CHICKPET: Steeped in history

CHICKPET: Steeped in history
Samatha K V
Chickpet is famous for Kanjeevaram silk sarees.


Chickpet, the bustling commercial area, was once upon a time the heart of Bengaluru. The area, with extremely narrow roads and small footpath, is still the favourite one-stop shopping centre for old Bangaloreans. Chickpet, and all the other Petes (market) surrounding it, is also famous for the ancient temples, mosque and has historic importance.

Chickpet is famous for Kanjeevaram silk sarees. This area is very famous for wholesale market. Shopping in this area is not restricted to clothes alone. One can get anything, starting from clothes to vessels.

The history of the place goes like this: In the 16th century, Kempegowda with the help of four pairs of oxen started ploughing the land into four directions from the point where Chickpet and Doddapete meet each other. These four directions became four important trade market roads. Gradually other parallel roads came up and different petes came into being in accordance with the kind of trade which took place. The petes are:

Nagarthapete, Akkipete, Ragipete, Balepete, Aralepete and Thigalarapete. Slowly other petes like Upparapete, Kurubarapete, Sunakalpete, Gollarapete, Ganigarapete, Sultanpete, Cubbonpete came up.

BEST BUYS

CHICKPET and all the other petes around it are very famous for shopping. Some of the best silk saree shops can be found in Chickpet. Byrappa and Sons is one of the oldest shops. There are many wholesale cut piece stores. Kuberan and Sudarshan silks are two other famous shops.

Nagarthapete is famous for steel and brass vessels. One can find ancient brass vessels of different kinds and sizes too. In Sultanpete one can get invitation cards layout and get it printed. There are many paper marts and paper board shops. Bedding houses are also in large numbers over here. There are pen specialists too.

Cubbonpete is famous for dyes and chemicals, there are many chemical companies, and textile spare parts are available here. Colours or dyes for clothes can be obtained; wood work is also done here. Silk handlooms and powerlooms are in huge numbers at Cubbonpete. It is also famous for its vegetable and flower market. There is also a Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's market where fresh vegetables and flowers are available at reasonable prices. It is also famous for flour mills.

Doddapete is the best place to buy stationary items and books for all kinds of exams. One can buy and sell second hand books.

BVK Iyengar Road is famous for all kinds of electrical goods. One can also find lighting shops in large numbers. This street is like the light house for all the petes.

Raja Market is famous for gold and silver stores. One can find all kinds of jewellery here, both in traditional and modern designs.

Do you know?

* Sangeen Jamiya Masjid which is at Taramandalapete is one of the oldest mosque. This was built during the Mughal period. Khiledar who belonged to the Mughal family built it. Its engineer was Khasim Khan. The mosque was damaged during the third war of Mysore and it was renovated in 1863 by
Mohiuddin Mekhri.

* The history of Bengaluru Karaga can be traced back to the Thigalara community.

* Dharmarayana Swami is the main god of the Thigalara clan which practice horticulture and floriculture.

* Doddapete is known as Avenue Road today.

* Vijayalakshmi Theatre is the oldest cinema hall in the area.

DOTTED WITH TEMPLES

The area is dotted with temples. As there were into various kinds of professions, the people involved in similar professions formed respective communities and every community had temples built for their gods within or nearby the market place. Some of the prominent temples are Thigalara Sri Dharmarayana Swami Devalaya, Vishwakarmara Kalika, Kamateshwara Devalaya, Chennigaraya Swami Mandira, Jyothinagareshwara Devalaya, Venugopala Swami Mandira, Lakshmi Narasimha Devalaya, Sugriva Venkatramana Mandira, Adinarayana Swami Mandira and many more.

BENGALURU KARAGA

Bengaluru Karaga is also known as 'Draupadi Karaga' or 'Dharmarayana Karaga'. This Karaga is very famous all over Karnataka. Karaga starts off from Dharmarayanagudi in Thigalarapete at midnight. The Karaga is decorated with jasmine flowers and is carried by people with great show and pomp. Once the Karaga starts at midnight it moves to many streets in Thigalara-pete, Chickpet, Doddapete, Cubbonpete and all the other petes till the next morning.