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J am al}
THE R ISE OF BOMBAY
A/R ET R O SPECT
a“7
S. M. EDW A R DESIndian Civil Serv ice
REPRINTED FROM VO L UME X O F
THE CENSUS OF INDIA SERI ES 1901
BY ORDER OF THE GOVERNMENT OF BO MBAY
THE NEW YOR K
PUBLIC LIBR AR Y
3206 448M OB, LENOX AND
C O N T E N T S .
PAGE
PREFAC E
PA RT I. Heptanesia
Chapter I .—Mumbadev i 1 47
Chapter I I .— I slam 48 6 2
Chapter I I I .— Nossa Senhora de Esperanga 63 87
PA RT I I . The Island of the Good Life . Eleven
Periods . 89—334bx
APPEND IX and I ndex —345
P R E F A C E .
TH IS tale of the growth ofBombay, which original ly ap
pearedas Part IV of the Census Report of 1901 , for
Bombay Town and Island , owed its preparation to a letter No.
106 , despatched by the Government of I ndia , Home Depart
ment,to the Local Government on the 1 2 th July, 1900. I n the
course of that letter the following words occurFor these reasons, andalso in v iew ofthe fact that no
separate report w as w ritten on the Census of Bombay C ity in
1 891 , w hile the ear l ier reports are in many w ays defectiv e, the
L ocal Gov ernment andthe Corporation w il ldoubtlessdesire thatthe report oftheCensus taken in the fi rstyear ofthe new centuryshouldnot on ly exam ine thoroug hly the cur rent statistics, butshoulddeal w orthily w ith the history andg row th of the C ity ofBombay . A mple materials for such an account are ready to
handin the three volumes of notes andrecords col lectedby Sir
James Campbel l , andprintedunder the orders of the L ocal
Government in 1 893
N ow Sir James Campbel l ’s materials relate roughly to theperiod 1 6 6 1 - 1 800
‘A . D . only ; and it appeared to me that no
history of the I sland could be cal led i n any sense complete,
which omitted to deal with the colonisation andcircumstancesofBombay during the three earl ier epochs—Hindu
,Mabom
medan,and Portuguese ; and which also omitted to notice the
chiefevents ofthe n ineteenth century. As the time allottedfor the completion of the Census was l imited
,assistance i n the
necessary work of research was indispensable. The requi redhelp was wil l i ngly accorded by three scholars ofBombay
, w ho,
offering their services gratis, col lected and suppl ied me with
ii
the materials , upon which the tale of the three early periods is
based . The names of the trio are as fol low sPUR USHO TT AM B . 1053 1 , Esg . , Fel lowofthe Bombay University.
K HA N BA HA DU R FAZL UL L AH L A TFA L
L A H FA R IDI , L P .
Ma’wmmedcmPer IOd.
DR . L OU IS Gom uuo,L .M. & S . ,
D.P .H .
Certain hitherto unpubl ished information is now suppl ied , of
which the most importan t i tem ,perhaps, is the identification
of that early colon ist Bhima R aja wi th the son ofthe Monarch
of Deog iri. The evidence forthcoming from the carefu llabours of Mr . Joshi is important ; for i t show s that our
Prabhus, Panchkalshis , Palshikar Brahmans andothers originally journeyed to Bombay from the Deccan
,and not
,as many
have hitherto supposed , from Gujarat.
The history of the British per iod ( 1 66 1 w hich hasbeen studied by myself
,cannot claim to be anything more than
a chronological survey of the Island’
s past,and an orderly
col lation of statements already published in the works of the
following authori ties and others —~ Sir James Campbell ’s Ma
terials,‘Maclean ’s Guide to Bombay, Grose
’s Voyage to EastI ndies, Fryer
'
s T ravels i n East I ndia and Persia, Anderson’s
Engl ish in Western I ndia, DaCunha’
s Origin of Bombay,
Murray ’s Guide Book of I ndia, Douglas’s Bombay and
Western I ndia,Martin ’s Bri tish Colonies
,Arnold’s I ndia
Revisi ted,Temple ’s Men and Events of My Time in I ndia
,
Hunter ’s Bombay,1 885- 1 890, Mrs. Postan
's Western I ndia
,
Govind Narayan ’s Description of Bombay,The Bombay
Bahar, The Jan-i-Bambai , The I ndian Antiquary, the Asiatic
Society ’s Journals, and the Annual Reports ofthe MunicipalCommissioner
,1 864- 1900. I have to express my thanks to
Mr. Trimbak Atmaram Gupte. Head Clerk to the CollectorofBombay, for help i n the col lation of extracts and quotations
from various works, to Messrs . T . J . Bennett and L . G .
Fraser of the Times of India for placing all the back fi les of
Par tug uese Per iod.
their journal at my disposal , and to the Honorary Secretaryofthe Royal Asiatic Society
,the Presidency Executive Engi
neer,the Municipal Commissioner, and the Collector of
Bombay, for kindly supplying the originals of the maps andplans, whi ch are i nserted in the text.
Finally I ven ture to express a hope that this retrospect,which has al ready met with the generous approval of HisExcel lency the Governor of Bombay in Counci l , wil l l ikewisefind favour wi th the publ ic and with those commun ities , whether Parsi , H i ndu , Musulman , Portuguese, Jain , Ben i—I sraelor others, whose leading men have in the past a ided theEngl ish Government to make Bombay one of the most splendid of Imperial Cities .
S . M . EDWARDES, I . C .S .
BOMBAY ,l st September , 1902 .
P 101 E T I .
HEPTA N ESIA .
caitei vvv éqhé tav 7 47 3 view
PlNDA R -NBMBANS.
Sow then ,some seedofsplendidw ords in honour ofthis Isle.
CHAPTER I .
MUMBADEVI,
T HE early h istory ofour I sland ofBombay is sunk deep in
the Night of Time. A t i ntervals the light of antiquarianresearch casts a faint beam upon the darkness ; a coin , an in
scription , perchance a copperplate grant or patent, is discovered , and publishedas evidence that some olddynasty wasparamount i n Aparanta (the North Konkan ) during remote
ages . But lack ofmaterial has ever been a stumbl ing block i n
the path ofhim who would give to the world a connected taleof the island
'
s expansion . Scattered notes, wherein evidenceof prehistoric trade routes is confusedly mingled w i th the
description of events occurring in Christian eras,are all that
exist to throw light upon the early ci rcumstances of Bombay .
Yet orderly arrangement of such notes, combined w ith thei ntroduction of any new material vouchsafed to us , may
perhaps lead towards the result wh ich is set before us, name
ly, a chronological account of the island ’s growth and of
the people that visi ted or colonized it.At the outset of a journey across d im centuries, i t were
pertinent to enqui re whence the island sprang. Was she , l ike
Delos,a daughter of the sea
,drifti ng before the waves and
stress of w inds , unti l Providence bound her fast to pil lars of
adamant for ever ? T he geologist alone can satisfy our curiosity. After keen scrutinv of the lands configuration ,
of the
various strata which overlie one another,and in view of the
historical and unassai lable fact that Bombay w as originally-not one island— but seven separate and amorphous isles
,
Geology declares that the whole w estern side of the con tinentof I ndia w as subjected , i n preh istoric times, to a protracted
series of upheavals and depressions, that i t vibrated l ike a
quagmire,the vibrations dimin ish ing in extent and force as the
ages passed away . T he varieties of strata composing the
islands,which protect from the open sea the w estern shores
of India , are in themselves evidence ofa succession ofti tan ic
movements, w hich hurled these lands upwards from the veryfi re-bosom of N ature . From Sew ri to Love Grove , Worli ,extend some seven beds ofstratified rock
,abounding in fresh
water remai ns,and d ivided one from another by huge masses
of trap,which i nd icate so many epochs of repose and of
volcan ic disturbance . Each fresh upheaval was followedby partial subsidence , the tw o movements combin i ng to giv e to
the Bombay Presidency its present coast-l i ne and to the I sland
a hav en of deep water, w herein the argosies of commerce
might ride safely at anchor. Further evidence of prehistoric
eruption and depression is furn ished by the discovery at Worli
of petrified and of a submerged forest below the
Prince ’s Dock . The remains of the latter,w hich came to
light duri ng the excavation of the dock in the closi ng years of
the n ineteenth century, w ere 32 feet below high-w ater mark ,and consisted of a th ick forest ofupright stumps of trees ofa
species sti l l existi ng i n the neighbourhood of this island, the
Khair (A r abia m ice/m) . There w ere i n al l 38 2 trees, 2 2 3
standing erect and 1 59 prostrate , though sti l l rooted i n thesoi l . They were found on a decayed trap-rock soi l
,overlaid
by the thick stratum of clay which forms the real bottom
of the harbour. Among the trees one was recumbent,charred
0 An issue ofthe Bombay Times of 1851 refers to the discovery offossil frog s by Dr . Leith.
3
in the middle,but bore no trace ofhaving been cut down with
any tool . ”
From the date,then
,ofher first birth in remote etern i ty,
our island w as shaken by terrible pangs, ofw hich the earl iest
probably severed her from the mainland of I ndia, and the
latest raised above h igh-w ater mark those local ities w hich we
now cal l Mahim and the Esplanade and w hen the last bi rth
throe had subsided,and the hour of man
’
s appearance drew
nigh, she w ho had once been a portion of the continent,
undivided,lay i n a cluster of seven islets upon the ocean
’
sbosom . For many a year the Heptanesia, as oldPtolemycalled them in A .D . 150, w ere destined to glance at one an
other across the i ntervening w aters ; but the Providence which
decreed thei r original d ispersion w i l led also that, i n after time ,they should be once more un i ted by the genius and energy of
man .
Let us glance for a moment at the cluster of Heptanesia,the outw ard appearance of w hich is defined with tolerableaccuracy in an old map reproduced in the year 1 843. South
ernmost of al l lay a narrow tongue of rocky land , which we
to-day call Upper Colaba ; northward thereof, and in closeproximity, was a small and almost triangular islet, known tolater generations as Old Woman ’s I sland
,whence one looked
across a w ider strait to the south-eastern side of a curiously
formed land , resembling in some degree the letter H . Thew estern portion w as composed of one high h il l
,covered w ith
rough jungle and runn ing dow n in a point i nto the sea ; andthe eastern side of lowlying ground, bearing tamarinds and
other shrubs at i nterv als , and menaced from the north by a
rocky ridge, which subsequent ages termed Dongri,or the
H i l l-tract. Northward , again , beyond a very narrow creek,lay a smaller and more amorphous island , part hi l l , part dale ,whereon the cassia fi stula and the brab w ere yet to flourish
.
Th ree disti nct islands composed the northern portion of whatis now the I sland ofBombay . The m iddlemost, shaped like a
parallelogram , lay desert ; and was flanked on the west by a
narrow and tapering stretch of rock,now the outer boundary of
a Worli section , and on the east by a straggli ng island,trifurcate at i ts northern extremity, and possessed ofa strangely
broken coast-l ine . Modern research declares the formation of
these seven islands to have resulted from the breaks , causedby volcanic disturbance
,i n a pair of rocky ridges, lyi ng
roughly parallel to one another, north-east and south-west,and separated i n the south by the reef-guarded waters of a
bay, known to subsequent generations as Back Bay. Throughthe fissures and breaks in these ridges
,the ocean at h igh-tide
swept with unbridled force,and covered with his waters a
considerable tract of lowlying ground between the islands.Such was the appearance ofour island about the period
when the earl iest settler set foot upon her shores. Now for
many years prior to the dawn ofthe Christian era, and for
some time,indeed
,subsequent thereto, the seven islands had
no separate poli tical position , but formed an outlying portionof that kingdom which Ptolemy denominated “ Ariaka, andearly Sanskrit writers of the Puranic period cal ledAparantak or Aparanta. The earl iest ruler of thi s ter
ritory, which is identified by the historian and antiquarian with
the North Konkan , appears to have been the great king Asoka,grandson of the celebrated Chandragupta of Pataliputra, whofounded the dynasty of the Mauryas. That Asoka, whoreigned between B .C . 2 6 3 and 2 29, had communication wi ththis part of I ndia is proved by the rock found at
Girnar i n Kath iawar, at Khalsi i n the H imalayas, and at
Shahabazgarhi i n Afg hanistan : for they tel l us that in the
middle of the th ird century B .C . , that monarch sent Buddhist
m i nisters of rel igion to R astikas, Pethanikas, and Aparantas.
Moreover, the Buddh ist high priest, Mog galputto, is mentioned
in the‘ Ma/zavansod' a Ceylonese chron icle, as having
despatchedpreachers of Buddhism, in accordance with the
InscriptionsdAsoka, Vol. I I. , p. 84. 1' Tumour 'sMahavam o, pp. 7 1-73.
I 5
king’s orders, toMaharatta, Aparanta, and Banavasi . Further
proof that th is province of Aparantaka, w i th its outlying
islands, once owed allegiance to that great king is afforded bythe discovery at Supata , then the capital ci ty of the kingdom,
ofa fragment of the eighth Edict .Now the glory of the great cities of the coast—Sopara
(Ophir) , Kalyan , Symulla (Cheul ) —was noised abroad amongthe nations of those early days. The hardy trader of oldEgypt, the Phoenician , and the Babylonian in turnmust have helmed thei r craft past the twin rock-ridges
of th is island , on thei r way to barter w i th the subjects of
dusky Majesties,whose names only have in some cases
been bequeathed to posteri ty. The wealth of the cities of
the western l i ttoral suffered not decay, albeit thei r rulers
changed with the changing ages. Some five score yearsere the Magi fared forth i n the path of the eastern star,which heralded the dawn of Christian i ty, a dynasty of Sha
takarnis or Shatvahanas were overlords of Aparantaka,which erstwhi les flourished under the sway of Asoka . Thus
much one may learn from the cave-inscriptions at Nasik,the longest ofwhich records that i n the nineteenth year of the
reign of King Pulumayi, the cave was constructed anddedicated to the use of Buddhist saints and mendicants
by Gotam i, mother of king Gotam iputra Shatakarni
Moreover,a si lver coin d iscovered i n a stupa at Sopara
by Sir James Campbell and the Pandi t Bhag vanlal Indrajii n the year 1 88 2 bore the legend Ranno Gotam iputasa,Siri Yanna Satakamsa
, which , being in terpreted, meansThis is the coin of King Gotamiputra, Shri Yajna Sha
takarni.” The Shatakarni, also, who is elsewhere describ
ed as “ king of kings, and ruler of Asika, Surashtra
(Kathiawar), Aparanta, Anup (to the north of the Vindhya
range ) , Vidarbh ( the Berars) , and Akravanti
Bombay Gal etleer, Vol. I Part IL , pp. 149, 150.
J Vol. XVI. (Nasik) .
and as having destroyed the Sakas,Falhavas
,and Yavans,
the last-named of w hom are identified by Dr . Bhandarkarw ith the Bactrian Greeks
,
! ow ned these Heptanesia as an
outpost of his kingdom from about 1 33 A .D. to 1 54 A .D.T
The dynasty, of w hich “ he re-establ ished the glory, and
which is termed ‘the A ndhrabhrityas
’ i n Puran ic w ri tings
and ‘the Salivahanas
’ i n local tradition,held sw ay for
perhaps four centuries, unti l the rise of the R ashtrakutas
of Malkhed , and w or thi ly maintai ned the commercial
prestige of the kingdom . I n their day,
so the chroniclesof Thana relate , the subjects of the Parthian monarch ,Mithridates I , sought the marts of Aparanta, and w it
nessed the arrival of vessels freighted w i th all manner of
merchand ise—sesamum,oi l, sugar, spices, even
‘ handsomeyoung w omen
’
of Hellas, destined to‘ attend upon the
king of the country ’ and cry “ Chareh xa'
uge ) i n th is
court. For years, i ndeed , after the birth of Christ, theships of the Greek
,the Arab
,the Persian and the
Christian sai led betw een Egypt, Malacca, China, the Gulf,i n a w ord betw een the World ’s ports and the Konkankingdom . Merchants and sea -rovers of many nations must,i n that early Christian ag e, have gazed from their decks
upon our seven isles,perchance may have cast anchor
for a space within their l im its . But they settled not so
far as w e know ; they came,cried ‘ Hai l " and passed
aw ay towards the rich cities ofthe main land .
I t w as not by the paths of the sea, but from land
w ard that the earliest i nhabitants of Bombay journeyed.At some date prior to the year 300 A .D .
,and prior,
perhaps, to the Christian era
,our desolate isles became
the home of certain li the dark men,calli ng themselves
“ Kulis or Kolis,which the antiquarian interprets to
mean Husbandm en . Such is not the only derivation
afforded of thei r name . The later Aryans,some aver,
Bhandarkar ’s Deccan. 1 Ibid, p. 166 .
greatly contemned these early settlers, and characterized
each member of the clan as Kola'
(a hog ) ; others
believe that they w ere Kul is,’ or members of one Kul ’
or tribe,even as the Kunbi ’ i s member of a ‘ K utumb
’
or family ; whi le another authority traces thei r ti tle to
the Mundar Horo ’ or ‘ Koro,
’ that is to say, ‘ Man .
’
The primary derivation,connecting the word w i th an old
Dravidian root sign ifying “ agriculture,seems to us most
fitting,in view of the origin of this people , as portrayed
in their physical characteri stics. The Kol is,remarks
Dr. Gerson da Cunha,belong to the Dravidian or Neg
rito type . The form of the head usually incli nes to bedol ichocephalic ; but the nose is th ick and broad, and the
formula expressing its proportionate d im ensions is higher
than in any know n race except the Negro.
” Admitting,
therefore,that our earliest settlers were of Dravidian ori
gin, it i s qui te possible that thei r ti tle also was derived
from a Dravidian source ; a theory to some extent con
fi rmed by the fact that,at the season of later immigra
tions into Thana, the Kol is almost certain ly held theplain country and were, as some of them sti l l are
,ski lled
field-workers .One would fain speak with more certainty of the
date of thei r arrival on these shores ; but so remote,so
shrouded in antiqui ty is the Kol i Hegira from the main
land,that no definite statement is permissible . It is pro
bable, how ever, that these people, of whom there are
many different tribes, spread themselves along the western
coast and peopled our then nameless Heptanesia i n some
dark ag e before the Shatakar ni dynasty rose to power.
Successive waves of i nvaders or settlers have advanced
upon the Koli , have almost threatened to engulf him ;but some natural sturdiness in him has formed his sup
port . He is amongst us to this day ; has got those oldnon-Aryan dei ties of his admitted into a Brahman ic pan
[ 8 ]
theon ; has even borrowed from later settlers the idea of
a pedigree ! The heralds ’ col lege of Brahman ism furn ish
ed h im , doubtless on payment of some kind , w i th a meta
phorical escutcheon , and h id the truth of his lowly origini n a specious tale ofdescent from a Lunar monarch . Among
the most remarkable divisions of th is aboriginal stock i sthat of the Son Kol is, resident along the Thana Coast,the prefix of whose nam e recal ls the term— Shron or Son
Aparanta— used in the Buddhist legend of Purna of Sopara
to denote the North Konkan,and may perhaps have
some connection with the word ‘ Son,
’ or ‘ Sonag,
’ which ,on the authori ty of the Gaz etteer , w as the equivalen t in
Southern I ndia of the term ‘ Yavan ’
or‘ Greek .
’ One
wonders if any bond w as formed in those early days
between the dark-ski nned aboriginal settlers of the Thana
Coast and the Greeks, w ho visi ted the land as traders or
as captives of a victorious Shatakar ni.The family of Son Kolis, how ever, is of less impor t
ance,so far as Bombay is concerned , than that of the
Meta Kol is, w ho are declared to have been the earl iest
colonists of our islands, and to have fished in these w aters,ti lled the soil
,and w orsh ipped their primeval gods , long
before a higher Aryan civi l isation left i ts mark upon the
land.I n what local i ties precisely they bui lt their scatter
ed groups of huts is some w hat difficult to decide ; but
local nomenclature gives a clue to the position of their
hamlets i n subsequent ages, which may reasonably be held
to have arisen on the site of original homes. They un
doubtedly existed i n the tw o southern islands,which
thereby acqui red the title of “ Kola-bhat ” or “ Kolaba,the Koli estate.ale Immigrants of a later period gave the
smal ler of the tw ain a separate title,“the I sland of the
A l-Omanis or deep-sea fishermen , which was metamor
phosed i nto‘ The Old Woman ’s I sland ’
of the Bri tish
0 Dr . G. da Cunha, O rig in ofBombay,”
p, 64.
observant w ayfarer ofthis twentieth century,who seeks Malabar
Hill by w ay ofGirgaum Road , will remark upon his right hand ,hard by the shop of Lawrence
,the carriage bui lder
,a Mug
bhat (Munga-bhat) Lane, w hich approximately marks thesite ofthe old Koli ’s possessions .
Our Kol i . however, was not i nvar iably responsible for
local nom enclature : i n at least one i nstance he seems tohave borrowed a ti tle from the physical characteristics of
his early dw ell ing-place . We have already remarked the H i l ltract on the eastern side of our third island . H indu immigrants of subsequent years called i t Dongri ,
” and thepeople w hom they found settled around it Dongri Kolis, as
if they were some disti nct branch of the old stock . Modern
research declares definitely that they were identical with
the rest ofthe tribe upon our islands,were simply Meta Kolis,
l iving above their brethren on the low ground .
