- The Sheshadri Iyer Memorial Hall or the State Public library in Cubbon Park
- The High Court or the Attara Kacheri, Bangalore
Cubbon Park, the lung of Bangalore, also houses some deserving heritage monuments. I wrote about the State Public Library and now we move on to the High Court, or the Attara Kacheri or the अठारह कचहरी.
History behind the old name of High Court – Attara Kacheri
The Mysore Ruler Chikkadevaraja was influenced by the administrative style of the Mughal Emperors in dividing the government into eighteen traditional departments.
Some believe that this style was first suggested and put in place by legendary administrator Yudhisthir of Mahabharata.
Adopting this administrative skill and style, Chikkadevaraya also divided the governance into eighteen departments like civil and military accounts, custom department, IB, treasury department.
Tipu Sultan continued with the same. After Tipu, even the British continued with the same. Initially the offices of these eighteen departments, during the reign of Tippu and British, operated from Tipu’s Summer Palace in the fort area of Bangalore.
Soon these Revenue and General Secretariat expanded quite a lot and the Summer Palace could not accommodate all of them, so it was decided to move them here in this area of Cubbon Park.
Mr L.B Bowring, who took over as commissioner after Mark Cubbon and continued for eight years from 1862 to 1870 AD, visualized and planned the construction of this spread out handsome building for the Secretariat.
Bangalore also remembers Mr Bowring for bringing the railway line from Madras to Bangalore. The construction of Attara Kacheri was done under the supervision of Arcot Narayanswami Mudaliar.
The construction of this building started in 1864 and was completed in 1868. The total cost of construction was around Rs 4.5 Lakhs.
Earlier building and plan of High court or Attara Kacheri
What we see from inside the Cubbon Park, the so-called backside of the Court, was originally the front-side of the High Court facing Cubbon Park.
The Judges arrived to the main-gate of this calm, quiet and tranquil area, in their horse-drawn chariots, got down here and walked over to their offices.
An Annexe was built-in its North-East corner in 1917 and the current front portion of the high court was built Forty-Five years later. It was an exact replica of the previous building facing the Cubbon park.
Initially, after India’s independence this building even housed Karnataka’s legislative assembly.
(A controversy here: When told by Pankaj from INTACH, about the entrance to the high-court building from the serene surrounding of the Cubbon park, it sounded romantic to me, what a peaceful start to the stressful day where a person is suppose to take tense and difficult decision. But the reader, Manish Ganta, contested my representation of fact, I agreed with him; but then Pankaj and Meera, from INTACH contested the same. I am confused so I am leaving it for readers to dig more and find out. Thanks Manish, Pankaj and Meera).
Story of construction of Karntaka Vidhansoudha
There is an interesting story behind the construction of Vidhansoudha.
In 1950, a Russian delegation visited Karnataka and they were taken on tour by then chief minister of Karnataka, Kengal Hanumanthaiah.
The Russians were shown the impressive Colonial buildings but they appeared unimpressed and then one of them asked Mr Hanumanthaiah, “Do you have any new building that is based on impressive Indian Architecture?”
This comment pinched the chief minister and the foundation of current VidhanSoudha was laid down in 1952 and the construction was complete in four-year in 1956.
Its architect Shri B R Manickam designed Vidhan Soudha as an amalgamation of Dravidian, Mughal and Rajasthani architectural style.
Design of High Court Building or the Attara Kacheri
The high court building was designed in classical Greco-Roman style that is conspicuous in its pillars, arches, decorated ceiling walls and open verandas.
The high court has open extended verenda in front to keep the interiors of the building cool. It has projected sides with lesser elevation to define and highlight the center.
The work was done with lime and mortar. This also helped in giving shape to desired moldings.
Pankaj, our guide for the day, opened his bag to show us the tools that were used to get these moldings, with measures of 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 unit system .
A curious case against high court in the same high court!
In 1982 there was a proposal to demolish this structure. A few alert citizens of the city protested against the idea and filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation).
It was the first PIL to be filed in Karnataka High-Court to save its own High-Court building from imminent demolition. The case was heard in the same building but the judges declined to stay the demolition, finally a favorable Supreme-court judgement saved the building.
( I would like to thank Manish, who followed my earlier misrepresenting of the facts with clear documents to prove me wrong – please do read the comments below)
Bandstand in Cubbon Park
A walk from the high court towards the State Archaeological Museum takes us to a bandstand. This bandstand was originally constructed near Saint Mark Cathedral.
When a need was felt to vacate the area, the bandstand was dismantled and shifted to Cubbon Park. In the olden days the Royal Air force Band used to play here. Even today many performances take place here.
It is impossible to miss the typical red color of all these buildings in and around the Cubbon Park – the high court, the state library and the Archaeological Museum.
