Mumbai

Maharashtra’s capital, Mumbai, wears several hats or should we say crowns? Formerly known as Bombay, Mumbai is not just India’s largest city, it is also its commercial capital, industrial powerhouse, busiest port, fashion capital, home to ‘Bollywood’ ( India’s Hollywood), world’s biggest textile market – the list goes on and on. Mumbai thrives on contrasts- the city is home to the richest and the poorest of Indians, sleek limousines jostle rusty cycles, red double-decker buses rumble past three-wheeler auto-rickshaws; impressive high rises soar above crowded ugly slums and shanty towns; glitzy shop fronts amid pavement stalls; glamorous film stars and homeless beggars demand attention at traffic lights and amidst all this are people, people, people everywhere.

Like a giant magnet, Mumbai draws people from all walks of life - traders and artisans, musicians and movie stars, peasants and industrialists, entrepreneurs and executives, students and dropouts. In fact, any Indian with a dream heads for Mumbai and this pulsating, cosmopolitan, multicultural city of opportunity folds them all to its bosom. Mumbai is like little bits of India all rolled into one sprawling city.

The name Mumbai comes from ‘Mumbadevi’, the patron goddess of the Koli fishermen, original inhabitants of the seven islands that make up the city. Mumbai, or Bombay to call it by the name its better known by, was a swampy, mosquito infested, marshy island off the west coast of India with little or no potential, or so thought the Portuguese when they gave it to Charles II of England as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza. The British East India Company leased it from the Crown, and developed the small fishing villages and natural harbours into Bombay, the subcontinent’s busiest port and the region’s centre for trade, finance and industry.

FACT

Area : 440 sq km
Population :13 million (approx.)
Language :Marathi, Hindi, English, Gujarati
Religion :Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Christian, Parsi
State : Maharashtra
STD code :022

Sights

Gateway of India

Mumbai’s most famous landmark, The Gateway of India, is situated at Apollo Bunder. It was designed by George Wikket. It was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to India in 1911. Through this magnificent monument, numerous viceroys and governors were welcomed to India as they disembarked from their steamers, hence the name. Opposite the Gateway is an equestrian statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the Maratha hero who gives his name to several renamed Mumbai institutions.

More impressive — in beauty and size — is the hotel behind the Gateway, which in many ways symbolizes Mumbaikars’ determined and enterprising attitudes. Inspired by its namesake in Agra, the Taj Mahal Hotel was built just over a century ago by an ambitious industrialist named Jamshedji Tata — according to legend, because he wanted to avenge the whites-only policy of Watson’s, then the city’s classiest hotel.

Elephanta Island

The island resembles twin hillocks rising from the sea and the caves are located halfway up the higher of the two. Carved out the solid basalt rock, the caves represent Mount Kailash, the heavenly mountain residence of Lord Shiva and date back to the 3rd or 5th centuries. The temple plan is designed in symmetry with the focal points worked out in a geometric Mandala, representing the cosmic field of energy. Inside the cave temple is a large hall, with nine sculptured panels depicting Lord Shiva in different moods as well as scenes from the life of Shiva. Little is known of the artists and architects who created these magnificent temples and sculptures out of sheer rock with the most primitive of tools.

The Prince of Wales Museum

Built in the Indo- Saracenic style, the Museum stands amidst a well-laid ornamental garden. The museum was opened in 1923 and is divided into three sections art, archaeology and natural history. It has an impressive collection of artefacts from Elephanta Island, Jogeshwari Caves, and terracotta figurines from the Indus Valley, ivory carvings, statues and a large collection of miniatures.

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