This
week’s guest, Jayanti Shukla, an
occasional guest blogger here at Novel Adventurers, is the head of operations for both United Way of
India as well as United Way of Mumbai, a premier global non-profit network. As a long-time resident of Mumbai, she takes us this week on a unusual tour of one of the city's most glamorous neighborhoods.
If you are a Mumbaikar, meaning a resident of the city of Mumbai, India, and if
your postal address has Bandra in it,
then you are considered to have arrived! Bandra is known as the “Queen of the
Mumbai Suburbs.” It’s home to many film and theatre stars, politicians, and
expats. It’s also a highly coveted location for restaurants, pubs, and high-end
stores. Over the generations, the Portuguese, Persians, and the East India
Company have all contributed to its rather unique past in Mumbai’s (then
Bombay) history.
I was fortunate to have lived in Bandra for
25 years. Being an avid walker, I would roam the inner lanes of this beautiful
suburb often. There is still a lot of living history in Bandra, such as the old-timers,
some in their 90s, who carry with them so many memories of life in old-time
Bandra, that I often feel a sense of urgency in documenting their memories!
In comparison to other suburbs in the city,
Bandra is uniquely cosmopolitan and has been home for generations to Hindus communities—the
Maharashtrians, Marwaris, and other linguistic groups—as well as to Muslims, Catholics, the Zoroastrians, and the East Indians (the local name for
the Catholic ethnic community that speaks Marathi; many East Indian families
have lived in Bandra for generations). Mount
Mary Church looks down benignly over the homes of the relatively well-heeled
residents of Bandra who live on the hill of the same name. There are also some very old and
forgotten places of worship in the older parts of Bandra, where a few devout
still work hard to keep the old traditions alive.
I recently strolled the old lanes to learn
more about these old forgotten places of worship. I felt transported to another
era, so different from the bustling vibrant suburb of today that people know
Bandra to be.
The Bandra
Jain Temple
Tucked away at the end of a crowded lane off
Hill Road in Bandra is the Jain Mandir, a temple for more than 140 Marwari Jain
families, a trading community originating from the Indian state of Rajasthan
and who have made Bandra their home for generations. Many of these families base
their home-cum-shop in the bylanes around this temple. It’s obvious that the
temple is what keeps the community together.
The original temple is more than 150 years
old and was built in honour of the eighth Jain Tirthankar (or saint), Shri Chandraprabhu Swamiji. (The Jains
follow the teachings of a lineage of 24 Tirthankars.) Some 35 years ago, the
temple was renovated and a beautifully carved marble idol of the third Jain
Tirthankar, Shri Sambhavnath Swamiji, was placed in the sanctum, while the idol
of the eight saint was elevated to the “Shikhar,” or top of the temple, where it
now resides. The temple also has idols of many other Jain saints and beautifully
carved marble pillars. The marble, from the famed Makrana marble of Rajasthan, had
been specially brought to Bandra, where skilled artisans specially crafted them.
Quite a journey!
I found that generations of one particular
Jain family, the Marlecha family of Marwad in Rajasthan, had been bestowed with
the honour of being caretakers of the temple. It is well cared for thanks to
generous support from the community. The temple ceremonies are many—including regular
anointing of the idols with milk, saffron, and sandalwood. The religion lays
great stress on donating alms for the less fortunate, and the poor throng
outside the temple for free meals.
The Jari
Mari Temple
For years, I took the 9:21 a.m. Bandra local train
to work and watched as some commuters pushed their way out of the rush-hour
trains on Tuesday mornings to make a dash for the Jari Mari Mandir (or temple), a stone's throw away from the station on S.V. Road, which
runs parallel to the station road. After a quick prayer, commuters would dash back to board the next local train to get to work. What
was it that made office-goers give up their seats, a coveted possession on a crowded
local train, to jump out midway to go to this place of worship?
Jari Mari is one of the avatars, or incarnations, of the Hindu Goddess Shakti, a divine
female power. The Jari Mari temple has a “Swayambhu” and “Jagrut” deity,
meaning it is a miraculous natural creation and therefore considered to be
alive and powerful. Such a deity is said
to have the power to fulfill wishes, and the temple’s devotees have immense
faith that their prayers will be answered. This explains the provocation for
commuters to brave their way out of a crowded train then make their way back
after a quick daily visit to the temple!