A conviction that they settled also in the fourth of our
seven isles is based upon the origin of the name Mazagon,”
and upon the presence of a modern temple of Ghorupdeo.
Mazagon , which contains to this day a Kol i-vadi or Kol i
settlement, ow es its name , we fancy, to the pungent odour
of the fish , which its earliest inhabitants caught, dried and ate .
Agriculturists and fisherm en the Kolis have been from time
immemorial ; but those of them,that settled in the fourth
island,found fishing more profi table than agriculture , and
became so wedded to the pursuit,that their home earned
the title of“ Machcha-gaum or “ the Fish-vi l lage . Regarding
the shrine of Ghorupdeo, Dr. da Cunha tel ls us that to the
Koli of these days the presidi ng dei ty is general ly knownas K hadaka-dev ’ or the ‘ Rock-god.
’ Now the Koli isprimari ly a nature-worshipper trees and stones have ever been
to him provocative of that reverential wonder, which is the
germ ofold religions . To the early Kol i ofthe fish-vi llage the
rough boulders to northward must have been investedwithsomething of divi ni ty ; may have seemed a likely abode
for some spirit, and thereby earned h is reverential regard .
Subsequent generations of his fami ly borrowed the customofbui lding shrines and temples w orthy of their deities w herefore we of to-day may look upon a temple of Ghorupdeo,much patronised by H indu fisherfolk. The modern shrineserves to mark the spot where the founders of the Fish-hamletstrove to appease the Spi r i t ofthe Rock . I n the three northern islands
,which have latterly been merged into the Island of
Bombay, the Koli may also have made his home . There wereKol is of Moory (Mori) i n Worl i i n 1 747 ; there is to-day a
Koliw adi i n Mahim and another i n Sion . The vi llage whichsubsequently arose around the latter is responsible for the
name of the whole modern section ; for , being situated at theextremity of the island ’s triple promontory , it earned the title of“ Simva
”
(fin) the boundary-hamlet,or last
inhab ited spot ere one voyaged across the strai t to the island of
the Shashashti (Salsette ) or sixty-six’ vi l lages . To the
south of the boundary-hamlet,there may have arisen in time
another but settlement, the members ofw hich w ere ski lled in
fashion ing rude fishing -craft, numbers ofwhich would be draw n
up ashore during the rainy season . The spot would have been
given the name of Naig aum or the Boat-hamlet,” being
par ex cellence the home of boats . The name is w i th us to
this day.
Thus,then , during the dominion of the Shatakarni, w hi le
the freighted vessel of the merchant stole to and fro along theThana coast, the Koli dwelt upon our seven islands and
cast his nets i nto thei r enci rcl i ng waters . One is fai n to believe
that he had communication with the main- land in that day,that he sought the din and bustle of the rich markets of
Aparantaka. But no evidence exists of any communicationbetween these islands and the kingdom of the main- land
,
unti l after the Shatakarni dynasty had passed aw ay.
About twenty years ago excavation brought to l ight
tw o hoards of si lver coin , bearing the legend T he i l lustrious
K rishnaraja, the great Lord (or the w orshipper ofMaheshvara) ,who meditates at the feet of his parents . The coins, whichw ere found at Cavel i n our island and in Salsette
,lead us back
to the spectral past,w hen the R ashtrakuta monarchy held
sway in Manyakheta or Malkhed. At w hat date the R astrakutas
succeeded the Shatakarnis, and for how long they ruled over the
North Konkan,is enti rely unknown to us but the presence of
the coi ns, of which counterparts have been found at Karhad
i n Satara and also in Nasik, shows that from 375—400A .D . ,
the Northern Konkan , i ncluding our Heptanesia, were partof the domin ions of the R ashtrakuta Krishna . Moreover
,
they show that by the year 400A .D.,our Koli was in touch
with the busy l ife of the Thana coast,and perhaps earned
a scanty wage by the sale offish or by patch ing-up the stormstrained vessel of the Sassan ian Apart from its
i ntri nsic value,the dramma of K rishnaraja appeals to us
as the first di rect evidence of Bombay ’s connection with
civi lisation .
From K rishnaraja onwards to the middle of the sixthcentury A .D. , the tale of our islands is involved in someobscurity . Much may be learnt ofthe H indu of the mainlandhow he voyaged afar
,outbidding the Arab and Persian
in Afric ’s ports, and settled in Persia, Alexandria, Ceylon and
the fatherland of Hiw en T hsang . But that the peacefuland self-centred existence of our primeval fishermen was in
any way disturbed, can be inferred on ly from the historical
statement that K irtivarman, prince of the Chalukyas, whoflourished about 550—557 A .D. , i nvaded the North Konkanand defeated the Mauryas, who were then paramount therein . 1
L
Now the Mauryan dynasty, which presumably succeededthat of the R ashrakutas, has left behi nd i t certain traces
of i ts paramountcy . Whence , cries the antiquarian , didthe Koli acqui re that surname of More
,which he bears
Thana Gaz etteer , p. 419.
f Cunning ham’
s A rchaeolog ical Sur vey, Report 1x, p. 30.
to this day, if not from the Mauryan dynasty ofPuri P The
Koli has always borrow ed something from each new tide
of settlers or immigrants and just as he acqui red lunar descent
from the Brahmin , or a rude type of Christian i ty from the
Portuguese,
so he obtained a surname from the dynasty
which owned him as its subject i n the sixth century . Again
where was the ci ty of Puri ,” that flourishing capital,
described as “ goddess ofthe fortunes of the western oceanBy keen analysis, i n tell igent inspection of oldruins, copperplates and “ oval seals of l ight ruby-coloured cornel ianengraved with the word ‘ Narayana,
’
it has been shown that
this remarkable city was bui l t upon the north-eastern portion
of the I sland of Gharapuri , a i lho da E lephante,’ the I sland
ofElephanta From the wr i ti ngs of early Portug uese travel
lers i t is clear that up to the 1 6th century of the Christian
era,the Island of Elephanta was known by the name of
Puri,and that the names “Gharapuri and Elephanta
are of later origin . Garcia da O rtafl‘ who visi ted the place i n
1 534 A .D remarks that “There is another pagoda better
than al l others,in an island cal led Pori
,
” and we name
it the I sland of the Elephant . There is a hi l l on i t and at
the t0p of th is hi ll an underground dwel li ng hewn out of
a l ivi ng rock . This dwell i ng is as large as a monastery,
and has open courts and cisterns of very good water. On
thewalls around there are large sculptured images ofelephants,
l ions,tigers and of many human figures wel l represented .
I t is a thing worth seeing and i t seems that the devi l put
there al l his strength and ski ll to deceive the heathen with
his worsh ip.
” Old Simao Botelho also records how the Island
of Pory , which is of the elephant,was rented in 1548 to
Joao Pirez for one hundred and five pardaos . ”
I n the sixth century A .D.,therefore
,the early fisher-folk of
these Heptanesia must have been i n close touch with ahigher civi lisation for almost withi n hai l of thei r rude vil lages
,
Dr . G. do. Cunha.
lay the capital ofa pow erful government,whose terri tory includ
ed probably all the islands of the Northern Konkan a tow nof great importance and opulence
,the Lakshmi of the
western seaso,which excited the envy of neighbouri ng Chieftains
,
and sent forth stern men-at-arms to battle with Chalukya hosts,
that swept l ike an ocean across the islands .Though Kirtivarman defeated the Mauryas i n the middle
ofthe sixth century,the sovereignty ofthe North Konkan was
not wrested from them unti l the openi ng of the seventh centuryA.D. It w as Pulakeshi
,the son ofK irtivarman
,and the most
powerful of all the Chalukya kings,who compassed their
downfall . During his reign (6 1 1—640A.D. ) the kings ofLata,Malwa, Gurjar, K anoj and Banavasi w ere brought into subjection and Chand Danda , his general , set forth with hundredsof ships
,and drove the Mauryas from Puri . N0 material
rel ics of Chalukya domin ion over these islands have beenbequeathed to us ; but, as in the case of the Mauryas, soi n theirs
,a surname i n use among the Kolis testifies to the
i nfluence which they wielded . Cholke, w hich is di rectlyderivable from Chalukya
,recalls to the mind that dim past
,
when the civi lisation ofan outer world had draw n very near our
seven isles,commanding them to awake from thei r deep bi rth
sleep for ever.Passing onward from th is date
,and across the inarticulate
gloom of the eig hth century A .D., we arrive at a period w hich
exercised considerable influence upon the islands of Bombay.
I n al l l ikel ihood,the Chalukyas held the mastery of this coun
try unti l the advent ofthe Si labaras or Shelaras i n A .D. 8 10.
Twenty Si labara kings ruled i n the North Konkan from A .D.
8 10 to A .D . 1 2 60 They called themselves Tag arpuravara
dhishvar or Lords of the glorious city of Tagar,
” andclaimed descent from Jimutvahana.
’
r Among their chiefcitieswere Puri
,the capi tal , Hamjaman (Sanjan ), Shri-sthana
Burg ess’
A rchaeolog ical Sur vey, Report III, p. 2 6 .
1 An account ofhow Jimutvahana by his self-sac rifice saved his tribe from the oppression ofGaruda or W asuki is g iven in the Sanskrit drama Naganand.
”
( I s l
(Thana) , Chaul , L onadand Uran . O f Kapardi, the first ofhis li ne, l i ttle is known ; but an inscription (No. 78 ) i n theKanheri caves describes his son Pulakeshi as the Governor ofMang alpuri i n the Konkan , and as the humble servant of theR ashtrakuta king Amog havarsha, whence one may infer that
the Si labaras w ere subord inate to the R ashtrakutas. ThatKapardi I I w as also a tributary is also proved by anotheri nscription i n the same caves . Jhanjha, the fifth king, ismentioned by the Arab historian
,Masudi
,as rul i ng over
Saimur (Chaul ) i n A .D. 91 6 ; w hi le Aparajita, the eighthof the dynasty
,appears from a copper-plate , dated A .D. 997,
and found at Bher i n Bhivandi,to have become independent
,
on the occasion of the defeat of the R ashtrakuta overlordKakkal, by the Chalukya monarch T ailapafl
‘ In a copper
plate grant of A .D . 1097, A r ikesari, the tenth king, is described as lord of vil lages i n the Konkan and mentionis made ofPuri , Shristhanak (Thana) and Hamjan, as his prin
cipal cities .m Mallikarjuna, the 1 7th monarch , wielded great
power, and assumed the ti tle of R ajapitamaha,’ ‘ the grand
sire ofkings It came to pass that one ofhis bards journeyed
unto the Court of K umarpal, the Gujarat king, and there sang
ofthe glory ofhis lord ; whereat K umarpal waxed wroth andbade his general Ambada march against the country ofMallikarjuna. But the latter worsted A mbada i n battle and drovehim back to Gujarat. Once again did A mbada make the essaywi th a stronger force ; and, having defeated and slain thegrandsi re of kings,
” returned in tri umph to A nahilpura, the
capital of the Gujarat monarch . Soma or Someshvar was thelast of the Si labara line . He, by il l-hap, had to face Mahadev,the ki ng of Devg iri, w ho, i n A . D . 1 2 60, i nvaded the Konkan
with a large army,consisti ng for the most part ofelephants
and being worsted,he took shel ter in his sh ips, and there met
his death,probably by drowning. Hemadri
, the celebrated
minister of Mahadev and R amdev , records his death in the
Bombay Gaz etteer , Vol. I, Part II, p. 18.
1 7th verse of his R ajaprashasti Soma,the Lord ofthe
Konkan , though ski l led in swimming, w as with his host
drow ned i n the rivers, formed of the humour that fell from the
temples of the mad elephants ofkingWho the Si labaras were, and whence they cam e , is yet
largely a matter of conjecture : but the . endi ng ‘ ayya ofthe
names ofalmost all thei r min isters , as, for example , Nag alayya,L akshmanayya, w hich occur i n thei r copper-plate grants,and the un-Sanskri t names ofsome oftheir Ch iefs , favour the
view that the dynasty w as of southern or Dr avidian origin .Other names which confront us are A nantpai R rabhu andBelala Prabhu , w ho are supposed to have been Kayasths, the
ancestors of the Kayasth Prabhus of the Konkan . Howso
ever it be,the Si labaras seem to have fostered
and trade in the hig hest degree, and to have in tthese sparsely-populated islands a social and religious elemeht,hitherto unknow n . H indu
,Musalman
,Parsi
,Pe
Jew and Chinaman,all visited and settled i n the
in thei r day, or braved the dangers of the sea—and they werenot few—for the sake of the sandalw ood and ambergris ofSocotra , the aloes, camphor andspikenard of Siam
,Java and
Sumatra,the porcelai n of China
,and the cowries and gold
dust of Sofala . Ten thousand Persians and Arabs made t
their home in Chaul : the Jew brought a l ivi ng freight ofw omen , eunuchs and boys by way of the gulf to Chaul
,
Sanjan and Sopara thi rteen Chinese ships made of double
fir-wood , fastened with good iron nails, and daubed with
l ime,chopped hemp and wood oi l,
” passed the stormy months
ofA .D. 1 292 i n the harbour ofBombay. Nor were the Celestials the only visitors to our islands . There were sea-robbers
and corsairs i n our harbour at the close of the thi rteenth
century, for Marco Polo himself saw them—one of the manybands of pirates, who harassed the coast-trade from Gujarat
m fiaas fit m lfigamGill : eggs
—dI fi ftfi I W
( 1 8 )
Was i n closest proximity to our seven isles, was, i n fact, Purior
Elephanta Island,described by them as ‘ Mang alpuri,
’ ‘ theCity ofProsperi ty
,
’ and in the K umarpalCharitra'
as ShatanandpuriJaladhiveshtite or the sea-girt ci ty of an hundredjoys. ’ Moreover, w ith one particular portion ofour is land thename of the Si labaras is indissolubly connected . At theextreme edge ofthe promontory
,which is known to late-comers
as Malabar Point, they discovered a strangely-cleft rock, ‘ a
fancied yoni, ofno easy access i n the stormy season , i ncessantlysurf-buffeted .
’ Being of Dravidian origin,they termed the
spot Shri-Gundi , which has been interpreted to meanLucky Stone and to further mark the sancti ty of the spot,they
,staunch Shaivites as they were
,bui lt a mighty temple ,
ornate with carven images ofthe Trimurti .The influence of the shrine and cloven rock upon all men
must have been considerable . From the fisherman,with his
rag-gods and pot-godlings of the tree to the aged yogi , with
rosary ofR udraksha berries,many an inhabitant ofsurrounding
districts must, during the Si labara and later epochs, have visi ted
the temple, and , passing through the trees to the"
land ’s verge,have sought regeneration by the peri lous passage ofthe yon i .
Now the original name of the place was Srig undi but, some
years'
later,the Brahmin priests attachedto
'
the shrine invented
for the greater glorification of the temple andthedei ty a tale
which is responsible for the modern name ofthe local i ty, layi ngi t before their publ ic i n the form ofa Mahatmya or Panegyr ic.
R ama,so ran the story
,erstwhi les halted here on his journey
to Lanke and made himself a li nga ’
of the sand ofthe shore
w herefore the deity whom we and ye rightly reverence shall
be called “ Valuka Ishvara,
” “the Sand-Lord .
”
T he tale
Dr. G . da Cunha opines that Shatanandpur is the same as Santapur , an oldnamefor
Elephanta, transformedby the Portg uuese into Santupori 3andsug g ests a connection betweenShantiporior Shonitpur andSonapur , the site ofa former Eng lish Cemetery near the present
Queen’
s Road O rig in ofBombay,”
p. 3 2 .
1' I fancy Lucky Hollow w ould be a more cor rect translation for Gundi is apurc
Kanarese w ord, directly connectedw ith the Telug u tGunde ’
andthe Tamil Kundi} It
means (a) a hole, pitor hollow , (b) thepitofthe stomach, (e) a larg eearthen or metalvessel.
19 ]
found meri t in the eyes of man ; and the place is called“ W alkeshvar unto this day . Some parts of W alkeshvar
sti l l conserve the calm of those old Silahara days . He
w ho, leaving behind the bung alows of a modern century
,
directs his steps to the very foreshore,wil l find a l i ttle
colony of Sanyasis,dwelling amid the tombs of brethren
who have already passed beyond the bourne,and whose spiri ts
cal l unto the l iving in the soft wash of the sea and the
sough of the wind in oldtrees.The discovery ofShrig undi and the bui ld ing of the temple
seems to us to have been responsible for another landmark of
the island . The stream of worshippers from the wide limitsof the Konkan kingdom gradually formed for itselfa pathwayleading up the jungle-covered slope of the hi ll ; and, as that
pathway was ofnecessi ty steep and narrow, later immigrantscal led it (3131 or the Ladder. ’ Some of us who wanderup the Siri Road from the Chowpatty sea-face to the
Ladies ’ Gymkhana on Malabar Hill may w ell pause to
remember that we are treading i n the footsteps of old-worldpilgrims to the shrine ofValukeshvar . The Silahara monarchshave passed out i nto the Night, the temple has been battered
i nto r uins by the bigoted devotees of Mahommedor the
Virgin Mary but the toi lsome road , up which the worshipper
of Shiva slowly clomb, i s with us sti l l , albeit smoothed and
widened by the hand ofthe Eng i neer.The southern origin of the Silahara kings and those w ho
followed them to Bombay may have eventually given rise
to such local names as Nagpada and A g ripada.
”
That the area which w e now know under the former ti tlewas in any sense thickly colonised is most unlikely ; for i tremained
,l ike K amathipura, a swamp, l iable to periodical
flooding by the sea,for centuries after th is date . But
, as
Sir James Campbell has poin ted out, the suffix pada,’ which
means a hamlet,
’ is closely al l ied to the Dravidian padu,
’
andis one of the many words which suggest a considerable
r
t20
Dravidian element in the early population of the NorthKonkan . The w orship of the serpent
,which has prevailed
in almost all parts of the world , may be responsible for the
first half of the w ord . The story of our Mother Eve , of
Apollo and the Delphic Python , of old Norse-godThorand the great Midg ard snake, of the Red Indian Manabozhoand the serpent Meshekenabek, find thei r counterpart i nIndia in tales ofa race ofNagas, semi-divi ne , whose womenwere handsome
,and sometimes i ntermarried with mortals.
In the oldlegend of Purna of Sopara one catches a gl impseof the Nagas , so-cal led, perhaps , on account of thei r devotion
to serpent-worship.
“ Buddha,” as we learn
,
“whi le i n
Sopara,became aware of the approach of the Naga kings,
Krishna and Gautama . They came on the waves of thesea with 5oo
’ Nagas ; and Buddha, knowing full wel l thatif the Nagas en tered Sopara the ci ty would be destroyedwent forth to meet them and converted them to his faith .
I t is not impossible that the cult of the serpent and the
introduction of Dravidian forms of speech by the Si labarakings and thei r followers have been primari ly responsible
for the title of that unhealthy local ity, known to Municipalofficials of to-day as tst and 2 ndN agpada.
Concern i ng the name Ag ripada we entertai n moredoubts ; for , although the suffix points to very oldDravidianelements, the Agris of Bombay themselves claim to havearrived here at a much later date than the Kolis and othernon-Aryan people . T he labours of anthropology , however,show that the Agris were settled in the Thana district i nprehistoric times ; that they are on much the same social
level as the Kol is , K athkaris, Thakurs and other abor iginal
tribes ; and that, notwithstanding thei r pretensions , thei r
strain off oreign blood is extremely sl ight. Moreover,like
our Kolis , they seem to have borrowed cus toms and nomen’
clature from later Rajput-named immigrants . The fact of
{thei r forming one ofthe prehistoric tribes oftheThana distr ict
i n no way confl icts with the view that they entered our Heptanesia at a date subsequent to the Si labara era ; but w henthey did come and form a small settlement
,the name which
they gave i t , v ia , A g ripada, or the Hamlet of the Agris,testified di rectly to the ancient and non-Aryan elements
withi n them . The precise site of thei r early hamlet is wholly
unknown to us . I t cannot, for the same reason as w e have
given in regard to N agpada, have been di rectly situated in
the locality now know n as the A g ripada district ; but i t mayhave stoodon some rising ground
,adjacent to the drowned
lands, and, after the latter had been reclaimed by the breachstopping operations of the British period, have lent i ts name
to a new and wider area. All one can with certainty say,therefore, is that the names of two well-known portions of
modern Bombay are ofnon-Aryan origin,and perhaps testify
to the influence which the Dravidian monarchy ofthe Si labaras
once exercised over the mainland and the islands of the North
Konkan .
The Silabara epoch , then , was of some importance to
our islands. N ot only were the monuments of a highercivil isation erected with i n their l imi ts, but a new l ife andbroader views must have been vouchsafed to the Koli settlerby the proximi ty of the capital, Puri . The mainland also
w as findi ng place w i th i n i ts l imits for various races, who in
after time settled in Bombay. There were Kayasths, as
w e have before stated, i n the royal courts, the probableancestors of our present Kayasth Prabhus ; the Persian and
the Arab were living in Chaul ; the Parsis were a power i n
Sanjan ; w hi le the coast hamlet ofNavag aum ( i n the Kolaba
Collectorate ) had already received the survivors of that small
band of the chi ldren of I srael, w ho, preferring the faith of
Jehovah to al l things, left thei r home i n Yemen and al l
their past beh ind them, whose descendants, prosperous
and with monotheistic faith i ntact, are now dwel l ing in
our city.
