Vignettes from Cubbon Park

By Ankita Gupta

Imagine strolling through the largest expanse of greenery in your city. Now imagine a natural interlude that allows you to look beyond or reflect inwards, gather in a friendly group or retreat in solitude. Even in imagination, this space provides a momentous getaway — breaking away from the monotonous work-time continuum — and just being.

Virginia Woolf once wrote that ‘to escape is the greatest of pleasures.’ To me, Cubbon Park provides such a pleasurable escape.

Cubbon Park is definitely not one of your run-of-the-mill parks of Bengaluru. It’s so large that the eyes cannot see all of it at once. In fact, it used to be over 300 acres in size.  Each of its trails reveals a different view, fringed with teeming leaves, trees and flowers.

Patches of its history

Shri Chamarajendra Park, fondly referred to as Cubbon Park,is the green lung of Bangalore. The park was incepted in 1870to turn wilderness into order. It was created to transform the rocky and gravelly terrain surrounding the Attara Kacheri (Secretariat) building into a lush green public space. It has as much history as the notable buildings that surround it.

Following the death of Tipu Sultan, the Commissionerate System was implemented. Cubbon Park was created by the Mysore Commission. It was designed by Robert Sankey, the then British Chief Engineer of Mysore. Its master plan was drafted to ensure that the major landmarks surrounding it were linearly aligned in a one-kilometer stretch.

Initially, the park was called Meade’s Park, after John Meade, the acting Commissioner of Mysore at the time. It was later renamed Cubbon Park, in honor of Sir Mark Cubbon, the longest-serving Commissioner of Mysore. As Bangalore expanded, so did the park. It hosted the nearby Vidhana Soudha and served as a public ground for walks, events and protests.

Long before Sankey laid eyes on it, the site of the park was held as a sacred space by the public due to its cultural significance. It held the Uppuneerina Kunte, a saltwater tank, where the ancient Karaga festival took place. Sacred water from the tank was offered at noon in Gange Puja, to honour Draupadi, in this 250-year-old festival.

Architecture in Cubbon Park

The park was not an abstract spatial creation. It had significant ambition to fulfil—transforming a former thicket into a structured landscape with terraced gardens, ornamental walls and tree-lined pathways. Its design instilled a Victorian-era ‘gardenesque order’ into the rocky outcrops, tree coppices, bamboo groves and grassy expanses by introducing tiered lawns, parapet walls and axial paths acting as a visual linkage to the civic buildings surrounding it.  

The park has buildings in the Grecian style of architecture. The Sir Seshadri Iyer Memorial Library or the State Central Library is home to over 3,140,000 books, and its shelves are packed with everything from periodical publications, books in braille, academic books, research material to rare periodicals.The carved pediments under the roof are inspired by classical Greek architecture, the Tuscan and Corinthian columns in its entrance, Jack-arch-style arches in the roof that use imported metal rods and angles, supported by strong centring, andopposite this a Madras-style terrace with wooden rafters. The upper storey is made up of a series of arched windows for natural light to enter.

Entry into the park occurs through six gates, with pavements and trails upgraded under recent Smart City interventions. There have been massive efforts towards rejuvenating the ponds and wells in the park, turning it into a hydrological asset. Even the culverts that span these water bodies have been thoughtfully designed.

Even as colonial structures are being wiped out in India, the majestic statue of Queen Victoria erected over 100 years ago still stands. It still retains pride of place.

Other statues like that of Major General Mark Cubbon, Sir K. Sheshadri and the Chamarajendra Wodeyar statue have their place of honour too. The park stands as a testament to multiple identities and time frames coexisting.

Exotic trysts

Magical creatures dwell in the park. It is home to endemic as well as indigenous trees. There are over 6,000 trees in Cubbon Park- a majority of which are not native to Bangalore.

It has a silver oak tree imported from Australia. Then there are Gulmohar, Baobab and ‘Umbrella’ trees from Madagascarand Jacarandas from Brazil. There are also behemoth rain trees and Royal Palms brought in from the Caribbean. This flora turns the park into a polychrome wonderland in the blooming season.

Reportedly, the park holds a 20-million-year-old fossilized tree gifted by the Geological Survey of India. A large water pond that once existed near Attara Kacheri has now been transformed into a bamboo island, surrounded by bamboo thickets, dense trees and a grassy expanse. The Maharani of Bajang, Nepal has even donated a fairy fountain to Cubbon Park as a legacy to her pet parrot.

The park plays host to a wide variety of fauna too: The rare ant species Dilobocondyla Bangalorica has been found nesting in Cubbon Park. And then there are the numerous avians — egrets, herons, kites, parakeets. If you look closely near the undergrowth, the water body or even up at the sky, then you see a ‘Golden Oriole’ or a ‘Greenish Warbler.’ On a very lucky day, you may even spot a ‘Red vented Bulbul’ or the ‘Asian Paradise Fly Catcher.’

