Get rooted in the city’s heritage, join the Parichay

The INTACH- Bangalore chapter which is leading the heritage renaissance in the city is organising monthly heritage walks which they call as Parichay.

This month's Parichay is on March 31 at Gavipuram, one of Bangalore's older settlements, even predating the old city(Pete) of Bangalore. The Parichays are organised with the intent to revive people's interest in knowing their neighbourhood heritage and in developing a sense of history and ownership about them.

Gavipuram takes its name from Gavi Gangadharesvara temple, an ancient cave temple lying in the heart of the locality. The temple was probably built in the 10th century. But the temple as we see it today is popularly ascribed to Kempe Gowda, the founder of Bangalore, in the 1500s.

Some very interesting monolithic structures like ancient stone discs, trishul and dumaroo can be spotted right in front of the temple,which sure can arouse the curiosity of any onlooker.

To add more to your curiosity, recently a group of scientists from Bangalore found out these unusual stone structures having some astronomical significance.

Guess what? These structures were once used to track solstice events.

A medical astronomical observatory in the midst of our sprawling urban jungle. Isn't exciting?

The walk also promises to take one to the Hariharaguddha hill behind the temple which also has some more monoliths and some interesting towers.

Of course, the most interesting or well-known tower is the Kempe Gowde tower near the Kempambudhi lake. Was it the only tower built there? 

How many other towers were built? Was it really built to mark the boundaries of Bangalore?

These intriguing possibilities which are considered by the historians will be discussed during the walk.

The walk will also meander through the priests' settlement behind the temple which provides a nice place to talk about vernacular and modern architecture.

This Gavipuram Parichay is led by Sathya Prakash Varanashi, Convernor, INTACH-Bangalore Chapter.

The Parichays usually last for about three hours. And for each person, they charge ` 120 and they also provide a light snack.

Meera Iyer, Co- Convenor, INTACH (The Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage) Bangalore-chapter said, “Most people think, Bangalore is a city without a past and with no heritage. But actually it is a city with many layers. Through our Parichays we introduce people to these many layers of history that are present in our city's fabric and rekindle a sense of history among them.”

For more details log on to http://www.intachblr.org/contact.php