KEMPEGOWDA

Sept. 18, 2019

CM Yediyurappa's plans to construct a 101-foot-tall Kempegowda bronze statue at the Bengaluru airport at the cost of Rs 100 crore is widely seen as an attempt to gain leverage with the Vokkaliga community.

About:

  • Name: Nadaprabhu Hiriya Kempe Gowda (1510 - 1569) is also known as Kempe Gowda.

  • Who was he? He was an Indian ruler under the Vijayanagara Empire.

  • Contributions:
    • The city of Bengaluru, capital of Karnataka, was founded by Kempe Gowda in 1537. He was successful in planning and building Bengaluru Fort and Bengaluru Pete, the foundation of Bengaluru.

    • He is also noted for his societal reforms and contribution to building temples and water reservoirs in Bengaluru.

    • One of his social reforms was to prohibit the custom of amputating the last two fingers of the left hand of the unmarried women during "Bandi Devaru", an important custom of Morasu Vokkaligas.

    • He was a patron of art and learning.



  • Legacy:
    • He is a political icon for the dominant agricultural Vokkaliga community in south Karnataka.

    • Bengaluru’s airport is known as the Kempegowda International Airport, the main bus stand is the Kempegowda Bus Stand, a main arterial road in the old city is the K G Road or the Kempegowda Road.