Former Chief Minister N Dharam Singh announced here recently that the state capital of Bangalore would soon be rechristened Bengalooru. It shall be reverted to ˜Bengalooru" just as Madras went back to "Chennai", Bombay to "Mumbai" and Calcutta to ˜Kolkata", the Former Chief Minister said.

Speaking to mediapersons at his residence here, Mr Dharam Singh, who was on a three-day election tour of the region, stated that the renaming issue was raised during a meeting he had held recently with prominent personalities and litterateurs for chalking out programmes on the occasion Suvarna Karnataka, the 50th anniversary of the unification of the state.

Several participants at the meeting pointed at the need to rename Bangalore as Bengalooru, the city its original name. They also stated that the names of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras have already been changed, and Bangalore's original name should also be restored at the earliest, he added.

Bangalore, the name used now, is the anglicised form of the "Bengalooru". This name "Bangalore"has an interesting story. Hoysala King Veera Ballala named the place Bendakalooru (Town of Boiled Beans) when he was offered boiled beans by an Old woman during one of his hunting bouts. Another version claims that the name "Bengalooru" has appeared much earlier than the Hoysalas.

The earliest reference to the name is seen in a ninth century Ganga stone inscription (Veeragallu) found in Begur village, about 14 kms south west of Bangalore. This inscription clearly mentions the name "Bengalooru", referring to a battle that was fought at that place. Rao Bahadur R Narasimhachar, in his Mysore Archeological Report (1914-15), dates this inscription to the 9th century AD.

The place was then called "Hale Bengalooru" or Old Bengalooru, where the present Kodigehalli village is located, near the Hebbal Tank. Kempe Gowda I, on building his new town in 1537, called it by this name, as his mother and wife were believed to have belonged to this place.

According to another speculation, the presence of vast stretches of the trees called "Benga" or "Venga" (Raktha honne) in Kannada lent their name to this place. Vengaluru (the place of Venga) became Bengalooru when "Ve" replaced "Be".

Yet another theory says that there was a big forest in this area and Kempegowda I, before building the town is believed to have burnt the forest. So the town built on Benda Kadu (burnt forest) "Benda Kaduru", later becane Bengaduru and finally Bengalooru.

Recenty the name Bangalore was used and misused in many contexts such as :

Bangalored: This is a word originated in America to describe those whose jobs were lost because their work was outsourced to low-cost India. One Web site was selling T-shirts with the slogan "Don't Get Bangalored" as a way of telling people about the issue.

Bang-alore: A few years ago, an IT expert at the technical seminar of IT.com suggested that "Made in Bangalore" should be promoted as a brand. There is "Banga" in Bangalore, he remarked.

Bangal-ore: The Bengali community of Bangalore coined the term "Bangal-ore" and used in their hoardings and publicity material to celebrate their community festival.

Ban-galore: The entry of vehicles were recently banned on many roads as they have been made one-way, paving way for the term "Ban-galore".

BA Galore: British Airways recently knocked out its "n" to announce their direct flights into and out of the City.

With the recent threat by IT professionals and multinationals to leave Bangalore on grounds of poor infrastructual facilities, what do you think will the change in name do to the future of Bangalore ? Do you think that the name change would benefit Bangalore or will it add to the numerous problems of the City ??...........let us know.

 

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