With Someshvar ended the dynasty ; and thenceforththe Northern Konkan was annexed to the kingdom ofDevg iri.
Mahadev, who defeated Someshvar , died about the year 1 2 7 1
A .D. ,and w as succeeded by Rama Raja or R amdev ; but
neither of these monarchs appears to have resided in the
new ly-acquired terri tory . According to Dr. Fleet, C . I .E .
( dynasties of the Kanarese districts ), one Mahapradhana
( chiefminister ) A chyuta Nayak was governing the province
of Sésati ( Salsette ) as viceroy of king R amdev i n the year1 2 72 A .D . ; whi le from one of the Thana copperplates,published by Mr. Wathen , w e find that i n the year Saka 1 2 1 2 ,
or A .D. 1 290, a Brahmin named Krishna of the Bharadvajagotra was viceroy ofking R amdev for the whole of the Konkan .
I n the year 1 294 A .D. Alla-ud-di n Khilj i of Delhi
i nvaded the kingdom of Devg ir i. R amdev,who was wholly
unprepared for attack,hurriedly collected some men
and endeavoured to stem the tide of Musalman invasion .
But fate was against h im ; and having been defeated wi thhis son Shankar, he was forced to sue for peace on payment
ofan annual tribute to the Emperor of
N ow the story of events subsequent to the victory of
Alla-ud-din forms a most important portion of the h istory
of our island . I t is un iversal ly acknowledged that, after thedefeat of R amdev , a certai n Bimba or Bhima Raja establi shedhimselfas ruler of the North Konkan, and colonised the islands
ofBombay : and our first duty is to try and discover the
identi ty of a man who was the pioneer in the task of raisingBombay above the level ofa mere fishing hamlet .An oldpoem, the Bimbakhyan, relates that King Bim
badev came to the Konkan by w ay ofA nahilvada i n the yearSaka 1 2 1 6 , that is, 1 294 A .D . ,f and halted upon the islandofMahim, which he found almost uninhabited . So charmedwas he wi th the scenery ofthe island
,that he caused a royal
Bombay Gaz etteer , Vol. I , Part I I , p. 2 51 ; alsoElliot’
s History of India , V II , p. 77 .
1: Note that this year 1 2 1 6 exactly corres ponds w ith the year in w hich Allapud-din invadedDevg iri anddefeated R amdev ,—wide Bimbakhyan , p. 108 .
( as )
palace to be bui l t there,and also houses for the accommo
dation of the royal guests and others,who had accompan ied
him to the Konkan through fear of the Moslem i nvadersof Devg iri and W ith him there came from
Paithan , Champaner and other places, 9fami l ies of YajurvediBrahmins of the Madhyandin Shakha and66 other fami lies,that is to say, 2 7 kulas or famil ies of the Somavanshis
,1 2 of
Suryavanshis, 9 of Sheshavanshis, 5 fami l ies of Panchal,7 ofKunbis or Agris, 1 fami ly ofDasa Lad, 1 ofVisa Lad
,1 of
Moda,1 ofDasa Moda and 1 ofVisa Moda lr Such is, in brief,
the teaching of the old Marathi account ofthe advent of Bimbashah, i n which the dates g iven
‘ are i naccurate,and the
statements are occasionally'
so very conflicting that, un lesscorroborated by independent evidence
,they can scarcely be
accepted for the purposes ofhistory.
Now some authorities,notably the late Dr. Gerson
da Cunha,believe that the Bimbadev or Bimb Raja here
mentioned w as identical with one of the Bhima Rajas of theChalukya (Solanki ) dynasty , which reigned at A nahilvadai n Gujarat : and Dr . da Cunha further observes in his“ Origin of Bombay ”
that Bhim R aja of Gujarat, a fterhis defeat by Mahomed of Ghazn i at Som nath in the year
A .D . 102 4,“ fled from his country, and, to make up for thé
loss in ~the north , marched with‘
his colony from Patan intothe south andsettled at Mahim .
But it is a well-know n historical fact that, immediately
afterMahomed ofGhaz ni had departed with his army, BhimaRaja returned to his country of A nahilvada, andi n virtue of
his devotion to Somnatha ofPrabhasa, causedthe temple of
Somnath to be bui lt of stones i n lieu of the former woodentemple which Mahomed had destroyed , tha t he later sent anarmy against and subdued the ch ief of Abu, and that he
r eigned at A nahilvada ti l l hisdeath in the year A . D.
a Bimbakhyan, p. 108 . t Bimbakhyan .
I Bombay Gaz etteer , Vol. I, Part I, pp. 169-170.
t a4 l
Again , the authors of Prabhandha Chi ntaman i andDvyasraya, Jain chronicles of Gujarat, have recordedthe
most mi nute detai ls of the reigns of the Chalukya kings ofA nahilvada ; and hadthe conquest andcolon isation ofMahimor the Konkan by this Bhima Raja and his Gujarat followersactually taken place
,they would scarcely have omitted to chto
n icle so important an event . At the hour of Mahomed'
s
i n vasion , the Konkan province was under the sway of the
Silaba r as ; and a copperplate grant, dated Shaka 948 , w hich isA . D . 102 5, show s that Chittaraj was then lord of theKonkan vi l lages, that Puri and Hamjaman were his chief
cities, andthat the taluka of Shashashti or Salsette formedpart ofhis possessions. ‘ On the other hand, there is no recordwhatever that any king of the Solanki house of Gujarat ruledover the North Konkan andth is is natural , consideri ng thatK umarpal, w ho defeated Mallikarjun through his generalAmbada, w as the only monarch of that dynasty w ho eversuccessfully invaded th is country.
I t is i ndisputable that theSilahara monarchs ruled these lands unti l A . D. 1 2 60, and
then yielded place, i n the person of thei r last king Someshvar ,to the Yadavas ofDevg iri.Thirdly, Bhima Raja I I , w ho reigned in A nahilvada from
1 1 79 to 1 242 A . D. ,was so weak a man that he earned the
sobriquet of Bholo,
’
the simpleton ; and the only reference
made to him by the Gujarat chron iclers show s that “ his
kingdom was gradually d ivided among his powerful ministers
and prov i ncial chiefs . Was th is the man to colonise Mahim,
to wrest the sovereign ty ofthe North Konkan from pow erfulS ilabara rulers l ike Aparaditya andhis successor K eshidevWe think not I
But w ho,then , was Bhimdev , who, accordi ng to old
Marathi and Persian records, now i n the possession of the
fami ly ofthe late Sirdesai ofMalad , seized the North Konkan,made Mahi or Mahim ( Bombay ) the capital of his kingdom ,
Ind. Ant. , V. , p. 2 76.
Secondly, there is insexistence a Persian patent, bearingthe seal of Mahomed Dali l
,Dewan of Sultan Ala-ud-din of
Bedar and dated the first year of the accession to the throne,that is about the year 1436 A . D. ,
which shows that i n the
Salivahan era 1 2 1 2 (A . D. 1 290) Raja Bimbashah, having
taken the ow nership and possession of the country from thehands of Karson ’
,kept i t for himself. The country contains
fourteen Parganas from the jur isdiction of Saratbhata to the
l imits of Daman . At the same time, the ofl'ice of Sirdesaiand Sirdeshpande was under the control of Govind Mitkari.The said Mitkari l ived for 3 years in the reign of Raja
From the early h istory of the Deccan, we already knowthat in the Shalivahan Shaka 1 2 1 2 , a B rahmin named Krishna
of the Bharadvaja Gotta was the viceroy of King R amdev inthe North Konkan and we cannot help being convinced that
the Karson of the Patent from whom Raja Bimb took
possession,was identical with that Krishna.
Lastly,a Danapatra, or grant of the r ights of Sirdesai
and Sirdeshpande, made by king Bimbdev to his RajguruPurushottam Kav le i n the year Shaka 1 2 2 1 (A . D.
shows that the province ofthe Konkan contai ned 14 Parganasor districts
,and 2 Kashas or sub-distr icts, and that the island of
Mahim (Bombay) w as cal led a Pargana con tai n ing 7 hamlets?I t further states that “ I n the month of Magh Shaka 1 2 20
( A. D . 1 298 ) Maharajadhiraja Bimbshah purchased from
Chang unabai, widow ofGovind Mitkari, the avatar: of Sirdesaiand Sirdeshpande i n the provinces of Malad , etc. , forR ayals and after keeping it i n h is possession for one year
'
andthree months, presented it as a rel igious offeri ng to his spi ri tual
0 Appendix No. VI in Vaidya'
s Account of the Ancient Brahmins of the North Konkan,p. 2 5.
1» The details are as follows —Taluka Malar consisting of 57 villages, Taluka Marol
of57 ; Perganas, Mahim (Bombay) of 7, Uran Bhorgaon of9, Panch Nadof55, Khairan
of45, R om an Khanch of65, Sayban of 84, Manoriof84, Aseri of 84, Mahim of 84, Mahabot z 7, Tarapur of 364 ; Kashas, Vasai of 1 2 , Sopara of 16 ; Pratt Sanje andKamhanof574
'2 7 )
guide Purushottam Kav le of the Bharadvaja Gotta, on the
occasion of a Solar Eclipse i n the dark half of the monthVaisakh i n the Shaka year 1 2 2 1 (A . D . and in the presence of an assembly consisting of the Prime Min isterMadhav rao Shrinivas, Chitnavis Chandraban Parbhu, Patangrao Nyayadhish, and others, merchants, mahajans and
jamindarsfl‘
The above evidence leads us to the conclusion that our kingBhimdev , w ho died in the Shaka year 1 2 2 5 (A. D. 1 303) T andwas succeeded by his son Pratapabimba or Pratapshah, was
none other than Bhima Raja, the second son ofking R amdevofDevag iri. I t was a common custom among H i ndu pr i nces ,whenever they found thei r l ives or kingdom in danger, to sendto a place of safety a scion of the royal house , in order that
the “ Vansha or royal l i ne might not become exti nct andit seems to us probable that R amdev , seeing his other 5011
Shankar overpowered , and bei ng surrounded by the advanci ng army of A la-ud-din , took the precaution of despatch inghis second son Bhimdev to the Konkan , which had up tothat date been free from Moslem attack , and w as i ndeed
in the guardianship of Krishna,a viceroy of his ow n
choosi ng.
W i th the advent of Bhimdev and his followers begins thehistory of the growth and colon isation of Bombay . The island
of Mahim upon which he settled, had, previous to his arrival ,been known as New ale or Baradbet (the desert island ) ;one of a g roup of isles, sparsely peopled by fami l ies of Kolifishermen and other low-castes , overg rown w i th babul trees,anddowered with a fine temple of Valkeshvar and a shrineofthe ancient goddess Mumbadev i. HereBhimdev stayed andbuilded a fair city oftemples and palaces, for himselfand his fol
lowers, which he called Mahikavati (Mahim) . Those that‘ The O l
‘Ig‘im l of this Danapatra is now in the possession of the descendants of the
e‘de S. Nayak
’
s I-Iistory of the Pattano Prabhus, p. 59. This appears to be a very
( 2 8 5
accompanied h im upon his journey belonged , accordi ng to
legend,to four main classes w ho spread themselves over the
face of the Heptanesia, throve , multiplied , traded and withalled so peaceful an existence , that men from other countries ,both Brahmins and traders, came thither also, seeking the shelt
er ofBhima ’s rule .
Mr. Murphy, i n his“ Remarks on the Oldest Races of
Bombay,
” observes that the great i nflux of a variety of castes
and races into Bombay,may be traced to certain events which
render the poli tical and commercial h istory of the island a
l ivi ng record ; and that by studying thei r records , traditions,usages
,origin
,and mean ing of the names of local ities
,and
especially their languages , one may fairly come at certain conclusions regardi ng the history of this island and its dependen
cies, particularly Salsette . Now of the four main classes thataccompanied Bhimdev , the foremost, whereof the h istorianmakes mention , is that of the Prabhus or Lords —anoblesse ofcommerce and poli tics
,one might say
,with the
g rand thaumaturgic faculty of thought i n thei r head .
” Thesew ere they who aided their ruler to bui ld the temple to his
fami ly deity,Prabhavati or to divide the depen
dencies ofMahikavati i nto mahals or districts,and pakhadis or
hamlets,who watched the growth of the ki ngdom
,fostered
trade , settled disputes, and general ly presided over'
the course
of public affairs . With the Parbhus came also thei r ministersof religion , men who could read the stars, and knew much of
sickness and the heali ng virtue of herbs . They belonged tothe Madhyandin Shakha of the whi te Yajurveda, and were inafter time called Palshikar Brahmins
,from the vi l lage ofPal
saw li, i n which they made thei r home. These were the priestsof the people ; and doubtless gained many a convert amongthe aboriginal worshippers of rock andtree
,by i nvesti ng their
rude deities with greater majesty. The legend also talks ofthe arr ival of certain Sheshavanshis or Bhandaris
,
”
a,ti tle
8 M. Nayak’aHistory ofthe Prabhus, ppcso—sg
t 29 )
derived from the Sanskri t“Mandarak,
” a Concerning these men some doubt exists ; for , i n the words of the
Bombay Gaz etteer,their strai n of late or foreign blood can
be but small,” among some the remembrance of a hur ried
fl ight from the south sti l l remains ,” and they seem to be
Ag r i s with a larger share offoreign blood.
” Now the Ag risclaim allegiance to Bhimdev
,stati ng that they came to Bom
bay from Mungi Paithan with Bhima Raja,the son of R ama
Raja ; but, consideri ng thei r posi tion relative to other old communities of the Thana district, one i n cl i nes to the beliefthatsome of them may have been resident i n the Heptanesia, pr iorto Bhimdev ’
s arrival . That being so,i t is not impossible,
perhaps, that the Bhandari, or palm-juice-drawer of Bhima ’sretinue
,mingled and in time i n termarried wi th the women of
an aborigi nal stock,giving birth to a race of “ Agris with a
larger share of foreign blood .
” Howsoever i t be,i t is to the
Bhandaris and thei r offspring that we ow e our plantations,and the name andlocal i ty of Munmala
,
” which includes themodern Mahim Woods ; for
“Munmala” is simply Mad
mala ”
or the Orchard ofCocoa palms. ” Together w ith theVadvals and‘ Malis
,husba ndmen and gardeners
,w ho also
arrived at th is epoch,th e Bhandaris i n itiated cul tivation in our
seven islands,i ntroduci ng many of those frui t and flower
bearing plan ts that have len t their names to portions ofmodem
Bombay . Nor were there wanti ng warriors and craftsmen for
the more complete foundation of Bhima’s polity. The Soma
vanshi Kshatriyas or Panchkalshis also came i n the king’s
w ake, a numerous class that has earned an undying reputation
for hard work. Panchkalshi ani kart mbanel alski w ho can
call a Panchkalshi idle P so runs an old saying, testifying to
the stout hands and hearts ofour early colon ists.
Among the Bhandaria were certain Ebong la ,
’
or Sirdars of the Community.They were the Sheshavanshifollowers ofBhima R aja, were soldiers andpetty oflicers in hisarmy, andhadtheprivilege ofplaying the Bhong li or bug le. The actual occupation of
the islandby the Bhong les took placeduring theperiodofMussalmandominion. They heldthe city for abouts years, baving usurpedposu u ion ofthe islandfrom thehdahommedann
”
(Mn P. 8 . 1mm) .
( so )
W e may pause for a moment at this juncture to see whathistorical inferences, if any, can be d rawn from the language
,
or usages of these early castes and communities. Thoughthe language
,now -a-days spoken by the Prabhus, Panch
kalshis and Bhandaris, is Marathi , thei r home-tongue con
tains a large percen tage ofwords borrowed from the aborigi nalsettlers , the Koli and the Agri . The Palshikar Brahmi ns,being by reason of their religious duties socially and intellectually superior to the other castes, and being also in con
stant touch with religious Sanskrit literature,have not i ntro
ducedi nto thei r home-speech so large a proportion of abori
g inal w ords and phrases . And yet, even in their case , thelanguage spoken by the oldest of their females difl
'
ers widely
from modern Marathi , and resembles i n truth the languageprevalent in the Deccan in the thirteen th century of the Chris
tian e ra. Pick out, for example, from the Dnyanesh
vari ;’
or some similar oldMarath i work of the thirteenthcentury, a few words of pure Marathi origi n , which might
now be considered obsolete or out of use, and ask
an uneducated old lady of th is Brahmin communitywhether she understood any of them . Not only wi l l she
be found to understand them , but to have actually usedthem in her conversation , unti l the chiding of an educateddaughter or daughter-in-law bade her disconti nue the
practice .mt
‘ The follow ing are a few words ofthe kind mentionedEng lish meaning .
T ulmé. To raise up.
Shuddha.
Pahane.
Pandhara.
Came to lig ht, daw ned.
Honoured.Sepoy or Servant.(Mr . P. B. Joann.)
The language, therefore, spoken by the h ighest of the
commun ities that journeyed hi ther with K i ng Bhimdev , does notdiffer greatly from that in vogue in the Deccan at the timeof the migration of the king and his followers to the Konkan .
The cause of the phenomenon is obvious. Bhimdev ’
s successordid not reign long in Bombay ; for , i n the middle of the four
teenth century, Moslem rule was firmly established i n theisland and remained unchanged ti l l the advent of the Portu
g uese. After the Portuguese came the early period ofBritishdominion ; and during the whole epoch, from Musalman to
B r i tish rule, the people were practically cut ofl'
from all i ntercourse with their brethren in the Deccan , and had consequently
no Opportunity for improving thei r language, which has thuspreserved the character which it possessed at the hour of the
exodus .The traditions of the Prabhus, Panchkalshis, and thei r
priests, the Palshikar Brahmins, distinctly favour the theorythat they came from Paithan with K i ng Bhimdev , the son of
R amdev , Raja ofDevg iri, at a time when the city ofDevg iriw as besieged by Ala-ud-din Khilj i , Emperor of Delhi ; andthei r view finds support in the oldMarathi and Persian recordswhich some ofthem possess .
I t remains to notice any impressions left upon ourisland to this day by Bhimdev ’
s Hegira. The aboriginal settler
had formed hut-settlements withi n her l imits and raised rude
shrines to Khadakadev ; the Si labaras had bui lt new templesand taught the Koli and Ag ri customs ofa higher order ; theimmigrants from Devg iri bui lt a capi tal city, i ntroduced cul
tivation, bui lt more temples, and made our islands the head
quarters of a ki ngdom . Previously, Bombay had been merelyan appendage of Pur i ’ ; Bhimdev deserted Puri and raisedBombay to the posi tion ofa capital under the title of Mahikavati or Mahim .
Among the most.
notew orthy legacies ofhis rule were thespecialpriv i leges or rig hts, w h ich many of the castes that came
with him, enjoyed ti l l quite a recent date . Look, for example,
at the following patent of Governors W yborne and Child, theor igi nal ofwhich is at present i n the join t possession of Chinta
man Balambhat Naik and N ilkanth Vithal Padhye, the hereditary priests ofMahim
“Whereas K ashinath Gambha Naique, Vithal
Naique, and Banna Faddis of Mahim,Brahmins
,
have for many years past been granted the oflice
of Brahmins in the tow nship of Mahim and itsjurisdictions i n performi ng the ri tes and ceremoniesof marriage , admin isteri ng physic to the sick, anddoing and performing all other ceremonies relating to
the said oflice, as appears to me by several orders , Ihave thought fit anddo hereby order you the said Kashinath Naique
,Vithal Naique and Banna Paddia, to
continue i n the said oflice of Brahmi ns, givi ng fullpower to act i n the same and to perform al l the ri tesand ceremonies ofmarriage, and to admin ister physicto the said inhabi tan ts of the town ofMahim and itsjurisd ictions , prohibiting all persons whatsoever frommolesti ng or disturbi ng you in the execution of the
said office upon any pretence whatsoever. ”
Given under my hand and sealed with the seal ofthe Court of Judicature of the I sland of Bombay , this2 2 ndofAugust, Anno Domin i , 1 6 85.
(Sd. ) STEPHEN COLT, (Sd. ) J . VAUSE .
Secretary .
I do hereby confirm and ratify Cassinath, &c.,
Brahmins i n their offices , i n ordering all the tespective i nhabi tan ts of Mahim to pay dutifulrespect sui table to thei r employs .
Bombay , this 29th October 1 686 .
(Sd. ) JOHN W YBO R N E .
Upon the request of the with in-named persons thisis confirmed upon them.
”
Bombay Castle, 2 2 ndJune 1 6 89
(Sd. ) J. CH IL D.
