The Bijapur army laid siege to Bangalore and a despairing Kempe Gowda surrendered.

The Adil Shah conferred Shahaji the Jagir of Bangalore and Shahaji exiled Kempe Gowda to Magadi while he ruled Bangalore till his unfortunate death in a fall from a horse in 1664. After him, his son Venkoji, son of Tukabai of the Mohite clan,  inherited his jagir of Bangalore, while his more illustrious son, Shivaji, the son of Jija Bai, was making life miserable for the Adil Shahis and Mughals in Maharashtra, particularly around the Pune and Kolhapur belt.     

Though Shivaji never interfered with his half-brother’s Jagir, he kept a close watch on the political and social developments in south Karnataka, particularly Bangalore.

Shivaji was attached to Bangalore and he had fond memories of the city where he had spent two years. At the age of 12, Shivaji was taken to Bangalore where he, his elder brother Sambhaji and his stepbrother Venkoji or Ekoji were further formally trained in statecraft. He married Saibai, a member of the prominent Nimbalkar family in 1640. He then returned to Pune with a rajmudra (sovereign seal) and a ministerial council.

Venkoji was given to pleasures of life and he neglected the welfare of the people. When it became too difficult for him to manage Bangalore, he quietly slipped away to Tanjore or Thanjavur, now in Tamil Nadu. When news of this reached Shivaji, he marched towards Karnataka in 1676 at the head of a seasoned army.

Shivaji captured Bangalore and moved towards Thanjavur. He demanded that Venkoji hand him a part of the Bangalore Jagir as it formed part of their father’s jagir. A furious Venkoji wrote to the Adil Shah complaining to him about Shivaji;s behavior.

Venkoji wrote, saying that he had rightfully inherited the jagir from his father and that Shivaji had no claims on it. The Adil Shah realized the danger of falling into a family dispute and he wrote back to Venkoji saying that Shahaji was a Government servant and, hence, his son Shivaji was one too. “We know how to deal with such a servant and we do not want to interfere in family matters”, he replied.

Even after coming to know of Venkoji’s letter to the Adil Shah,  

Shivaji wanted a reconciliation. The initially promising negotiations were unsuccessful, so while returning to Raigad,  Shivaji defeated his stepbrother's army on November 26, 1677 and seized most of his possessions in the Mysore plateau, including Bangalore.

With the two brothers at war, Venkoji’s wife Dipa Bai, whom Shivaji deeply respected, took upon herself the task of opening negotiations. Shivaji, who deeply respected his sister-in-law immediately agreed to hold talks with Venkoji.

On her part, Dipa Bai convinced her husband to distance himself from the Adil Shah and his Muslim advisors. A reluctant Venkoji agreed and in the end Shivaji consented to turn over to her and her female descendants many of the properties he had seized.

Shivaji then conferred on Dipa Bai the city of Bangalore as Choli Bangdi. He made this one of the many conditions that Venkoji had to agree to if he wanted to keep his kingdom of Thanjavur and the province of Bangalore.

Maratha records of the day state that Shivaji in his letter to Venkoji mentioned that “The paragana of Bengril (Bangalore ) yields today with two neighbouring stations of Baskote (Hoskote) and Silekopte a revenue of two lakhs Barai. If they are brought under our administration, they will yield 5 lakhs. These I had conferred on Dipa Bai for Choli Bangdi, These should be continued in the female line. The mahals should be managed by you but the revenue should go to Dipa Bai.

After Dipa Bai, the revenues shall descend to her daughters as pin-money, and so on in the female line, from generation to generation. Shivaji also specified certain administrative details which Venkoji was bound to follow.

This is how the peculiar story of Bangalore being put up as a merchandise to realize pin money for Venkoji’s wife came about. Unfortunately, Shivaji’s gift of Choli Bangdi did not last long. Shivaji died in 1680 and the Mughals under Aurangzeb overran Bangalore before they sold it to the Wodeyars.

Venkoji continued as the King of Thanjavur till 1684 or a little later, though there is no consensus among historians about the date of his death. After him, the Maratha Kings of Thanjavur continued to rule till 1855 when the British annexed the Kingdom.  

How Bangalore emerged as a capital

Bangalore, till the British came and set up their Cantonment, was never politically important like other cities like Mysore, Srirangapatna, Bijapur, Gulbarga and Bidar of Karnataka.

A glance at the history of Karnataka will reveal that for several centuries Bangalore remained a part of a bigger province and at best it was only a provincial capital. It was never, till the advent of the British and a little more than two centuries before them, the capital of a Kingdom.

