had left his native village to avoid the tyranny of the _wadeyar_ of that
place, and settled on a spot a few miles to the north of Bangalore. To the
peaceful occupation of a farmer he added that of a warrior, and his first
exploit was the conquest of this place, where, and at Savendrug, his family
subsequently erected fortresses. Bangalore, with other possessions, was,
however, wrested from them by Bijapur. Somewhat later we find it enumerated
among the _jagirs_ of Shahji, father of Sivaji, the founder of the Mahratta
sway; and at an early period of his career in the service of the Bijapur
state, that adventurer seemed to have fixed his residence there. It appears
to have passed into the possession of Venkaji, one of the sons of Shahji;
but he having occupied Tanjore, deemed Bangalore too distant, especially
under the circumstances of the times, to be safe. He accordingly, in 1687,
entered into a bargain for its sale to Chikka Deva, raja of Mysore, for
three lakhs of rupees; but before it could be completed, Kasim Khan,
commander of the forces of Aurangzeb, marched upon the place and entered it
almost without resistance. This event, however, had no other result than to
transfer the stipulated price from one vendor to another; for that general,
not coveting the possession, immediately delivered it over to Chikka Deva
on payment of the three lakhs. In 1758, Nanjiraj, the powerful minister of
the raja, caused Bangalore to be granted, as a _jagir_ or fief, to Hyder
Ali, afterwards usurper of Mysore, who greatly enlarged and strengthened
the fort, which, in 1760, on his expulsion from Seringapatam, served as his
refuge from destruction. The fort formed the traditional scene of the first
captivity of Sir David Baird after Baillie's defeat at Perambakam in 1780.
The prison cell of Sir David and his fellow-captive is from 12 to 15 ft.
square, with so low a roof that a man can scarcely stand upright in it. In
1791 it was stormed by a British army commanded by Lord Cornwallis. In 1799
the district was included by the treaty of Seringapatam within the
territory of the restored raja of Mysore. It formed the headquarters of the
British administration of Mysore from 1831 to 1881. When the state of
Mysore was restored to its raja in 1881, the civil and military station of
Bangalore was permanently reserved under British jurisdiction as an
"assigned tract." It has an area of 13 sq. m., and had in 1901 a population
of 89,599, showing a dec