34 5‘
or Tree-Trumpet Flow er, which is
’
know n i n the Hindootongue as Padel . We venture to put forw ard an alternative , andequally plausible , derivation . The early history of
our island is , as Dr . da Cunha remarks,closely in terw oven w i th
the history ofits temples and i t is admitted by al l that,some
time after Bhimdev ’
s imm igration,a Prabhu named Mankoji
founded a shrine i n Parel v i l lage,and perpetuated his name
i n the ti tle of the dei ty, w ho is know n as Mankeshvar or
Mankoji’
s god in these days . I t is extremely unl ikely thatthe Panchkalshis should have possessed no shri nes, peculiarto thei r commun i ty . Moreover
,i t i s stated as a fact that they
bui l t three temples under the patronage of the Raja, two for
their family dei ties W ag eshvar i and Chandika, and a thi rd to
Mahadev . Now the li ng of th is Mahadev is said to beSw ayambhu or non-artificial, and was therefore held to be
ofequal importance and sanctity wi th the celebrated “ l i ng
ofVaijanath at Parali i n the Deccan . Therefore the thi rdtemple
,w hich the Panchkalshis bui l t
,was cal led the shrine of
Parali Vaijanath Mahadev ; and as the dei ty’s ti tle w as
VaijanathMahadev, the first portion ofthe ti tle w as given to thevil lage
,i n which his temple stood .
i T he present temple of
Mahadev,w hich is s tated to rest on the exact s i te
'
of'
theoriginal temple
,stands
’
i n the m iddlei 'of the “ Paral i ,”
Paral , or Parel vi l lage .
The memory of Bhima Raja the Good , the Benefactor ofBombay, has not enti rely departed from among the ch i ldrenof men . The vil lagers have deified , and sti l l worsh ip h im
for i n that Qart, called by them'
Bhima Raja ’s Wady, and by
others the A rshe Mahal,’ the descendants of Old Bhois and
Thakurs have set up a black stone, representative of the king,besmeared w i th red ochre and adorned wi th flowers, to w hich
they offer, at certain seasons, mi lk, butter, ,
fruits, and everigoats and fowls . Ti l l qui te a recen t date, an annual jotra
or fair, at w hich an imals were sacrificed, was held i n his
honour ; but the new Maharaja, ow ner of the Qart, a strict
35
Vaishnav , forbade the custom , advisi ng the people that the
feeding of Brahmi ns w as a surer method ofpacifyi ng BhimaRaja ’s spiri t than the slaughter ofdumb creatures . We likethe idea, prevalen t among the uncultured den izens of Parel ,that the spi rit of the old monarch sti l l haunts , sti l l watchesover, the lands for which he did so much and upon w hich heset an ineradicable seal .
I n the year Shaka 1 2 2 5 (A .D. 1 303) King Bhimdev died,and was succeeded by his son Pratapbimb, orPratapshah, as heis sometimes cal led .
! Nothing of importance is known orrecorded of him ,
save that he bui l t another capi tal ci ty atMarol i n Salsette
,which he named Pratappur . T he name of
the ci ty stil l l ives as Pardapur or Parjapur , a deserted vi l lagenear the centre ofSalsette .I n the year 1 3 1 8 A . D.
, after the reduction of Devg ir i
andthe defeat and death of Harpaldev , son-ln-law of the
Yadava monarch R amdev , Mubarak, the Emperor of Delh i ,ordered his garrisons to be extended to the sea, and occupied
Mahim and Salsette i But M ahommedan supremacy was
probably not firm ly establ ished ti l l later ; for old Marathi records show that Pratapshah reigned for 2 8 years
,that is, ti l l
A . D . 133 1 , when he was slain , and h is ki ngdom usurped,by
his brother-in-Iaw Nag ardev , the ChiefofCheul.lNag ardev reigned for 1 7 years, that i s , ti l l the year 1 348 ,
when h is dominions passed i nto the hands of the MoslemBhimdev was also calledBhim Shah or Bimb Shah. In a Persian record , possessedby
the family of the late Sirdesaii ofMalad, it is stated that in the year Shaka 1 208 61)
R amdev Raja w ith his son Bimbdev went topay his respects to Ala-ud-din at Delhi. He
was well received, andthe king , taking Bhimdev as his own son, confer red upon him the title
Itis true that R amdev visited the DelhiCourt, but thedate g iven above does nct appear to
be correct. Conipare the followingRamchandra w as receivedthere (at Delhi) w ith g reat marks offavour anddistinction
androyaldig nities were confer red upon him . Notonly w as be restored to his g overnment,
but other distric s were addedto his dominions, for all of which he didhomag e andpaidtribute to the king ofDelhi. The king on this occasion g ave him the district of NausariinGujarat as a personal estate, anda hundredthousand tankas to pay his expenses home. ’
Bombay Gaz etteer , Vol. I , Par t I I , p. 53 2 .
t Bom . Geo. Soc. Trans” Vol. V , p. 1 29.
t S . .\I. Nayak’
a Historyofthe Prabhus, pp. 59,-60.
i 36‘
rulers ofGujarat and thus came to an endthe sovereig ntyof old H indu Kings over the island of Bombay anditsdependencies.i
Ere the curtai n fal ls upon th is dim period of our island
story, i t were well to take a rapid journey across theHeptanesia,noting such of thei r peculiarities as may be discern ible fromlocal ities or names existing in these days , The two southernisles can have changedbut l i ttle by the close of the Hinduperiod and si nce the Kol i
’
s first arrival on these shores.
T he two together form the Kola-bhat (Colaba) or Kol i’s
portion and the smal ler of the twai n , bei ng inhabited bydeep-sea fishermen , has been endowedby Arab seamen withthe separate ti tle ofA l-Oman is ’ I sland (Old Woman
’
s I sland ) .The numbers ofi nhabi tants may possibly have been augmentedby the settlement ofsome ofBhimdev ’
s Bhandaris,the desceu
dants ofwhom are to th is day resident in theoldColaba v i l lage.
S. M . Nayak's History ofthe Prabhus, pp. 59-6o.
fAccording to Maratha accounts, the follow ing causes combinedto bring about the fall
ofKing Nag ardev . The king hada favourite namedBhagadchari. This man w as the son
ofone Jaitchuri, an illeg itimate son ofthe king . Bhagadchari having been appointedbyNag ardev Governor oftheprovince ofSashti (Salsette) , g reatly oppremedthe inhabitants
ofthat reg ion. He hadthe landmeasured anddividedit into kathis, ’ big has,'
and‘ haras
'
; andfor each ‘hara’
big has) the rayats were orda'edtopay four maunds ol the
produce ofthe land . Thus revenue was raised androyal favour g ained; andto the complaintsmade ag ainst Bhag adchari, Nagardev on this account
'
paidno attention. Discontent was
wide-spread for Bhag adchari indulged his vicious propensities to the full, outrag edrespecto
able w omen, andcommittedmore than one murder ; yethew as permitted by the king ’s favourto g o unpunished.
T he immediate cause of Nag ardev’
s downfall, however , was the deg radation by himofone ofhis Sirdars, Nathrao Sindha Ebongle. Nathrao happened to (58l one Thakur
Gbang bale, a favourite of the king , andwas publiclydisg raced. Burning w ithdesire to bereveng edupon the king , Nathrao journeyed to W adnag ar interviewed the Sultan of that
place, andurg ed upon him the advisability ofconquering the North Konkan. The Sultan,therefore, ordered his General, Nika Malik, to set forth. Nika Malik, taking an army d
‘
men, reached by rapidmarches the Parg ana ofSaiwan ( Bassein Taluka andthere
encamped near the Patalg ang a in the forestofKarvi trees. Thence heproceededby night tothe Kanher i caves, w here hedividedthe army into threedetaehments. O ne marchedag ainstPratappur , the 800004 against Thana, andthird , under Nika Malik himself, invadedMahim( Bombay) . So sudden was the attack that Nag ardev , who hadgone to W alkeshvar for
( 31 1 )
The th i rdisland, as w e pass northward,is more notice
able. At the edge of i ts nearest promontory w e seem to
discern a rude landing-place or beach , used, doubtless, by ourabor ig inal fishermen , around which there has grown upaspecies of shrub or tree, whose shoots introduce a gleam of
colour i n to the surroundings . What more natural than that,by the endofthe era of Hindu domi n ion , the place shouldhave been known as Pallav
”
or Pallav Bandar,
” “the
Harbour of Clustering Shoots From Pallav toPallo
,
” which was the name of the region in a GovernmentMemor ial of 1 743, i s no great change ; nor is the finalalteration from Pallo to Polo, and thence to Apol lo
,
”
i ncomprehensible. Apollo Bunder ! One of the best knownareas of modern Bombay, ornate in these days, not withburgeon i ng shrubs, but with embel l ishments ofa more lasting
Passing forward , one remarks a wide plain , part ofwhich
has been converted by later generations i nto an Esplanade,contai n i ng palm-groves, tamarind trees, and a small settlement of Bhandaris, Agris, or others . Perchance it was oneof those tamar i nds which l ived to see the bui ldi ng of a
Cathedral ofSt. Thomas , and to give the ti tle of Am liag al
(“ in front of the Tamari nd
”
) to the Elphinstone Circle .
Not far away, probably, w as a rude shrine of the monkey
g od Hanuman or Maruti, beloved of the aboriginal andlower classes . Dowered by Vayu with the gift of Chiranj iva ’
or immortal i ty, Hanuman sti ll l i ves with us i n the
Hanuman Street and cross-lanes ofa modern Market Section.
Betw een the shrine and the creek which separated the islandat high-tide from the fourth island of Machchag aum lay
Dongri, the hill tract, peopled by the Kol i and others ; andsouthward thereof, on the lower ground , were probably small
g roups ofbrab palms, near which dwel t Bhandari fami l ies,
0Sir James Campbellder ives the name from ‘Palva, ’ a boat or fig hting vessel. The
( 38 :
andwhich have been responsible for such modern place-namesas Sattad (Satar ) or
“Seven-Brab ”
Street, and Dontad
(Dontar ) or Twin-Brab Row . Here also,close to the
seashore, were more tamarinds (Chinch= Taman°
nduswhence we derive the name ofthe “ Chinch Bunder
or Tamarind landing place,” a sub-section of the modern B
Ward . To the north-west of Dongri there must have existeda plantation of the T [zespesz
'
a populnea, cal led i n the nativetongue Bhendi,
” which has given i ts name to the wel l-knownBhendy Bazaar ; and a li ttle westw ard of the rising ground , asmal l creek or Khadi ,
’ with one or more specimens ofthe F z’
cus
g lomem ta growing upon its banks . Umbar is the
vernacular name of‘
th is tree, the water-giving and medicinalquali ties ofwhich have ever marked i t as sacrosanct whence
w e now reckon among the Sections of B Ward an“Umbar
khadi or“O omerkhar i. Before quitting this eastern portion
of the third of the Heptanesia, one would draw attention to aremarkable channel ofwater, ly ing hard by the Fig-Tree Creekand in the direct path ofthe travel ler, as he fared southward
from Maz agon or Machchag aun and the northern islands .The stream
,though sluggish i n the fair season , flowed through
out the year, and the inhabi tan ts of Mahikavati or Sim va,
the boundary-hamlet, would halt awhi le and lave their tired
feet therei n . Hence the spot came to be known as Pyadhun i or “ The Foot-wash .
” I n later ages the rapidity and
streng th of the current during the monsoon leda Christiangovernment to build a bridge over i t, and subsequently to fi l l
up the channel andlay down highways and dwell i ng-places.To-day the site i s covered wi th houses, shops and temples or
mosques, and the name of i t alone survives in the Pydow ni”
Pol ice StationThe modern names of many local ities with in the island
point to the existence ofa Tree or Plant-worship among the
earl ier colonists . Nor is this surpris ing,when one remem
hers that at least three of the separate communities , which.
( 39 )
accompanied Bhimdev earned their l ivel ihood by husbandry,or by the care ofa particular species of tree . The compara
tively narrow bel t of land , which uni ted the eastern portion ofthe third island with the j ungle-covered hil l on the west, musthave been thickly sown with plantations or groves of various
kinds , among which one may note a garden of jac k-frui t treesor Bhanas
,origin of our modern Section of Phanaswadi ;
a groupof plantain and brab-trees , which have been respon
sible for the T advadi and Kelevadi,” leadi ng off the Gi r
gaum Road ; and lastly, an orchard of Bor ( Z zizypbus j uj uba) ,w hich we cal l Borbhat.
”
Borbhat has grown old,and can
scarce recol lect the days when the people came up out of the
lowlying fields, or Khet-wadi , to worship at the shrine of the
vi llage goddess (Gaumdev i) ; but the name may still be seen
by the wayfarer on the Gi rgaum Road , not far from the si teof Mug bhat, oldMunga ’s ancien t holdi ng. Kolvar ( hodieCavel ) has al ready been noticed ; i t stood near Phanasw adi,and must have formed qui te as large a settlement as the hil lvi l lage or Girig aum ( hodie Girgaum) , which w as situated west
of Borbhat and the palm groves. There was probably a
Gramadevata, pecul iar to Girgaum , whose shri ne, set upO n the outski rts thereof, may have even tual ly resulted in the
name of that thoroug hfare and local i ty—Gamdev i or Gaumdevi—ow hich l ies betw een the Gow alia Tank and ChowpattySea Face. T he name Chowpatty must also date fromthis epoch ofHindu colon isation , when the sea swept throug hthe Worli breach at high tide, and swamped those regionswhich now form the central sections of the ci ty. The sea w as
responsible for a Foot-wash,”
for a Fig-Tree Creek ,”
and may simi larly have formed four channels in the neigh
bourhoodof Girgaum , which , on the analogy of the w ordSatpati ( in the Thana district) , w ould have endow ed the
neighbourhood with the ti tle of Chow-pati or ChO Wpatty.
From the vi l lage and shrine one reached the path of the
Ladder,” Shidi or Siri , which wound upward to the ridg e of
( 40 )
the great hi ll At the southern extremity thereof w as “the
Lucky Hollow , through w hich Shivaj i crept in after years,i n hope of washing away his blood-guil tiness . There, too,
was the great shrine dedicated to the cult of Shiva, roundw hich a small colony ofascetics and others may have gathered ,and rel ics of which , broken pi llars and carven blocks, are
still i n existence . O n the left of the Ladder was a plantation of the A cacia ar abz
’
ca or Bahbul , the reverence paid towhich must have occasioned the bui ldi ng of a shrine of
Babhalnath ; and some distance to the north of i t was sti llh igher ground , a continuation real ly of Malabar H ill, which
has earned , however, the separate ti tle ofCumballa Hil l, fromthegrove of K ambal ,
”
K amal ,”
or O a'z'
na «w odz'
er , whichflourished upon i t at the close of this H indu epoch .
The travel ler of those early days, gaz i ng westw ar d
from the Kambal grove, would have marked the hillsloping downwards to the sea, and at its foot three shrines
to Mahakal i , Mahasarasvati, and The
goddesses were there , had not yet leaped into the waves of
the K sherasag ara," as theWorl i creek w as named , to avoid
r uthless profanation by Moslem fanatics . From thei r shrines
they looked out upon the “ Khind ,”
(Candy) or Break in
the Rock-Ridge , cal led in after time Breach Candy, throughwhich the ocean swept with al l the fury and pleasure of anArabian colt. ” At each successive tide, the waves claimed as
their portion the lowlyi ng ground which in tervened between
the foot ofthe hi l l and the risi ng ground of'
Dongri i n thedistance . Here and there, perhaps , some landmark may
have appeared , some smal l area may have r isen above the
w aste waters. That there were Brab-Palms (Tad) flourish
ing below the hill of Kambals, one feels convinced ; and
remembering the special sancti ty which i n I ndia and other
countr ies has attached to trees yield i ng i n toxicating drink,
The Mahalakshmi temples of to-day are of comparatively modem date, having been
erectedafter the con traction ofthe Hereby Vellard.
( 42
early years of the fourteenth century A .D. ; but the absenceof any record show i ng that he gave his name to the island
,
and the probabi l i ty that, had he done so, i t would have beendesignated Mubarakhpur or Mubarakhabad, mil itateagainst this derivation . For a truer conception of the originof the title , one m ust seek among the tradi tions of our oldest
settlers . Local folklore , based upon an old work known asthe Mumba Devi Mahatmya or Puran , declares that the
island ofBombay owes its name to the goddess Mumba .
‘
Whence comes th is name Mumba I s i t of foreignorigin
,or the name of some H indu female
,given to the
goddess ? Some authori ties bel ieve that it is derived fromMunga, the nam e of the Kol i , w ho bui l t the original
temple ; but we l ike best the derivation of the word fromMaha-Amba ,
" Patron dei ty ofour earl iest settlers,i n other
w ords, Bhavani , consort of Shiva ! The femin ine form of
the w ord Munga ’ is Mungi or Mugi'
(af. Mug bhat) ;
0 W e have, w r ites Mr . P. B. Joshi, “ a copy of this so. called Puran. It is w ritten
in Sanskrit and contains 52 verses or nearly 208 lines . It states that years ag o there
livedon this island a powerful Daitya, w ho won the approval of Bramba by the perform
ance of relig ious austerities . In response to the demon’
s request, B ramba g ranted thathe should be inv incible by men, g ods, yakshas , g andharvas, demons, animals, serpents,birds andbr ash ,
andthe Daitya then beg an to harass the people of the earth. (T his story
may be connectedindirectly w ith the religious persecution set on foot by Mubarak I , w ho
destroyed many Hindu temples in Bombay. ) The people soug ht the help of Vishnu,
w ho,accompaniedby B ramba, w ent to Kailasa and reported the demon’
s evil practices
to Shiv . Shiv , in g reat w rath, cast from his mouth a portion of his Tej’
or lustre, andcommanded the other g ods to do likew ise. From the combined lustre of all the deitiesw as c reated a female g oddess, w ho mounted upon her Vahan ,
’the lion of Amhadevi
,
g ave battle to the demon Mumbarak anddefeatedhim . O n his promising to cease per .
scouting the people, he w as permitted to repair to Patal (the low er reg ions) , after fi rst
receiv ing the assurance of the g oddess that she w ould adopt the name of Mumbadev i
andremain upon the island . The w riter ofthe Puran remarks in conclus10n that Thosew ho desire health andprosperity, v ictory in battle, power of oratory andprog eny, etc . ,
should w or ship the g oddess w ith flow ers , fruits andpresents of money, ornaments and
jew els and that her votaries should also feed Brahmins andg ive them Dakshina'
or
‘
presents of money.
’
T he author w as clearly a Brahmin priest, fond ofdakShina, andw as
probably also but half-educated, as the verses are full of g rammatical inaccuracies and
are occasionally framed w ithout reg ard to the rules of Sanskrit prosody. He volunteers
this further information tow ards the close of the poem : Having heard of the pro
of the g oddess from R ama , the g reat w ar rior Hanuman came to Bombay at once, and
has been liv ing ever since upon the island '
; and in order to streng then the defences ofthe island ag ainst foreig n enc roachment, the goddess Mumba commanded of her
g anas or fig hting follow ers to come andsettle in Bombay.'
( 43 )
andthe correct form of the island ’s name would hav e been‘Mungi-ai ’ and not Munga-ai ’ or
‘ Mumbai .’ Bhavan i ,
on the other hand,is often known as Amba ,
’ Ambika ’ orMaha—Amba while the suffix ‘ai ,
’ meaning Mother,’
is aterm of respect often used by Marathi-speaking Hindustowards thei r goddesses . ‘Mambai or ‘Mumbai ’ is theexact name of the city and island among the natives of
these days,and has been transformed by the Portuguese i n to
Bombaim and by the English i n to Bombay .
’
There was doubtless a temple or shrine of Mumba-devior Mumb-ai upon our th ird island at the close ofthe Hinduperiod , situated perhaps upon the very spot ( near the prea.sent Victoria Terminus) , w hich a shrine of later construc
tion occupied duri ng the earl ier years of British dom i n ion .
But the island had not at that date acqui red suffi cien t importance to be designated
,save i n the common parlance
ofH i ndu fisher-folk, by a separate name . I t was merely one
ofthe dependencies ofMahim , an island of no l ittle pol i ticaland commercial importance during the fourteenth and fif
teenth cen turies of the Christian era. But the influence of
the old goddess, though subjected on occasions to disastrous
ecl ipse, has survived the changes ofcenturies, and has final lygiven one common and immortal name to the scattered
islets ofthe Hindu period .
Passing across the Fig-Tree Creek , to the shores of
the fourth island , the travel ler would have entered the
“ fish-vi l lage or Machchag aum ,of which w e have already
spoken ; and journeying north-westward , would have discovered a tract of land , overgrown with Brabs
, w hich weredoubtless in charge of the Bhandaris and others , w ho dweltin the vi l lage . Tad-vadi (the Brab-garden ) w ould havebeen the ti tle of the locali ty, whence we of the tw entiethcentury A .D. derive the name of the T ar vadi or
“ T ar
wari section . Westward again of the Brab-garden w as a
level stretch of land , extending as far as the marshy domain
J
of the sea , which in the days of Antonio Pessoa w as know nas Bhoycalem ,
’
and i n our time as Byculla . Whence thename is derived is a matter of doubt. Some authoritiesopine that the H indu name of the Cassia fi stula, visa,
Bhava or Bhaya ,’ may have combined w i th the word
Khala,’ or ‘ level ground ,
’ to produce the modern designation ofa much w ider area . Others
,again
,characteri sing
th is view as far-fetched , bel ieve that hereabouts w as of oldtime the “Khala or the threshing-floor of one Bhaya .