Though the history of Bangalore’s antiquity goes back to the Roman period, it was only after the fall of Vijayanagar Empire in 1565 that Bangalore emerged from obscurity. The Palegars, Nayakas and Nada Prabhus of old Mysore region began asserting their Independence after 1565 and Kempe Gowda of Magadi was one such ruler.

He founded the modern city of Bangalore sometime in 1537 and shifted his capital from Yelahanka, constructed a fort and was totally responsible for the founding of petes which survive to this day as Cottonpet, Thargurpet, Ranasinghpet, Chickpet, Balepet. It was Kempe Gowda who gave a push to Bangalore and made it into a thriving centre of trade and commerce.

Even then, Bangalore was not a primary city of the old Mysore region. It was one of the many capitals of regional satraps and it was no patch on bigger cities like Bijapur which for almost a century after the sack of Hampi in 1565 was the biggest city of Karnataka and also of south India.

Bijapur exerted immense influence on the political history of south India from 1565 till its final fall to the Mughals under Aurangzeb in 1686. The Adil Shah of Bijapur took on the Mughals and he also had to contend with Chatrapathi Shivaji.

The Adil Shah emperors, particularly Ali Adil Shah, the first (1558-1580), Ibrahim Adil Shah the second (1580-1627) Muhammad Adil Shah (1627-1657) the builder of Gol Gumbaz and Ali Adil Shah the second  (1657-1672)- realized the danger of allowing another Hindu empire to take shape after the fall of Vijayanagar and they, therefore, tried their best to suppress all Hindu Kingdoms in South India.

They tried to check the growing power of the Marathas under Shivaji and also attacked Kempe Gowda and took over Bangalore in 1637. They also sacked Doddaballapur, Bednur and even for a brief while held Mysore from the Wodeyars before they were thrown out.

The Adil Shahis handed over Bijapur as a Jagir to Shahaji and he attempted to transform Bangalore into a major metropolis. However, though Shahaji gave a clean and good administration, he was unable to spend more time in Bangalore as he was constantly at war with the enemies of Bijapur.

Shahaji along with Ranadulla Khan, Afzal Khan and others were the frontline commanders of the Bijapur army and the Adil Shahis went by the military strategy drawn up by Shahaji.

The rise of Bangalore began only when the Mughals managed to wrest the city from the Marathas. The Mughals gave more importance to the province of Sira (now in Tumkur district) and it was their suba that was established in 1687 and lasted until 1757. The province comprised the Carnatic south of the Tungabhadra.

Sira and not Bangalore was the capital. The Mughals called the province Carnatic-Balaghat and it comprised seven districts of Basavapatna, Budihal, Sira, Penukonda,  Doddaballapur, Hoskote and Kolar.

The Mughals, in addition to these districts, considered Harapanahalli, Kondarpi, Anegundi, Bednur, Chitradurga and even Mysore as the tributary states. As far as Bangalore was concerned, the Mughals sold Bangalore to Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar of Mysore (1673-1704) for 3 lakh pagodas. .The Wodeyars, however, held on to Mysore as their capital and then shifted the capital to Srirangapatna. For them, Bangalore did not figure in their scheme of things.

Even the Wodeyars did not consider Bangalore to be a major province. It was only after Hyder Ali (in 1760) and Tipu took over Bangalore that they realized its military importance. Hyder renovated the mud fort of Kempe Gowda in Bangalore with stones and bricks and Tipu continued to lavish attention on Bangalore. However, both continued to consider Srirangapatna as more important than any other cities and declared the island city to be their capital.

Tipu lost interest in Bangalore after Lord Cornwallis overran the fort in the third Anglo-Mysore war in 1791. Tipu dismantled a great part of the existing fort and today’s fort at City Market is all that stands of the once massive fortifications.  

It was after Tipu died in Srirangapatna on May 4, 1799, that the British seriously began considering Bangalore as an alternative city. The British decided to station their troops in Mysore kingdom and they initially choose Srirangapatna as the place.

However, a rebellion by British officers in Srirangapatna and an uneasy about the local populace compelled the Duke of Wellington, who was also the military commander, to station the troops Srirangapatna itself.

Bangalore, by then, had once again lost its power and prestige. It was more a series of small villages and the only Bangalore worth of note was the Pete areas and the crumbling Tipu fort, now in Coty Market.      

An outbreak of malaria in Srirangapatna and mosquito menace forced the British to change the venue of the garrison from Srirangapatna to Bangalore. The Duke of Wellington was still not  favourably disposed in choosing Bangalore, but following his departure from India in 1804, the British Government changed its stance and declared its intention to station its troops in Bangalore.

The British and the then Mysore state under the Wodeyars surveyed almost the whole of Bangalore and decided to construct the Cantonment near the village of Halasooru (Ulsoor).

