When a truncated State helped Bangalore

The year 1799 was a watershed in the annals of the Mysore Kingdom. It was the year when the geographical contours of the Kingdom was redefined. It was also the year when the Tiger of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, was slain by the British and  his brave attempt to throw out the British from India ended.

The year of 1799 also saw a major change in the political scene of south India. Till then, Tipu and his father, Hyder Ali, had redefined the polices in the Deccan and their strong opposition to the British had kept the East India Company on its toes and dealt a severe setback to their ambition of  taking over south India.

The death of Tipu led to the extinction of the short-lived Muslim rule over Mysore. Wary of a backlash, the British cleverly handed back the Mysore Kingdom to the Wodeyars but made them sing the Subsidiary Alliance.

The British divided the erstwhile Mysore State into four parts. While they retained Coimbatore and West Coast and also control over Bangalore Cantonment later, the Nizam of Hyderabad was gifted Gutti, Gurumakonda and northern part of Chitradurga. The Marathas were appeased by giving them Harapanahalli, Anegondi and surrounding areas of Bellary.

The remaining portion, which was a truncated leftover, was created as Mysore State and handed over to the Wodeyars. On their part, the five-year-old Mummadi Krishna Raja Wodeyar was coronated the Emperor in a tent in present day Nazarbad in Mysore. The capital of Mysore State too was shifted from Srirangapatna to Mysore.

The British initially maintained a fairly large military presence in Srirangapatna and the expense was borne by the Wodeyars. They then shifted the military presence to Bangalore and forced the Wodeyars to cede administrative and military control over the large tract of land to them.

While Srirangapatna continued to languish and slowly lost out its importance, Mysore and Bangalore developed rapidly and this is no small measure to the Wodeyars and the Dewans of the State.

Dewan Purnaiah took over charge of Mysore State in 1799 and was in the post till 1811. Purnaiah took special interest in developing Bangalore.

He visited Bangalore often and renovated the temple inside the old fort now located in City Market. He also built a choultry for travellers in Tulasi Thota near Majestic. He also financially helped farmers to convert the rocky areas in Sarakki, Jaraganahalli, and Maruthihalli into cultivable lands.

When the British started construction of the Cantonment in Bangalore in 1807, their first base was in 1808 and it was located near where the Command Air Hospital is located today on Old Airport Road.

The emergence of Cantonment as a rival to the pete brought in Western thought, culture and lifestyle to Bangalore. When the British took direct control over the Mysore Kingdom in 1831 and till its return to the Wodeyars in 1881, Mysore was lorded by English Commissioners who had their headquarters in Bangalore. These Commissioners directly reported to the Governor General of India and not to the Governor at Madras.

It was during this period that two Commissioners-Mark Cubbon (1834-1861) and Bowring (1861-1870) gave Bangalore its present character. They ensured that Bangalore received the necessary infrastructure to develop into the foremost City of the times. 

When famine struck Bangalore

It was sometime in 1877 and India was reeling under a terrible famine. The failure of the monsoons in 1875 and 1876 had led to a prolonged drought in south India and people were finding it difficult to make ends meet.

The Mysore Kingdom and other parts of what is Karnataka today too suffered from the lack of rains. There was no food and cattle was dying everywhere. The prices of food grains and other commodities had shot up and people in Mysore State were suffering.

The severe famine in Mysore State which commenced in December 1876 was the result of the failure of  two successive monsoons in 1875 and 1876. Bangalore was a little more fortunate tan other places of Mysore State and south India as it had fairly adequate stocks of food grains and water.

Seeing Bangalore as a much better option, large number of people from Madras Presidency (as present day Tamil was known then), Hyderabad, Travancore, Bombay Presidency and almost all the districts of  north Karnataka migrated to Bangalore.

The migrants found Bangalore a much better place to live in. The Cantonment was a sprawling city, while the Pete was a prosperous native town.     

This was the period when Chief Commissioner C.B.Saunders was administering the State of Mysore and Dr. J.H.Orr was the President of both Bangalore Pete and Cantonment Municipality.

The huge influx of people led to inflation like situation in Bangalore. The prices of food grains shot up four times its usual price and rents too took an upward swing. Vegetables and fruits too became costlier.