"
Whatever the truth may be,i t is perhaps permissible to
suppose that there existed on the western shore of the island
some small hamlet, w hose i nhabi tants followed the cal l i ng
of agricu lture or propelled their rude craft across the futuresite of the K amathis
’ tow nship.
Faring forw ard once more across the ocean'
s i ntercepti ng arm
,one remarks the fretted coast of the largest of the
three northern islands . I n the extreme south lay a tamari ndcovered val ley
,w hich they called “ Chinch-pokl i ( the dell
ofTamarinds ) andw e of these days Chinchpoog hly—a dis
tr ict not unknown to local Mi ll-agen ts and employers of
labour . The val ley w as succeeded by level ground , contain ing the vi l lage of Para ] or Parel
,w i th i ts habita
tions of Thakurs and Bhois,andenclosed on the east by
risi ng ground,and on the west by the sea and a tract of land ,
which , from the luxuriance of its prickly-pear bushes , mustearly have earned the title of Ming ut-Mandal i
’
. The name
exists to this day in every Municipal chart of the island .
North of Paral lay Naigaum,the boat hamlet, i n which
Bhimdev built his hal l of justice and his Brahman follow ershad made thei r homes. Brahmins, Prabhus, Thakurs , Kolisand others must have transformed the oldham let i nto a com
paratively populous settlement by the close of the H indu era .
Now, on the eastern side ofthe rising ground , which looked
0Bhaya, Maya, &c ., are common names among Ag ris andKunbis. Bhayacha Khala '
( the threshing-floor of Bhaya) may easily have become Bhayakhala or Byculla.
( 45 )
down upon Bhimdev’
s settlements, lay a smal l promontory,cal led i n the H indu tongue “Sivadi,
”
from the fact probably
that it once con tai ned a shrine of Siva or Shiv,the Lord
of The shrine in course of time fel l in to ruins,and
was replaced by a fort, of w hich the remai ns alone are nowvisible . But a new shrine has i n later years been dedicatedto the Destroyer, w hose name sti l l l ives i n a modern Sivat i ,Sivri or Sewri section , w hi ther the European community bearsits dead for burial . North ofNaigaon were groups of greatBanian trees, termed Vad in the Hi ndu tongue ; whence isderiv ed the modern place-name, Vad-ala or Ban ian avenue ;and, lastly, on the verge of the land lay the Boundary-hamlet,
(Sim va-Sion ) , expanded doubtless since i ts early foundation ,by the immigration of new people , ow i ng al legiance to theoverlord of Mahim , and of trav el lers from the Shashashti
vi l lages and the mainland .
I n the midmost ofthe three northern isles lay the ci ty of
Mahikavati , ofwhich no trace, save the fi rst halfof the name
(Mahi or Mahim ) , remains in these days . I t must have been agoodly ci ty, this capi tal ofBhima Raja , w i th i ts colon ies of
Palshikar Brahmins , of Prabhus, of Bhandar is and others,
with its great temple of Prabhavati, and the w ide forest ofcocoa palms , which ultimately gave the name of Mad-mala ”
( z'
.e coco- palm avenue ) to a tract now included in the Mahimsection . There were also, accord ing to Dr. Gerson da Cunha,a shri ne and vil lage of K alikadev i or Kal i , goddess of the
aboriginal Kol i,i n this island ofMahikavati . I n later years ,
the shrine was removed to the third of our Heptanesia,during the period , perhaps, ofMahommedan intolerance, andeventual ly left the legacy of i ts name to that modern arteryof the ci ty, K alkadev i or K albadevi Road. A t the close
of the H indu period and for many years subsequent
thereto , Mahim w as the most importan t of all the islands,and formed the head-quarters of a government, which held
The wordmay also have originatedin Shiv -vadi or Shivar-vadi. ”
( 46 )
sw ay over lands now welded together under the name of
Bombay.
From the southern l imits of Mahikavati,one looked
across a channel upon the last of our isles . Rocky andnarrow, this seven th island lay l ike a carelessly-placed barrieri n the path of the tide , stemming the d irect onslaug ht of
Ocean , yet sufl'
ering him at the same time to creep throughchasms at ei ther extremity, and claim as his portion the lowlying land w ithin . The only i nhabitants of the land , as far aswe know, were the Kol is and the most noteworthy featureof the local i ty was a fine grove ofBanian trees (F icusThe shade of the Ban ian , the medici nal properties ofi ts roots ,which are said to cure thi rst , sorrow and melancholy , havealw ays ensured i t a high place i n the estimation of the H induand the respect accorded to the trees by early H indu immigrantsprobably led to the name “ Vad-al i ( Banian Row) beingappl ied to the whole island . The people of later ages , confusi ng the palatal d with r,
” cal led the place Var-all, whichis now become Varl i or Worl i ,—a local i ty not unknown toMunicipal Drai nage Engineers .Such w as Bombay at the close of the H indu period . Out
of the i nfin ite background ofthe ages a motley company of
actors has advanced, each ofwhom , his part i n the islanddrama ended
,has van ished i n the darkness
,leavi ng scarce a
trace beh ind . The aboriginal Kol i in troduced the hut-settlement and fish ing craft , the Malkhed monarch a currency,the Si labara Chieftai n the art of temple-bui ld ing, and the
fugitive heir of the house ofDev g iri, a system of revenue andpol i tics. Agricul turist and artificer, merchant and man-atarms
,priest and state offi cial , must several ly have formed a
part of the population , which dwel t amid the plantations ornear the temples, scattered over the face of the seven islands.
T o us of the twentieth cen tury this H i ndu period has bequeathed m any a place-name, and certai n distinct classes of our
p opulation . Kol i , Agri, Bhandari , Bhoi , Thakur, Mali,
( 41 1
Panchkalshi, Prabhu , and Palshikar Brahmin , al l journeyedhi ther
,prior to the i rruption of I slam. Whether there was
any Mahommedan element i n the population , cannot wi thcertainty be decided but it is stated i n the Gaz etteer ofBombaythat the Mussulman inhabitants ofthe western coast of I ndiaafforded considerable aid to Mubarak I , at the hour when heextended his outposts to the sea and occupied Mahim nearBombay. I s it not then possible that h is seiz ure ofMahimand neighbouri ng islands was rendered more complete by thepresence therein ofMahomedans, w hom the toleran t characterofthe H indu government and the commercial importance of
Mahi kavati had induced to immigrate i n previous years ?Howsoever i t be, the sovereignty ofBombay passed about themiddle of the fourteenth century i nto the hands of theEmperor of Delhi , who sought by fanatical persecution to
ov erthrow the power of Prabhadev i,Mahalakshmi
,and
Valukeshvar . Little could he foresee that the power of thoseold deities would survive the i ntolerance of I slam and the
proselytism ofPortugal, and that the recogni tion ofthei r poweri n future centuries would rather aid than retard the contented
submission of thei r fol lowers to the authority of a strangerpeople.
CHA PTER I I .
I SLAM.
The second act ofour I sland-drama, which may be saidto extend roughly from the date ofNag ardev
’
s downfall to themiddle of the sixteenth century, and is usual ly termed theMahomedan period , is even more devoid of historical facts,regarding the condi tion and population of Bombay, than theperiod ofHindu supremacy . The seven islands merely formedthe mi li tary outpost ofa mainland monarchy, and yet awai tedthe i nfluence of. w estern imm igration to bri ng them intoprominence . Nevertheless
,one is unwi l l i ng to follow the
example of one wel l-known student of Bombay history andcurtly dismiss a per iod
,which lasted for some tw o centuries or
more . If i t only be discovered that one land-mark or one class
ofour population came i nto existence in consequence of the
spread ofMoslem i nfluence, our retrospect wil l not have been
wholly fruitless .Commercial relations between the A rabs and the western
coast of I nd ia—from Cambay in the north to Sufala (Sopara)and Seimur (Chaul ) i n the south—existed , as we know, frompre- I slam ic times . There are records ofold Arab settlementsat K alyan
’l‘; while i n the time ofA g atharcides (B . C . 1 77- 100)
the Arab element along the w estern sea-board w as so influential that the lower classes ofHindus had adopted its religion,a speci es of Sabeanism ti nged w i th idolatry . The word
Meliz ig eris,”
also , w hich occurs in Ptolemy’s Map of I ndia
(A .D . 1 50) is of semi-Arabic origin,
“ Zig eris being
admitted by erudite scholars to be a corruption of “ Jazirah,
an island . l
Some fourteen years after the fl ight of the Prophet fromMeccah to Madinah , that is , i n A .D. 636 , the earl iest
Abul Fida, R einand's I I , cccl, Xxxlv . 1'
Tkaau Gaz etteer , XI I I , p. 6 1 .
Travel ler (A .D. states that the “ Balharas,by which
name the Arabs styled the Silahara dynasty, were ofall H induKings the most partial to the Musl imin . Not only did the
Arab soldier and seaman find w elcome on these shores, butmany a trader
, encouraged by the complacen t atti tude of
H indu Chieftai ns, took up his abode i n A nahilvada, Cambayand Sindanfi“ Treated with much consideration , allowedto build mosques freely, T and practice thei r rel igion withouthindrance, these early Persian and Arab settlers spreadthemselves along the coast l ine
,i n termarried wi th the H i ndu
population and thus gave bi rth to the “ Naw ai ts ” orNaitia community, w hich formed the ancestry ofthe oldest
Moslem community i n Bombay,the Konkan i Maho
medans of 1901 . I n later years came fresh Mosleminvaders, w ho have left thei r traces i n the four-fold distribution of the Mahommedan population i nto Sayads , Sheikhs,Mughals and Pathans .We pass on to the close of the thirteenth century, when
Moslem invasion became more determined,and the old
H indu monarchies began to apprehend danger. Farishtahtel ls of Ala-ud-din Ghori pursuing R amdev of Devg iri tothe very gates of his capital i n A .D. 1 294 1 and ofhow hisfollowers d iscovered bags ofsal t, stacked near the gates ,which had been brought thi ther for sale by a merchant of
the Konkan . This event doubtless ledto an agreement onthe part of the Yadava king to pay annual tribute to Alaud-din , w ho i n return granted him the title of Rai-i-Rayan ,the Rai of Rais or King of Kings—a rich reward , and theconfirmation of al l his possessions with the addition of
Navsari .! To R amdev succeeded Shankar, w ho was slai nby Ala-ud-din in 1 3 1 2 for refusing the conti nuance of thetribute paid by his father ; and to Shankar succeededHarpaldev , his son-in-law, w ho g ot the original grant
AL Idrisi, 1070-1 100A .D. 1 Farishtah, Pers ian Text, I. , pp. 165, 166.
i' Ibni-Hankal, A . O . 943 Ibid. p. 206 .
( 51
revoked by a similar act of contumacy, and subjected his
domin ions to i nvasion by a Moslem force from NorthGujaratfi“
N ow it is in A .D. 1 3 1 8 , after the fall of Dev g iri, that
the first direct evidence of Musulman supremacy in ourisland is vouchsafed to us . Sultan K utb-ud-din , orMubarak Shah I
, w ho reigned from 1 3 1 7 to 1 320 A .D. ,is
stated to have ordered his outposts to be extended to the
sea and to have occupied Mahim in Bombay and Salsette. i
T he large Mahommedan population which dwelt peaceful lyin the coast-towns under the generous sw ay of Hindu monarchies
,doubtless helped tow ards the success of that pol icy
ofempire , which for a short season guided the actions of thisEmperor. But the spectacle of impartial i ty and tolerationafforded by H indu dominion taught no lesson to MubarakI ; and the establ ishment of his garrisons w as m erely thesignal for a fanatical persecution of old H indu deities . T he
destruction,by his orders
,of the old temple of Mumbadev i,
g uardian goddess ofour island , the tem porary departure from
our shores ofMahalakshmi and her sisters , resul ted natural lyfrom the pursuance of that policy of repression , which thefriars jordanus and O deric remarked duri ng their sojourni n Thana from 1 32 1 to
“The Saracens , said they,“ hold the w hole country , having lately usurped the dom in ion . They have destroyed an infin ite number of idoltemples
,l ikewise many churches ofwhich they have annexed
the endowments . ”
A ccordi ng to their account, the headquar ters of the kingdom were at Thana , which w as governedby a Mi l itary cfl'icer or Mal ik and by a civ i l officer or Kaz i
The Bombay Gat etteer , XIII , I I , 438 , note 6 , supposes that the Malik w ho com
mandedthis expedition was Malik-ul-Tujjar . But Malik-ul-Tujjar w as a Bahmani noble,w ho rose to power aboutA . O . 1417, andthis event is recorded as having taken place underthe Khiljis ( A .D. 1 295 The first conquestofMahim by Malik-ul-Tujjar KhalafHassanBasri took place in 1429 ( wide Farishtah I , It seems probable that the Malik hererefer redto was Malik Nasrat, mentionedby Farishtahas one ofthe tw o g enerals of Ala-ud-dinwho came w ithUlug h Khan from Sindh (Farishtah I , During the Khiljiperiod Malikwas a common andfavourite title. Signifying literally king it w as at first g iven to Rajputsofposition, w ho embracedthe faith of Islam , to distinguish them from foreig n Mllb
‘
llllhafl
i‘ Bombay Gaz etteer , XI II II , 438 . I Bombay Gaz etteer , XIII, II, 439.
andthe country w as w el l stocked w ith big game, notablyblack- l ions ( probably the black Javan panther ) and the
rhinoceros . The Hindu population follow ed the custom of
carrying thei r dead w i th great pomp just as the Kamathior Telugu-speaking H indus bear thei r dead with musicand song to this day ) to the fields and casting them forthto the beasts and
Beyond the fact of his establ ishi ng an outpost atMahim , and ofhis earn i ng immortal obloquy as the demonMumba Rakshasa, w e know but l i ttle of Mumbarak Shah
’sconnection with our island . I t seems , however, probablethat Musulman supremacy w as never very fi rmly establ ished
in Bombay ; f and i n the time of Mohammad T ug hlak (A .D .
1 32 5—50) i t may even be held to have lang uishedi I t was
three years prior to the conclusion of his domin ion that thenew Mahommedan i nvasion of the Konkan necessi tated by
Harpaldev’
s refusal to pay tribute, took place, and that ourI sland of Mahim w as for the second time overrun by the
followers of I slam .
I n 1 347 (the Shaka year as we have seen , Nagarshah or N ag ardev w as rul i ng over Salsette and Mahim .
The immediate causes of his dow nfal l were, accordi ng toMaratha accounts. the evi l practices of his favouri te Jaitchuri and the degradation of one ofhis Si rdars
,N athrao
Sindha Bhong lé, who fled to Vadnagar i n North Gujaratand begged the Musulman ruler ( probably one of the
“ Amiran-i-Sadah or centurions of the Delh i Sultan) to
turn his arm s against the North Konkan .! An army set forthunder the Malik N iku ( the Nikka Malik ofthe Bimbakhyan ) ,one part of which attacked Pratappur in Salsette
,a
second portion marched against Thana , and a thi rd laid0 Sir James Can1pbell (XIII , I I , 440) takes this as proof of Parsi influence. Vich
also Thana Gaz etteer , I I, 2 51 .
1’ Bombay Gaz etteer , XI II , I , 2 1 6 .
I Brigg’s Farishtah I, 41 3. Kasmala 2 2 3. Thana Gaz etteer , XI I I , II. 440.
g Bimbakhyan, pp. 69, 1 20, 1 2 3, 1 2 5.
si ege to Mahikavati or Mahim,which in the absence ofthe
King w as courageously defended for a time by his queen
and a few retainers . T he struggle was , however, hopeless
the queen was slain ; the city looted ; and final ly a pitchedbattle w as fought at Bycu lla between the Moslem host andthe forces of Nag arshah, i n which the former proved v ictori
ous. For the second time, therefore, the Islands of Bombaybecame di rectly subject to the Mahommedan garrisons w ere
set up i n different places,while the Mal ik N iku and another
Moslem officer fixed upon Pratappur and Bassein as thei r
respective places of residence .I t seems possible that the grow th of the Musulman
community in our islands was di rectly encouraged by thevictory of the Gujarat forces under Mal ik Niku . Not sovery many years after the sack ofMahikavati andthe heroicdeath of N ag ardev
’
s queen , there was born i n our island ofMahim a very remarkable man , Shaikh Al i Paru , or, as he
w as subsequen tly styled , Makhdum Fakih Ali , the Worship
ful Jurisconsult A li,” whose shrine sti l l attracts thousands of
the faithful annually from all parts of I ndia . The saint died
A .H . 835 or A .D. 143 1 at the age of59, as we learn from
the “Kasful Makhtum or Rev elation ofthe Concealed by
MahommedYusufK hatkhate, B . A and a m osque andshrinew ere straightway buil t to his memory , which repai red andenlarged in A.H . 1085 ( A .D. and improved by the
add ition of verandahs in A.H . 1 16 2 (A .D . exist uponour island to this day.
Notw i thstanding the conquest of Mahim and the Nor
thern Konkan by Mal ik Niku , the follow ers of I slam evincedno great i nterest i n our island, unti l the establ ishment
, at
the close of the fourteen th century, of the beneficent rule ofthe Gujarat Sultans, whose ancestor Zafar Khan , afterw ardsMuz affar Shah I of Gujarat (A .D. 1 390 w as appoin t
edViceroy of the province of the North Konkan by FiruzShah , nephew of that questionable potentate
,Mahommad
( 54 )
Tughlak. Zafar Khan , on his first arrival i n these parts,found two Governors, one of Navsari , the other of Mahim ,
w ho had been appointed by the Khi lj i generals ; but theseoffi cials of the Delhi monarchy were shortly removed infavour of men owing more d irect allegiance to the new ly
founded house of Duri ng the reign of SultanAhmed ofGujarat ( 14 1 2—1441 ) oneMal ik-ush-Shark , a Gujarat
noble of renow n,was posted for som e years at Mahim,
and in add ition to i nsti tuting a proper survey of the land ,did a great deal tow ards the improvem ent of the revenuesystem . About the same date also occurred the great rebell ion
of the Bhong lés, the descendants of Bhima Raja'
s BhandariS irdars, w ho were men of cons iderable i nfluence andwealth .
According to one account the Bhong lés exci ted disaffectionamong the subjects of the Ahmedabad monarch, and havingthereby seized the I sland ofMahim and its dependencies, suc
cessfully held them for eight years against Sultan Ahmed Shah.
Others opine that the rule ofthe Bhong lés lasted for a
longer period but w hatev er the duration of thei r suprem acy
may have been , i t is tolerably certain that the nature of thei rpubl ic actions could not have conduced to a very firm establ ish-r
ment thereof. Accordi ng to the Bimbakhyan, these Sirdars
could not comm and the al legiance of a discontented people ,among whom the rule of the Bhong lés was synonymous
w i th everything false, disorder ly and corrupt i n the adm inistration ofa country .
I n the year 1429 (H . as we learn from Farishtah ,Sultan Ahmad Bahman i of the Deccan despatched h is generalKhalaf Hasan Basri to subjugate the North Konkan , anddrive thence al l con tumacious local chieftains . f I n the courseof this invasion , KhalafHassan Basri captured Salsette andMahim in Bombay. Hearing of this event
,the Ahmedabad
0 According to the Bimbakhyan, one Jafar or Zafar Khan, son of Hamir Khan,ruled Mahim fcr 30years . The names g iven by the Prabhu w r iter are misleading4 “g t , Dafarfor Zafar , Ambil for Hamir or Amir .
55 )
monarch sent his son Zafar Khan , with a well-appointed
force , to re-capture the lost terri tory . An obsti nate battle
w as fought on the shores of one of the island creeks betweenZafar Khan and the Deccan army, which had been furtherrei nforced in the meantime by the arrival of new forcesunder Pri nce Ala-ud-din Bahman i . The army ofthe Ahmedabad monarch w on the day , routing their foe with theloss of men and 2 nobles, and capturing Husain ,own brother to Khalaf Hasan Basri , who was now styledMal ik -ul
This defeat i n no wise tended to s ubdue the jealousy of
the Bahmani monarch , who at length found an opportun ity ofretrieving his losses i n the death ofQutub Khan
, the Gujaratcommandant of Mahim .i Once again did he despatchMalik-ul-Tujjar against the island . Sul tan Ahmad ofGujaraton his side sent forth h is son Zafar Khan , under the guidanceofa tried warrior and noble , Iftikhar-ul-Mulk , to stem the
tide of Deccani i nvasion ; and further ordered Mukhlis—ulMulk, the head of the Gujarat naval depot at Diu , to helpwith a strong maritime armament . Having col lected seventeen ships-of-war from Diu , Gogha and Cambay , Mukhl isul-Mulk hastened to join the Prince at Mahim ,
where i t wasdecided to attack the town ofThana simultaneously by sea andland . Malik Sohrab w as ordered to precede the Prince and
endeavour to drive out a considerable Dakhani force , whichheld Thana under the command of a Kotwal . The latterheld out bravely for three days against the combined attack ofthe Gujarat forces ; but seeing the enemy daily reinforced byfresh arrivals
,and finding that no assistance w as forthcoming
for the garrison,he decided to rel i nquish the defence and save
0 T he title of Malik-uI-Tujjar or Prince ofMerchants seems curious, when appliedto
a disting uishedminister and g eneral. Hasan Basri, however , w as a merchant before he
enteredthe ser vice of Sultan AhmadBahmani. Ahmad , it appears , at the time when his
elder brother was on the throne anddecided to blind him , fledfrom the capital. T he first
man whom he met in his flig ht at the city g ate was the merchant KhalafHasan who g ave
him the royal salutation ; andin return the prince styledhim Malib ui-Tujjar .”—( Faristah,
Persian Text, I ,1 Farishtah, Persianflext, I, 370.
t'
56 )
his ow n l ife by fl ight . This action and the consequentoccupation of Thana by a strong Gujarat garrison forcedMal ik-ui-Tujjar to reti re to Mahim , whither Prince ZafarKhan speedi ly follow ed him . Malik-ul-Tujjar threw up on
all sides of the island a stockade of thorn trees, and , martiall i ng his forces
,calmly awaited the enemy ’s onslaught.
