Skip to main content

In search of Kempegowda’s Koramangala

In search of Kempegowda’s Koramangala

My quest of knowing the history behind the legend of Lakshmamma took me to the small village of Avathi, where Kempegowda's forefathers settled. The area, earlier known as Morasa Nadu, was founded and ruled by Ranabhairegowda in the 14th century. His great grandson Jaya Gowda, who later went on to become Kempegowda-1, was born in Yelahanka and he was the founder of modern Bengluru. He built the Pete and the Bangalore Fort in the 15th century.
One of the legends around the Fort is that the southern gate of the fort would collapse immediately after completion and to successfully build it, a human sacrifice was needed. Kempegowda's daughter-in-law Lakshmamma realized this pain and sacrificed her life at the southern gate.
It is said that Kempegowda built a memorial for Lakshmamma's sacrifice at Koramangala. As per records, this legend is linked to South Bangalore's Koramangala where Lakshmidevi's memorial has been built in 2003 and a fully renovated Lakshmi Devi temple, attributed to Kempegowda's daughter-in-law, stands a few metres from the memorial.
But lack of sufficient evidence made me travel to Kempegowda's ancestral place Avathi near Devanahalli. On some enquiry, a villager explained me that the name Avathi has been derived from 'Aahuti' meaning 'Sacrifice'. But he was not sure if this can be linked to Lakshmamma's sacrifice. Another link can be traced to a village named 'Koramangala', around 3 kms from Avathi. I could see a 'mantapa' typical of Kempegowda's structures in the village square. Further enquiries in the village led to my assumption that the mantapa was built by Kempegowda. But unfortunately, there are no inscriptions to support this.
Koramangala is also a pre-historic site with dolmens discovered from 1500 BC as per ASI. However, I could not find any dolmen.

Is it really possible that Kempegowda, overwhelmed by Lakshmamma's sacrifice, named his ancestral village as Avathi and built a memorial in Koramangala? Point to ponder.

Koramangala village

Mantapa

Devi temple


Village square

Labels:

Comments

  1. Anju Shukla16 October 2017 at 13:47

    The stock is trading at its highest level since July 2015. It past one week, it rallied 16% as compared with 2.3% gain in the S&P BSE Sensex.Commodity tips

    ReplyDelete
  2. GST Courses11 November 2017 at 12:23

    What you're saying is completely true. I know that everybody must say the same thing, but I just think that you put it in a way that everyone can understand. I'm sure you'll reach so many people with what you've got to say.

    ReplyDelete

Post a comment

Popular posts from this blog

The forgotten story of a migration: Nacharamma of South India

This is a story of Nacharamma (fictionised by me to some extent), which is not documented in any inscriptions or ancient texts, but has been told by the ancestors of the community, and also been researched by some historians like M Keshavaiah, Dr Pranarthiharan and a few others.

Overview: Around the early 17th century, the Pilgrims set to sail across the Atlantic to become the first settlers of America. Much before this, a small but no less interesting migration took place in the Southern India of a community called the 'Sankethis'.
It was the summer of 1420 CE, in a place called Sengottai, in Tamil Nadu, along the foothills of the Western Ghats bordering Kerala. The place was flourishing with knowledge of the Vedas where Agraharams were set up. One of the prominent communities of learned people was the Sankethi Iyer community, also known as Sangeethi, derived from the name of the place- Sengottai or Shankotta. Another theory says that they were  The group followed Adi Shankara…
6 comments
Read more

Clock Towers of Bangalore

Overview: In the middle of the 18th century, when home clocks and watches were not so common, there was the practice of having huge clocks on top of iconic buildings or religious places having visibility from all the corners. Clock towers were in fashion all across the globe in the 18th to 20th centuries, and some of them had bells as well, which used to ring at every hour. Bangalore too, has had its share of clock towers, though the city has never been known for its clock towers. The iconic Clock tower once stood at the Russell Market in Shivajinagar, which no longer stands today as it was brought down sometime during the middle of the 20th century.
A few standing clock towers can be seen at the City Market, Baldwin Boys school, Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic, Central College, Police training grounds, St John's Church, Corporation office and the newly constructed towers at South End circle and Omkar Hills. Most of these clocks have been provided by HMT.
21 comments
Read more

Know your neighbourhood-3: Madivala, Agara, Koramangala, Bellandur

Overview: Now famous for high rises, branded showrooms and startups, the villages of Madivala, Agara, Koramangala and Domlur are the villages which have seen an ancient past.

Madivala village was a flourishing agrahara under the Cholas and Hoysalas. There is an ancient Chola era temple, which was later expanded by the Hoysalas behind the road opposite to the Silk Board. This Someshwara temple is of high historical importance, with Tamil inscriptions all along the outer walls of the temple. The most important being the 1247 CE inscription which talks about the grants of some lands near the big tank of Vengalur (2nd inscription of the city name after the one in Begur). This inscription is by an official Pemmataiyar of Veppur (Begur) for the deity Sembeshwaram (Someshwara) at Tamaraikkirai (Tavarekere).

Agara is situated at the junction of the ORR and Sarjapura Road, and is in existance since the Gangas. A 870 CE Ganga inscription mentions about the fixing of sluices to 2 tanks (Agara Lake…
3 comments
Read more