Story behind red color of buildings in Cubbon Park
These buildings of Nineteenth Century were specially painted in Pompeian Red on the orders of Richard Sankey. This color was the sensational fashion of that time after discovery of Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The vivid frescoes in these two towns were found in the dark Red. They were originally painted in ochre, but when Mount Vesuvius erupted, the gases emitted from it reacted with their original color and converted them into deep red.
The Pompeian red became the most admired color of the time and the British too wanted to use the new rage hue in their work.
There are so many interesting things related to any monument, even the choice of the color of a building may narrate a story, tell about a tradition 🙂 I would like to end this trip here.
We also entered inside the Archaeological Museum, but I feel it deserves another visit and we would visit it some other day exploring it in more details.
Rebutting of the “red color story”
(A correction in above fact as well: Credit again goes to Mr Manish Ganta: who put on my face a document by Richard Sankey the link is below in the comment section.
A document where Sankey clearly mentions that the red ocher was chosen as it was cheap, possible to make locally and that which would not need renewal and re-application quickly in the process of time).
Preferably, and also due to the similarity I would have loved to be in my fantasies that this color was chosen due to the Pompeian red being a fashion of the time, but Manish has not left much choice to me 🙂
Credit to this opportunity goes to INTACH, Bangalore; Here is the link to their facebook page; I would highly recommend this trip with the INTACH experts. Every trip with them is an experience to cherish.
Wow! Such a charming place. I fell in love with the architecture. Is a day trip enough to explore it?
Bangalore is in south of India. It is the capital city of Karnataka state. There are many other interesting buildings but if looking for architecture, then Hampi, Belur and Halebid are the ancient monuments to explore.
“What we see from inside the Cubbon Park, the so-called backside of the Court, was originally the front-side of the High Court facing Cubbon Park. The Judges arrived to the main-gate of this calm, quiet and tranquil area, in their horse-drawn chariots, got down here and walked over to their offices. An Annexe was built-in its North-East corner in 1917 and the current front portion of the high court was built Forty-Five years later. It was an exact replica of the previous building facing the Cubbon park” these lines in the article are not true. The front side used now is the building which was built in 1864-1868 and the one facing the cubbon park is built later in 1995 as an annex , One can easily identify it by looking at the architectural way and material used to build ans as well as there is a basement to the annex where as the front side( the front side which is used now ) doesn’t have one.
Thanks Manish for bringing up the other perspective. This is what I learnt in the INTACH walk. I need to double check. Till the time I get an opportunity to confirm, I keep it the same …
Thanks a lot for your comment which will help me to confirm/double-check 🙂
Hi Manish
I searched for the paper on net (which you suggested in other comment of yours), while going through it, I read the following:
“At length, however, a site was fixed
on, which had originally been specially named by Sir Mark Cubbon (whose
bronze statue by Marochetti, now appropriately stands in front of the
building). It lies immediately beyond the western extremity of the
general parade ground, and so far as mere position goes, is as centrical,
with reference to the populations of the Pettah on one side, and the Can-
tonment Bazaar and Military station on the other, as could be desired ;
but it fails in some minor points. ”
It makes me wonder that probably what I wrote is right, also I feel its uncommon to see the back side of a building like this.
I would have been happy if you proved me wrong, but you didn’t . In the same page that you have quoted the above para in the last second paragraph if you read: It says ” THE GENERAL APPEARANCE OF THE BUILDINGS AS SEEN FROM THE PARADE GROUND OR EAST SIDE, IS SHOWN BY THE FRONTISPIECE”. so the east side is the front side of the building and there is a parade ground over there not cubbon park. In page three of the article you can see the design of the building which clearly shows you the three facades of the building facing east side . If you want to prove that the side which has Sir Mark Cubbon statue as the front side, then I guess that it is not absolute. The statue can be moved from the front side to back because the statue of British Commissioner on the front side of the Karnataka High Court after Independence was assumed as still being in the colonial rule. I agree I don’t have the paper which says that it was moved from front to back but the directions are one way to prove them and the information board of the karnataka government placed in the cubbon park side of the High Court building (the images 1 and 2 in your article, don’t show the board. I think you must visit it once to verify or else i can send you the image of that board if you forward your mail id) clearly says that the statue was moved from the front side to back.
Clap, Clap, Clap!
You have put forth strong arguments and also supported it by the pix you sent me (which I have put in the article as well, assuming that you will not mind the same). Thanks Manish. I guess the corrections satisfies you now. Please do let me know if you feel the need of some more corrections or clarity in the article. (third one is still pending, I am going to each one-by-one).
Finally! thank you for recognizing my efforts and correcting your article. One last correction is My name is Ganta Manish, not Ghanta, No H after all I love my name too.
