From: naik@nynexst.com (Jay Naik)
Subject: Bangalore - Our own Beantown ??
Organization: Nynex Science and Technology
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 93 17:03:53 GMT


 I posted this piece on Bangalore to s.c.i. last week. I received a
bunch of requests to post the same here. I am including the original
article and my response, since neither was posted to a.c.k. 

|> Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
|> From: ravis@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (ravi.krishnaswamy)
|> Subject: Re: Bangalore and IIT's
|> Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 16:02:21 GMT
|> 
|> The article mentioned about the origin of the name Bangalore. It said that
|> it is a transliteration of "Boiled bean village". Well, it is true. Here is
|> what I read/heard when I grew up in Bangalore.
|> 
|> During the days of Kempegowda or the earlier kings (I forget which one it was),
|> a king took a hunting trip in the jungle where bangalore is currently
|> situated. He got lost from his company during the expedition and was
|> wandering all around. He got hungry and he could not find food anywhere,
|> at which time he bumped into some tribal people living in the jungle.
|> The people offered him some bolied lentils for food. The king was very happy
|> at the hospitality of the people and named the place "Bendha KaLooru"
|> which translates roughly into the place of boiled beans.
|> 
|> Over the days, as the language(kannada) changed and as people distort the
|> name (pronunciation) it became BenKaLooru and then BenGaLooru. It is still
|> called BenGaLooru in kannada. The Britishers who had problem pronoucing
|> the word started syaing BanGaLoor. 
|> 
|> Hey, and there it stands today, due to our westernization. No one wants
|> to say BenGaLooru.
|> 
|> ravi

	Well, not so fast! 
	 
    The "boiled beans" legend is alas, of very recent vintage. 
 Besides, in the "correct" version of this legend, the king is actually 
 VeeraballaaLa of the HoysaLa dynasty (12th cent AD) and NOT 
 KempegowDa, who lived in the 16th cent. AD. 

    In any event, the boiled beans legend is much discredited by the
 discovery of an inscription on a veeragallu (="hero stone", tombstone) 
 at the village of bEgooru, near Bangalore. It is firmly dated  
 to the 9th Cent. AD and mentions the "battle of BengaLooru", in 
 which the soldier to whom the memorial was dedicated fought and died.

	Current belief is that a village by the name of bengaLooru stood
 very close to the site of modern Bangalore (this old village is
 thought to be the "haLe bengaLooru", near the Agricultural Sciences 
 Campus in Hebbal) for several centuries before Kempegowda. When he 
 built a new town in 1537, which grew to become the modern metropolis 
 of Bangalore, he simply named it after the old village of bengaLooru, 
 from which his mother, wife and daughter-in-law hailed. 

    This still doesn't explain the etymology of "bengaLooru", which
 is perhaps lost in history. There are many other explanations
 as well. 
    It is quite clear from archealogical and epigraphical sources
 that the area in and around Bangalore was inhabited by humans since 
 early stone age. Various quartz tools are dug up from time to time. 
 The recent discovery of silver coins of the Roman emperor Caligula 
 near Yashwantpur Extension suggests that that area was a trade centre
 during the 1st cent. AD, when Rome had a roaring maritime trade 
 with the Indian peninsula.
     I'll post more on this to alt.culture.karnataka if there 
 is any interest in the colorful history of Bangalore.

  Cheers,
 --------------------
  Jayant Naik

 p.s. Here is a transcription of the bEgooru epigraph. bEgooru was 
      believed to be a Jaina center at that time (9th cent. AD).

  		sreemat naagatarana
  		manevogati pervoNa sheTTi
  		bengaLoora kaaLegaduL  
  		naagatarana magam
  		buTTaNapati sattam
  
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