Terrible was the battle which ensued for i t lasted the wholeday , and the dead lay in heaps upon the field . As eveningwore on , Mal ik-ul-Tujjar, decid ing that further opposition
was useless , reti red with the remnant of his host to the island
ofMumbadev i, Mumbai or Bombay . He subsequently madetwo fresh attempts to regai n the I sland of Mahim and its
dependencies but the overlordship ofthe Gujarat Sultan was
too firmly grounded to offer hope ofsuccess in such an enterprise
,and a marriage, w hich the latter had arranged between
his son and the daughter ofthe Rai ofMahim ,i n A. D . 1432 ,
served but to strengthen the position which he had w on forhimselfand his house by sheer force ofarms.Some years ago a portion of the cemetery near the Mahim
shrine was washed away by the sea and numbers of bodiesin various stages of preservation
,and interred layer upon
layer, were thereby d isclosed amid the strata of the beach .
These are held to have been the bodies of the warriors whomet thei r death i n the battle between Zafar Khan and Mal ik
ul-Tujjar ; and to this day the name of the place is ‘ GanjShahidan , the Catacom b ofMartyrs .
During the greater part of the fifteenth century , that is tosay
,from the reign of Ahmed Shah ( 141 1 - 1 441 ) to that of
Bahadur Shah ( 1 52 7 our seven islands of Bombay
probably formed a portion of the territory of the GujaratSultans ; for Erskine , i n the second volume ofhis history,i nforms us that Sultan Ahmed in the course of his reignreduced all the lowlands to the south ofGujarat and below
the ghats, the Northern Konkan , and the I sland ofBombay ;whi le a l ist ofthepossessions ofthe Gujarat monarchs , g iven
Yakut the Abyssi n ian w i th 2 0ships to lay waste the islandofMahim in Thus for the fourth tim e our islandserved as the arena
'
ofa struggle between the Moslem powers
of the mainland .
Bahadur Gilan i , how ever, did not long enjoy his forceful ly-acqui red domin ion ; for the Gujarat Monarch SultanMehmud Begada sent forth Mal ik Sarang K ivam -ul-Mulkwi th a powerful army by way of the land
,and a fleet of300
boats, wel l furn ished w i th men and ordnance,against Dabhol .
These forces co-operated with the generals ofthe Bahm an idynasty , w ho had also decided to take veng eance upon therebel and in a battle, said to have been foug ht near K olha
purl , Bahadur Gilan i was slai n , his head was forw arded to
Sul tan Mahmud Beg adai and the fleet which he had graduallycollected w as handed over to the general of the Gujaratforces .!Subsequent to this event, the power of the Sultans of theBahmani dynasty gradual ly decl i ned , and their possessions in
the Konkan were divided between the kings of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur.!Now it is during the reign of this same Mahmud Begada
( 1507-8 ) that the future of our island is for the first time dimlyshadowed forth . The M ir-a-ti Sikandarill makes mention of
the Sultan'
s advance against certain Firang is,’ who had
created g reat disturbances in Mahim . These were none an
other than the adventurous men of Portugal , commencing to
Bombay Gaz etteer , I , I I , 32 . The Mir-a-ti Sikandari (K. B. Fazlullah'
s tram lation,
p. 73) g ives another reason for Gilani’
s action. W hen Khajah Jehan was assassinated bySultan MuhammadBahmani, Malikq il-Tujjar fledto Cambay, where he died , leaving behindhim a daug hter . Gilani aspiredto mar ry her , andsent a messag e to that efl
'
ect to her
g uardian, who unceremoniously refused,saying that a slave, pur chasedthe other day by
the lady’
s father , need not presume so far . Gilani,thereupon, hadthe g uardian murdered
andattempted to can-
y off the lady by force. In this attemm, however , he was foiled bythe people of Cambay. This so enrag ed him that he commenced plunder ing all the
Gujaratports, stopped all the imports from South Malabar andreduced the people to such
straits that they hadto eat coriander seed w ith their ‘
pan,’
instead of betel-nut, the
usual concomitantofthe leaf.
1' Bombay Gal etteer , I , I I , 33. g Brig g
’
s Translation ofFarishtah, iv, 62-1 56 .
TheMir-a-ti Sikandari(Khan Bahadur Bombay Gaz etteer , I , I I , 33.
Faz lollah, 11 Khan Bahadur Fazlullah's Translation, 75.
( 59 )
consolidate that domin ion , which subsisted unti l the signing ofCharles the Second ’s marr iage treaty in the Palace ofWhitehal l . Mahmud ’s expedition was of l i ttle use for by the timehe reached Dahanu, new s w as brought that his slave
admiral, Malik Ayaz, had i nfl icted a grievous defeat uponthe Portuguese near Bombay, sinking one of their largestvessels and kil l i ng nearly men . The check thusgiven to the Portuguese was of only a temporary nature ;for from the year A .D. 1 536 , w hen Sultan Bahadur of
Gujarat died , they gradually but surely strengthened thei rinfluence and hold upon al l the ports of the Westernl i ttoral from Diu to Goa, being assisted i n no smal ldegree by the interneci ne dissensions w hich broke out amongthe nobles ofGujarat .
By the year 1 572 the old Sultanate w as sw ept aw ay ;and upon its rui ns rose the Mughal domin ion , establ ishedby Akbar, whose moderation and friendly feel i ng towardsthe Portuguese is attributed partly to the presence i n h isseragl io ofa certain lady ofPortugal , and partly also to theguidance of Rodolfo Aquaviva, the Jesui t Father, w ho,
together wi th Antonio de Monserrato and Francisco Enriques ,w as summoned by Akbar from
Here then ends the tale of our island duri ng the periodof Mahommedan supremacy. The very indefiniteness of thestory seems to us proof of the comparative indifferencedisplayed by the Moslem towards our Heptanesia, and of the
shadow y nature of thei r domin ion over these islands . Search,as one may, for proofs of thei r connection with Bom bay,one cannot with certai nty say more than this, that the an
cestors ofour Konkan i Mahommedans once dwelt i n Mahim ,
that a Moslem commandant and garrison were from time totime stationed on the island, and that on four or five
occasions our island gave shel ter to stem warriors, who chose
it as the scene of thei r struggles wi th the servants of other
A in-i-Akbari Elliot, iv , 60. Also BM ann.
( 60 1
Moslem poten tates . We are i ncli ned to bel ieve that Musulman
supremacy w as l i ttle more than theoretical , and that the care
of the people, and internal administration were practical ly in
the hands of tributary H indu Rais or Chieftains, such as he
of Mahim, w ho married his daughter to a prince of the
Ahmedabad Monarchy in 143 2 , or the Rai ofBhiundi, who,according to a stone rel ic bearing the date 1464, was in thehabi t of making grants of land to the i nhabi tants of hispossessions. And this being so, one is better able to understand the almost complete absence of Musulman rel ics, richei ther i n architectural beauty or in historical i nterest . OurHeptanesia had passed from the position ofa chosen land ,the new home ofsturdy colon ists and pol iticians l ike BhimdevofDevg iri to that ofa smal l and un important mil itary outpost,the civi l administration of w hich w as entrusted to pettyH indu Chiefs, w ho, being tr ibutaries, d id not feel i t incum
bent upon them to prosecute with vigou r the further colonisation andenrichment oftheir territories .
I t w as not ti l l after the establ ishmen t of Portugueserule upon the w estern coast of I ndia
,not ti l l after Musulman
coast-vil lages had been burned , the men butchered and thew omen led aw ay captive in the bitter crusade
,waged by the
devotees of the Virgin against the follow ers of the Prophet ,that the bulk of the higher-class Mahommedan population
emigrated to our island . And it w as not ti l l 1 8 1 8 A . D .
that any Mahommedan w riter w as found to poin t proudlyto Bombay, lying midway between the islands of Salsetteand Kolaba, and say The best ofal l thi ngs are the middlemost .
”
A final w ord is permissible on the subject ofthe Naitias or
Konkan i Mahommedans . Their origi nal home in these islandswas, as we have seen , at Mahim . On the adven t of the
Portuguese, large numbers ofthem who dwelt upon the shores
These are the words ofa nameless Persian traveller , w ho w rote the Ieu-i-Bambai
in A . D. 18 18.
( 6 1
of the mainland, emigrated to Bombay proper and foundeda colony on land subsequently i ncluded withi n the Fort .Following at first the profession of ship-masters, nak/zoa
’as,
ships ’ officers and sai lors, the commun ity g radually throve,turned i ts attention to commerce and oflicial business, andrapidly became the most i nfluen tial Mahommedan class i nBombay . I n consequence of the scare caused i n Bombayby the troubles with Haider Ali , and by the offer of NapoleonBuonaparte to assist Ci toyen T ippu,
” and subsequently
i n consequence ofthe great fire, the old Mahommedan commun ity of the Fort was given bui ldi ng sites in “ OldN agpada
” and other regions, situated to the north-west of
the present si te of the Crawford Markets ; and agai n , w hen
the present I nfantry l ines to the east of the markets were
constructed , a large number of Konkan i dw el l ings wereremoved to new streets northw ard of the Paidhoni orFoot-wash .
The one architectural legacy ofearly Mahommedan ruleis the s hri ne of the Sain t Makhdum Fakih Al i Paru , bui ltupon the eastern side of the town ofMahim . The inner sideof the dome, which rises above the shri ne, is ornamented withan Arabic inscription i n gilt, giving the name and dates of
the bi rth and death of the Sain t . Southward thereof l ies
the grave ofhis mother and other kindred . During the rule
of the Mughals ( i n H . 1085 ; A . D . and shortly afterBombay had become a Bri tish possession , the shrine waswholly repaired . To the north of the domed enclosure is awooden mosque
,near which stands a very ancient step-well,
doubtless i ntended for the ablutions of the Faithful . From
the position ofcertain old graves and other mural structures,which are only revealed to view at low-tide, i t appears that
the sea was original ly at a far greater distance from the
shri ne than it is at present : andi n all probabi l i ty, at thehour when the H i ndu Rai ruled the land under the eye of a
mili tary official of Gujarat, our island of Mahim covered a
6 2
considerably wider area than in 1 843, when Mr. Murphyprepared his chart of the seven islands of
The follow ing note upon the mosques andshrines ofBombay has been kindly suppliedby Khan Bahadur Faz lullah Latfullah
Except the j ama Mosque none of the mosques of Bombay claim any g reat
antiquity. The date of the construction of the JamaMosque is der ivable from the chrono
g ramI j i'l iA j akas i-abhir at or “ the ship of the w orld to come in allusion to the
I I
structure being erected over a tank, andthe value of the letters—jam andébhz'
r at
amounts to (H ) 1 2 17= A . D. 1802 . T he tank over w hich the mosque w as built formed, it issaid, part ofan oldtemple w hich stood near the mosque. It w as transfer red by Government
to a certain influential headman of the rich j ama-at of butchers, w hose name was NathilPattell. It w as at first too small to w ith justice lay claim to the title j amdor j am z
’
the
mosque w hich collectively can hold the w hole prayer-saying faithful ofa tow n.“ It w as
re built, itis said, in themutiny year by the non-KonkaniMusalmans, chiefly w ith the helpofthe
butchers. It w as ag ain repaired andextended andenlarg edin 1 837, at the expense of Mr .
Muhammad A li Rog hay . A storey w as added to it andshape to serve as the demesne ofthe
mosque added. The income ofall theproperties w ith w hich the mosque is endow ed amounts
to no less than R s annually. The mosque andits properties are manag ed by a boardconsisting oftwelve directors anda Naz ir . The office ofthe Ni zir has lately been entrustedto a Musalman g entleman, a Konkani, w ho is a g raduate of the Bombay University . The
Konkani element alsopredominates in the directorate of the institution. The staff of the
j dm i mosque consists of an Imam or Prayer-leader w hose duties are to lead theprayers on
Fridays andthe tw o 1d holidays. He has two assistants to call the Tebbz'
r—the A zan ,
or prayer-call—andhelp him in taking his place during small every-day prayers. Thereis attached to the mosque a w ellpaid staff of teachers, a fully qualified Maulav i and several
assistants. It is the duty ofthis stal’fto g ive g ratuitous instruction to any Musalman w ho
is desirous ofreceiv ing it in relig ious matter , both from A rabic andPersian books. Besidesthis, the chiefor j am z
’
Mosque,there are the Sat-Ti t Mosque situated in the quarter of that
name near Masjid Bander , w ith an annual income of R s. the Zakariyyah Mosquebuilt by Haji Zakar iyyah, the g reatMemon philanthropist, at Khadak nea r Mandvi, w ith
an income of R s. the Ismail HabibMosque near Paidhow nie ( R s . There are,
besides these, many small mosques, each street and community having g enerally a mosque
ofits ow n.
Then there is the shrine ofShaikhMisri at Siv r i. It is noticed in Mr . Murphy'
s map of
Bombay, 1843. There is a shr ineofSayyid Badruddin 1 at Bhendi Baz aar . Umarkhadi hasthe shrines ofSayyid Nizamuddin 1 andSayyid Badruddin . Dong r i has the shrine ofa saint
named A shik Shah sat-Tar thatofSayyid Husein ll.Don-Tar thatofSayyid Hisém Uddin,‘llCaw asji Pattell
'
s Tank has the shrine of Sana Shah. In the Esplanade, adjoining the
G. I . P. Railw ay line, there is the small cottag e-like shrine of Pedro-Shah" , a Christian
Convert to Isletm w ho obtained the honour ofsanctity. “lithin the compound of the station
andto its south-east is the shrine ofBismillah Shah. There is the cenotaph of Shi h Davalin Kumbharwada, that ofShah Madar in Don-Tar andanother in Bhendi Bazaar . Near theKolaba Lig ht House Saint Shah Hasan Ghazati lies enshrined . There is the shrine of
Mama Hajaniat the endof the Homby Vellard.This is included in Murphy
'
s Mapbut the moreprosperous shrine ofHaji A li, at the head ofthe Vellard, ata littledistance from
the shore on a small rock, is not show n in the plan.
T he word j am z’
or collective is generally confounded w ith j umé=a Friday. Mosquesof the dimensions of this mosque are calledJama mosques from a m istaken notion ofbeingmosques w here the Friday prayers are said .
1' Died H . 1 205 A .D. 1790. Died H. 1 209A .D. 1 794. ii Died H . 1 2 51 A .D. 1 835.
I u H 1 207 A D 1 792 . [I H. 1 2 32 A .D. 18 16 . H. 1 245 A .D. 18 2 g.
CHAPTER I I I .
Nossa SENHORA DE ESPERANC A .
I
T he th i rd period of our island ’s history, deal ing withthe characteristics and legacies of Portuguese proprietorship
,
commences,properly speaking
,w ith the cession of the island
in 1 534 by Sultan Bahadur of Gujarat . But for a clearerperception of the gradual growth of Portuguese i nfluence
,
i t were wel l to take a backward glance towards the open ingyears of the sixteenth century, and briefly remark the chain
of events, which eventually cu lminated in the i nclusion ofourisland among the possessions of the King ofPortugal .I n the latter half of December 1 508 , then , we find Don
Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy of Goa,
setting sai l from Cannanore to Diu w ith a fleet of 19 vessels,and soldiers and mari nes , four hundred of whom hailed
from the Malabar Coast . The object of the Viceroy w as topunish Mir Hosain ’
( Amir Hussei n who had been despatched by Mamluk, Sultan of Cai ro , with an Egyptianfleet to expel the men of Portugal from I ndia . Leav i ng
A ng ediva, the Portuguese fleet headed di rect for Dabhol,
then a ci ty of considerable wealth and influence, and reached
the port on the 3oth December. The Portuguese wasted no
time in getting ashore,d ivided thei r forces i nto three parties
,
and commenced a simultaneous attack upon the three citygates . The defence of the ci ty was courageously maintai ned ,unti l the Viceroy seei ng that a flanking movement alone
gave hopes of success, deputed Nuno Vaz Perei ra to forcean entry by another path . The defenders thus attacked inrear
,became demoral ized and fled, some to the mosques and
others to the mountains ; and the engagement, which had
lasted for five hours and resulted in a Portuguese loss ofsixteen men and of fifteen hundred on the side of the defend
( 64 1
ers, came to an abrupt conclusion . The booty capturedby the Portuguese amounted to 1
,ducats ; but all
looting on a large scale was prevented by the firi ng and
speedy destruction of the town Leavi ng Dabhol on the
5th January 1 509, the Portuguese paid thei r first visi t to our
island on the twenty-fi rst day ofthe same month for , havingseiz ed a Gujarat barque i n the river ofBombay
,
’ the cargo of
which did not satisfy thei r requirements, they landed atMahim for the purpose of obtain ing w ood and other necessaries. So frightened were the i nhabi tants at the recent fateofDabhol that they fled from the Fort, and al low ed the new
arrivals to land unmolested . Accordi ng to Gaspar Correa ,author of the Lendas , the Viceroy departed from Dabhol ,passed by Chaul which he did not enter
,to avoid delay,
and cast anchor at Bombay where the people,terrified
,fled
away . Our men captured many cows and some blacks ,who w ere hidi ng among the bushes
,and of whom the good
were kept and the rest w ere ki l led . The Viceroy,happeni ng
to see a wel l-disposed black being carried away , orderedhim to be set free, on cond ition of his taking oath according to his law , that he would convey a letter to Diu anddel iver it to Mal ik Ayaz . The poor black
,del ighted at the
prospect offreedom , consented , and the letter was del ivered to
Malik Ayaz twenty days before the arrival of the fleet."
Towards Diu the expedi tion then proceeded, and arrivedon the 2 ndFebruary 1 509. Between 9 and 10 o ’clock on
the follow i ng morn ing a sharp engagement took place
between the Portuguese and Mal ik Ayaz,who with Mir
Hosain had prepared to resist the attack wi th a fleet of 200
vessels . The Portuguese gai ned a complete victory , theships of the Musulmans were plundered, Mir Hosain was
seriously wounded , and the colours of the Soldan (Sul tan )w ere despatched as a trophy to Portugal .The victory of Diu doubtless heightened the desire of
the Portuguese to bui ld a fortress at that place, andledto the
Chaul to Diu near the island of Bombay , defeated anddestroyed half the enemy
’s ships , and captured a considerablenumber of prisoners anda quanti ty of cannon and ammuni
tion . He then seized a fort (Mahim Fort) belonging to theKing of Cambay ,
” who w as at w ar w i th N izamuluco, theLord ofChaul ,
” and handed i t over to the latter The fleet
ofthe King ofCambay,” writes Gasper Correa , consrstedof
68 pinnaces under the command of a son of Camalmaluco
( Kamal Malik ) , Governor and Captain of Diu , and of All iShah . Lopo Vaz de Sampayo w ith his fleet anchored off
a smal l island , w here the pinnaces of All i Shah also lay.
The latter w en t away w i th his row ing boats to the mouth of
the Thana river andthere cast anchor . During the n ight theGovernor sent V i ncent Correa to spy upon the enemy. He
saw all thei r boats drawn up at the landing-place,w ith the
exception of tw o w hich kept w atch at the mouth of the river.
All i Shah under cover of nig ht sai led for the Nag otna river,w ith 20 w el l-equipped gal leons, having galleries at the sternadorned with pictures ( texts from the Koran ) . Thither fol
low ed Lopo Vaz, and ordered Hei tor de Si lveira to engage theenemy in battle , w hich he accomplished successfully , returni ng to the fleet w i th a prize of 2 2 fustas . The latter thenpursued the fug i t ive Al l i Shah to a
.
neighbouri ng fortress ,pi l lag ed the coun try and captured much arti l lery . To escape
further annoyance, the Thanadar of Thana made himself
tributary to the Portuguese, and promised to pay themannual ly a sum of pardaos . Hei tor de Si lvei ra thenreturned to Bom bay , w here he was received with great ova
tions ; and w hen on the 2 0th March , 1 529, the Viceroy returned to Goa
,Heitor w as left behind w ith 2 0 barg atins , 2
g alleotsand 300 men to harass the coast as far as Cambay.
It w as duri ng the three months previous to the burst of
the monsoon that Hei tor and his men made repeated in
cur sions i n to our island of Bombay and neighbouringisles
,andgave the ti tle of a i lha da boa vida (the I sland of
the Good Life) to our Heptanesia, in view of the abundantfood , refreshment and enjoyment which they suppl ied .
