The expressway to a coronation

A bridge over River Cauvery in Srirangapatna. 

Chamarajendra Wadiyar X

Katharine Bowring (née Bellasis), rumoured to be Mrs Bowring. Wikicommons

Last month, we saw the inauguration of the 119-km Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway, built at an estimated cost of Rs 8,480 crore. The expressway includes five bypasses — a Srirangapatna bypass, a Mandya bypass, a section that bypasses Bidadi, a section that bypasses Ramanagara and Channapatna and a section that bypasses Maddur.

Srirangapatna, an island created by the branching out of the River Cauvery, was the capital of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom from 1610, after its expansion during the rule of Raja Wadiyar I. The Srirangapatna Fort had three gates, leading to Delhi, Bengaluru and Mysuru. Thus, even centuries ago, there would have been a road connecting Mysuru with Bengaluru, although it may have looked very different from our present roads.

It has to be recalled that Bengaluru as we know it at present, was added to the Mysore kingdom by Chikkadevaraja Wadiyar in the late 17th century. The earliest available recorded account of a trip on the Bengaluru-Mysuru road is a journey of Mrs Bowring, rumoured to be Katherine Bellasis.

A letter, a journey

In a letter written to her friend, Mrs Bowring describes her journey to attend the coronation of Chamarajendra Wadiyar X in 1868. The contents of the letter have been reproduced in ‘Modern Mysore – From the Beginning to 1868’, a book authored by historian M Shama Rao in 1936.

In 1868, following the death of Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar on March 27, Chamarajendra Wadiyar should have been crowned immediately. However, officials from the British government felt that till the young prince was old enough and qualified to administer the kingdom, a formal installation would be premature.

Finally, the Maharanis of Mummadi sent a communication to the then Commissioner, Lewin Bentham Bowring, in 1868. They pointed out the approach of Dasara procession, and the need to make a decision on the coronation so that there would be no break in the long-observed custom. It was expected that the Maharaja show himself to his subjects, seated on his throne during Dasara celebrations.

On September 22, Bowring came to Mysore. On the next day, corresponding to the seventh day of Dasara, the installation ceremony took place in a pandal in the inner quadrangle of the Mysore Palace.

It is this journey to Mysore that Mrs Bowring chronicles in her letter. Her account, from the time she left Bengaluru with her husband, till she returned is so replete with interesting details that no apology is needed to reproduce it, states Shama Rao in his book.

It was on September 19 that the journey began, after a telegram arrived from Mysore, informing the Bowrings that the installation of the young Maharaja would happen four days later. Mrs Bowring describes it as such: “It was useless to remonstrate at this short notice, so L_ said ‘Fiat’, and I grumbled and set Marie and two tailors to work and stitch their fingers off to get ready.”

Here, the ‘L_’ seems to refer to Lewin Bowring.

She goes on to write that due to a reduction in the supplies of horses and carriages in the Mysore kingdom, bullocks were prepared, along with a carriage for the journey. Considering her health, the carriage was one that was set up to be a makeshift bed.

Setting off

Led at the front by a ‘Silledar’ or a cavalry soldier and many more at the rear, the Bowrings set off on their journey to the coronation. “As we passed through the different taluks or villages, the Amildar or Magistrate came out to meet us followed by the inhabitants and while we changed bullocks, presented garlands of flowers and limes and chatted with my husband in Canarese (Kannada) of the coming event,” Mrs Bowring writes.

However, along the journey, the road became very rough. The bullocks themselves struggled to traverse the rocky paths. During the night, the group passed through villages, sighting people asleep outside their huts, rolled up in their blankets. Mrs Bowring describes the great banyan trees, and their ghastly appearance in the moonlight.

Stopping at Maddur station, the Bowrings had breakfast and started again. This time, in a carriage provided by the Maharaja himself.

Vibrant views

The path soon passed across the Cauvery river, much like our modern expressway. To Mrs Bowring, this, the first Indian river she had seen, was fascinating. “The country was very green with rice crops and mulberry trees and is irrigated by the water channels of the Cauvery at this season of the year,” she writes.

Soon after, the road brought them through Srirangapatna, nestled in “luxuriant vegetation”. Describing their great pace, Mrs Bowring mentions her sighting of the mosque, fort, the tomb of Tipu Sultan and the house of Duke of Wellington.

The path also crossed the Maharaja’s bathhouse, located under a grand bridge: “Great flights of steps lead down to the water and women in bright clothes were filling their brass vessels with the water and walking away with them on their heads.”

The last leg of the journey was a short one. A regiment of Silledars arrived to escort the Bowrings. They were welcomed with much fanfare, including music and dance. The welcome parade also included merchants and priests.

Thus, on Wednesday, the Bowrings attended the grand coronation. Mrs Bowring details the curious nature of the event, as well as grand arrangements and rituals of great pomp and show.

The journey back, she writes, was at different hours. She describes being glad to see different parts of the striking greenery that they had earlier passed by during the night.

Today, several centuries later, whether leading to an event as grand or a spontaneous day trip, the road from Bengaluru to Mysuru has certainly transformed. Yet, for many, it might still hold the charm and intrigue it once held for Mrs Bowring.