What am I looking at?
Mary's Basilica is a shrine located in Shivajinagar (Blackpally) locality of Karnataka, India.
The quick answer
St. Mary's Basilica is a shrine located in Shivajinagar (Blackpally) locality of Karnataka, India. It is among the oldest churches at Bangalore and the first church in the state that has been elevated to the status of a minor basilica. It is famous for festivities held during the St. Mary's Feast in the month of September each year, attracting devotees from the entire metropolitan area of Bangalore.
How it came to be
St. Mary's Basilica had a humble beginning as a thatched hut in the 17th century, built by Tamil Christian migrants from Gingee. The Shrine was then known as 'Chapel of Kanikkai Madha' and was located in their village where rice was grown. The rice grown in the village had a distinct white colour, and hence the settlement came to known as Bili Akki Palli or colloquiallyly could have been named after John Blakiston (1785-1867), who designed the layout of the Bangalore Cantonment.
The detail most people miss
Bangalore was not a big city in 1648 when Christianity entered Seringapatam, the capital of the then the Mysore Kingdom. But during Hyder Ali's tenure in 1724–25, Bangalore saw its first Church, Drummers' Chapel, in the Kalasipalya locality. When Tippu Sultan ascended the throne, Christian missionaries had to flee Mysore; thus the history of Christianity in Mysore was murky until 1799. With the Third Anglo-Mysore War Bangalore was seized from the tyranny of Tipu Sultan, who was defeated. The French MEP priest Jean-Antoine Dubois arrived at Bangalore and began restoring the Catholic religion. He went around Somanahalli, Kamanahalli, Begur, Gunjam, Palahalli, Doranahalli, Garenahalli, Shettyhalli, and beyond, visiting the Catholic families there and ministering to their spiritual needs. He was one of the first to introduce vaccination into India; he also wrote the famous book Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies. The Mass vestments worn by Fr Jean-Antoine Dubois are still preserved in the church at Palahalli near Srirangapattana.
Why it still matters
Dubois built a chapel with a thatched roof in 1803 at Bili Akki Palli, or colloquially Blackpally and offered Mass there. The structure was called Kaanike Mathe Devalaya, which in Kannada means the Church of Our Lady of the Presentation. That small prayer house is the location where the basilica currently stands. When Bangalore Cantonment was established, a Mass was regularly held by Dubois and attended by both European and Indian Catholics. In 1811 Dubois built a small chapel with a rectory for priests. In 1813, with the help of the British, he modified and enhanced the chapel and renamed it the Church of the Purification of Our Lady, Blackpalli. Until recently the engraving of the year '1813' was seen in the front nave of the old church where the miraculous statue is housed.
