The man who started Ganeshotsava

Ganesha Chaturthi was always a family affair and the festival goes back to the times of the Guptas when the first temple to Ganesha was built.

In Karnataka, the Ganesha festival is mentioned in the records of the Sathavahanas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas. Later, Ganesha figures during the Hoysala, Vijayanagar and Wodeyar periods.

However, the first public function relating to Ganesha in today’s Karnataka was in Belgaum when Balagangadhar Tilak visited the City and inspired the first Ganesha Mandal to be set up.

Today, Ganesha is as much a public figure as he is private and the credit for making this festival a public function goes to Balagangadhar Tilak, the freedom fighter from Maharashtra.

Tilak wanted an event to unify the people of India and he found this in the Ganapathy festival. He organised the first public Ganesha function in Pune, Maharashtra.

The festival first started out as a family affair. There were no public functions. However, the festival took on a royal hue when the Peshwas came to power in Pune in the eighteenth century. With Ganapathy being the family deity of the Peshwas, the celebrations were grand and it would commence on the first day of  Bhadrapada and they would continue for ten days. The festival ended on Anant Chaturdashi with the immersion of the Ganapathy idol in water.

The last of the Ganesha festivals celebrated by the Peshwa was in  1815 when Bajirao II was in power. When the Peshwa rule ended in 1818,  the Peshwa flag came down from Shaniwar wada, the palace of Peshwas in Pune and up fluttered the Union Jack of England.

Among the valuables the British took away from the Wada was a ruby eyed Ganesha made in pure gold and the idol was studded with diamonds and rubies. It was reportedly valued at £ 50000 in those days. From 1818 to 1892, Ganesha festival remained a family affair in Maharashtra and other parts of India.

Tilak in 1892 saw that the public function could easily unify people. The 1893 Hindu-Muslim riots at Pune and Mumbai further added to his resolve to make the Ganesha pooja a secular affair. Thus, the first public celebration of Ganesha was in Pune and at the Keshav Naik Chawl in Bombay in 1893.

He also set up the Thambdi Jogeshwari Ganapathy Pandal in Pune. This mandal exists even today and celebrates Ganeshotatsava. But it was at the Kesariwada pandal set up by Tilak established in 1893 that saw Ganesha festival turning into a socio-political movement.

After commencing the Sarvajanik mandals for Ganesha in Pune, Tilak came down  to Belgaum in Karnataka in 1905 where he asked the people to come on a common platform and celebrate Ganesha festival. This is how the Zenda Chowk Ganesh Utsav Mandal was formed and today it is 107 years old and still going strong.

There is another legend about why and how Lokmanya Tilak hit upon the idea of starting Ganesha festival in public. People of Girgaum in Mumbai say Tilak was worried about how India could attain freedom and how he could unify people.

He used to sit at bank of Girgaum Chowpaty and make idols. Many people stopped by to see the idols. This gave him the idea of gathering people to watch a statue or idol placed in a public place and which better deity than Ganesha. This is how Tilak started the tradition of Sarvajanik Ganesha Utsav by making clay idols.

Even today, Chowpathy sees huge Ganeshas being taken to the Arabian Sea for immersion.

Today, we see thousands of Ganesha mandals all over the country but except in Maharashtra, none even care to acknowledge the role of Tilak in starting them.

In Bangalore and elsewhere, the Ganesha celebrations in public continue long after the festival is over. Loud filmi music, extravagantly designed pandals and a cacophony of garish colours and designs form the background of many mandals.

Mumbai today sees some of the most elaborate celebrations and the Ganesha idols are huge and the celebrations are hugely popular.

The Lalbaugcha Raja in central Mumbai is the biggest draw and crores of people visit this pandal. Although the idol is situated in the cramped fish market and it remains the same each year, devotees flock here to seek boons from the wish-fulfilling deity. Over the years, offerings in gold and silver to this Ganapathy have increased in direct proportion to high-profile celebrity visits and constant media coverage. Last year celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Sonu Nigam, Shilpa Shetty, Isha Koppikar and Shankar Mahadevan visited Lalbaugcha Raja to offer their prayers to lord Ganesha.

