The Bangalore Fort can be stated
as the mother of Bangalore City as we see today.It is traditional Bangalore
which could be more than one thousand years old,the remains of which can be seen in
the Kalasipalayam area of Bangalore City of today. The original Bangalore is
Kalasipalayam. Palayam in the vernacular means a Fort. It is also possible this
place was called Kailaspalayam which with centuries became Kalasipalayam.In
ancient times people lived in such fort complexes which were a city in itself
with many facilities and hosted some less than half a million in population.The
Fort provided protection from inimical forces.
The very consistent view point
here is the large hillock seen within Lalbagh which was the primary motivation
to set up Kalasipalayam. The hillock served as a watch-tower and also as rains
embarked this place gave vent to large lakes flushed with water which served as
a primary source of water for the residents. Kengal Hanumanthaiah road also
called double road today was a lake in the yore of mammoth size storing large
quantities of water and the water coming down this hill also guided through
small water-ways into various tanks within the Palayam or Fort. Such water
bodies can even be seen today around this hillock.This hillock was the
life-line of this fort centuries ago.
What did this fort look like
exactly.The Sanctum Sanctorum of the fort if you may so call it is the
structure seen today which was the residence of the Kings and royalty from time
to time with its own paraphernalia , design and assets. Around this was another
large wall which is extinct today but stretched over a large periphery with
gates on four sides.In history there is mention of the Kengeri Gate the gate
from this large Fort Complex exiting towards modern day Mysore road.
To politely understand what the larger periphery of the Fort wall could have been study the temples of
Bangalore city.There are two kinds of Temples in Bangalore city…one kind that
exists on the banks of rivulets like the Gali Anjaneya Swamy temple and temples
in Ulsoor which pre-date all other temples in the city by centuries.The other
form of temples are ones generally built within Fort complexes.To understand
the periphery of the external rampart walls of the Bangalore fort study the
trajectory of temples.The fort walls towards Ulsoor side must have extended
upto modern day Richmond Town.Note a temple exists at the almost fag end of
this trajectory today behind the Mallya Hospital,the Ulsoor Gate of the external
Fort walls could have been around here and towards the Mysore road side upto
the banks of the Vrishabavathy river. On the other two sides the Fort
wall extended much beyond Basavanagudi and could be upto the Ulsoor lake on the
remaining side. It is difficult to pin-point exactly but that was the expanse of
Kalasipalayam from the sheer study of temples. Near Mysore Bank circle towards the end of Avenue Road also we
see a temple which was part of the Fort system. I have roughly tried to mark the
periphery. With the advent of Cannons it was easy to penetrate these
fortifications because they succumbed to Canon fire over centuries and the
simply don’t exist. With the advent of the rule of the Mysore Sultans many
mosques and similar structures found its place within these fortifications. In
the third Mysore war under the direct supervision of Lord Cornwallis this entire
structure fell into the hands of the English. The English appear to have broken
through these Fortifications from the Ulsoor side reaching the sanctum
sanctorum of the fort seen near City Market of today creating a breach on the
Fort some one square meter in size and thereafter using various forms of
ordnance through this aperture killing many within this complex and then
sending foot soldiers through this opening and finishing the job , opening the
fort gates and thereafter taking full control of it.
The original fortified settlement
dating back centuries is Kalasipalayam. Chickpet Balepet and all these pets were
markets that served the needs of people within the fort. Including modern day City Market. Around this fort were
agricultural activities of various kinds and it must be emphasized that Lalbagh
of today stands within the Kalsipalayam Fort complex and so do the many
temples seen near Sajjan Rao circle.
Next time you walk through Kalasipalayam in Bangalore near the City Market for any reason remember you are trudging on centuries of History.
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