Bengaluru by Ramjee Chandran opens with a striking claim: there was never a reason for Bengaluru to exist. No great river, no seaport, no fertile plain—only a plateau three thousand feet above sea level amid rocky outcrops and marshy wetlands.
About Bengaluru
Yet a city came up. Dolmens, tools and cave paintings reveal hunters and gatherers once roamed these lands; Roman coins and potshards suggest ancient trade routes linking South Indian ports with Rome. By the 4th century, inscriptions on stones and copper plates begin to record the region’s history. Unlike much of the war-torn Deccan, Bengaluru’s story is one of commerce and confluence.
Kempe Gowda built it as a great marketplace. The British were drawn by its climate and landscape; Mysore’s maharajas and independent India embraced it as cosmopolitan and secular. Bengaluru argues the city existed because people wanted it to—and exists because it chooses to.
Published under the India Viking imprint of Penguin Random House India, this 464-page book is scheduled for November 2026 with an India MRP of ₹1299. Ideal for readers of urban history, South Indian heritage and anyone who wants to understand how a modern metropolis grew from improbable ground.