”
I t was in connection w i th the decision and attempt tocapture the fortress of Diu in 1 530-3 1 , that our island agai ncomes i n to prom inence . Mel ique Soca
,
” the Captain of theFort
,having been depriv ed ofhis posi tion by Sultan Bahadur ,
approached the Governor of Goa,N 11 110 da Cunha , andsug
g ested a joi n t capture ofthe ci tadel . Nuno da Cunha,agree
i ng to the suggestion , provided the Mal ik w ith a pass andwith a fleet under the command of Gaspar Paes, and then set
about preparations for an attack upon his ow n account Hecollected the largest fleet ever seen in I ndia , consisti ng of
“400 sai l i ncludi ng many large ships , but mostly smallvessels fitted out by natives ,
‘
r held a g rand naval review in
the harbour ofBombay . and a general parade of all h is forcesupon the plain
,now known as the Esplanade ,
“taki ng a rol l
from each captai n of the Portuguese soldiers and sailors, and
of the captive slaves w ho could fight andass ist and the number ofmusketeers andof the people such as servants . T Themuster showed the forces to consist of sold iers andseamen (al l Portuguese ) , men from Malabar andKanara ,
slaves,
nati ve seamen and musketeers . Thereview ended
,the fleet sailed to Damaun , w hich w as speedi ly
captured , and thence to the island of Bete (Shial Bet) , whichsurrendered after a stern struggle . Diu w as bombarded , but
managed to hold out against the besiegers ; wher eupon Nunoda Cunha reti red to Goa, leaving Antonio Saldanha with 60vessels to cruise i n the Gulfof Cambav and harass the enemy .
In March andApri l of the year 1 53 1 Saldanha rapidly seizedand burned the ci ties of Mohuva, Gogo, Bulsar, Tarapur ,Mahim ,1 K helva, Agasi and Surat ; then , leavi ng the fleet incharge ofDom Antonio de Silvei ra. embarked for Goa .
Dr . da Cunha s ug g ests thatour island w as the orig inal ofCamoens' Isle ofLove.
’
1 Danvers’ Portug uese in India .
1: Danvers, p. 402 , g ives Mahim but Dr . da Cunha holds that the town of Kelve-Mahimis meant.
In 1 53 2 we hear of Nuno da Cunha taking the city of
Basse in ; and finally making Thana, Bandora, the island of
Mahim and the island ofBombay tributary to the Portuguese .
Meanwhile Sultan Bahadur of Gujarat had grown apprehens ive of the power of the Moghal , and observing the
successes obtained by Portuguese arms, determined to en l istthei r aid . Accordingly in 1 534 he despatched Shah
K haw ajeh to the Portuguese,with an offer to hand over
Bassei n with al l i ts dependencies and revenues by sea andOn the 2 3rdDecember 1 534 was signed on board the
galleon St . Matheus by Dr. Garcia da Orta, Marti n Affonsoand others, the Treaty of Bassein , whereby Sultan Bahadur“ gave and bequeathed to the King ofPortugal from that day
forth and for ever the City ofBassei n , its territories, islands ,and seas, with al l its revenues, i n the same way as he, theSultan Bahadur, King ofGujarat, held them before , providedall vessels from the Kingdom of Gujarat bound for the RedSea should first call at Bassein for passes and 011
°
return
voyage call there agai n i n order to pay duties under penalty
and risk ofseizure .Thus passed out Heptanesia out of the hands of the
Mahommedan and became the property of the men of
Portugal .The surrender ofBassei n and Bombay w as confirmed a
year later by a treaty ofpeace and commerce between SultanBahadur and Nuno da Cunha, dated October 2 5th, 1 535,
w hereby also the Portuguese w ere permitted to carry out thelong-desi red work of bui ld i ng a fortress at Diu . During theten years which followed the Portuguese were constan tly atw ar w ith Adi l Khan , the Gujarat King in the North , and w i ththe Zam orin of Calicut i n the South ; whi le troubles arosealso at Malacca, and Diu was besieged by the Turks under“ Soleyman Badshaw , Governor ofCairo . The m ai n resultw as the impoverishment of the Portuguese Treasury , and
Denver's' Portug ues e in India, p. 416.
69
complete inabil ity on the part of Portugal to sui tably reward
the services ofher disti nguished servants .
This lack ofmoney may, i n some degree , have necessitat
edthe grant of lands as rewards for meritorious actions, andgiven r ise to the feudal system of tenure, which obtained i nour islands throughout the era of Portuguese domin ion . On
the other hand , i t must be remembered that, under the Sultans
ofGujarat, a system approximating to the feudal had been i n
force throughout Bassei n , Bombay, Salsette andthe neig hbour ing islands. Whatever may have been the origin of thesystem
,i t is well-known that from 1 534 onwards, all the
terri tory, ofwhich the Portuguese were masters, was dividedup i n to manors or fiefs, the land bei ng granted to deservingpersons at a nominal ren tal of4 to 10per cent . , and the leasesbeing renewable either yearly, trienn ial ly, or, i n some cases,for a period ofone to three l ives . For distinguished serv ices ,and to Churches or Rel igious orders , the lands were grantedin perpetuity . I n return , the King of Portugal claimedmil itary service from the tenant, which might be commutedinto a tax at the discretion of the authori ties and Comptroller
ofthe Treasury .
I n the general distribution ofestates, which occurred after
1 534, the th ird ofour Heptanesia, the old island of Mumba
devi or Mumbai , was let to one Mestre Diogo, as tenant or
forei ro, for an annual qu it-ren t of pardaos, payable
at the Royal Treasury in Bassein . T he precise terms anddate of th is early lease are unknown . Dom Simao Botelho
,
who was Comptrol ler duri ng th is early period,mentions i n
his Tombo that, “ accord ing to the oldfora ] or rent-rol l,
the income of our island and its dependencies was
foedeas , and later pardaos . The island or Kasba of
Mahim w as rented for foedeas ; and theMandov im ,that is
,
the Mandvi or Custom House of Mahim , for foedeas.
alt
O ne foedea was=15 reis ; 4 foedeas==1 tang a ; 5 tang as==x pardao ; 15 reis=4 pies ,or ofan arms . Thepoorer people to thrs day speak of one pics, Eng lish coinage, as a
The island of Mazagon yielded foedeas, Mombaymor Bombay, The four vi llages of Parel , Vadala , Sionand Worli were granted by the Viceroy, Dom Joao de Castro,to Manuel Serrao for 4 1 2 pardaos ; while the vi l lages of
Trom bay and Chimbur w ere given to Dom Roque Telles de
Minezes, and the Mandov im of W alkeshvar to a H indu ,named ‘Posaji,
’
for 60foedeas . Simao Botelho refers to theseplaces in his “ Tombo under the ti tles of Parell
,Varella
,
Varel , Syva , Turumba , Chambur and Valepuecar .
Whether Mestre Diogo w as real ly the first lord ofthe
manor,as stated by Simao Botelho , is open to some doubt ;
but in 1 538 Garcia da Orta , the celebrated physician andbotanist, w ho had journeyed to I nd ia four years previouslywith Marti n A fl
'
onso de Souza, the Admiral of the I nd ianSeas
,and had acted as one of the signatories of the T reatv of
Bassein , became the ow ner ofBombay on payment of a yearlyquit-rent of pardaos , or some £85 sterl i ng. I n his
Conversations on Drugs , the worthy physician speaks of
the thi rd ofour Heptanesia as the island ofw hich the Kinghad made him a g ift, he payi ng a quit-rent for i t (
“Mombaim
terra e i lha de que El Rei nosso senhor me fez mercé, aforada
em fatiotaL et us glance for a moment at the value of the island
about this date . Previous to the year 1 534, the quit-rent of theisland is stated to have been foedeas, w hich , i n al l pro
bability, represents the rent paid during the era of Musulmandomin ion to the Gujarat monarchs. A year later the rent
w as changed to foedeas, i n 1 536 to foedeas, in
1 537 to and in 1 538 to foedeas. I n 1 539 we
remark a further enhancement to foedeas, i n 1 540 toin 1 541 to i n 1 542 to i n 1 543 toandi n 1 544 and 1 545 to foedeas . I n 1546 a
qui t-rent of pardaos,and i n 1 548 of pardaos
was payable by the lord ofthe manor. The value of the island ,therefore, i ncreased considerably subsequent to its acquisition
tree, the Jambul (E ug enia Fiambular z
'
a) and the Jangoma, of
w hich very few specimens sti l l exist i n Bombay . L astly.there w ere mango-trees , one ofw hich suppl ied the lord of themanor w i th frui t “ tw ice a year, once about Christmas, and
again at the end of To this day there exist i n Maza
g on two trees, w hich bear a double crop of mangoes everyyear ; w hile i n the vi l lage of Vaddem, Goa, one D . Mar ia
Pur ificacao de Minezes owns a tree, w hich bears frui t al l theyear round , and is usually rented to His Excel lency theGovernor ofGoa. Cocoanuts and rice formed the staple products ofthe island of Mahim Mazagon and Sion were noted
for thei r salt-pans, w hi le the numerous settlements of Kol is
w ere responsible for a large supply of fish , w hich was driedupon the islands andthen forw arded to Bassein for sale to
the Moors (Mahommedans) .And w hat ofthe population of our Heptanesia ? So far
as existing records show , Bombay w as composed of sevenvil lages subordi nate to tw o cacabés or chief stations, at w hichCustoms duty w as lev ied . These vi llages w ere Mahim
,Parel .
Varella (Vadala) and Syva (Sion ) , under the cacabé of Mahim ,
and Mazagon , Bombaim and Varel (Worl i ) under the cacabé of
Bombaim fi I n addi tion to these seven vi l lages,however,
there must have been smalle r settlements, such as Kol-war orCavel
,the Kola-bhat or Colaba vi l lage, Naigaon , Dongri , and
others, w hich had existed from the date ofold Hi ndu colonisa
tion . The cacabé of Bombaim w as not very populous,for i t
contained some years later on ly eleven Portuguese caz adosor married settlers, and some native blacks (pr etos naturaes) ,
0 Dr . da Cunha tells of another mango tree (Mrs. Houg h'
s) in 1866 , w hich fruitedtw ice a year . In both cases a severe injury to the tree, w hen it was young , is held to h
been the cause of the phenomenon. But the late Colonel Dymock, author of
Medicinal Plants ofW estern India, does notag ree w ith this v iew , stating that there are
many such trees on Malabar Hill.
1 W hen the islandw as cededto the Eng lish, its revenues wereXs. Sion
Mahim XS . W ol.li C O . 00.
Patel XS . Bombay
Vadala 00. XS' tt738
l 73
making altogether seventy musketeers able to serve i n w ar .
The latter were probably of Kol i or Bhandari caste . The
Kolis formed , perhaps , the most numerous class at this date,and dw elt all over our Heptanesia from Colaba in the southto Sion and Mahim in the north . Wearing then , as now,thei r d isti nctive emblem , a kn ife suspended from the neck,these aborigi nal colonists, for the most part, followed thecal l ings of fishing and agricul ture, though a few may havebeen forced to rel i nquish these duties for that of palanqui nbearing, w hich formed the subject of many a petition and
appeal during the earl ier years ofthe British occupation . Avery much smaller commun ity w as that of the Moors (Mabommedans) , w ho, according to Garcia da Orta , w ere solelytraders by sea .
“ They possessed the land first,”
w rites the
worthy physician,
“ and are cal led N aitias, which meansmixed or made up fi rst of the Moors w ho came from abroadand mixed themselves with the genti les (Hindus) ofthis land .
One cannot help bel ieving that a few Mahommedans of lessmixed descent were settled i n Mahim or the cacabé of Bom
baim but the bulk of the fol lowers of I slam clearly belongedto the Konkan i Musulman commun ity, whose Arab andPersian ancestors had taken unto themselves w ives fromamong the Hindu i nhabitants of the West Coast of I nd ia .
Then there were the Kunbis and Agris (Curumbins) , w ho
cultivated the fields and sowed them w ith rice and all sorts of
pulse ; there w ere Mal is, w ho tended the orchards, and w homthe Portuguese cal led ‘Hortelaos
’
; and thirdly “ Piaes
peons) or men-at-arms . We incl ine to the belief that thesewere Bhandaris, descendants ofthe men who came with BhimRaja and who held the island ofMahim for 8 years againstthe Mahommedan under the leadership of their Sirdars
, the
Bhong les. At any rate, during the early British period, the
Bhandaris are spoken ofas “ being bred to arms from their
infancy,and having a courage and fideli ty w hich may be
Antonio Bocarro ‘ Livrodas Plantasdas Fortalezas.
’
depended upon, and as having shewn “ notorious courageandz eal i n the defence of the island when i t was invaded by
the Sidi . ” Many of them were among the earl iest convertsto Christian i ty , and w ere organ ised by the Engl ish i nto aM il it ia, which was retained unti l the grow th of the nativearmy and the appointment of a local pol ice force renderedtheir services no longer necessary. Other descendants of
Bhima ’s retinue w ere also dw el l ing in Mahim, Bombay, and
Parel ; are spoken of as Parus,” that is to say, Prabhus,
who col lect the ren ts of the King and ofthe inhabi tants andtheir estates
,and are also merchants . Three other com
m unities are mentioned by Dr . Garcia da Orta as inhabiti ngthe terri tories ofBassein , “ the Baneanes (Ban ias) , w ho aresuch as fully observe the precepts of Pythagoras
,
”the
“ Coaris or Esparcis”
(Parsis ) ,“ whom we Portuguese cal l
Jews, and “the Deres or
“Farazes, a people despisedand hated by all . They do not touch others, they eat everything, even dead things . Each vi llage gives them its leavingsto eat . Their task is to cleanse the di rt from houses and
streets . O fthese three classes, the last named alone probablydwelt upon our island duri ng the earl ier period of Portuguese
domin ion . The nature of thei r duties must have renderedthei r presence a necessi ty in both cacabes ; but the Ban iasand Parsis did not, so far as one can judge, actual ly formsettlemen ts upon our Heptanesia, unti l after the Engl ish had
laid the foundations of thei r w orld-wide trade .
Now the history of Portuguese dominion in Western
I ndia is,to a large extent, the history of the foundation and
growth of thei r rel igious orders : and i t was not long beforeour Heptanesia became acquainted w ith them. Shortly after
the year 1 534, and during the episcopate ofDom Fr . Joao deAlphonse de Albuquerque, a Franciscan friar, Fr. Anton io de
Porto, set sail for Bassein and Bombay. One of the condi tions
of the Treaty of Bassein w as that “ a sum of larins (a
Persian coin six pence) , which had hitherto been applied out
( 75 )
of the revenues of Bassein to the Moslem mosques was to
continue to be so appl ied but so vigorously did Fr . Antonioandothers of his order set about the dissemination of thei rcreed , that an order w as passed by the King of Portugal to
util ise al l such moneys for the benefit of missions in Bombayand Bassei n . Besides converting some ten thousand nativesin Bassein , Thana, Mandapeshvar and neighbouring local ities ,theFranciscans also bu i l t the wel l-knownChurch ofSt . Michael ,which exists to this day i n Upper Mahim , at the north-end of
the Lady Jamsetji Road , opposite to the Collector’s bungalow.
Dom Anton io Pedro da Costa, late Archbishop of Damaun ,remarks in his R elatorio da Nova Diocese , that Foi estaeg reg a fundada em 1510, e a primev ia que os Portugueses
edificaram na i lha de Bombaim ”
; which , being interpreted ,means this church was buil t i n 1 510, and is the first that thePortuguese bui lt i n the island of Bombay . The statement i s
only partial ly correct ; for , whi le admi ttedly the oldestFranciscan bui ld ing in our island, this church was not bui ltunti l after the arrival ofFr. Anton io, who reached our shoresabout A .D. 1 534.
The keynote ofPortuguese action is given in that historic
remark ofVasco da Gama,
“Vimos buscar Christaos eespeciaria”
(we come to seek Christians and spices) . But the Christian
was i n their eyes offar more importance than the spices and
they could not perceive that the forcible conversion of the onewas i n the end l ikely to overthrow the trade in the other.That our Heptanesia were suitably si tuated for becoming the
trade-centre ofWestern I ndia, has been proved by later even ts ;and had the Portuguese Government been able to restrain thetroublesome and wanton acts ofoppression which thei r rel igiousorders occasional ly practised under the cloak of proselytisi ng
z eal , the population of Portuguese terri tory would not on lyhave not decreased, but might also have i ncreased simultane
ously with an increase ofthe islands’ trade-relations . But the
desi re to i nclude the heathen within the fold was paramount ;
( 76 )
andconsequently the Franciscan mission w as follow ed in 1 542
by a Jesuit m ission , the most notable member of w hich w as
St. Francis Xavier, and in 1 548 by the Domin ican Order,establ ished at Goa i n 1 545 by one Diogo Bermudes, whoconstantly, during his tours of inspection , vis ited our islandsto confer w i th his friend , Garcia da Orta . St . Francis Xavier
lost no time in obtaining for the Jesuit Order a share of the
money which w as form erly set aside for the benefit of themosques ; and by the year 1 570
“ the Paulestines, as the
Jesuits w ere cal led , were resident i n every town and vi l lage of
Portuguese territory, and had commenced bui ldi ng the churchofSt. Andrew at Bandora. Both Franciscan and Jesuit viedw ith one another in the erection ofchurches and the conversionof the inhabitants of our islands. We hear of a chapel
,
dedicated to Nossa Senhora de Bom Conselho, bei ng bui ltat Sion and afliliatedto the church of St . Michael in 1 596
and in the sam e year ofa church of Our Lady ofSalvationbeing erected at Dadar . Both churches w ere the outcome of
Franciscan zeal , and both exist among us to this day . The
latter i ndeed is now the richest ofall churches, possesses landedproperty and several cocoanut groves, has three afliliatedchapels at Pare ] , Worli and Matunga , and a large house,which has served on various occasions as the Portugueseepiscopal residence . It was to this church that Dr. Fryer
referred in 1 6 73, i n the words“at Salvasong the Franciscans
enjoy another church and convent. The Franciscans werethe original owners of that Romish chapel at Parel , whichwas confiscated from the Jesuits in 1 7 19, and after serving as“ Old Government House and the residence of the present
King-Emperor during his visit to Bombay, as Prince ofWales,has final ly been transformed into a Plague Hospital andLaboratory for the preparation of preventive and curative
plague-serum . By the year 1 585 the Franciscans had
received charge ofMandapeshvar , Mahim , Bombay, Karanja,
Mount Calvary and Agashi, i n each of which places w as a
State-paid oflicial, know n as “ O Pai dos Christaos . Their
power, and that of the Jesuits also, gradually but surelyincreased : a church of Nossa Senhora de Esperanca, OurLady ofHope, rose upon the plain now called the Esplanade ;and the aboriginal settlers of the Kol-var or Cavel became itsearl iest parishioners . The Romish ecclesiastics earned larger
revenues than even the King of Portugal himself; theyfounded a college at Bandra, which conferred degrees uponall manner of persons, and , according to a w ri ter of theseventeen th century, “
w as not i nferior as to the buildi ng
nor much unlike those of our un iversities they l ivedsumptuously
,and were i n g eneral so i nfluential that even the
General of the North at Bassein felt h is position to beprecarious. “ Few men ,
”w rote Ovington in later years,
can enjoy very peaceable l ives w ho have any fai r possessions
near the convents of the Jesu its ; a pleasant seat and afrui tful plantation can hardly escape thei r One of
the most, remarkable portions of our Heptanesia, whichescaped absorption by Franciscan or Jesuit priests was the
island of Mazagon . By a Royal paten t signed at Goa on the1 8 th January 1 57 2 , the island was granted in perpetuity to the
De Souza family, Lionel de Souza having married Donna
Anna Pessoa,the daughter of Anton io Pessoa, to whom
Dom Joao de Castro had origi nal ly granted the island in1 547 on payment ofan annual quit-rent of 195 pardaos . The
revenues of the island had risen from foedeas i n 1 534 to
550 pardaos i n 1547. The patent of 1572 laid down that
A t the endofthe seventeenth century the income of the chiefchurch in Salsette was
statedto he ofthe value ofone pound’s weig ht ofg old 8. day. In 1598 a friar , w ho came from
Eng land to v isit the houses andcolleges ofthe Jesuit Soc iety in India, w as entertainedat
Bandora w ith a sham sea-fig ht. The Father left to be educated at Bandora Colleg e fourPunjabi converts w hom he hadbroug ht from Chaul then visited Thana,
and founded the
Church of St. Cecilia at Poncer (Poisar ) . A t Bassein he established a seminary calledtheColleg e ofthe Purification, in which the children ofw ell-to-do natises w ere to be broug ht upas m issionaries. From Bassein he journeyed direct to Daman, the inference being that there
were no Jesuit establishments in the intervening country. A t the time of the cession of
Bombay to the Eng lish, the Bandora C olleg e laid claim to much land andvarious rig hts in
our island. Its claims, how ever , were not acknow ledg ed and this increased the natural
bitterness of the Portug uese in India at the advent ofthe Eng lish to Bombay.—Dr . Godfalw .
l
I
the vil lage ofMazagao is given to Lionel de Souz a for ever
and to his heirs,paying every year 195 gold pardaos and
three si lver tangas ofsix and-a-halfdouble pice each . On thedeath ofLionel de Souza the vi l lage is to remain w i th DonnaAnna Pessoa, Ray de Souza and Manoel de Souza, his wife
and sons, that is to say , one half of the i ncome to the two
sons .
