Bangalore’s Lalbagh: A Chronicle of the Garden and the City

Bangalore’s Lalbagh is a chronicle and anecdotal narrative of the city and its oldest garden—the Lalbagh Botanical Garden— where the author, Suresh Jayaram, has grown up around. Illustrated with photographic accounts, images from family albums, and archival documents lost from public memory, the book tells the story of a city that has borne witness to royal visionaries—from the prowess of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan to the modernist agendas of the Mysore State, colonial influences, orchestrations of botanical transactions, and the impacts of urbanism. Tracing these shifts with Lalbagh as its protagonist, the book touches upon the significance of the garden in its historical and contemporary context, and sheds light on the often unseen gardener communities that tend to the Bangalore we identify with today. With research that stems from the author’s role as an artist, art historian, curator, and garden enthusiast, the book grounds itself in local histories and presents. Suresh locates himself within the botanical paradise that is Lalbagh and draws our attention to a garden and urban cosmos that holds within its bounds so much that today’s city-dwellers might easily pass over.