Thargurpet, by then, had become the grain market of Bangalore. Hundreds of shops lined the lanes and bylanes of the locality dealing wholsesale and even in retail food grains.

Many people who had migrated to Bangalore from other parts zeroed in on Thargurpet to feed themselves,. While a lucky few managed to get work, others lazed about and took to begging to feed themselves and their families.

By July 1877, the Bangalore municipality recorded 25,000 famine immigrants to Bangalore.      

Though there was no dearth of food grains in Bangalore, traders and merchants made handsome profits, quoting higher prices. Bangalore also became the nodal centre for distributing food grains to other parts of the State. Every day, 400 tonnes to 500 tonnes of food grains came to Bangalore by rail from Madras.

The food grains and other relief materials were dispatched by rail and road and the Government of India nominated Richard Temple as Special Commissioner to monitor such work from Bangalore.

To tackle the situation in Bangalore, the municipality and the Government appointed specially designated people wearing white and blue caps to identify  weak and starving people and bring them to relief kitchens which were set up across Bangalore.

The Government set up three kitchens under the direct supervision of the General Famine Relief committee. These kitchens fed the migrants twice a day in return for work as they were able to perform.

The Government placed Captain Healey and Lieutenant P.E. Anderson in charge of  relief work in the Pete and cantonment respectively. They supervised the distribution of grains to the poor and also helped people to get back their jobs. These two British officials were assisted in their work by local volunteers. A majority of the volunteers were clerks in Government offices in Bangalore.

Local industrialists, philanthropists and leading citizens of Bangalore also helped out by providing food and shelter and even collecting money. Rai Bahadur Arcot Narayanaswami Mudaliar started a woolen mill where boys were provided with food, clothes and taught to work.

 Brahmo Samaaj and the leading trader of Bangalore, Ele Mallappa Shetty fed 30,000 people daily.

Unfortunately, the magnitude of the famine and drought was so severe that thousands died due to starvation and malnutrition in the State. Bangalore too was not spared such deaths. During August 1877, the average number of dead on the streets of Bangalore was 20 and it shot up to 40 in September. In Cantonment, British soldiers were aghast to find bodies of people, including children, lying exposed and partly devoured by animals.

The Government took up several public works like desilting and repair of Dharmambudi tank and the construction of an additional reservoir adjoining and forming a part of the Sampangi tank. The existing tanks dried up and the Government was forced to dig new tanks and lakes.

Hundreds of  weavers and loom workers of Bangalore who had sold their looms worked as labourers in Sampangi tank. Hundreds of craftsmen too sold off their implements and started working in relief works for their daily bread.

The relief works picked up when the Viceroy of India, Lord Lytton, visited Bangalore in September 1877. He reviewed the famine and drought relief works and appointed Sir Charles Elliot as Famine Commissioner to carry out relief operation more effectively.

Lord Lytton also sanctioned the work of laying of railway line between Bangalore and Mysore.

Thankfully, the drought came to an end when rains lashed Bangalore and other parts of  Mysore State in September and October. However, the relief works continued till November 1878. By then, the devastating famine had resulted in more than seven lakh deaths in Mysore State.

Today, this event is called “The Great Famine of 1876–78.” It is also called as the Southern India famine of 1876–78 or the Madras famine of 1877.

The famine began in 1876 and affected south and south west India first and then spread north and also to some regions of the Central and United provinces. The famine ultimately covered an area of 257,000 square miles (670,000 km2) and directly affected  58,500,000 people. The death toll from this famine is estimated between 5.5 million to 29 million.

Many say that the Great Famine may have been caused by an intense drought resulting in crop failure in the Deccan. Another reason is the foolish decision of Lord Lytton to export huge amounts of food grains to England at the cost of local consumption.

The Great Famine completely shattered the British air of superiority. They had taken over the Mysore Kingdom and in 1873-74 they were thinking a State with surplus in all fields back to the Maharaja.

Their slow response to the famine hastened the rendition or the return of power to the Maharaja apart from exposing their sham of all-round development and a State rich in coffers. The late relief measures cost the Government Rs. 140 lakhs and this was nothing compared to the losses of revenue. Moreover, the Government was forced to borrow Rs. 80 lakhs from the Government of India to tide over the financial crisis.

