According to ancient history, a grouping of seven islands comprising
Colaba, Mazagaon, Old Woman's Island, Wadala, Mahim, Parel, and
Matunga-Sion formed a part of the kingdom of Ashoka the Great of
Magadh, ironically in North India.
The Bhaiyas and Biharis whom the Thackerays accuse of being outsiders
in Mumbai, come from the region, which was a part of Ashoka the Great's
empire.. We judge everything according to history and the history of
Mumbai proves that its earliest known ownership was with a North Indian.
The seven islands of Mumbai passed through many hands, the sultans of
Gujarat, the Portuguese and the British. Every ruler left behind proof
of residence in Mumbai.
The Mauryans left behind the Kanheri, Mahakali and the caves of Gharapuri more popularly called Elephanta.
The sultans of Gujarat built the Dargahs at Mahim and Haji Ali, the
Portuguese built the two Portuguese churches, one at Prabhadevi and
the other St Andrews at Bandra.
They built forts at Sion, Mahim, Bandra and Bassien. The Portuguese
named the group of seven Islands 'Bom Baia', Good Bay. The British
built a city out of the group of seven islands and called her Bombay.
The original settlers of the seven islands, the Koli fishermen,
worshiped Mumbaidevi, her temple still stands at Babulnath near
Chowpatty. The Kolis called the island Mumbai, 'Mumba, Mother Goddess'.
In 1662, King Charles II of England married the Portuguese Princess
Catherine of Braganza, and received the seven islands of Bom Baia as
part of his dowry. Six years later, the British Crown leased the seven
islands to the English East India Company for a sum of 10 pounds in
gold per annum. It was under the English East India Company that the
future megapolis began to take shape, after the first war for
independence Bombay once again became a colony of the British Empire.
History has forgotten this but the first Parsi settler came to Bombay
in 1640, he was Dorabji Nanabhoy Patel. In 1689-90, a severe plague
epidemic broke out in Bombay and most of the European settlers
succumbed to it. The Siddi of Janjira attacked in full force. Rustomji
Dorabji Patel, a trader and the son of the city's first Parsi settler,
successfully defeated the Siddi with the help of the Kolis and saved
Bombay.
Gerald Aungier, Governor of Bombay built the Bombay Castle, an area
that is even today referred to as Fort. He also constituted the Courts
of law. He brought Gujarati traders, Parsi shipbuilders, Muslim and
Hindu manufacturers from the mainland and settled them in Bombay.
It was during a period of four decades that the city of Bombay took
shape. Reclamation was done to plug the breach at Worli and
Mahalakshmi, Hornby Vellard was built in 1784. The Sion Causeway
connecting Bombay to Salsette was built in 1803. Colaba Causeway
connecting Colaba island to Bombay was built in 1838. A causeway
connecting Mahim and Bandra was built in 1845.
Lady Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, the wife of the First Baronet Jamsetjee
Jeejeebhoy donated Rs 1, 57,000 to meet construction costs of the
causeway. She donated Rs. 1,00,000 at first. When the project cost
escalated and money ran out half way through she donated Rs 57,000
again to ensure that the vital causeway was completed. Lady Jamsetjee
stipulated that no toll would ever be charged for those using the
causeway. Today Mumbaikars have to pay Rs 75 to use the Bandra-Worli
Sealink, connecting almost the same two islands. Sir J J Hospital was
also built by Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy.
The shipbuilding Wadia family of Surat was brought to Bombay by the
British. Jamshedji Wadia founded the Bombay Port Trust and built the
Princess Dock in 1885 and the Victoria Dock and the Mereweather Dry
Docks in 1891. Alexandra Dock was built in 1914.
A Gujarati civil engineer supervised the building of the Gateway of
India. The Tatas made Bombay their headquarters and gave it the iconic
Taj Mahal Hotel and India's first civilian airlines, Air India. The
Godrejs gave India its first vegetarian soap.
Cowasji Nanabhai Daver established Bombay's first cotton mill, 'The
Bombay Spinning Mills' in 1854. By 1915, there were 83 textile mills in
Bombay largely owned by Indians.
This brought about a financial boom in Bombay. Although the mills were
owned by Gujaratis, Kutchis, Parsis and Marwaris, the workforce was
migrant Mahrashtrians from rural Maharashtra. Premchand Roychand, a
prosperous Gujarati broker founded the Bombay Stock Exchange. Premchand
Roychand donated Rs 2,00,000 to build the Rajabai Tower in 1878.
Muslim, Sindhi and Punjabi migrants have also contributed handsomely to Mumbai.
Mumbai is built on the blood and sweat of all Indians. That is why Bombay belongs to all Indians.
Apart from its original inhabitants, the Kolis, everyone else in Mumbai, including Thackeray's 'Marathi Manoos', are immigrants.
The "Mumbai for Marathi Manoos" war cry has once again been raised to
shore up the sagging political fortunes of the Thackeray family.
When the Shiv Sena-BJP combine came to power in 1993, under the guise
of reverting to the original name they replaced Bombay with Mumbai.
I wonder when they will discard the anglicized Thackeray and revert back to their original Marathi surname Thakre?
This article was written on February 7, 2010 by Tushar Gandhi,
founder/president, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, and the grandson of
Gandhiji.