A people’s place

The park offers a treasure trove of activities for children: from toy trains to puppets and storytelling. A growing community of bibliophiles- Cubbonreads, have started a movement of silent reading and book discussion in the park. Then there is Poetry in the Park, for the bards of the city who come and exchange the poems they have written. Anyone with a book can sit and join them. There is Cubbonwrites for the writers, Cubbonjams for the musicians, Cubbon Knits for crochet and knitting enthusiasts, Dance it Out for hip hop, bhangra and classical dance sessions. There is something for everyone.

The park is dotted with cyclists, joggers, yoga and fitness enthusiasts. There are designated play areas for kids. There are community events like flower shows and cultural festivals. Whether you choose to be in solitude or be a part of a group, the park caters to this.

The park overall elevates the mental health of its visitors by providing a safe, green space with a social connect. It is where ritual visitors enjoy their regular walks, people meet and share confidences with their friends and both children and adultsgather for outdoor recreation. It improves the living standards of its citizens.

Balloons are banned in the park. So is outside food.

The park as a space for inclusion

The park is open to all free of cost.  It is public participation which has made it thrive.

Where plural identities can co-exist.

Cubbon Park is an expression of Bangalorean culture. Like an age-old citizen, the park has stood as a witness to the colonial era, rapid urbanization and ever-changing government policies.

The park is a communal gathering space. Ergo there is a strong local commitment towards safeguarding it.  It remains unscathed to this day because of the active support and participation of the locals. The collective voice of the people echoed to save the park when the Karnataka Governmentchose to build a 10-storey annex in the park.

The park faces a slew of challenges. It has shrunk in size to a ballpark of 196 acres due to surrounding developments. The park faces an onslaught of building construction proposals such as a multi-storeyed annex for government buildings or a 2.5-acre private art gallery. These propositions, if realized, can result in eyesore edifices soaring from heritage and biodiversity loss. Activists have rightly questioned the implementation of such plans without chopping down trees or paving way to further constructions in the future.

The park has seen many ups too. On March 22, 2021, observed as World Water Day, the Cubbon Park Rejuvenation project was proposed towards the revival of ponds for ground water recharge, rainwater recharge wells and canal repairs, to take care of the parks’ water needs. Cubbon Park now has around 74 recharge wells. In 2022, under the Bengaluru Smart City project, the paths, ponds and overall Cubbon Park landscape received an overhaul worth Rs. 34 crores.

In response to the citizen’s call for action towards protection of the park, the Deputy CM has promised no new construction within the parks’ boundaries, paired with a Rs. 5 crore development grants for its preservation. The Horticulture Department has been working for the advancement of CCTV security, QR coding of trees and banning of photo shoots, reels and outside food.

Meanwhile, the list of do’s and don’ts has gone up with many regulars having to face the ire of park officials and guards. Due to these tighter restrictions, Cubbon Park risks becoming a controlled bureaucratic enclave, rather than a common civicground. This has increased the need for greater public participation in the decision-making process related to the park.

In January 2025, the Cubbon Park was opened to vehicular traffic on early mornings on weekdays and alternate Saturdays. Due to its vicinity to important roads like MG Road, Kasturba Road, Queens Road and Cubbon Road, there have been calls to allow traffic movement post 10 AM too. In a way the park has slowly succumbed to the needs of motorists.

Cubbon Park is not another piece of real estate. A park that has been conceived in public interest, that is paid for and maintained by public funds should be answerable to the public.

Preserving the pastoral beauty of the park

At a time when cities are infamous for decaying ecology, Cubbon Park is an endearing reminder of why Bangalore is known as a Garden City. It acts as a cooling body for the urban heat island and a lush ground for biodiversity. It provides a quiet nest in a noisome urban sprawl, that is everexpanding like a black hole.

Cubbon Park still perseveres in a city whose green cover has contracted to a mere 6.8% of its area. Every further acre lost would result in direct loss of shade, ground water recharge and carbon absorption having a detrimental effect on public health. An air quality study in Cubbon Park by Heritage Beku, has reported an AQI of 80-120, which is moderate to unhealthy. Through-traffic and construction are the miscreants here. Such poor health of ambient air, in a place where people go to get some fresh air, is appalling. It is reason enough, to not harbour any ideas of taking motorized vehicles through the park, just to save 1.5 minutes of commute time, or to take up “special construction projects” under the cloak of ‘public interest’.  

In a place where property taxes and gentrification areincreasing each passing day, the park still furnishes an irrefutable rationale for the government to protect it. It cannot be a petri-dish for continuous experimentation. More than a century and a half after its founding, Cubbon Park serves as a reminder of how citizens can come together for the places they love most.

Most people traverse it, enjoy it and don’t give it a second thought. It should never be taken for granted. In the face of neglect and dereliction, it is our duty to visit the park as often as we can, to speak of it, and to compel the government to do more for it. For there is a lot to be done. From cleaning the swamps to providing more visitor services, there are many avenues towards betterment. Only in doing so can we acknowledge its priceless heritage.

The park has long served as a bond between us and our beloved city, and it is our duty to pass on its wondrous experiences to our children, so that they can play in it, love it and help protect it.

By tending to the park, we tend to ourselves.

About the writer:

Ankita Gupta is an architect by degree, a project manager/ consultant by profession and a writer by interest. She likes to connect with people through the written word. She delights in reading, designing and globetrotting.