The new vs the old

With heritage conservation becoming an issue for the state, the only glimmer of hope is a new Heritage Commission.

The famed Bull Temple in Basavangudi, from which the area derives its name, is peaceful on a Thursday morning. Devotees come in twos and threes, pray before the huge monolith Nandi, circumambulate and then make their way to the adjacent temples in the complex. The temple, built by the founder of Bangalore town, Kempe Gowda I, is one of the landmarks of the city — the mandatory busload of foreign tourists who descended on the temple bear testimony to this. It is also one of the areas that were to be part of a heritage park in the heart of the city’s traditional quarter, to be set up by the state government and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). The Bengaluru Parampareya Udyaana, or Bangalore Heritage Park, would also include the Mallikarjuna Temple area and the Bugle Rock Park, and was to feature a garden museum among other things. However, the foundation stone laying ceremony scheduled for September 2 was abruptly called off.

When contacted, Sathya Prakash Varanashi, the convenor of INTACH, said he was hopeful the government would set a new date for the inauguration. But he was reluctant to furnish details of the heritage park project, saying, “The project is still in an early stage, with the final scheme, display contents and modes of representation yet to be finalised. It is too early to discuss details.”

Heritage and conservation have been in the news in the state of late after renowned writer R K Narayan’s house in Mysore came within a hair’s breadth of being razed to the ground. Workers had already begun demolition, dismantling doors and windows of the house so that the building could make way for a multi-storey complex, before the commissioner of the Mysore City Corporation stepped in following a furore. Ironically, the contractors claimed that they had received permission to demolish the structure from the same corporation. The state law minister, S Suresh Kumar, has subsequently been quoted in a national daily as saying that the state government would acquire the property at the earliest and “make RKN’s house a source of inspiration to all… and with the flavour of Malgudi”. A few days later, the Mysore Urban Development Authority declared the house a heritage building, thereby preventing it from future demolition threats though what the state government will do with the house remains to be seen.

Demolishing old heritage structures to make way for the new is hardly a novel phenomenon in the state. The Charles Correa-designed Life Insurance Corporation building in downtown Bangalore replaced what used to be the residence of M Visvesvaraiya, former dewan of the princely state of Mysore, renowned engineer, statesman and an iconic figure.

What might help conservation efforts, though, is a new Heritage Commission that has been proposed in the Bangalore Metropolitan Regulatory Governance Bill which is likely to be taken up in the next Assembly session. According to the provisions of the Bill, the Commission’s mandate would include identification and documentation of heritage buildings, spreading awareness about conservation and ensuring that heritage buildings are not demolished arbitrarily. “If the bill is passed, it would make the entire conservation process more systematic,” says Ashwin Mahesh, a member of the Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task Force (ABIDe). “Setting up the commission would go a long away in preventing something like the attempted demolition of R K Narayan’s house,” he says.

Fortunately, not all old houses are consigned to be buried beneath skyscrapers and malls. Legendary vocalist Gangubai Hangal’s home in Dharwad, which has successfully been restored and converted into the Gangotri museum — a project initiated by the state government and executed by INTACH in 2008 — stands as a heartening example.