Underneath a broad billboard that advertises a luxury residential project lies the ruins of the 200-year-old Chikkajala Fort, the wall of which was demolished to make way for the widening of National Highway 7 leading to Bengaluru International Airport.
With the fort wall, along the highway, completely demolished now, the only way to enter the fort is through a treacherous climb over the rubble. The fort is believed to have been a “wada” — a private fort built by a rich man in the village to enclose his palatial house, a temple and his private gardens — built in the 1800s.
After Independence, with the ownership of the property stuck in an endless number of court cases, the fort complex fell into disrepair. Over-grown shrubs, crumbling pillars became a common sight, and soon it became a haven for late night debaucheries, said a villager in Chikkajala.
It was in this context that the demolition of the fort wall in the last week of December commenced with little attention.
However, it was with heavy despair that A. Ramasanjeevaiah, priest of the temple inside the complex, watched the destruction of the centuries-old fort wall.
For, every day at 8 a.m., the 40-year-old heads to the Sri Chitrada Anjaneya Swamy temple in the complex, where he conducts an hour-long puja and lights the lamps in the temple.
“Ever since my grandfather settled down in Chikkajala over 50 years ago, we have been conducting pujas here,” he said. After a lull in the 1980s, when Ramasanjeevaiah himself was prevented from entering the complex due to a court stay on the property, he and his family have since taken it upon themselves to restore the sanctum sanatorium of the temple.
“Around 15 years ago, we cleared away beedi packets, alcohol bottles, and restarted pujas in the complex. We even installed a small bulb,” he said.
Since then, a few villagers — mostly old-timers from Chikkajala — have been visiting the temple. However, with the way into the complex now completely blocked, the temple now receives patronage only from the priest and his family. “The pathway is completely blocked. I don't know why the authorities have not cleared at least a bit of the rubble for us to reach the temple,” said Ramasanjeevaiah.
