Bangalore is officially Bengaluru from now

Shedding the colonial name, Bangalore on Saturday became Bengaluru synchronising with the state formation day -- Karnataka Rajyotsava.

In tandem, 11 other cities across Karnataka were also re-christened by the state government, casting away the anglicised names.

The new names have come into force after the state government issued a special gazette notification to effect the changes, giving them the distinct local flavour.

Now Bangalore will be called Bengaluru, Mangalore (Mangaluru), Mysore (Mysuru), Bellary (Ballari), Belgaum (Belagavi), Hubli (Hubballi), Tumkur (Tumakuru), Bijapur (Vijayapura), Chikmagalur (Chikkamagaluru), Gulbarga (Kalaburagi), Hospet (Hosapete) and Shimoga (Shivamogga).

In the ninth century, Bangalore was called Bengaval-uru (city of guards). In the 12th century, according to another legend, it became Benda-kaalu-ooru (town of boiled beans).

According to an apocryphal, 12th century Hoysala king Veera Ballala II lost his way during a hunting expedition in a forest. A poor old woman offered him boiled beans to the tired king, who with a sense of gratitude called the place "benda-kaalu-uru".

Kempegowda, a feudatory ruler under the erstwhile Vijayanagara Empire, was considered the founder of Bangalore. He chose Bendakaluru for his capital in early 16th century, which transformed into Bengaluru and in colonial times, and during British rule became Bangalore.

The city has in recent decades metamorphosed into the country's IT capital, earning it the tag the Silicon Valley of India, as also as Biotech capital, after its earlier forms as a pensioner's paradise and a garden city.

With explosive growth and cracking infrastructure, the city has now earned the notorious distinction as a ‘Garbage City’. Bengaluru is also evolving as a ‘StartUp City’, incubating the new ventures.

Eight years after the state had sent a proposal to the Centre on a suggestion by Jnanpith awardee late U R Ananthamurthy to rechristen Bangalore, the National Democratic Alliance government gave its clearance to it and other changes recently.

The name changing process began in 2006 after the Janata Dal Secular-BJP government announced that they planned to rename 12 cities, including Bangalore and Belgaum.

The process ran into rough weather after the Maharashtra government filed an objection with the home ministry on the issue of renaming Belgaum, which it claims is part of that state. Subsequently, it had remained on the backburner.     

While the government has changed the names, some educational institutions and private companies are not keen on switching over to the new ones, according to reports. "The change in name applies to cities, not institutions.

Even after rechristening of Bombay and Madras, university names remained the same," Bangalore University Vice Chancellor B Thimme Gowda has said.

 As for private firms and organisations, there will be no compulsion on them to change their registered names, Karnataka Chief Secretary Kuashik Mukherjee said. "The government is not changing the names in a chauvinistic manner but adhering to the sentiments of the local people," he added.

Bangalore has now joined the list of other cities to be rechristened after Bombay became Mumbai in 1995, Madras Chennai in 1996, Calcutta Kolkata in 2001 and Trivandrum to Thiruvananthapuram in 1991, among others.

Image: Bangalore state assembly