Kengeri is a suburb in Bangalore city. It is located on the western corridor along Mysore Road, bordered by Nagarbhavi and Rajarajeshwari Nagar.
History
The name Kengeri comes from the Kannada words Tengu coconut and Keri meaning place. The place is still surrounded by Coconut farms, most of them ruled by Vilperi the Coconut Baron. The place has been ruled by a number of dynasties including Gangas, followed by Cholas. In 1050 AD, Chola king Rajendra Chola erected a Tamil inscription depicting details of grants made to Eshwara Temple at Kengeri. The provinces of Kengeri and surrounding areas came under the control of Kings of Kukkalanadu, who had Kithnahally near Tavarekere as the capital and ruled Nelamangala, Ramanagaram, Bangalore South and Magadi taluks. After Hoysala ruler's regime, during the period of Vijayanagar Empire, Kengeri was vested with Yelahanka province administration. Later, when Maratha warrior Shahaji won Bangalore, Kengeri came under Shahaji's regime. During 1677 AD, King of Mysore Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar won Kengeri and was in the province of Mysore. Tippu Sultan reportedly took shelter in Kengeri Fort while at war with the British. When the English captured Bangalore, the fort was reportedly destroyed to prevent its use. In the survey report prepared by Colonel McKenzie and Bakunin, after death of Tippu, there is mention about remains of Kengeri Fort. The area is now recognised as fort area. During Tippu's reign, Kengeri was famous centre for sericulture industry. It is learnt that Tippu for the first time bought foreign knowledge of sericulture and encouraged people to cultivate and produce the same. In 1866, Signor de Vecchi, an Italian, noticing the then depressed condition of the silk industry made efforts with the help of the government for its revival. He also made some scientific study of silkworm rearing and causes for their degeneration. To remedy these defects, silkworm eggs were imported for the first time from Japan and were distributed among the people of the trade. This brought about revolutionary changes. Finally, a steam factory for silk-filature was established at Kengeri with eight basins. Mostly female orphans from a private Bangalore convent were engaged in the work. The Kengeri Gurukula Vidya Peetha was founded in 1926 by freedom fighters and Gandhians like Dr C B Rama Rao, Swamy Vishwananda, T Ramachandra and K B Purushottam to motivate youngsters to do their bit for social causes. When Mahatma Gandhi visited the Gurukula twice he guided the youngsters to visit villages and organise people to tackle socio-economic problems in these villages through collective efforts. A memorial building had been built at the premises to commemorate the visits of Mahatma Gandhi. The Vidyapeetha, an NGO, runs an orphanage, a free residential school and a short-stay-home for underprivileged women hoping for early rehabilitation. In recent years, several industries have come up in and around Kengeri.
BMTC Depots
Kengeri has 2 BMTC depots: Depot-12 located near NICE Road junction and Depot-37 located within Kengeri TTMC. Many buses ply from Kengeri to different parts of the city including 375D towards Banashankari, 378 towards Electronic City, 401M and 401KB towards Yeshwantpur, 401K towards Yelahanka, 501A and 501C towards Hebbal, 502H towards Chikkabanavara, 502F towards Jalahalli Cross and G6 towards Shantinagar Bus Station. It also acts as an intermediate station for buses between Bidadi and Kempegowda Bus Station/K. R. Market.
Kengeri Satellite Town was developed by Bangalore Development Authority over 30 years ago. However, it took a long time for the satellite town to develop. Cyber cafes, telephone booths, multi-cuisine restaurants and other utility services have come up in recent times. Namma Metro corridor will be extended up to Kengeri Satellite Town from Nayandahalli on Mysore Road. The Traffic Transit Management Centre of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation is also being constructed here. It is also close to the Outer Ring Road and thus has good connectivity. There is also a KSRTC reservation counter at 80 feet road nearby Hoysala Circle. The Kengeri Satellite Town Last Bus stop located near Ayodhya Complex has many eateries apart from housing, a number of jewelleries, sari, Medical and gift shops. A classical place to revise during the evenings. In view of high rise apartments by KHB on Kommaghatta road, Kengeri Satellite Town Club,100 ft road from Kengeri to Magadi road, Visweswaraiah layout, Global Village software park. Its good connectivity to the western part of the city Rajaji Nagar, Malleswaram and Vijay Nagar and the introduction to East-West Namma metro corridor has shown hike in properties.
Places of worship
The place has some recentcording to a record here, the temple was rebuilt in 1845. Inside the garbhagriha, two inscription slabs carpeted into the floor, one behind and another in front of the main deity, are of Hoysala Narasimha. They announce some grants by the king to one Vechiyana for his military success. There is a large Mosque on Bangalore—Mysore highway bang opposite to the old bus stand. The old mosque was demolished and a new mosque has been reconstructed which is a two storied building having a capacity of approximately 2000 people. For the Christians of different denominations, Christos Mar Thoma Church, St. Francis of Assisi Church, Shalom Church, St. Anthony's Shrine, The Pentecostal Mission Church, New Life AG Church, Paniel Gospel Telugu Church, Hope AG Church, Kengeri Evangelical Worship House, New Jerusalem Prayer House, The Church of Light, Pushpa Sadan Church are the few to name among several more..
Mutts
There is a Bande Mata of the Veerashaivas said to be about 800 years old. It is said that the mata was founded by one Channaveeraswamy who is believed to have been a contemporary of Bijjala, the most famous of the southern Kalachuri kings. The place also has one Kabir Mata and Shankara Mata.
Geography
Kengeri is located at. It has an average elevation of 826 metres.
Demographics
India census, Kengeri had a population of 42,386. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Kengeri has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 70%. In Kengeri, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
