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by Srinath
Perur
'Bangalore' seems to be a pretty peaceful name. The tongue doesn't hurt when it is said and it's B ensures a listing near the top in places where cities have to be listed. At three syllables it is just different from the two of most cities, and far from the rash seven of
Tiruvananthapuram. It's sounds are fairly distributed about the alphabet giving it a full and even ring. It sounds like just the place for the typical Hindi film heroine's father to visit on his two day business trip.
The popular story behind the name's origin makes out 'Bangalore' to mean 'the city of boiled beans'. For those unfamiliar with the story, a highly abridged version follows. The wandering and desperately hungry hunter, King Hoysala Veeraballala (10 A.D), was fed boiled beans ('benda kalu' in Kannada) by an old lady near a village. His hunger satiated, the king proceeded to name the village 'benda-kalu-uru' ('city of boiled beans'), proving that the lack of imagination in our rulers is not just a modern day tendency. Bendakaluru with time became Bengaluru, which with the twist of an English tongue became Bangalore.
The above story has been repeated so many times that it continues to be held as true even in the light of evidence to the contrary. A stone inscription was found at Begur dated 9th century A.D. that refers to present day Bangalore as 'Benguluru'. The observant reader, having noticed that the good king (albeit bad hunter) H.V. reigned at least a century after Bangalore was thus named, would have discounted the beans and old lady line of thought, and rightly so. But, cold facts rarely spoil a good story. Since then, a number of different stories, claiming that the name 'Bangalore' descended from 'benda-kadu-uru' ('city to make room for which a forest had to be burnt'), 'bengallu-uru' ('granite city') and 'venkaturu' ('city of Lord Venkata') have been proposed but none of them have achieved the popularity of the Mr. Bean one.
To tell the truth, we really don't know how Bangalore was named or even what it means. It seems purer that way. A set of sounds and an alignment of letters with no forced associations. Maybe it is better not to know how one's city has been named than to think it named after boiled beans. At least it lends a touch of mystery to an otherwise peaceful name. A city and it's name are more or less inseparable; till the right government comes along. But that shouldn't happen to Bangalore for quite some time yet.
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Other articles by Srinath
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Bangalore Identity
Srinath analyses the stories behind the name
of this beautiful city.
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