Compared to Mumbai, the pandals in Pune are generally more orthodox and they still adhere to Tilak’s principles. Want to have a look.

Check out Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore and see how diverse the celebrations are at each of the city.  

This species of Bat is found only here

This Bat is  considered to be among the fifteen most critically endangered Bat species in the world and so far it has been found only in India.

Even in India, this Bat has been found in only one location and that is in Karnataka. This free-tailed bat is on the list of most endangered  species in the world.

It was thought to be endemic to a single cave system in India until its recent discovery in Cambodia and a cave in Meghalaya in north east India. However, only one Bat was discovered in Cambodia and there is need for further study to validate these claims.

But so far, the only major colony is in Karnataka and unfortunately, not much is known about them. Though careful monitoring is needed, these bats are extremely vulnerable to habitat destruction and roost disturbance.

The Bats are found in fairly large numbers in a cave called Barapede. The cave is part of the famed Bhimgadh Forest Reserve in Belgaum district of Karnataka State.

The Barapede cave has always been known for Bats and it is only in the last few decades that zoologists have stumbled upon the rare species called Wroughton's free-tailed bat- Otomops wroughtoni.

This Bat was thought to have been extinct until its discovery in the Barapede caves. The caves are near Talewadi, 30 kms from Belgaum City.

A few such Bats were discovered at Phrang Karuh Cave near Nongtrai village in Shella confederacy of  Meghalaya. However, this needs further investigation as is the find of a lone Bat in Cambodia in Chhep District, Preah Vihear Province.

Coming back to the Barapede Cave, the Bat colony has  approximately 70 or more individuals. Female bats  have been recorded carrying one foetus or young. Generally, the population of the Bats at the cave seems to fluctuate between 40 and 100 as reported by different workers.

The cave is supposed to offer an ideal habitat for these Bats. It is  located on a plateau above a moist deciduous forested valley at 800 metres with high humidity inside.

These Bats were found to live in small groups of  two to fifteen individuals in crevices throughout the cave.

Zoologists have reported that the habitat close to the Barapede cave is threatened from submergence due to a proposed dam and from ongoing mining activities (Molur et al. 2002). Another threat is from the spread of alien plants species Prosopis sp. at the cave mouth is a visible hindrance to bat activities (M.S. Pradhan pers. comm. February 2003). Unlike other bats, which eat both insects and fruits, these bats eat only the insects. These Bats are difficult to photograph as they are not only very small in size but they stay inside small crevices in dark caves.

Another Bat species- Theobald's tomb bats -Taphozus theobaldi-can also be found here. Though this species is widespread, it is  relatively uncommon. It inhabits forested areas and roosts mainly in caves. Large roosts numbering thousands of bats can be found in India, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.

Theobald-tomb bats can be found in the Bhimgad caves, about six kilometres from Barapedi cave. It is found in two other locations in the forests of Madhya Pradesh. This also is on the endangered list. The false vampire bat- Megaderma spasma -is classified as rare and it can be found here.

The Bhimgadh Forests are part of the Western Ghats and the  Barapede Caves are located between Krishnapur and Talewadi.

The Wildlife Sanctuary is near Jamboti village of Khanapur taluk and it was declared a wildlife sanctuary on December 2011.

The Bhimgad forests are home to several pother species of wildlife 

Like tigers, leopards, sloth bears, Dholes or wild dogs, foxes, King Cobras, Cobras, snakes, Gaur, Spotted Deer, Chitals and elephants. It also has an impressive list of mammals, birds and reptiles.

The area takes its name from the Bhimgadh Fort which was built  by Shivaji. The fort is in a romantic setting and it is in the midst of thick forests. A trekker’s delight, it rises 1800 feet  vertically above the plains.

The fort occupies the summit of an extraordinary rock, with sides about 300 ft (91 m) in perpendicular height. The defenses were almost entirely natural, requiring little additional construction. The ruins of the 380-ft high and 825-ft broad Bhimgad fort are located right in the heart of the Mahadayi forest, and is of great historical significance.

Shivaji built the fort to keep an Eye on the Portuguese.

The sanctuary is contiguous to the east of Mahadevi sanctuary , Mollem National Park and Netravathi Wildlife Sanctuary.