I am so sorry Manish. Mistake Corrected! Thanks for all your valuable feedback that made the article factually correct.
“These buildings of Nineteenth Century were specially painted in Pompeian Red on the orders of Richard Sankey. This color was the sensational fashion of that time after discovery of Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The vivid frescoes in these two towns were found in the dark Red. They were originally painted in ochre, but when Mount Vesuvius erupted, the gases emitted from it reacted with their original color and converted them into deep red. The Pompeian red became the most admired color of the time and the British too wanted to use the new rage hue in their work”. Even these sentences in the article are wrong. As far as the High Court building is considered it is painted red for two reasons i)to make it cost efficient ii) the color lasted long in the weather conditions of bangalore. These were the reasons stated by Mr. Richard Heiram Sankey the chief engineer of Mysore state in the period of its construction from 1864-68, I am herewith attaching a link of the book PROFESSIONAL PAPERS ON INDIAN ENGINEERING wherein the first article is by Mr. Richard Heiram Sankey detailing about the construction and the design and the reasoning behind.
https://archive.org/details/professionalpap00regoog
The link of the article of chief engineer of Mysore Richard Heiram Sankey on the construction of public offices at Bangalore or the attara kacheri
Wow Manish! I am so happy to get you back with another critical comment. Good to know. It seems the link has not got attached. I will check my spam to see that it should not go in the spam folder.
Thanks for your comment that would help readers to know the right reason too 🙂
I need sometime to read myself and correct it in the article itself.
Thanks again and wish to see many such informative comment where-ever you can correct.
“In 1982 there was a proposal to demolish this structure. A few alert citizens of the city protested against the idea and filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation). It was the first PIL to be filed in Karnataka High-Court to save its own High-Court building from imminent demolition. The case was heard in the same building and in 1984, the judgement was delivered against the demolition.” it is true that there was a PIL filed in the High Court to stop its demolition, and the same was heard in that building itself. But the judgement was not against demolition you can read the judgment- “B.V. Narayana Reddy And Ors. vs State Of Karnataka And Ors. on 16 August, 1984
Equivalent citations: AIR 1985 Kant 99, ILR 1984 KAR 631” the case went for an appeal to supreme court through SLP and then the supreme court ordered the state government to stop demolition.
My first correction in the article Manish. Thanks for coming with such clear-cut docs to support yourself. I see that not only my article was mis-representing the fact but the mistake and misinformation is quite widespread on the net.
Thanks a lot for educating me.
It really went into spam.
Thanks Manish for sharing.
Hi Manish
It seems somehow I lost the link again. It would be nice of you, if you can share it again.
However, I looked again at what pompeian-red looks like and I am sharing a link for you too to have a look:
https://www.belgianpearls.be/pompeian-red/
Looking at it I am more and more convinced that whatever reason Sankey has given in his paper, the influence of Pompeian red is too difficult to ignore.
So you mean to say that the man who built and wrote proper reasons for choosing the colour, with a paper representing it must be ignored and your assumption of which you are convinced and has no proper reason or paper which says that has to be considered ?. If that is so then i can absolutely say that my comment on the which side is front is also correct because i am convinced too.
Loved the way you have expressed yourself and counter-argued 🙂
Given the option, I would have sticked to the same, but you have left no option.
Jokes Apart: Thanks Manish for enriching me and all the readers.
Hi Manish,
This is Meera. Regarding the colour of the building, please note that Sankey says in his paper that the resulting wash had ‘a pleasant creamy colour.’ Creamy, not red!
Regarding the front/back: Sankey says in his paper that the front, ie, the eastern side faced the parade ground. What you need to keep in mind is that in those days, the parade ground was much longer than what it is today. So the side that we see from Cubbon Park, ie, the eastern side, was the front, and it still does face the parade ground!
Would appreciate if you could correct your statements in this blog entry!
Hi Manish
There are archival maps which clearly shows the ‘High Court, then the Attara Kacheri building facing the Cubbon Park . It is in axis with the Government Museum Building. Please send me your email id, I can share you the archival map… In this map you can clearly see the vacant land, ‘behind’ the High Court where later was built Vidhana Soudha. I am unable to attach it here as there is no such option.
Hi Meera and Pankaj
Glad to see your comments on the blog.
There are arguments and counter-arguments about the same. I will be sending you my E-mail id so you can send me the map. I will put it in the blog too and keep the discussion open …
To be honest, I am in no position to be sure about right or wrong …
I will keep it open with all the facts that I know and encourage readers to read the comments, share their knowledge and enrich us.
Thanks again, Meera and Pankaj. I am feeling privilege to get comments from the two distinguished persons …