Thus came up the Cantonment in 1807 and with it a large body of Indians for doing clerical, administrative and menial work. The Mysore State under the Maharaja of Mysore assigned 9,000 acres in and around Halasooru for the accommodation of these new migrants. The Cantonment and the newly built areas around Halasooru remained under the control of the military officer commanding the division.

In 1811, the Madras Government asked the Maharaja to transfer the entire Civil and Criminal jurisdiction over the assigned areas to the Department of Commissariat. The Maharaja reluctantly agreed  and a Commissariat Officer was appointed. He was also designated as the Superintendent of Police, Bangalore. Mark Cubbon, then an Army Captain, became the first Superintendent of Police for Bangalore under this new arrangement.

In October 1811, the Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar III, visited Bangalore along with the British Resident A. H. Cole. Twenty years later, In 1831 the British took control of the administration of Mysore State, citing the misadministration of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III.

The British decided to retain Bangalore under their jurisdiction and declared Bangalore as the capital of the then Mysore State. This marked the beginning of Bangalore's importance and soon the British even contemplated making it the southern capital of their Indian empire.

Soon, Bangalore overtook all other British cities as their favoured destination. Many, including Winston Churchill found Bangalore very much “like a spot of England”.

Bangalore soon developed industrially and commercially even as the capital of the Wodeyars, Mysore, became the cultural capital. When India became independent in 1947, the then Mysore Government decided to retain Bangalore as the capital of the new State of Mysore.  

Today, all the other cities which once lorded over Bangalore have lost their place. Bijapur, the charming capital of the Adil Shahs, is in ruins: Sira is an obscure town in Tumkur district: Chitradurga, Yelahanka, Magadi, Doddaballapour, Chennapatna, Anegundi, Ikkeri and several other places are mere dots on maps of India. Srirangapatna is a mass of ruins.

Bangalore today is the IT and BT capital of India and it has left all other cities n the State far behind. Wonder what the Mughals, Marathas and Adil Shahs would say if they saw the Bangalore of today. They all had a chance of leaving their imprint on the history of Garden City and they did not choose to do so. Even today, apart from one or two strictures such as the Kadu Malleswara Temple by the Marathas and the Sangeen mosque by the Mughals, there is no other structure left behind by them.          

When Marathi displaced Kannada

Though much has been written about Bangalore and the many Kingdoms that it came under such as the Cholas, Gangas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagar, Kempe Gowda, the Mughals, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, Wodeyars and finally the British, there is not much information available about the Maratha hegemony of Bangalore.

What makes this all the more surprising is that when the Marathas ruled over Bangalore and surrounding areas, including Nelamangala, Hoskote, Doddaballapur, Begur, Yelahanka and Domlur, they made Marathi the language of the State and imposed Marathi on the people.

Kannada took a beating as the Marathas pushed for Marathi. Kannadigas were not preferred for high posts in the administration and Marathas were appointed in large numbers. The language of communication too was Marathi and it quickly replaced Kannada.

This is really surprising as no other dynasty tried to impose any other language on Bangalore and surrounding areas which largely remained Kannada-centric.

There are not many records about this facet of Bangalore’s history. However,  the history of Marathas in Bangalore can be gleaned from several inscriptions of Shahaji, the father of Shivaji, and Sambhaji, the son of Shivaji and accounts of the life and times of Shivaji. All these accounts testify to the importance that the Marathas gave Bangalore.     

However, the first few or earliest inscriptions of Bangalore date back to the time of Gangas and Cholas. The inscriptions are in Kannada and Tamil. Though the Cholas have left behind a few temples in and around Bangalore such as the Chokkanatha temple in Domlur, the only temple ascribed to the Western Gangas is that of Nageshwara in Begur, which is now a part of Bangalore.   

Kempe Gowda left behind among others the Someshwara Temple in Ulsoor and Gavi Gangadheshwara temple in Gavipuram Guttahalli. The Kempe Gowdas also left behind several other buildings, lakes, Kalyanis.

Hyder and his son Tipu then renovated the mud fort built by Kempe Gowda and built the present fort with stones. Tipu also built a palace.

But in the period between the end of the Kempe Gowda rule and the rise of Hyder, Bangalore was ruled by the Adil Shahis and then by the Mughals and Wodeyars.

Books on history, Maratha records and Adil Shahi documents tell us that when the Adil Shahis defeated Kempe Gowda, they handed over Bangalore and a few surrounding areas as Jagir to Shahaji, the father of Chatrapathi Shivaji, the great Maratha warrior and founder of a Hindu Rashtra.

