Abstract

In recent times, there has been a considerable show of interest toward recording memories of communities in relation to environmental changes. Based on an ongoing inquiry about the lesser-known water systems near Kengeri, western Bengaluru, this paper presents the link between documented archeological sources, colonial history and oral history of people who transact with the lake in their everyday lives. The paper demonstrates the points of discovery oral history offers in the journey towards discovering the identity of a lake called Ramasagara, located in Kengeri. It will discuss the nature of orality in memories linked to this lake, and contextualizes the evidence found in other sources against the background of this orality. It will display the tensions between the sources when you choose to investigate a particular landscape and establishes why inquiries pivoting environmental entities have much to offer for the future.