Hi All,
The story of Bangalore Fort is a rather shocking one.
Kempegowda's daughter-in-law Lakshmamma, who was a pregnant woman had to sacrifice herself for the completion of the fort.
Here's her story:
The story goes that when Kempegowda was building his new fort, its southern gate would collapse every night.
Astrologers advised him to conduct a human sacrifice but Kempegowda was reluctant to do so. And then one morning, as workers went to work on the gate once again, they found it had not collapsed. But nearby lay the body of Lakshmamma, Kempegowda’s pregnant daughter-in-law, who had killed herself to appease the Gods. A distraught Kempegowda is said to have built a temple in Lakshmamma’s name. The temple is less than half a kilometre from this memorial in 6th Block, Koramangala.
There is an incident of a great sacrifice while the Gowda was building the mud fort of Bangalore. After the fort was built and one of its gates was about to be fixed up, it so happened that the portion so laboriously built all day long, used to collapse during the night The event plunged Kempe Gowda in deep thought. Suggestions were not wanting to remedy the problem. One of them was that if a pregnant woman was offered as a sacrifice at the gate, it would stand. But Kempe Gowda did not agree for that or the offer of his daughter-in-law, who was in the family way, to get herself sacrificed. However, one night his daughter-in-law (Lakshmamma), stole to the fort gate with a sword in hand and praying to her Goddess that the good work of her father-in-law may prosper without any hindrance, she beheaded herself. In the morning the workers found the gate standing intact but they also discovered the immolated body of Lakshmamma with the destructive sword in hand. Kempe Gowda bemoaned her loss and eventually built a temple at Koramangala, a suburb of Bangalore, and installed in it the idol of the heroic Lakshmamma.
Kempe Gowda built eight gates for the fort with a moat surrounding it. Inside the fort two wide roads ran from North to South and East to West. The other roads were made parallel or perpendicular to them. It is said that at the auspicious moment fixed by the astrologer, Kempe Gowda harnessed the bullocks to the ploughs at the central Doddapete square, at the junction of Doddapete (Avenue Road) and Chikka pete, got the ground ploughed and worked the four main streets running in four directions. One ran from Halasoor (Ulsoor) Gate to Sondekoppa Road from East to West, and another from Yelahanka Gate to the Fort running from North to South. These roads are the present Nagarthapete and Chikka-pete; and Doddapete respectively. The streets and the Blocks were demarcated for the purpose they were meant, like for business or residences etc. Streets of Doddapete, Chikkapete, Nagartha-pete were for marketing of general merchandise; Aralepete (Cotton pet), Tharagupete, Akki pete, Ragipete, Balepete etc. were for marketing of commodities like cotton, grain, rice, ragi, and bangles respectively: kurubarapete, Kumbara-pete, Ganigarapete, Upparapete etc. were for trades and crafts, and residences of Kuruba, Kumbara, Ganiga, Uppara castes respectively and similar petes' (Blocks). Halasoorpete, Manava-rthepete, Mutyalapete (Ballapurapete) etc. were meant for other groups of the society. The Agraharas were for the priests and learned classes. He got skilled artisans and craftsmen from the neighboring as well as far oft places and got them settled so that they could pursue their avocations.
Thank you,
#bangalore, #bangalorefort, #lakshmamma,
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