Bangalore

Bangalore (Indian English: [ˈbæŋgəloːɾ] (help·info)), officially Bengaluru (Kannada: ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು, ['beŋgəɭuːru] (help·info)), is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore has an estimated metropolitan population of 65 lakh (6.5 million), making it India's third-most populous city and fifth-largest metropolitan area. Though historically attested at least since 900 CE, recorded history of the city starts from 1537, when Kempe Gowda I, widely regarded as the founder of modern Bangalore, built a mud fort and established it as a province of the Vijayanagara Empire.

During the British Raj, Bangalore developed as a centre for colonial rule in South India. The establishment of the Bangalore Cantonment brought in large numbers of migrants from other parts of the country. Since independence in 1947, Bangalore has developed into one of India's major economic hubs and is today counted among the best places in the world to do business.^[2]. It is home to several public sector heavy industries, software companies, aerospace, telecommunications, machine tools, heavy equipment, and defence establishments. Known for a long time as the 'Pensioner's paradise', Bangalore today is commonly referred to as the Silicon valley of India due to its pre-eminent position as India's technology capital.^[3][4] Home to prestigious colleges and research institutions, the city has the second-highest literacy rate among the metropolitan cities in the nation. However, as a large and growing metropolis in the developing world, Bangalore continues to struggle with problems such as air pollution, traffic congestion, and crime.

The name Bangalore is an anglicised version of the city's name in the Kannada language, Bengalūru. The earliest reference to the name "Bengaluru" was found in a 9th century Western Ganga Dynasty stone inscription on a "vīra kallu" (literally, "hero stone", a rock edict extolling the virtues of a warrior). In this inscription found in Begur, "Bengaluru" is referred to as a place in which a battle was fought in 890. It states that the place was part of the Ganga kingdom until 1004 and was known as "Bengaval-uru", the "City of Guards" in Old Kannada.^[5] An article, published in The Hindu, states:^[6]

An inscription, dating back to 890 CE, shows Bengaluru is over 1,000 years old. But it stands neglected at the Parvathi Nageshwara Temple in Begur near the city...written in Hale Kannada (Old Kannada) of the 9th century CE, the epigraph refers to a Bengaluru war in 890 in which Buttanachetty, a servant of Nagatta, died. Though this has been recorded by historian R. Narasimhachar in his Epigraphia of Carnatica (Vol. 10 supplementary), no efforts have been made to preserve it.

A popular anecdote (although one contradicted by historical evidence) recounts that the 11th-century Hoysala king Veera Ballala II, while on a hunting expedition, lost his way in the forest. Tired and hungry, he came across a poor old woman who served him boiled beans. The grateful king named the place "benda kaal-ooru" (Kannada: ಬೆಂದಕಾಳೂರು) (literally, "town of boiled beans"), which was eventually colloquialised to "Bengalūru".^[7][8] There are also theories that the name has a floral origin and is derived from the tree Benga or "Ven-kai", also known as the Indian Kino Tree (Pterocarpus marsupium).^[9]

On December 11, 2005, the Government of Karnataka announced that it had accepted a proposal by Jnanpith Award winner U. R. Ananthamurthy to rename Bangalore to Bengaluru, which is its name in Kannada.^[10] On September 27, 2006, the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) passed a resolution to implement the proposed name change,^[11] which was accepted by the Government of Karnataka and it was decided to officially implement the name change from November 1, 2006.^[12] However, this process has been currently stalled due to delays in getting clearances from the Union Home Ministry.^[13]