The famine in the Mysore Kingdom is supposed to have left more than a lakh dead and the inadequate and half-baked measures put in place by the British officials left Lord Lytton fuming. Even, Lord Lytton, the Viceroy, despaired of the lack of proper and sustained relief measures. He as moved to write, that there was “cause for anxiety in the general administration of the State” and  that the Chief Commissioner Saunders “was not in control of  the administration.”    

When the British wanted Lalbagh to feed their soldiers

The Lalbagh in Bangalore has always been rated as one of the finest botanical gardens of the world. It is not only the pride of Bangalore but it is a rare repository of  exotic plants and trees, many of which go back to the time of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.

The credit for the making of Lalbagh goes to both Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan. They started planting the gardens sometime between 1740 and 1760 and they both took keen interest in raising the garden.

Both Hyder and Tipu imported exotic plants, seeds and saplings from countries as far away as Turkey, Persia, Afganisthan and the continent of Africa. They also set up a separate garden department to deal with Lalbagh and other gardens.

The death of  Tipu in 1799 did not put the brakes on the development of Lalbagh. Instead, the British took keen interest in redeveloping and subsequently expanding the Lalbagh. They wanted the Lalbagh to cater to the culinary tastes of the British troops stationed in Srirangapatna.

The troops of  the East India Company were not accustomed to eating native fruits and vegetables and they longed for “good old English” vegetables and fruits. Bangalore was found to be ideal for growing some of the English vegetables and fruits.

The East India Company took over Lalbagh and the then  Governor General, Richard Wellesley, commanded surgeon- naturalist Dr. Benjamin Heyne, to look up Lalbagh.

Heyne was also tasked with the job of  ensuring that the Lalbagh  provided food for the regimental messes of the British troops. He was also encouraged to demonstrated to the native gardeners and growers how English vegetables such as potatoes, cabbage and turnips could be cultivated in Bangalore.

Heyne sent a letter to Fort St George, dated April 27, 1803, proposing the retention of a small spot of ground in Bangalore for the purpose of cultivating the potato, turnip and other culinary vegetables.

Lalbagh, under Heyne, came to be transformed into a European style garden and it was only from this period it also began to serve as a botanical garden.

Heyne, who was the first British keeper of Lalbagh, brought 369 plant species from the Western Ghats in South India to Lalbagh. Since Wellesley had asked Heyne to introduce crops, including fruits and vegetables palatable to the British, the botanist did his best to redevelop Lalbagh and grow alien crops in India.

This experiment of Heyne started in 1800 and continued till 1807. He introduced Apples, cocoa, durian, clove, nutmeg and mangosteen and the fist saplings of all these were planted in the Lalbagh.

When the experiments in Lalbagh succeeded, Heyne prevailed upon growers in and round Bangalore to grow European and  British vegetables.

Heyne was in Lalbagh till 1812 after which he joined Francis Buchanan in his survey work. Though he could not transform Lalbagh into a garden to serve the British belly, he protected it and preserved its plants and trees.  

When Ganjam lost its sheen

It was once a prosperous City that Tipu Sultan, the                          tiger of Mysore, founded. It was on the banks of the Cauvery. No, it was not Srirangapatna but a suburban town that Tipu built when he conquered Sira, near Bangalore.

After the sacking of Sira and the defeat of its ruler, Tipu forced the people of the once thriving town to migrate to another town, many miles away. This was the town of  Shehar Ganjam that he built on the outskirts of Sriranapatna.

Tipu ensured that Shehar Ganjam was well-populated. The city was planned well and it was adjacent to Daria Daulat, his summer palace on one side and Gumbaz, where his father was buried, on the other.

Ganjam had four major roads and it was bisected by smaller roads. Tipu grew several fruits and flowering plants and trees around the town and also encouraged gold and silver smiths. Soon, Ganjam came to be known as the foremost jewellery centre of south India and it rivaled Hyderebad in the design and production of jewellery.

The tradition of jewellery became so synonymous that people called it by the name of the City-Ganjam. The royal patronage endured that artisans and gold and silver smiths apart from jewellery designers flocked to the suburb of Srirangapatna.