Shahaji was part of the many generals of Adil Shahis led by the redoubtable Ranadulla Khan in 1638 who succeeded in driving out Kempe Gowda from Bangalore. What many Bangaloreans and even historians are not aware is that though Bangalore remained in the hands of Adil Shahis for a few years, it was actually the Marathas who effectively took over the administration of Bangalore and surrounding cities and areas.

The Marathas held on to Bangalore for 49 years before the Mughals took it. Shivaji himself spent close to two years in Bangalore and he had a special liking for the city. He also conquered Bangalore along with other forts.

The Adil Shahis of  Bijapur took over Bangalore in 1638 A.D., but very soon they realised that it was not easy to hold on to Bangalore. They entrusted Bangalore and its surroundings, including Yelahanka, Begur and Sira as Jagir to Shahaji and turned their attention to first thwart the Mughals and then the rising Maratha power under Shivaji.

However, Shahaji too had very little time to give personal attention to Bangalore and other jagirs. Though he held the position of a Governor, he was not able to leave any permanent mark on Bangalore.

Apart from Bangalore, Shahaji is known to have resided in Kolar and Doddaballapur. A good administrator, Shahaji tried to streamline the administration and he entered into alliances with several Hindu rajas of the region. An outstanding warrior and military strategist, Shahaji should be credited with making Bangalore an important military and political centre.    

Unfortunately, Shahaji Bhonsle was busy with the frequent military expeditions he undertook on behalf of the Adil Shahis. After 1646, Shahaji fell into the bad books of Adil Shah and he was recalled to Bijapur and imprisoned for a short time in 1648. But very soon, the Adil Shah realised that Shahaji could be counted upon to resist Mughal attacks. 

The Adil Shah reinstated Shahaji  as the Jahagirdar of Bangalore. Shahaji then decided to make Bangalore the southern military headquarters for the Adil Shahis.

He then set about opening training camps and military bases in the old petes of Bangalore apart from setting up ammunition dumps, gun factory, horse stables, and soldiers’ tents.

Shahaji also loved in a fortified palace in Chickpet. Today, there exists no evidence of any such building and we can safely assume that it was either pulled down by Tipu or fell prey to the bombardment by the British in the third Anglo-Mysore war of 1791.

The palace that Shahaji lived was called Gauri Mahal and there is evidence to prove that Shivaji also spent some time in this palace. The Marathi book, Shivabharath, gives a detailed description of the life and times of Bangalore during the Maratha period.

Shahaji and his immediate subordinates appointed Maharastrian officers and Pandits to important and  responsible posts in the Durbar. Preference was given to Marathas in the military and civil administration.

Shahaji employed a large band of Maratha cavalry which was then called Bargeer. The Bargeers differed from the Silhadars in the sense that they were provided with horses by the State itself.

Many records of Maratha domination during the period can be gleaned from inscriptions of Sambhaji (son of Shivaji) dated 1663 and 1680 (Kolar and Chikabalapur), Sambhaji’s wife (Kolar), and Sambhaji’s sons (Mulabagal and Chintamani).

One of the most evocative inscriptions of the Maratha domination is the one on the wall of a temple at the summit of Nandidoorg or Nandi Hills.

Shahaji took a series of measures to strengthen the administration of Bangalore. Many of the measures benefited Marathi and Marathas at the cost of locals. For the first time in centuries, Kannada was given a backseat and Marathi was encouraged. Shahaji made Marathi the official language and also the language of  imperial communication. Slowly, Marathi took over as the language of trade and commerce. Since Marathi was spoken in the Adil Shahi capital of Bijapur along with Urdu and Persian, the language of the Marathas too received a fillip.

Kannada for almost 50 years was relegated to the status of a second language and that too one spoken by localities. The elite spoke Marathi and Urdu. Kannada thus suffered a fall in its status. Kannada had to bear this fall from grace, the first of its kind, In 1638, a large Bijapur army led by Ranadulla Khan, accompanied by Shahji Bhonsle, defeated Kempe Gowda III and captured Bangalore. Shahji was granted Bangalore as jagir. He lived in a palace called Gauri Mahal in the present Chickpet area.

Chickpet was among the many petes that was surrounded by a fort. This fort was different from the present fort that we see in City Market. Thus, Bangalore had two forts-one in which Kempe Gowda constructed a few temples and had his palace and another which was populated by the masses.

The Maratha domination of Bangalore was cut short when the Mughals managed to wrest control over Bangalore and Kolar in 1687 and subsequently they were handed over to the Wodeyars-Chikadevaraja Wodeyar (1673-1704) for Rs. 3 lakh pagodas.  It is to the credit of the Wodeyars that they reintroduced Kannada language and literature and also gave a fillip to local culture and customs.