‘Kempe Gowda built watch towers’

The four towers built by Kempe Gowda were watch towers and not erected to mark the boundaries of Bangalore, said Devara Kondaiah Reddy, a retired professor,  Hampi Kannada University.

Delivering a talk on ‘Future vision of Kempegowda on growth of Bangalore city’, Reddy said the common perception among the public that Kempe Gowda built the four towers — near Mekhri circle, inside Lalbagh, near Kempambudhi Lake and near Ulsoor Lake — to limit the growth of Bangalore was a “myth”. “The theory is a myth as Kempe Gowda had built similar towers at Shivaganga, Magadi, Gavipuram and Yelahanka where he ruled,” he said.

“These towers located on hillocks were mere watch towers. They could have also been used to collects toll from those entering Bangalore,” he added.

Reddy also said that though it was belived that Kempe Gowda founded Bangalore, the name Bengaluru existed even before him.

“Some stone inscriptions suggest that a village named Bengaluru existed in 910 AD. The Doddanageshwara Temple in Dodda Begur, the Eshwara Temple in Kadugoi, Iblur which now houses an Army firing range existed even before Yelahanaka to which Kempe Gowda was a chieftain in 15th centaury,” he said.