Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/76

 BANGALORE CITY AND CANTONMENT.

66

and Coorg 1876)



Gazetteer,

by Lewis Rice, Esq.,

pp. i-8i, vol.

ii.

(Bangalore,

also the Census Report of Mysore for 1881.]

Bangalore City and Cantonment {Bengaluru : literally, Town The chief town of the District and taluk a kind of bean). of the same name, and the seat of Government for the State of Mysore, ‘

of bengalu

’

—

—

'

lat., and 77° 36' 56" E. long. 71 miles north; and 216 miles by rail west of Madras. The town

situated in 12° 57 37 "neast of Seringapatam, is

divided into two parts

fort;

—the

pet, or old native quarter,

The

and the cantonments.

total area is

i3|-

including the

square miles, and

amounts to 155,857 62,317; cantonment, 93,540. This tract was assigned to the British on the rendition of Mysore to its native prince in

the population, according to the Census of 1881, souls,

—town,

1881.

General Appearance.

—The

Bangalore stands

city of

in

the centre of

The general level is the Mysore table-land, 3113 feet above the sea. only broken by a few slight elevations, and the plain is interspersed with several large tanks.

of which

is

The

on the extreme south-west, north the cantonments stretch

fort lies

the pet, or old native

quarter



away towards the north-east, terminating in the new native quarter of Beyond this again is the suburb of St. John’s the cantonment bazar. Hill, or Cleveland Town, dotted with the little cottages of a large number of European pensioned soldiers, which, with the spire of its parish church, presents somewhat the appearance of an English village. The large open space between the two native quarters contains the Here also are race-course, the Cubbon Park, and the parade ground. situated the chief Government offices, and the houses of the European The railway residents, each encircled by its own green compound. station is in the extreme north, and in the opposite direction, beyond the

fort, is

the Lai Bagh, or

‘

horticultural gardens.’

When

the British

Mysore in 1831, the principal departments of Government found accommodation in the palace inside In 1868, new offices were erected in the cantonments; and the fort. the old palace, a large two-storied building of mud, has been suffered

assumed the

direct administration of

to fall into decay.

The

arsenal

still

remains within the

fort.

A

pro-

evoked strong reposal 1884 monstrances from the Anglo-Indian community, seconded by the The place forms one of the opposition of the Maharaja of IMysore. most historical sites in Southern India. The original Hindu fort was of mud, and is said to have been erected in 1537. The Muhammadans It rebuilt it in stone in 1761, the first year of Haidar Ali’s reign. formed the traditional scene of the first captivity of Sir David Baird after Baillie’s defeat at Perambakam in 1780; and it was taken by in

to demolish the Fort of Bangalore

Lord Cornwallis in 1791, in the series of military operations against Its dungeons were Tipu Sultan known as the third Mysore War.