There are records to indicate that much of  Tipu’s gold and silver jewellery and the jewellery at the royal treasury came from Ganjam. Of course, there were also spoils of war. But the royal treasury and also the jewellery and ornaments of the high-ranking nobles and courtiers came from Ganjam.

At its peak and this was during the heydays of Tipu, Ganjam was peopled by 12,000 artisans. Ganjam then was also known for its clothes, paper and manufacture of stringed musical instruments.

Ganjam suffered a serious setback in 1799 when the marauding British and Nizam forces set camp at Gajnam and at Karighatta hill. They destroyed the fort of Ganjam and also hacked the magnificent garden and orchards developed by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.

Many people, including traders and jewelers fled from Ganjam. After Tipu died in 1799 in the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore war, the gold trade of Ganjam received a setback. When the Wodeyars were handed over the Kingdom of Mysore and the sons of  Tipu imprisoned in the Vellore fort, there were fears that Ganjam would lose its importance.

For some time, this proved true as the political uncertainty of the Mysore Kingdom led to a decline in the trade. However, once the political situation stabilised and the Wodeyars shifted their Kingdom to Mysore from Srirangapatna, the trade in gold and jewellery picked up again.     

Over time, the artisans of Ganjam made the jewellery so famous that it rivaled the reputation of Surat. Thus if Surat came to be known for its trade in diamonds, Ganjam earned famed for its signature jewellery.

The intricate design and the many patterns of Ganjam jewellery made its stand out against jewellery from other centres. During the Wodeyar rule from 1799, Ganjam once again regained its prominence as the primary manufacturing and trading centre of jewellery.

Ironically, the final nail in the coffin of Ganjam came after India attained Independence from the British-the very dream that drove Tipu to battle the British. The modernisation of the jewellery making process and the sophisticated equipments used in the manufacture of jewellery and the mechanisation of its process sounded the deathknell of the Ganjam jewellery industry.       

The local jewelers and designers slowly but surely went out of business as orders became far and few. Imitation jewellery and import of gold coupled with high prices of gold and lack of Government support routed the once prosperous small-scale industry.

Where Ganjam once had hundreds of artisans and designers, none survived. Today, it is hard to spot even a single jewellery shop in Ganjam and of course of the designers and makers there is none.

Today, Ganjam survives only as the name of jewellery shops. Of the once thriving trade and commerce centre, there is not a whiff. All we can see is the Gumbaz and the Daria Daulat and sandwiched between them is the village of Ganjam.

Today, thousands of tourists make a beeline to Ganjam to see the Sangam, the Daria Daulat and the Gumbaz. Very few of them know the Ganjam as a prime jewellery manufacturing and designing centre which brought name and fame.     

Ganjam is just two kilometers from Srirangapatna, 17 km from Mysore and 127 km from Bengalore. It is easily accessible from Srirangapatna. 

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 rivals plotted against Kempe Gowfa

We all know that the reign of the Kempe Gowdas came to an end when the Adil Shahis of Bijapur conquered Bangalore in 1638.

The then Adil Shahi Sultan, had sent out a huge force under Ranadullah Khan, Afzal Khan (he was subsequently killed by Chatrapathi Shivaji) and Shahaji Bhonsale (father of Shivaji) to Bangalore and Sira.

While Afzal Khan marched towards Sira and conquered it, Ranadulla Khan also called as Rustam Zaman and Shahaji camped at Bangalore.

The forces of Kempe Gowda held out at the fort of Bangalore for three days before succumbing to the mighty Adil Shahi army.

The ruler of Bangalore then was  Kempe Gowda III and he had come to power in 1633. Unfortunately, his reign was marked by jealousies and squabbles and neighbouring palegars and nayaks, who had become wary of  the rising power of  Bangalore, conspired against Kempe Gowda.

These palegars could not digest the fact that Bangalore was becoming an important centre for inland trade and commerce. The natural beauty of Bangalore and its prosperity made them jealous.

Bangalore had never seen a major war after Kempe Gowda established the City in 1537. It had remained as the capital of Yelahanka Nadaprabhu’s or the Kempe Gowdas for 101 years from 1537 to 1638 A.D.

