MAPPING MEMORY IN 

MALLESWARAM

          Malleswaram is a residential area situated in the north-western part of Bengaluru city. Malleswaram was developed as a planned suburb after the great plague of 1898 during the colonial period and became a hub of different religious and commercial activities. There are many temples established in Malleswaram, and it derives its name from the Kadu Malleswara Temple (Kadu means forest) in Malleswaram.

 

         We are examining how religion manifests itself in the ‘physical-material’ and ‘mental-imaginative’ (to use the terms Janaki Nair applies in the Promise of Metropolis: Bangalore’s Twentieth Century) conceptions of Malleswaram. We are particularly interested in understanding the logic of public space with regards to how religious institutions, practices and economies impact neighbourhoods, markets, street cultures. We are also interested in how the physical space of Malleswaram is being replicated and relayed to the Indian diaspora whose roots are from there. What do these new networks and their consumption say about how residents of Malleswaram make sense of  and perform their own past?  We focused specifically on 8th cross road , since it houses three temples. We focused on the Sri Kanyaka Parameshwari Temple and the Mahaganpathi Temple  as well as the properties owned and operated by these temples. We also focused on pockets of economic activity--both formal and informal-- around these temples.

          Throughout our fieldwork in Malleswaram, we have conducted interviews; done participatory observations at temples, mapping,  and audio-visual recording of the sacred, commercial and everyday spaces and practices.  This blog presents this research through narrative essays and visuals.