The western border areas of Bhimgadh Sanctuary encompasses several geo-morphological lime stone formations with scores of caves. Several rivers, including the Mahadei, Malaprabha and Tillari along with smaller streams originate here.

The Mahadei originates in the Bhimgad forests with a cluster of 30 springs forming the river Mahadayi, which is joined by two other streams Marcidha Nala and Pannera Nala. The waters flow down in the valley and over the 150 ft (46 m) Vajrapoha Falls. It then continues towards Goa where it is known as Mandovi.  

The first woman warrior who fought the British

The State Government of Karnataka organized the Kittur festival this year on October 23 and October 24 in memory of  Rani Chenamma. Chief Minister Jagadish Shetter inaugurated the festival.

Here is a small piece on one of the first freedom fighters of Karnataka. She fought against the British several decaded before Jhansi Rani Lakshmibai. She, therefore, deserves attention and our respect. So, here goes.  

 Indian history ranks her among the first women to have taken on the British. The Queen of a small principality in North Karnataka, she took a strong stand against British highhandedness and fought for her rights. Unfortunately, her own men joined hands with the British and betrayed her. Though she died without realising her dream of an independent kingdom, the legacy of  Rani of Kittur, Chennamma, still lives on and inspires millions of people.

Chenamma was born in 1778 in Kakati, a village neat Belgaum city She was married to Mallasaraja Desai in 1793, whose family was ruling over the kingdom of Kittur.

Chenamma was only 15 years of age when she married. She however seemed to be marked for kingship as she easily slipped into the task of managing the royal household. She was the second wife of Mallasarja.

The marriage proved tragic as Mallasaraja died in 1818. Both Chenamma and Mallasaraja had a son who died in 1824.

Chenamma then took on the role of leading the kingdom of Kittur. She decided to adopt a child. The British resident of Dharwad, which is near Belgaum, J.M. Thackeray was an overzealous officer. He pointedly told Chenamma that as per the Doctrine of Lapse,  the British had the right to annex kingdoms whose rulers did not have biological male heirs.

(Dalhousie, who was the Governor-General of East India Company in India between 1848 and 1856 had cleverly used this policy to annex territories. He thus had managed to successfully “annex” the princely states of  Satara in 1848, Jaipur and  Sambalpur in 1849, Nagpur and Jhansi in 1854, Tanjore and Arcot in 1855. Oudh and Udaipur were also taken under British rule in 1856 using the doctrine but the reason given was misgovernance).
The British refused to recognize either Chenamma and her adopted son. Thackeray demanded that Chenamma hand over the kingdom. He said Kittu would come under the administration of Dharwad province of which he was the head. The Queen refused to comply and hostilities broke out between the British and Chenamma.
Chenamma then wrote to the Commissioner of Bombay, Chaplin, about Thackeray and sought to prevent the outbreak of a war. Dharwad came under the control of Bombay Presidency. However, both Thackeray and Chaplin stood firm. Give up your kingdom, they said.
Chenamma refused and both the Britsh and Kittur went to war. Thackeray, for some reason, had underestimated Chenamma. He was also overconfident of annexing Kittur. What he did not know was that Chenamma was trained in horse riding, archery and sword fighting.
The British were defeated in the battle in 1824  and Thackeray even lost his life. This victory was shortlived as the British could not digest the defeat. They decided to wage another battle with Chenamma and this time around they used their usual trick-of  identifying a traitor and luring them into their camp.
The trick worked and the Kittur camp could not fire the cannons as  cowdung and mud was mixed with the gunpowder. The canons proved useless and despite the best efforts of Chenamma and her able lieutenant, Sangoli Rayanna, Kittur fell after 12 days and the queen was taken prisoner.
Chenama was house in the British prison in Bailhongal, near Belgaum where she died in 1829. Today, all that remains of Kittur is a ruined fort and a palace where Chenamma lived. Within the fort constructed of black basalt rock is an ancient telescope. Locals say Chenamma watched Dhruva Nakshatra from this instrument every day.
Her tomb is at Bailhongal. There is boarding school for girls in Kittur named after Chenamma.