Bangalore - The City Of Baked Beans
The capital city of Karnataka, Bangalore, the fifth largest city in
India, is the perfect blend of natural beauty and man-made marvels of
architecture and technology. Blessed with a salubrious climate and
dotted with beautiful parks, its tree-lined avenues, its trendy, yuppie
downtown, and the software flood, Bangalore truly offers one a picture
of striking contrasts.
Bangalore is fast emerging as one of the most industrialized cities in
India, keeping pace with the latest trends and fashion. Bangalore is
renowned, not only for its own beauty and technological advances, but
also for its easy access to the marvels of the land around it. These
intriguing sites of Bangalore include gardens, universities, temples and
ancient ruins. The city of Bangalore also is a gateway to Southern
India. Bangalore is well connected to other major cities. Today it has
almost become the fastest growing city in Asia. The bazaars and shopping
malls of Bangalore offer a fine selection of silks, sandal wood
souvenirs, handicrafts and fragrant incense sticks.
Communication is
very simple in this city where people can converse in English, Kannada
and Hindi with equal ease.
Bangalore -- located 1,000m above sea level is one
of
the most 'happening' places in India. Bangalore, which literally means
the 'town of baked beans', was founded by Kempe Gowda, a chieftain of
the Vijayanagar Empire, around the 16th century. He built four towers in
four directions to specify its boundaries. However, Bangalore has far
exceeded these limits since.
Origin of Name - Bangalore
Bangalore was first known as 'Benguluru'. The earliest reference to the
name Benguluru was found in a 9th century Ganga inscription on
herostone. This inscription was found in Begur and Benguluru is referred
to as a place in which a battle was fought. Most scholars believe that
the name has a floral origin and is derived from the tree 'Benga', also
known as the Indian Kino.
The place that was referred to as 'Benguluru' in the Ganga inscription
was originally a hamlet and is found even today in a place called
Kodigehalli, which is not too far away from Hebbal. Today however, this
hamlet is called 'Halebenguluru' or 'Old Bangalore'.
According to one of the stories associated with it, in the year 1120
AD, the Chola King, Veera Ballalla ruled the Deccan plateau or the South
of India. On a hunting trip to the forest, he lost his way. Famished and
exasperated, after a long search, he met an old lady in the forest who
offered him shelter for the night and served him baked beans for dinner.
To show his gratitude to this lady for having helped him out, the King
constructed a town and named it as 'Benda Kalooru', which means 'Baked
Beans'.
It is believed that when Kempe Gowda I built the new capital in 1537
AD, he used a more anglicised version of the name Benguluru and called
the town Bangalore. Kempegowda- I's mother and wife both belonged to the
township that is known as Halebenguluru today.
