Bangalore

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.

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