Kempe Gowda I, the founder of Bangalore, was a visionary, builder and a lover of art and architecture. He was also a powerful vassel of the Vijayanagar and he had earned his military spurs by subduing nayakas and palegars.

His son Gidde Gowda ruled for 15 years from 1570 to 1585. Thereafter, Kempe Gowda II ruled for 48 years (from 1585 to 1633), and like his grandfather, he was a builder. He constructed like Ranganathaswamy temple in Balepet and the forts in Magadi and Savanadurga. The watch-towers in Lalbagh, Kempambudhi tank, Halasur tank, and near Mekhri circle have become famous as Kempe Gowda towers.

It was during the reign of his son that the Kempe Gowda rule came to an end in Bangalore. The neighbouring rulers were never on friendly terns with Bangalore. They joined hands and conspired to bring down Kempe Gowda.

The conspiring chieftains: Hanumappa Nayaka of Basavapattana, Dalwai Chennaiah of Chennapattana, and Sumukhi Begur Nayak among others joined hands to topple Kempe Gowda.

Realising that even their combined armies could not defeat the disciplined forces of  Kempe Gowda, they invited the Adilshah to invade Bangalore. The Adil Shah was only too happy and he sent a huge force under commander Ranadulla Khan and his deputy Shahaji Bhonsle.

The Adil Shah army defeated Kempe Gowda’s army in three days and captured Bangalore. Shahaji permitted Kempe Gowda III to surrender and also allowed him to retreat to Magadi in 1638. From that day, the Kempe Gowdas could never set foot on Bangalore again and instead they set about developed Magadi and Savandurga. Shahaji permitted Kempe Gowda to rule from Magadi and this is how he came to be known as Magadi Kempe Gowda. But the char of Bangalore and its prosperity could never be replicated in Magadi.

Kempe Gowda’s descendents ruled from Magadi till 1728 when the Wodeyars under Dodda Krishnaraja Wodeyar (1714-1732) put an end to the Yelahanka Nadaprabhu’s reign. The last of the Kempe Gowdas called Kempeveera Gowda (1705-1728) or Kempe Gowda the third spent his time in a jail in Srirangapatna. It was an unhappy time for him as he had not only lost his kingdom but also liberty. He died in jail along with his general Veerabhadra Nayaka, a sad and unhappy man, ruing his fate and his defeat at Savandurga by the marauding Wodeyars.  

Thus Bangalore was lost to the Adil Shahis and Shahaji and his Marathas reigned over Bangalore from 1638 to 1688. In 1688, Khasim Khan, the Mughal Commander, took Bangalore from the Marathas and then sold it to the Wodeyars.

The Shakti temple of Kshanambike

Nimishamba in Ganjam near Srirangapatna is well-known for its temple dedicated to Nimishamba.

The name Nimishamba has been given to the Goddess as she is believed to grant the wishes or request of a devotee within a minute. In Kannada the word Nimisha means a minute and Amma is mother. Therefore, Nimishamba means a mother who gives boon or grants a wish in a minute.

While the Nimishamba temple is very well-known and thousands visit the shrine every day, there is a temple of another similar Goddess which is not as well-known as Nimishamba.

This is the temple which houses the Kshanambike. Like Nimishamba, this temple too id dedicate to a Goddess and it is located in Srirangapatna itself.

The temple of  Goddess Kshanambika is an ancient one and this is believed to be much older and more powerful than Nimishamba.

If Nimishamba grants wishes in a minute (nimisha), the Kshanambika is said to fulfill the wishes of the devotees within a second (kshana).

In Kannada, the word mans a second and Kshanambika means the Goddess who grants boon in  second. The main source of power of the Goddess here is a bijakdhara garbhita srichakra.

T he Srichakra is a geometrical representation of the universe and this is vital component of yantra worship. The mandala within the Srichakra is believed to activate the energies both within and outside the devotee.
Geometrically, the Srichakra is formed by the intersection of nine isosceles triangles which intersect at various points. While four of the triangles are upright and represent Shiva, the five inverted triangles represent Shakti. All the nine triangles together signify the nine fundamental elements of  skin, blood, flesh, fat, bone,  semen, marrow, breath and the individual soul.

