Tourist in my own city-3: Lal Bagh

The wreckage that has happened to namma Bengaluru’s green cover is a misadventure. The media swapping the city’s tag to “Garbage city” is heartbreaking. Today, it is hard for my friends to believe when I say that just a decade ago summer in Bangalore used to be a warm 30 degree Celsius. It was not out of blues that Bangalore once was called as “garden City”; there were a thousand reasons for it. But the primary reason could be absolutely nothing other than this two century old abode of flora called Lal bagh.

It was after a decade that I walked inside Lalbagh with a camera in hand, clicked pictures and came back home. But I had no idea of its exuberance, its history, its chronicles and great human beings who made Lalbagh happen, until I started exploring its past. I’m sure most of us, just like I did, think of Lalbagh as just a century old huge green park. Here’s my attempt to get to the roots and provide substantiation, which I feel, every true Bangalorean definitely deserve to know.

Origin

Lalbagh is of royal origin. Hyder Ali, having the Moghul taste for gardens, is acknowledged to be the founder of Lalbagh. But very few know that Hyder Ali planned Lalbagh at Bangalore principally on the model of “Khan Bagh”, an impressive garden in Sira (near Tumkur), developed by Dilawar Khan, the Moghul emperor’s south representative. Dr. Francis Buchanan, in his book ^*1 has written that the taste of Hyder Ali accorded more with English. His evening walks alongside the Cypress trees were wider and he enjoyed it. It is also said that before it was named as Lalbagh, it was called as the “Cypress Garden” ^*2

*2 View of LalBagh, painted by Robert Home

Development

Somewhere in 1760s, Hyder Ali chose 34 acres of land on the east of the Kempegowda tower. He procured seeds and plants from varied places like Kabul, Persia, Turkey, Lahore and Multan. Tamil speaking gardeners from the community of “Thigalars” were brought from the neighborhood to look after the gardens. This explains why we find the “Thigalar” community people in abundance in Bangalore today.

After Hyder Ali, Tippu Sultan extended the garden by acquiring more land. Tippu imported Pine and oak plants from Cape of Good Hope^*3 and other exotic plants and seeds from Mauritius and Africa. Two old mango tress said to have been planted during his time is still seen in Lal Bagh. He also appointed Mohammed Ali and Abdul Khader as Daroga (Chief Gardner). Tippu improved the gardens to a greater extent even as late as in 1798; he obtained plants and seeds from the Isle of France. Thus Lal Bagh grew to be a house of rare tropical and sub-tropical plants.

After British invasion, Lal Bagh became a property of East India Company. On 27^th February 1836, Sir. Mark Cubbon transferred its ownership to the Agri horticultural society, Mysore. By August 1856, Lal Bagh became a government botanical garden and in 1881, it was passed into the hands of Maharaja of Mysore. Under the state government, the garden area was more than doubled. 22 acres in 1888, 8 acres in 1890 and again in 1889-90, 30 acres of land were purchased. By the end of the century, Lal Bagh was a whopping 120 acres of mesmerizing Fauna!

Zoo at Lal Bagh

There were also proposals to make Lal Bagh, a combination of Zoo and Garden to increase the number of visitors. In 1862, it had a Black Panther, a couple of bird species, a few tigers and Kangaroos. Few hundreds of deers were also brought into the zoo. It is also said that an Orangutan was quite popular @ the Lal Bagh’s Zoo.  A pigeon house with 100 pair of pigeons was built. The plague of 1899 had a very bad effect on the Menagerie and the aviary. By 1900, the number of animals and birds was reduced to 60 and all these were later transferred to the Mysore Zoo.

The Glass-House

Flower shows were conducted by the Agri-Horticultural society right from the beginning. Flower shows at Lal Bagh dates back to 1867. In 1888, John Cameron, the then superintendent of Government gardens, proposed for the construction of Glass House for the purpose of holding horticultural shows. Designed originally on the lines of Crystal palace in England, it was completed in 1890 at a cost of 75000 Rs. Crystal palace was burnt to ashes in a fire accident, but the “Glass House” has remained a marvelous structure, symbolizing the development of Horticulture and reminding the Englishmen of their lost monumental glory.

Glass House @ Dusk

Lal Bagh rock and Lake

The great plate of south India is called as “Gondwana land”, which is one of the oldest formations on earth. Dating back to about 3000 million years! A rare exposure of this antiquity can be seen at the Lal Bagh, in the form of a rock hill. The geologists term this rock as peninsular gneiss. Perched on top of this rock is one of the four cardinal towers, as border of namma Bengaluru city built by Kempegowda in 1537.

Tower of Bangalore on top of The LalBagh rock

People who made “Garden City”

Today, Bangalore and it’s amazing green cover is what it is because of a numerous gentlemen who nurtured it with love, passion and care. I’ve tried really hard to collect the details of some of the key men who are remembered for their below mentioned deeds, without which this post would’ve been incomplete.

John Cameron – enriched the plant wealth of Lal Bagh by giving it a numerous exotic plant species, many of which later assumed the status of commercial crops. The famous Bangalore Blue Grapes, Gauva, Mulberry are just a few. Glass house is his brain child

G H Krumbiegal – was requested by Krishnaraja Wodeyar, as a successor to John Cameron, to raise the reputation of Lal Bagh, by introducing economic farming, methodic development of horticulture on commercial scale from Lal bagh. It is also noteworthy that Brindavan garden at KRS was established during his time.

H C Javaraya – Rao Bahaddur HC JAvaraya, an able successor to Krumbigal, is credited with the development of Bangalore city as “Garden city”. The full credit of starting a fruit orchard @ Lal Bagh, erecting the eastern wing of the Glass house, Lotus pond, Government Fruit research station at Hessarghatta are some of his achievements

Dr. M H Marigowda – A key man in the horticulture department of Karnataka. A Ph. D in Botany from Harvard, started as many as 380 farms and nurseries in Bangalore. He also set up soil testing and seed testing labs @ Lal Bagh, also introduced exotic species of Flora to Lal Bagh and elevated Karnataka to a “Horticultural” rich state.

Flower show inside the Glass house

For over a century, this elegant garden is standing as a symbol and testimony of floral richness. From 34 acres to a present 240 acres of roaring green cover, every acre has its own story to tell. To me, the fact that it is in the very heart of namma Bengaluru makes it even merrier. I wish that the long cherished legacy of Lal Bagh will continue forever and bring further prosperity and happiness to namma Bengaluru’s feat!

*1 – Book “A Journey from Madras: Through the Countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar by Dr. Francis Buchanan

*2 – Painted by Robert Home, British oil portrait painter. Found in British Library website

*3 – The early long history of Lal Bagh – By Dr. Suryanath U Kamath – Former Chief Editor: Karnataka Gazetteer

Above all, special thanks to some of colleagues of Horticultural department, for understanding my inevitabilities and catering to thousands of my inquiries wholeheartedly.

Photo credits: Thamizh Ezhil Murali, Wiki and of course myself J