Renowned horticulturist Rao Bahadur H C Javaraya’s legacy honoured in Bengaluru

A biopic on Rao Bahadur H C Javaraya was screened at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of World Culture, followed by a discussion on a book on his life.

Javaraya was the first Indian superintendent at the Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens.

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Any conversation on the creators of modern Bengaluru is bound to include Sir Mark Cubbon or Sir M Visvesvaraya. But in a city filled with gardens and trees, a person less remembered but no less deserving is Rao Bahadur H C Javaraya, a renowned horticulturist who has left his mark on the city.

Javaraya’s legacy was honoured at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of World Culture on June 17 with a screening of a biopic on his life, directed by Ganesh Shankar Raj, followed by a discussion on a book based on him. Also present at the event were former Chief Justice of India M N Venkatachaliah, Sunil Fernandes, principal of St Joseph’s Boys’ High School where Javaraya was a student, and several family members of the horticulturist, including his great-grandchildren.

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The documentary showcased photographs, drone footage, and anecdotes from Bengaluru historian Meera Iyer, ecologist Dr Harini Nagendra and Javaraya’s grandson Harish Padmanabha amongst many others, tracing Javaraya’s rise from horticultural assistant under famed botanist and Lalbagh Superintendent G H Krumbiegel. Javaraya would go on to enjoy the trust of the Mysore royals and when Krumbiegel was imprisoned due to his German citizenship during the World War, he reposed his trust in Javaraya – they had studied horticulture at the famed Kew Gardens in Britain.

Javaraya was the first Indian superintendent at the Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens. A man who shared both Indian and Western sensibilities, he was in large part responsible for the creation of smaller gardens throughout Bengaluru other than Cubbon Park and Lalbagh, including the trend of gardens attached to public buildings.

He also left his mark on heritage structures such as the Glass House, where he added a wing, and the stone gatehouse at the West Gate of Lalbagh, which he saved from demolition by having it dismantled and reassembled in Lalbagh.

Javaraya was also actively involved with the promotion of growing fruits, having established the fruit research station at Hesaraghatta. Further, he pioneered a method of inducing apple trees to produce fruit twice a year in the Bengaluru climate by exposing and covering up the roots of the trees.