Wellesley Bridge, Srirangapatna
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Wellesley Bridge, Srirangapatna Kiraguru Sethuve | |
|---|---|
 Wellesley Bridge | |
| Carries | Mysore-Srirgapatna-Bengaluru Road |
| Crosses | Kaveri River |
| Locale | Srirangapatna |
| Other name(s) | Purnaiah Bridge |
| Named for | Richard Wellesley, Governor General of India |
| Owner | Archaeology Department of Karnataka |
| Heritage status | Heritage bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Material | Entirely of stone |
| Total length | 512 feet (156 m) |
| Width | 20 feet (6.1 m) |
| Longest span | 8 feet (2.4 m) each span |
| No. of spans | 64 |
| Clearance below | 22 feet (6.7 m) |
| Design life | More than 200 years |
| History | |
| Constructed by | Dewan Purnaiah of Mysore Kingdom |
| Construction start | 1802 |
| Construction end | 1804 |
| Construction cost | Rs 5.5 lakhs |
| Opened | Now open to cycles, motorcycles and pedestrians only |
| Inaugurated | 4 October 1804 |
| Rebuilt | Renovated in 2022 |
Wellesley Bridge, Srirangapatna is an ancient stone bridge built in 1804 on the Highway road leading to Bengaluru from Mysuru in the state of Karnataka. This stone bridge is built across the north bank of the Cauvery River (also spelled Kaveri River). When built it was the main first artery approach to the island town of Srirangapatna (also known as Seringapatam during British Raj) which was initially the capital city of the Wodeyar Dynasty of Mysore Kingdom after the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799. The bridge was dedicated to Marquis Wellesley who was the Governor-General of British India when it was completed, and it was inaugurated in October 1804. It was built under the overall supervision of Dewan, Purnaiah of the Kingdom of Mysore, as directed by the King Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar.
The strong bridge is built from stone pillars and corbels, surrounded by stone girders, and survived over 200 years of heavy traffic and heavy floods in the river. It was repaired in 2018-22 and put to use by cyclists, motor cyclists, and pedestrians. It has been proposed to promote the bridge to a heritage monument.
After this war, the Kingdom of Mysore was restored to the Wodeyar Dynasty by the British Raj with the King Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar as the ruler.[1] The then Dewan - Regent, Purnaiah of the Mysore Kingdom, was directed by the King (who was still a minor) to embark on planning and building a strong bridge across the Cauvery River on priority to open up an easy means of communication to Srirangapatna which was still the capital city of Wodeyar kingdom before it was shifted to Mysore city. [2][3][4]
Purnaiah prepared an estimate of Rs 5.5 lakhs to build the bridge to connect to Kirigur and beyond to Mysore. The site for the bridge was selected by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, the governor of Seringapatam and Mysore, who had led the British regiment against Tipu Sultan in 1799. He was the brother of Richard Wellesley, the Governor-General after whom the bridge has been named. Purnaiah was awarded for his work on this bridge and he also received a pension.[5]
A bilingual inscription (English and Persian) on this bridge records the naming of the bridge in honour of Marques Wellesley Bahadur referred to in the Persian text as Jisr-i-Wellesley.[6]