[1] The Bengaluru Pete, established in 1537 around the Mud Fort, built by Kempe Gowda I as the nucleus, with an area of 2.24 square kilometres (1 sq mi), has expanded to the present sprawling city of 741 square kilometres (286 sq mi) embracing a multi ethnic population of 5.7 million; as per Census of India 2001,[2] the present population is reported as 6.6 million (2007) and is thus known by the epithet "the Boom city".

"[1][3][4] The old Pete, structured in the contemporary style of deep networks of crowded streets, richly represented the multi cultural identity, social history, and economic geography of the times which are considered as a hallmark in the planning and design of any urban agglomerate.

He was the great-grandson of Jaya Gowda who established the Yelahankanada Prabhu clan, in 1418 AD, and whose principality was in Yelahanka, north of the present day Bangalore.

The King gifted 12 hoblis (revenue subdivisions) with an annual income of 30,000 varahas (gold coins) to his Chieftain Kempegowda to meet the expenses of his venture of building a new city.

One version for the site selection process for the Bangalore Pete is that during a hunting expedition along with his advisor Gidde Gowda, he went westward of Yelahanka and reached a village called Shivasamudra (near Hesaraghatta) some 10 miles (16 km) from Yelahanka where, in a tranquil atmosphere under a tree, he visualised building a suitable city with a fort, a cantonment, tanks (water reservoirs), temples and people of all trades and professions to live in it for his future capital.

Following this event, on an auspicious day in 1537 A.D., he conducted a ground breaking ritual and festivities by ploughing the land with four pairs of decorated white bulls in four directions, at the focal point of the junction of Doddapet and Chikkapet, the junction (pictured) of the present day Avenue Road and Old Taluk Kacheri Road (OTC).

During the construction of the Fort it was said that the southern gate would fall off no sooner than it was built and human sacrifice was indicated to ward off the evil spirits.

[12] Halasoor, also called Ulsoor (east), Sondekoppa (west), Yelahanka (north), and Anekal (south) were the four gates erected at the cardinal directions.

Relating the Pete to the present landmarks of the city, the following are mentioned: Temples and lakes were planned and residential layouts, or agraharas (residential areas of Brahmins), around each temple were built during the rule of Kempegowda I, in and around the Pete, which along with the mud fort built by him, changed Bengaluru from a village to a centre of culture based on the Hindu religion.

The visionary approach of the Kempe Gowdas, perceiving the needs of the growing population of the Pete, resulted in building a number of lakes/ponds (called 'Kere' in the Kannada language) and temples (some are pictured in the gallery) in and around the fort.

[4][13] The Pete initially developed as a pedestrian precinct with the public spaces evolving with bazaar streets, temple squares, lakes and maidans (open grounds).

But, under the Wodeyars' rule, during the British Raj, in the 19th century, public gardens developed along with the suburbs, adjoining the traditional Pete, following western planning concepts with wider roads.

[1][13] During the colonial rule the British expanded the Pete, to include the cantonment to position their garrison, which was separated by an 11.5 kilometres (7 mi) wide strip of open land.

In 1834, when Mark Cubbon, took over as the Commissioner of Mysore, one of his first task was to establish a legal system based on English Common Law, which ran parallel to the caste-based panchayats.

Drains had been constructed by the Mysore Government at public expense, however, they were badly maintained and seeing bandicoots, rats, carcasses of dead dogs and stagnant water was common.

The petah was surrounded by a mud wall and a dry moat which was overgrown with the thorny Mimosa saponaria (sekakai) plant.

An old hedge measuring 80 yard across, which was a major worry during the British Siege of Bangalore, 1792, had been recently cleared off and the ground was built upon.

[17] Further he describes the shops of the Bangalore petah, with mud being used for the walls and the floor, wooden pillars and clay used for flat roofs.

The shops sold sugarcane, coconut, bananas, rice, sweets which were hung on a string and various grains which were kept in baskets with were smeared with cow-dung.

The petah had nearly 200-300 temples or shrines, whose deities were anointed with oil making them greasy and black, and offered flowers and fruit.

Further, she says that her children liked walking the busy streets of the petah to reach the chapel along with their father, observing its noise, local people, shops and the monkeys.

Sarah describes some events such as a postman walking up to the pulpit to deliver a letter to the preacher in the middle of his sermon on a Sunday.

[23] The Pete as it exists today (overlay map) in the heart of Bangalore Metropolis reported a population of 112,076 persons in a diverse use area (Residential: 37.5%; Commercial: 34.6%; Industrial: 6.1%).

An urban infrastructure study reported in a scholarly article by Champaka Rajagopal in the Journal of the Development and Research Organization for Nature Arts has the following remarkable observations.