Biography of H C Javaraya to be launched today

The biography of renowned horticulturist Rao Bahadur H C Javaraya, ‘A Gardener and a Gentleman’ will be launched today. Javaraya, along with Gustav Krumbiegal, is credited with transforming Bengaluru into a garden city.

Historian, Meera Iyer, who authored the book said that many aspects of Javaraya’s life were not well known. Other than being the first Indian superintendent of Lalbagh Botanical Garden and playing a major role in developing it, he was in charge of all gardens attached to public buildings in Bengaluru in the 1920s and 1930s. “The number of gardens under the government’s gardens department suddenly increased in this period,” Iyer says.

“He also came up with the proposal for a fruit research station in Hesaraghatta and got government backing for it. This later developed into the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research,” she says. “He also set up fruit growers’ cooperatives and wrote research papers on improving fruit cultivation.”

Former Rajya Sabha MP Prof Rajeev Gowda, who is compering the event, said the book is also about what we can learn from Javaraya and apply to the future. “It reminds us of our own responsibility to the natural world around us, about the need to combat climate change and revive Bengaluru’s garden city legacy. It also shows that horticulture has good income potential for farmers in the outskirts of the city.”

The event will be held at Bangalore International Centre at 6.30 pm. A documentary on Javaraya’s life by Ganesh Shankar Raj will be screened. This will be followed by a panel discussion involving Iyer, Raj, former diplomat Chiranjiv Singh and art historian Suresh Jayaram. It will be moderated by Ullas Karanth, Emeritus Director at the Centre for Wildlife Studies.