Cubbon Park - A heritage walk along the green lung space of Bangalore
Cubbon Park also known as “Sri Chamarajendra Udyanavana” is a very popular park in Bangalore and is thronged by morning/evening walkers due to its lush greenery and soothing atmosphere. Being a Bangalorean, I feel sad to say that I have never visited Cubbon park till date. It was Spring time and social media was flooded with pictures of Bangalore Blooms in which Cubbon park had a special mention. So I decided to explore this park on a morning walk along with my dad so that at least with this reason I will get to visit this famous park of Bangalore.
Some Facts : This public park was first named as Meade's Park after Sir John Meade, the acting commissioner of Mysuru in 1870 and subsequently renamed as Cubbon Park after the longest-serving commissioner of the time, Sir Mark Cubbon. To commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar's rule in Mysore State, in 1927, the park was again renamed as Sri. Chamarajendra Park, in memory of the 19th-century ruler of the state Sri Chamarajendra Wodeyar (1868–94), during whose rule the park came into existence. This park is spread across an area of 197 acres.
What Makes it Special : Its rich flora, close proximity with some prominent buildings, statues of famous personalities and well maintained lawns offering you with lot of opportunities for some great clicks.
With that background, lets begin our journey...
We hopped onto purple metro line and got down at Cubbon road station. Once you are outside the station, on your right you will see the entry gate of Cubbon park. From here started our peaceful morning walk in nature’s abode. The park has well laid paths for people to enjoy their nature walk.
We took one path and started walking along that trail. I was really amazed to see nature’s own floral carpet with purple and yellow flowers.
Very soon we came across High Court of Karnataka. Also known as “Attara Kacheri”. Here I noticed an information signage which explains about the monument along with a “Did you know” section which had details about the statues of eminent personalities installed at different corners in this park with a map. Now that pumped up my excitement and from here began our “Statue Trail” in Cubbon park.
The statues of these famous 5 personalities are installed in honor of those who had contributed in some way or other towards the development of city (Bangalore).
We continued our walk along the green lung space of Bangalore. It was so refreshing.
We continued following the map and reached Seshadri Memorial Hall which houses the State central Library. This hall has a collection of all varieties of books and it is the largest library in Karnataka. This building is surrounded by lush greenery of the park on three sides and a beautiful rose garden in the front. Here we saw two mobile libraries parked outside the library.
This is where we found our first statue of “Diwan Sir Kumarapuram Seshadri Iyer”. Statue is installed at the center of the rose garden and visitors are not allowed to get inside this garden for obvious reasons. So I had to zoom and click the picture of Sir Seshadri Iyer(pic clarity might not be that great).
Diwan Sir Kumarapuram Seshadri Iyer
Sir K Seshadri Iyer was the second Dewan of Mysore state since the reinstation of the Wodeyar family on its throne in 1881 and was the longest serving Dewan of the princely state for almost 18 consecutive years.
We also saw some interesting art of woods but there was no signage explaining what they were representing. Indeed very well preserved.
There are restrooms here (Pay and use) and drinking water filters installed too.
We then came across 2nd statue of “Maharaja Chamarajendra Wodeyar”.
Maharaja Chamarajendra Wodeyar X Bahadur
He was the grandson and adopted heir of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar III. The Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), Chamarajendra Water Works in Hesaraghatta, English Tudor style Bangalore Palaace and Lalbagh Glass House were built during his time.
There is an information signage giving a detailed view of Cubbon park. For example which species of trees blooms in which side of the park.
From here the walk to the 3rd statue of Mark Cubbon was easy since it was a straight walk as per map.
Mark Cubbon
Sir Mark Cubbon (23 August 1775 – 23 April 1861) was a British army officer with the East India Company who was the Chief Commissioner of Mysore 1834 to 1861. He was the longest serving commissioner of Mysore state. Cubbon Road and Cubbon Park in Bangalore are named after him. Mark Cubbon took special interest and financially supported the publication of the first Kannada translation of the Bhagvad Geeta. His statue was initially installed in front of High Court. Later on it was moved opposite to Band Stand in Cubbon Park.
There is a big information signage on things to see in this park.
We continued walking towards the next statue of Queen Victoria for which we had to walk towards other exit gate of Cubbon Park. This was a long walk but we took pit stops for some candid pictures.
 |
| The colors of the petals from this tree were twinning with the Bangalore Metro signage |
Finally we came out of the park and spotted 4th statue of “Queen Victoria Alexandria”.
Queen Victoria Alexandrina
The Victorian age was named after Queen Victoria Alexandrina who was crowned Queen of England at the age of eighteen. She survived several assassination attempts to become Empress of India and the longest ruling Monarch in England’s history. This statue was placed here in the Queen’s park which lends its name to Queen’s road nearby.
From here there are clear directions to the last statue which is of King Edward. Enroute we came across some more colorful flora which really made my day.
King Edward’s statue is located outside the first gate (from where we entered near Cubbon road metro station).
King Edward VII
He was the longest serving heir apparent in history who became king only at the age of 89. His parents were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He could ascend the throne only after Queen Victoria’s death. Edwards’s short lived career as the constitutional monarch of England and Emperor of India proved him to be an able administrator. The Edwardian Era was named after his 10 year reign wide ranging changes in society.
It was time to head back home. We were super happy that our refreshing morning walk to view blooming trees also turned out into an exciting statue trail hunt.
With this satisfaction, we walked towards Cubbon road metro station to hop onto our metro train back home. After swiping my card at the entry gates, these interesting murals caught my attention. The theme of the mural is “Water Conservation” and it has been artistically depicted here with good story telling. One complete wall has been used as a mud mural to depict Bangalore’s water story and the need to conserve wells in order to save us from water crisis in future.
Cubbon Park is also called as “Lungs of Banglaore” and I could understand when I finished this walk. So Bangaloreans like me who still havent visited this park, you know what you are missing.
If you really want a green escapade from your hectic routine then do visit this park to soak into the heritage of the city and also to witness the rich biodiversity this park offers.
Interested to explore Namma Bengaluru? Click here - Link
Well captured 😊
ReplyDelete