New bus stand will rob Bannimantap’s past
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New bus stand will rob Bannimantap’s past

January 21, 2025

By Gouri Satya, Sr. Journalist

It is hard to believe that the famous historic place, Bannimantap, will have a bus stand to be built at Rs. 120 crore on the 16-acre land the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has in its possession. Perhaps, nowhere else, such strange proposals to turn a garden and Parade Ground area into an unregulated crowded place with commercial proposals is taken up.

Bannimantap has a significant place in the pages of the history of Mysore, as a garden and as the venue for the worship of the sacred Shami tree as part of Dasara celebrations during Vijayadashami followed by the torchlight parade. Perhaps, it is one of the oldest parts on the outskirts of the past Mysore. Its historic past and religious importance need to be considered before planning any structure there or around it.

Arthur Henry Cole

A grant for the God

The annual report of the Mysore Archaeological Department for the year 1920 says that “an inscription in Cole’s Garden records a grant for the God Lakshmiramana,” who is housed in the oldest Lakshmiramana Temple in the Palace premises, “by order of Narasa Nayaka, father of the famous Vijayanagar king Krishna-Déva Raya in 1499 A.D.”

Besides Mysore, this inscription has significant relevance to Srirangapatna as well. Some four years earlier, Narasa Nayaka, as Commander of the king Immadi Narasimharaya, seized Srirangapatna with his army and annexed that town to Vijayanagara.

Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar

Many historical records and poetic works refer to this heroic achievement of Narasa, who subsequently became the King of Vijayanagara, before his son, Krishnadevaraya. As recorded in the Report, this inscription was found in the Cole’s Garden, the present Bannimantap.

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Another significant aspect of Bannimantap is that it is christened “Cole’s Garden” in honour of Arthur Henry Cole (1780-1844), who played a significant role as a Resident of Mysore from 1818 until 1827.

The present Bannimantap was notified as a garden and old records still carry the name, Cole’s Garden, for this area.

It came to be used for the Dasara torchlight parade during Krishnaraja Wadiyar III and consequently came to be identified as Bannimantap. It continues to serve this purpose even now.

Rajendra Vilas Palace atop Chamundi Hill.

Venue of Shami tree worship

According to another record, the vast area of Bannimantap was named Cole’s Garden. “A few feet south of Cole’s Park Bungalow, and surrounded by a stone platform, is the sacred Shami or Banni tree (Prosopis spicigera). It was in this bungalow that the Maharaja took rest after his ‘Jumboo Savari’ procession commencing from the Palace, and worshipped sacred ‘Shami’ tree, as part of Navaratri and Vijayadashami ritual, culminating with torchlight parade on the Bannimantap grounds.”

From Krishnaraja Wadiyar III onwards, Bannimantap was the venue for the worship of the sacred Shami tree and the torchlight parade for all the Maharajas of Mysore, including the late Jayachamaraja Wadiyar.

Lakshmiramana Swamy
Temple in Palace.

Arthur Cole was also responsible for building the Palace Bungalow, Rajendra Vilas Palace, at the summit of the Chamundi Hill in 1822. He made it his bungalow when he was a Resident of Mysore and subsequently by the Maharajas as a Summer Palace till the idea of a superior building came up in the 1920s when Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV built the Rajendra Vilas Palace, which was completed in 1938-39.

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Cole is also attributed to have constructed the Yelwal Bungalow, now called ‘Aloka’, on the city outskirts on Hunsur Road. Then known as the ‘Resident Bungalow’, it was built in 1806, under his direction.

A 1917 invitation of Bannimantap ceremonial programme.

Should it be an ugly, bustling place?

The Cole’s Garden and Parade Grounds have shrunk in size today with constructions, private and public, including the KSRTC. Now, the question is whether this area with a vast historical and religious background, and a garden to boot, should turn into a centre of an ugly bus stand, crowds gathering 24×7 and shops of all sorts all around which would follow, a sight common at all bus stands?

A bus terminal on a 14-acre land with facilities to park as many as 130 buses to operate on both city and suburban routes, with facilities including a commercial complex, would rob Bannimantap aka Cole’s Garden of its historic and heritage importance, besides creating other problems in the area and on the Dasara procession route. It may even pose a problem for the smooth conduct of the Dasara procession and the Torchlight Parade in the adjacent area, as SOM Columnist Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem observes.

My other good friends, Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy, H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana and Prof. R. Chandra Prakash have highlighted other issues that would arise if the KSRTC builds a bus stand there or around, in this eveninger. Considering all these issues, it is hoped that the KSRTC will desist from building a bus terminal at Bannimantap and preserve the city’s lung space.

[The author writes from his current residence on Blackburn Road, Glen Waverley, Melbourne, Australia].

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