The grieving grove

Mallikarjun DG

During Sir Mark Cubbon’s time as the Commissioner of Princely State of Mysore from 1834 to 1861, the pete or town of Bangalore abounded with groves (‘topu’s) and pristine water bodies, and its population was hardly a lakh.

The salubrious climate had caught the attention of Britishers. Thus came the cantonment and the beginning of urbanisation in and around C&M (Civil and Military) Station, prompting a hike in the value of lands in its vicinity, now known as real estate.

Now, Bengaluru is expanding by leaps and bounds, and is well capable of engulfing the areas within a radius of 100 km.

One such area that faces this threat is the Nallur Tamarind Grove located adjacent to the Kempegowda International Airport.

The tamarind grove is set down as ‘Amarayi Topu’ in revenue records. It extends over 54 acres, has 292 tamarind trees, and once habituated 55 species of fauna as recorded by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

Further, the IISc has found out through carbon dating that a tree (No 155) is 410 years. The other gnarled beauties are aged between 200 and 300 years.

Historical significance

The grove also sits in a historically rich space. Nallur’s antiquity dates back to 11th century. It had many palaces and temples from the Chola period, surrounded by Sidlaghatta, Hosakote, Devanahalli, Chintamani and Kolar taluks. A temple in the area serves as proof.

Archaeologist B L Rice records in Mysore Gazetteer in 1890 that Nalur fell into ruins due to feudal rivalry.

And so, the grove was in obscurity until a team of horticulture and history enthusiasts — led by Dr S V Hittalamani (former Additional Director of Horticulture) and Santhe Narayana Swamy (former Senior Assistant Director of Horticulture) — visited the area on November 30, 1987.

This prompted many a scientist of Forestry College of Ponnampet and Arboriculture Association of India, headed by Dr A N Yellappa Reddy, to visit it as well and alert the state government — specially the forest department — to study the tamarind trees, capable of rare genetic variations.

Ultimately, the state government, forest department and Karnataka Biodiversity Board initiated conservation measures.

Then, the National Biodiversity & Heritage Board concurred with the proposal of the state government and declared the grove as ‘Biodiversity Heritage Site’ in January 2007.

The Board described the trees as “a group of old plants standing like ageless sentinels, firmly rooted to the ground with their gigantic trunks, along with large picturesque crowns spread very high and aloft like open wings.” Later the area was fenced with barbed wire and guarded by a watchman.

Eventually, the Nallur Grama Panchayat was roped in by setting up a bio-diversity committee at village level under the supervision of Karnataka Biodiversity Board.

However, when the team from 1987 visited the grove recently under the patronage of Institute of Agro-Forestry Technologists led by N Sampangi and A S Sadashivaiah, it saw that the conservation measures were inadequate, to say the least. They noticed the ignored trees and the lack of protection, and that its littered state.

The site might have a real-estate value that runs into crores, but the value of its biodiversity and antiquity is immeasurable.

(With inputs from Dr S V Hittalamani and Santhe Narayana Swamy)