The temple was built on the spot where the
idol was first discovered by local dhobis,
or washer men, and the panchayat, or local governing body, decided
to make the dhobi community the custodians of the temple. A lake used to be behind the present temple
premises, but it has since been drained and the land reclaimed, but the temple,
which is now more than 300 years old, is believed to be as powerful and sacred
as it was when it was first established.
The idol of the goddess is said to have
appeared at this spot on January 9, 1696, on the auspicious day of “Angarika
Chaturthi”—a special Tuesday dedicated to the elephant God Ganesh—and celebrated
300 years on January 9, 1996, when Bandra organized large-scale celebrations in
the temple’s honour.
Satghare
Ram Mandir
Bazar Road Bandra is a narrow winding lane,
with shops and hawkers on both sides. I love the sights and smells of this
bazaar, so quaint and old world, with many even more narrow lanes branching off
deeper into the locality. Who would have realized that in one of those narrower
lanes is the Satghare Ram Mandir, a temple that’s more than 200 years old. I had to ask an old man sitting
outside his shop for directions, and he obligingly offered to walk with me to
show me the temple.
The gentleman who met me at the temple door
was delighted that someone was showing interest in the temple and eagerly welcomed
me in. There was something peaceful and calm about the Satghare Ram Mandir. I
was told how Purushotam Malhar Seth, a well-to-do businessman of the Daivadnya Brahmin
community, built the temple. Satghare, of which sat means seven and ghare
means homes, refers to the seven households originally from Thane, a district near
Mumbai, for whom this was the family temple. (Incidentally, Mumbai is a city built on seven islands). Seth had
acquired land in Bandra and built a bungalow here with a temple in it. Bandra
was quite cut off from the mainland in those days, and this bungalow was more
like a holiday retreat. As Seth was a staunch devotee of Lord Rama, he’d noted
that there was no Ram temple in the suburbs. It is said that he also built the
temple to bring together the people of the faith, who were in those days under
pressure by the Portuguese to convert to Christianity. Looking at Seth’s importance in the community, the British government
bestowed on him the title of Mahajan,
or very important person, in the community.
Dargah
of Hazrat Pir Maulana Sufi Sultan Naqshbandi
Seeing my interest in wanting to document old
places of worship in Bandra, my guide for the Satghare temple offered to take
me to another such place, and he was sure even followers of the faith may not
know of the existence of the dargah
of Hazrat Pir Maulana Sufi Sultan Naqshbandi.
Tucked away in a narrow lane called Maulana
Baba Lane, which runs alongside the big mosque, the Bandra Jama Masjid, on the
arterial S.V. Road in Bandra, is a small dargah,
which is the tomb or shrine of a Muslim saint. It looks quite nondescript from
the outside, but step inside, and you are dazzled by the exquisitely intricate
mirror inlay work on the ceiling of the dargah. This is the tomb of Hazrat Pir
Maulana Sufi Sultan Naqshbandi, also known as Maulana Baba, a Sufi saint who
settled in Bandra more than 100 years ago. Along one wall of the room sits a
row of Sufis, devotees of the saint who recite the Ayate Karima, 7,000 verses from the Holy Quran, in a trance-like
state. The recitation is performed by the Sufis on behalf of followers who come
to pray at the dargah, since the Sufi saint is said to have the power to grant
wishes.
Interestingly, it is said that Parsis (of the Zoroastrian faith) were among the early followers of the saint, and many of them used to visit the shrine to pray for his blessings.
It may be the queen of the suburbs, but for me, Bandra assumes a completely different meaning—a place where so many communities and their places of worship coexist in complete harmony. It is no wonder that there is so much positive energy here, part of what makes it the energetic vibrant and unique place it is.
One of my favorite neighborhoods in Mumbai, yet I didn't know a thing about all these hidden gems, Jayanti. Thanks for sharing them! I look forward to taking your walking tour on my next visit.
ReplyDeleteLots of research has made this writing, a delightful read !
ReplyDeleteFascinating Jayanti...Thanks for opening our eyes to the historical gems in our own backyard. Brilliant effort.
ReplyDeleteAwaiting more such discoveries from you.
Save a spot for me on that walking tour, Jayanti. :) This is such a vivid, fascinating account. It's impressive how many different religions exist in just one neighborhood. And I love the fact that the Parsis followed the Sufi saint. A nice example of interfaith practice. We could use more of that in the world.
ReplyDelete