Monday, June 21, 2010

Localities in Namma Bengaluru

I've always been amused to know the logic behind christening of localities in a city. Bangalore was no exception when I moved in here. However, unlike in the other cities, I decided to do some research on this and this post is an attempt to give the fellow Bangaloreites some insight into my research findings.

Palya, Sandra, Pete, Kere, Halli, Nagar are the various categories that Bangalore localities broadly fall into.

Kere in Kannada means lake. So, Taverekere, Mathikere, Arakere, Challakere are situated where there used to be lakes once upon a time.

Pete in Kannada means market. Bangalore was divided into various Pete depending upon the trade or community who lived in a particular area. For example, Akkipete(for the rice traders), Chikkapete(for small general traders), Chamarajapete, Ragipete.

Halli in Kannada means village. So, present day Halli in Bangalore used to be small villages once upon a time. For example, Marthahalli, Kodihalli, Dasarahalli, Devanahalli, Jalahalli, Uttarahalli.

Sandra in Kannada is an altered form of Samudra i.e. sea. As it appears, Bangalore was not only a garden city once, but also a lake city. Thippasandra, Jakkasandra, Lakkasandra, Byrasandra, to name a few Sandra. I wonder if Sandra Bullock too falls into this category.

PaaLya is an area of land, ruled by a PaaLeyagara, meaning Chieftain, in Kannada. The origins of this word can be traced back to the time when Bangalore was ruled by the Wodeyars and the Muslim rulers of Mysore. SuduguntepaLya, KalasipaLya, NS PaLya, MurugeshPaLya fall into this category. However, my all time favorite PaLya are MalleshPaLya, SultanPaLya, MichaelPaLya...Hilarious, aren't they? I wish there was a KapilPaLya too in Bangalore!

23 comments:

  1. nice info ... but Sandra Bullock!!!!!!! arghhhhh!!

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  2. He He He...I agree! वाईट होता! There's one more:
    Near Nagsandra Circle, in 1964 or so, one day a US lady was going in a bullock cart. She was pregnant. She delivered in the bullock cart near Nagsandra Circle. And her mom named the baby girl instantly:
    SANDRA BULLOCK

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  3. man.. u missed to research on GoDi... ADugoDi, chikk-aDugoDi, kaDugoDi...
    There r fair chances of Bangalore having Kapil's palya (पाल्य) if u plan that way...

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  4. अनिशने बझावर सांगितलं होतं, त्याचा रेफरन्स घेऊन...
    कपिल, तुझा Palya नक्कीच बंगलोरात असेल!
    मस्त लिहिलंयस!

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  5. Even same goes to various areas in Pune... like peth, khind, nagar, etc... etc. But nice info... :)

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  6. dude... seriously ... you should be a historian .. wasting your precious time in Junk software company ...!

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  7. @अनामिक: I'm not sure if "Godi" is also one such category. Need to investigate more...
    @Bhise: :) ;) :D
    @Swapnil: True! Every city has it's own history and geography :)
    @Ram: LOL

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  8. mast research.. kuthun shodhlas?
    would like to add something: "Pete" is similar to marathi word "Peth" which means market. Many cities in Maha have places named as "Laxmi Peth", "Sadashiv Peth", etc.
    In Kolhapur, there is a peth named after each day of week starting from "Ravivar Peth" till "Shanivar Peth".It was done to identify the place as per the day on which the weekly bazaar was held at that place.

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    1. this is influence of maratha sultanate in south India

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  9. @Pravin: True! My native town place has such daily "Peth"s too. Thanks for reminding me of those.

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  10. Hey nice info buddy! :)

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  11. Nice research there.. Had been wondering about this similar suffixes in localities name here, but never bothered to research..lol..

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  12. I do not know where Kapil is from,but undoubtedly he is a true Bangalorean.Hope,he should keep up this brilliant work. I am also hopeful that other friends will also chip in-with or without 'bullock' tit-bits.

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  13. Godi is an altered form of Gudi meaning temple. ex:Kadugodi comes from "kadu" & "Gudi" meaning "temple in a forest".

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  14. You missed Pura too i.e Yashwant pura,mahadeva pura etc...

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  15. 'Godi' like in Adugodi or Kaadugodi is a form of Kannada word 'Kodi', Which meant a sluice or a vent built to control water from the lake. 'Adu' in kannada means Goat, so Adugodi is a place where goats came to drink water from the lake vent, a not so long ago! - Prasanna Revan

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  16. @Anonymous 'pura' is an altered version of 'pur' which means city or settlement. Examples are Nagpur, Gorkhapur, Kharagpur, Kanpur, etc:

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    1. Correct. In Telegu, Malayalam & Tamil it called as "Puram". Examples are Maamallapuram, Amalaapuram (Andhra), Thiruvananthapuram, Srikandapuram, Sri Krishnapuram (Kerala), Kaanchipuram, Ramanathapuram (TamilNadu)

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  17. 'Godi' is used for dock in the ports as well. This goes well with 'controlled water area'.

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    1. Kadugodi I Guess means "Temple in Forest". Godi is altered form of "Gudi" which means Temple.. As in "Basavanagudi" - Bull Temple (Basava - Bull)

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  18. Thanks for sharing a very good information.

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  19. Pura or Puram or Pur are suffix in many cities. Pura means a walled city and may have a fort or palace in it. Like Kanpur or Singapor(Simhapur) etc.

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