This Srichakra can still be seen in front of the idol of the Goddess Kshanambika. Incidentally, an Astamangala Prashna conducted at the temple has revealed the antiquity of the Srichakra and the Shakti that radiates from the Chakraraja.

The temple of  Kshanambika is located in Srirangapatna itself and it is easy to locate it. If there is any difficulty, locals will be able to guide you to the temple.

The temple is located within the fort and nearby is the Hanuman Temple and the Jumam Masjid.

One can visit both the Nimishamba and Kshanambike temples and both are closely associated with Shakti. If fact, you can club visit to both temples by going in your own transport or hiring an autorickshaw. 

The Ganjam figs

An earlier post had dealt with the City of Ganjam and also the jewellery making. This post is about the world famous figs of Ganjam.

Ganjam was as famous for its jewellery as it was for its figs. Though the city of Shehar Ganjam was constructed by Tipu just two kilometers away from his island capital of Srirangapatna, it developed into a distinct city in itself.

Tipu ensured that Ganjam was surrounded by lovely orchards, farms and plantations. He introduced a variety of Indian and foreign plants and trees. He planted many exotic trees and plants in the Gumbaz gardens and around Daria Daulat palace. If the Gumbaz housed the mausoleum of his father Hyder Ali, the Daria Daulat was his summer retreat.

Both the Gumbaz and Daria Daulat were surrounded by hundreds of varieties of  trees and plants. Since Ganjam city was built between these two buildings, it too received Tipu’s largesse. Tipu imported fig or anjura from several countries and had them planted in and around Ganjam.

Soon, the fog took root in Ganjam thanks to the salubrious climate and the ready supply of water from the nearby Cauvery. The garden department of Tipu supervised the fig in the royal gardens in Ganjam.

Ganjam soon became known for its figs. Farmers were encouraged to grow fig and the special and popular variety of fig grown here came to be known as Ganjam fig (Ganjam anjura).

Even Tipu is known o have enjoyed the Ganam fig. Soon, the fig was an important export from Srirangapatna and it contributed to the local economy.

When the British set up camp at Ganjam and overran the Gumbaz, they also captured Ganjam. They destroyed many trees and plants. Initially, growers and farmers fled Ganjam fearing the British. But they came back after the death of Tipu and once again began cultivating fig.

The British imported Ganja fig from Srirangapatna to Bangalore and other places. The Wodeyars too encouraged the farmers and growers to come back and take back possession of their land. Though the fort of Ganjam was destroyed in 1799, the British and the Wodeyars allowed residents to comeback after the death of Tipu Sultan on May 4, 1799.

 Fig cultivation once again took off. Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar and Dewan Mirza Ismail gave a boost to fig cultivation. Both were admirers of the Ganjam fig and they encouraged 150 farmers in and around the village of  Ganjam to grow them. They gave subsidy and donated five guntas of land to each of the 150 growers. They also initiated steps to irrigate the fig farms with water from the Cauvery.

The figs grown on these 150 farms were initially sent to Mysore palace where the royal family of Wodeyars took pride in serving them to the British officers and visitors. Soon, Ganjam figs began to be exported to other states and they commanded a good price in the market.

The Ganjam figs gave the Australian figs and Pune figs a run for the money. They had a unique taste of their own.  
The fig farms survived till1960 after which they slowly died. Lack of encouragement, lack of proper inputs and the growing interest in other cash crops led to many farmers abandoning the fig. Today, there are barely handful of the 150 fig gardens that could be seen in and around Ganjam till the 1960s.

There is a small patch of land which belongs to the  Horticulture department where it has grown 20 plants. The department had taken possession of this 5.5 acres of land from the PWD in 1964.
It is said that the Horticulture department has taken over the 5.5 acre fig gardens from the Public Works Department in 1964. However, we can see a few Sapota plants there. The Ganjam fig plants can be seen at the department nursery at Javarahalli farm in Ganjam (there are 100 fig trees there) and at the farm in Nagamangala taluk.
When we visit Ganjam, even today we can see rusted machines and pipeline network that were used to pump water from the Cauvery to the farms. The two pumps of 40 HP and 20 HP capacity can still be seen but they are defunct.