” I n the even t of the sons dying before Donna Anna,the estate was to be shared by such of his descendants asLionel de Souz a might nominate by wi l l and testament . I nany case, the vi l lage was not to be sold, exchanged , or alienated without the permission of the King of Portugal or thel icense ofhis Viceroy in I ndia .
By a later patent, dated June 3rd, 1 637, the managementof the Maz agon estate was handed over to Ray de Souza withretrospective effect ; and “ i t being declared that Ray deSouza had no other son but Bernady D’
T avora, the Kingconfi rm ed the said Bernady D
’
T avora i n the possessionthereof, provided that he did not deprive the other heirs of the
said Ray de Souza in their rights , and provided he did notsell , change or give the said vi l lage in any shape or mannerwhatever w i thout l icense, as i t was to fall enti rely under themanagement ofone person only. It was a member of this
fami ly, one Alvares Peres da Tavora, who was lord of
Mazagon at the time the Engl ish took possession of theisland, paying for i t a yearly rental ofXeraphi ns -2 - 29.
With the exception of some few cases, such as this , i nw hich the lands of Bombay were apportioned among privatepersons of distinction , the bulk of the landed property hadfal len by the close of the sixteenth century i nto the hands ofrel igious orders . The Jesui ts owned the largest share
,and
were virtual ly the proprietors ofalmost al l the northern parts
of the island , such as Mahim , Worl i , Dadar, Sion , Sew ri,Byculla and Parel . The immense i nfluence which on thataccount accrued to them might easi ly have been uti l ised forthe aggrandisement of the Portuguese power on sea and land ;
Jesu its had made them selves masters of Travancore and
Tuticorin , and of the pearl-fisheries i n those places , retainedbands ofarmed men at their ow n expense , and actual ly wagedw ar by sea against H is Majesty ’s captains . They also heldcomm un ication w ith the Dutch and the Moors, and hadusurped from the State the royal j urisd iction and revenues .They even w ent so far as to deny that the King of Portugalwas lord of his possessions in I ndia, openly neglected h is
mandates, and general ly intrigued agai nst the Government towhich they w ere rightly subordinate .Now these in ternal troubles and feuds produced the
i nevitable result ; they paved the w ay for an advance of otherEuropean nations . One T '
nomas Stephens, w ho is stated tohave been the fi rst Engl ishm an in I nd ia, vsas l iving in Goa,about 1 579, as Rector of the Col lege ofMargao andthencedespatched to his father, a London m erchan t, such advices as
prompted the comm ercial community of London to payconsiderable attention to the possibi l ities ofan I ndian Trade .As early as 1 563 a Venetian merchan t had travel led to the
western coast of I nd ia by w ay of the Persian Gulf, anddescribed Cambay and Ahm edabad as places w ith an extensivecommerce . He travelledfrom Ankola to Goa in a palanquin ,and w as attacked on the road by robbers, w ho stripped himnaked and w ould have “ plundered him ofall he possessed , if
he had not before starti ng taken the precaution to conceal hisvaluables i n a bamboo . But it w as not unti l 1 583 that
the first Engl ishmen set forth for the w estern shores of
I ndia . I n that year Ralph Fitch , John New ber ry, Storie andLeeds, choosi ng the sam e route as the Venetian , arrived at
Goa, where the Portuguese, suspecting that they were cometo trade , cast them into prison . Through the mediation of
Thomas Stephens they w ere set free, w hereupon Fitch re
turned to England, Leeds entered the service of the greatMogul , and one of the other tw o married an Eurasian w ife
andsettled in Goa .
Meanwhile certain Engl ish merchants presenteda memo-srial to the L ords in Counci l, i n wh ich permission w as askedto trade wi th ports bordering on the I ndian Ocean and the
China Seas ; and a request was preferred for the Queen'
s
l icense “ for three ships and three pi nnaces to be equippedand protected in this trade
,without being subject to any
other condi tion than that of payment of customs on theirreturn .
” The memorial w as favourably received ; and in
1 591 Captai n Raymond was despatched with three ships ,The Penelope
,
” Merchant Royal and the Edward Bona
venture . ” The expedition met with no success ; and after
heavy losses at sea, a few ° survivors managed to reach Fal
mouth in the August of 1 594. Captain Lancaster,one of the
survivors , set on foot another expedition , which sailed in 1 596
with letters from the Queen to the Emperor of China,and was
never heard of again . At length , on the 2 2 ndSeptember1 599, an association of Merchant Adventurers was formedunder the presidency of the Lord Mayor of London , for thepurpose of establ ishing a trade betw een I ndia and England .
At the first general meeting of the Association , held on the24th of the same month , i t was resolved to apply to the Queenfor her sanction ; which being received on the 1 6 th October
1600, a fleet was prepared,and sai led from Woolw ich under
the command ofCaptain Lancaster on February 1 3th, 1 601 .
Having visi ted Achin and establ ished a factory at Bantam,
Lancaster returned with a cargo of pepper on the 1 1 th September 1 603. Emboldened by his success a fresh expeditionset out in the year fol low ing under the command of Hawkins
of the Hector,” who
,arriving at Surat with a cargo of
i ron and lead,was allowed to land there peaceably , and
thence started for Agra with a letter from King James to
the Great Mog ul. Fail i ng to obtain permission from this
potentate to establ ish a factory at Surat, Hawkins returned to
England in 1 6 1 2 . But in the meanwhi le Sir Henry Middle
ton , w ho commanded the sixth voyage of the London East
I ndia Company, had sai led for I ndia and anchored off the barof Surat. Sir Henry had strict orders not to offer violence
to the Portuguese,unless they were to open ly assai l him ,
as up to that date no col l is ion had occurred between the
representatives of the two nations i n I ndia. O f the insults
put upon him by the Portuguese, of thei r refusal to al low him
to trade, or to take on board Captai n Sharpeig h of the“ Trades- I ncrease ,
”
of the engagement betw een Nuno da
Cunha and Captai n Best ofl'
Surat,i t is not our purpose
to speak here . Let it suflice to say that Best ’s doggedcourage won from the Mogul a firman
,authorisi ng an Engl ish
min ister to reside at h is court, andopening to the Engl ish thetrade of Surat. I n the January of 1 6 1 5 was fought the navalbattle at Sw ally, which may be said to have laid the foundation of the British Empire in Western I ndia ; and from that
day forward we find the Engl ish gradual ly strengthen ing
their position along the coast, join ing w i th the Dutch in
blockad ing Goa, and final ly in 1 6 2 6 suggesting to the Dutch
that they should un ite with them in attacking and capturing
Bombay.
A description of our Heptanesia, as they were about
this date,wil l be found in Anton io Bocar ro’
s work upon The
Plants of the Fortresses .
” Coming from seaw ards,
” says he ,“one must steer north-east, keeping clear on the sea-side
of the islet ofCandi ] (Colaba ) . There is a rocky ridge, which
juts out southwards from the land , and extends half a leaguei nto the sea. It i s al l rock and is quickly covered by w ater,so that if a vessel fails to take heed , she is sure to run againstit . On the land side there are houses of the Lord of the
Manor . There is also a bastion , of the area of about tenpaces
, on which are mounted four i ron guns . There is no
soldier i n th is bastion , nor anyth ing for its defence, except
w hat the Lord of the Manor suppl ies at h is own cost, withoutany charge to the Royal Treasury. The small and scattered
population of Bombay consists ofeleven Portuguese famil ies.
These,together with the blacks, make up seventy musketeers.
These houses of the Lord of the Manor included the Quin ta
or Great House, which in 1 66 1 belonged to Donna Ignezde Miranda, then lady of the Manor or Senhora da I lha .
”
“ Around the house,wrote Fryer
,
“ was a del icate garden ,voiced to be the pleasantest i n I ndia . This garden of Edenor place of terrestrial happiness , would put the searchersupon as hard an inquest as the other has done its posteri ty.
T he walks w hich before were covered with nature’
s verdant
awn ing,and l ightly pressed by soft del ights
,are now open to
the sun and loaded with hardy cannon . The bowers dedicated to rest and ease are turned in to bold rampires for thewatchful sentinel to look out on . Every tree that the ai ry
chor isters made their charming choir trembles at the rebound
ing echo of the alarming drum andthose slender fences, onlydesigned to oppose the sylvan herd, are thrown down to erect
others of a more warl ike force Before the English came,the garden was doubtless al l that Fryer described i t to be .
South of i t lay the settlemen t or parish of Palav (Apol lo) ,opposi te which , and in the sea, were set the fishing -stakesof the Kolis, who dwelt i n Old Woman
’s I sland,as i t
was subsequently cal led, and in parts of the island ofBombay
proper. West of the garden lay the wide stretch of theMaidan
,terminating in the orchards and groves
,which reach
ed to the foot ofMalabar H il l . There were several houses ofthe I ndo—Portuguese
,Bhandaris, Kolis and Agris scattered
among these groves there w as the fair-siz ed vi l lage ofCave ],
forming a portion of the Maidan or Esplanade parish ; and
northward of i t several dank fields,reserved for rice-cul ti
vation . Though the Srig undr i sti l l existed at the extremityof the hi l l of the Malabars , the old Temple of W alkeshvar ,
bui lt by the Silahara, had been cast down so also the shrines
of Mahalaxmi and her sisters had, for the time being, dis
appeared from our shores, the goddesses w aiting i n conceal
ment until a mi lder feel i ng should prevai l towards the old
84
dei ties of Hinduism . North of Dongri , inhabited by Kolisand perhaps by a few Parbhu and Brahmin inhabitants
,
lay the isle and Manor of Mazagon , possessed by the legal
descendants of the DeSouza family, and serving as the homeofPortuguese, Kol is, Agris, Mal is, Bhandaris, andperhaps afew Hindu “
scr ivains or The northern isles,as
w e have remarked, were w holly given over to the Jesuits,
w ho owned houses and demesnes in Pare ] , Sion , and Mahim .
The latter island was probably peopled by the Portuguesei n sm al l numbers , by Parbhus, Brahmins of Palshikar andperhaps Shenv i caste, a few Moors or Mahomedans, and thelower classes of Hindus . Sim i larly at Naigaon the Parbhuand Brahmin must sti l l have been resident , though the latter
found it a harder task than the former to maintain a l ivel ihood
and reputation among those who, once his disciples, hadbeen largely persuaded or forcibly driven to become Christians . The Parbhu, on the contrary, being a man ofbusiness,could sti l l comfortably subsist by petty tradi ng or by acting asa rent collector and agent of Portuguese landlords. ParelandSion sheltered the Portuguese priests, andvarious classes
ofHindus , both orthodox and converts , and contained thehis
toric chapel, which has been final ly metamorphosed in to
the Plague Laboratory of the twentieth century. The trade
of the islands was not great, being confined for the most
part to the sale of dried fish ; and the revenues of the Portu
4‘ Mazag on also contained at this date a Franciscan chapel, w hich in these days appearsas the Church of Nossa Senhora da Gloria, the cathedral of the missions of the north
, andu the present cathedral in Bombay of the Por tug uese Diocese of Daman .
”
The chapel
w as enlarg ed in 1803 and rebuilt in 18 10, the Desouza family of Calcutta contr ibuting
R s.for its construction.
—( R elat0rio da Nova Diocese.) T he Mazag on patentof 1572 refers to the sacred g rounds andin the ear ly portion of the seventeenth centurythe chapel w as enlarg ed by R ay de Souza. In 173 1 the Mazag on estate w as sold throug ht he offices of one Vishvanath Senoy Telang to A ntonio de Silva for R s. to w hom
the v illag e of W orli hadalready been sold in 1 72 6 . O ne condition of the sale was that
de Silva should pay the annual pension due to the church for the celebration of its feast.
In 1748 the Collector , Laurence Sullivan , refers to “ a quarry of stone now in possession
of the church ofMazag on in 1 799one Antonio de Souza left the church an annual sum of
R s. 200 for the celebration of masses, andin 1 803 the British Government appropriatedcertain lands of the chur ch, andpays R s. 1 500for the sameper annum as w ell as R s. 240 in
lieu of 1 2 mudas of rice, which formed partofthe church'
s endowment. —(Dr. Godinho.)
g nose landlords were drawn in the main from taxes upon ricelands, payable in kind, upon oi l and ghee, and upon the
cocoanut and areca-nut palms, with which the islands aboundcd. The population had met w i th obstacles rather thaninducements to its i ncrease, and numbered only some tenthousand, at the time that Donna Ignez de Miranda ow nedthe island of Bombay, and Alvares Peres de Tavora w as lordofthe Manor ofMazagon.
And yet, notwithstandi ng thei r poverty, the immensenatural advan tages of the islands arousedthe cupidity of theEngl ish , w ho recognizedtheir value as a naval base. I t w asfor this reason that they fought the Battle of Sw ally in 16 14.
1 5 that they landed andburnt the Great House ’ i n 1 6 2 6 ;
that the Surat Counci l i n 1 652 urged the purchase of Bombay
from the Portug uese ; and that i n 1654 the Directors of theCompany drew the atten tion of Cromw ell to this suggestion,laying great stress upon its excel lent harbour and its naturalisolation from attacks by landJ
‘ Slow ly but surely the hour
w as draw i ng n igh, w hen the yoke oftheJesuit should be l iftedfrom the necks ofthe people, andthe olddei ties ofthe H i ndusshould peaceful ly share domin ion w i th thegods ofChristiani tyandI slam . Perhaps the most fi tti ng epi logue to the tale ofPortuguese dominion , the most suitable prelude to the history
0 In 16 14 the Portug uese Vicerpy sailed from Goa w ith 7 galleons, apinlts, 1 g alley,1 ceravel, and5 other vessels containing Portuguese anda larg e amount of artilleryHe w ishedto destroy the 4 Eng lish vessels then at Swally, namely, The New Yen ’
s Gift'
‘ The Hector ; The Merchant's Hope’
and The Solomon’
,under the commandotNicholas
Dow nton. O n December 2 3rd, the Portug uese fleet arrived andcast anchor between
the Eng lish andSurat. Slig ht skirmisl1es took place on the 2 7th and2 8th ; 0n the 29th the
Eng lish fleet sailedandtook up a better position at Sw ally, thus getting once ag ain into
communication w ith Surat. Between the 14th and 19th January 16 15, the Viceroy was
joinedby three other fleets under A zavedo, Luiz de Britto, andJoaode Almeida. O n
the morning of January z oth,‘ the Merchant's Hape '
sailedtowards the enemy, who
eng ag edandboardedher w ith g reat deter nination, andnearly succeeded'
1n taking her
twice. They were, however ,driven d? w ith a loss of between 400 and500men, amongwhom weremany
‘ fidalgos.’ The three other Eng lish vessels came upandcompleted the
ddest. A cannonade was sustainedtill nightfall, andthe nextmorning the Viceroy sailedaw aydisconcolate to Diu.
8 6
ofthe years to come, wil l be found in the fol lowing extractfrom certain recently publ ished historical sketches by ThomasCarlyle
Nay, looking in to other old log-books, I discern , i n theFar East too, a notable germ ination . By Portuguese Gama,by Dutch and other traffickers, and sea-and-land rovers, the
Kingdoms of the Sun are Opened to our dim Fog- land withal ;are coming i nto a kind ofcontact with i t . England herselfhas a traffic there, a con ti nually increasing traflic. I n theseyears H is Majesty has granted the Engl ish East I ndia
Company a new charter to conti nue for ever,’ the old tem
porary charter havi ng expi red . Ships, ‘ the I mmense Ship,Trade’s Increase, and her Pi nnace, the Peppercorn ,
’ she and
others have been there— in Guzerat, i n Java, i n the I sles of
Ternate and Tidore— bringing spicy drugs. A t Surat and
elsewhere, certai n poor Engl ish Factories are rising i n spite
of ‘the Portugals of Goa .
’ Nay, i n 1 6 1 1 , there came SirRobert Shirley, a wandering, battl i ng, d iplomatisi ng Sussex
man , ‘Ambassador from Shah Abbas the Great,’
andhad aPersian wife , and produced an Engl ish-Pers1an boy, to whomPrince Henry stood god-father . Shah Abbas, Jehangir,Great Mogul and fabulous-real Potentates of the uttermost
parts of the Earth, are dim ly disclosed to us, night’s ancient
curtai n bei ng now drawn aside . Not fabulous, but real seatedthere, with awful eye, on thei r thrones of barbaric pearl and
gold . Is i t not as ifsome rustle of the coming epochs were
agitating,i n a gentle way, those dusky, remote Majesties P
T he agitation of the Portugals at Goa,’ on the other hand , is
not gentle but violent .
For,10, we say, through the log-book of the old I ndia
Ship Dragon , i n the three last days ofOctober 1 6 1 2 , there isvisible and audible a th ing worth noticing at this d istance .A very fiery cannonading, n igh Surat i n the Road ofSw ally.
I t is the Viceroy ofGoa , andCaptai n Thomas Best . TheViceroy of Goa has sent ‘
five thousand fresh men, i n four
t 90
changes which have taken place in the external appearance
and population of Bombay, since the British first set foottherein . I t is with the latter subject
,however
,rather than
with pol i tical or commercial changes,that this monograph
must necessari ly deal and , i nasmuch as there are vouchsafed
to us , at differen t dates from the year 1 66 1 ti l l the present day,defin ite statements of the number of i nhabitants ofBombay,i t wi l l be our endeavour to fashion upon the basis of thesesuccessive estimates a tolerable tale of the island ’s expansion ,and show to what exten t the mil i tary
,civi l and commercial
exploi ts of the Company and the Crown have contributed
to changes i n the number and character of the population .
Now the earl iest record of numbers that w e possessis contained in the N ew Account ofEast I ndia and Persia ”
written by Dr . John Fryer , Surgeon to the East I ndia Company,and publ ished in London in the year 1 698 . The author
,to
whose graphic writings successi ve studen ts ofBombay history
have expressed themselves indebted,lays down that i n 1 675
the population ofBombay numbered more by
than the Portuguese ever had .
” I n view of this statement , i tis general ly understood
,and is indeed record ed as a fact by
Dr. Gerson da Cunha, that at the hour when the English gained possession 0f Bombay, the inhabi tants numbered about
souls . Although the I sland and Port of Bombay he
came the property of England by the treaty of 1 66 1 , the
actual cession of terri tory did not take place unti l the com
mencement of the year 1 665. The events of the intermediaryperiod , the exile and death ofSir Abraham Shipman upon the
I sle ofA ngediva, and the obstructive atti tude ofthe Portuguesei n I nd ia
,are known to most ofus and hardly need recapi tula
tion . The sal ien t features of the tale, i n our opin ion , are the
comparative ignorance of the prospective value of the islands
displayed by authorities i n Europe, and the prescience
of “ the Portugals i n this country . Contrast,for example,
L ord Clarendon’s m isty notion of the “ I sland of Bombay
w i th the towns and castles therei n which are withi n a veryl i ttle distance from Braz i l
,
” with the words of AntonioDeMello de Castro
,Viceroy of Goa, i n a final letter to the
King ofPortugal . “ I confess at the feet of your Majesty,”
he w rote i n the January of 1 665, that only the obedience Iowe your Majesty, as a vassal , could have forced me to this
deed the cession ofthe island) , because I foresee the great
troubles that from this neighbourhood wil l resul t to the
Portuguese ; and that I ndia wil l be lost on the same day inw hich the Engl ish nation is settled i n Bombay.
” There issomethi ng pathetic i n this last appeal of the Viceroy, w ho
ful ly recognised the possibi l i ties of world-greatness which
underlay “the i nconsiderableness ofthe Place of Bombaim ,
and knew by insti nct that his race could never be the dominant
power i n Western I ndia, ifonce the poor l i ttle I sland ,”
as
Pepys querulously termed i t, were handed over to the men of
England .
T he King of Portugal, however, was bound by the termsofthe Marriage-Treaty and in consequence, there is presentedto us in the month ofJanuary 1 6 65 the spectacle ofHum
phrey Cooke—Inofre Coque, as the Portuguese documentshave it— “ taking himself personal ly the possession and
del ivery ofthe said I sland of Bombay , after sign ing and
executing the i nstrument of possession in the Manor-houseof D. Ignez de Miranda, the Lady of the Island. Beforeproceeding to trace the reasons for the rise ofpopulationbetween that date and the year 1 6 75, i t is desirable to as
certai n what were the l im i ts of Bombay, as ceded to Cooke,and i nto what classes i ts population of about w as
divided .
O ne is somewhat apt i n these latter days to imagine that
Bombay during Portuguese rule comprised nearly as many
sub-divisions as i t now does, and that the outlying portionswere always subordinate , as indeed they now are, to the area
occupied by the Fort andNative C i ty. But for a clear per
f
1 92
ception of the early period of the island ’s story,i t is essential
to remember that to the Mahommedan and the Portugal,”
Bombay meant merely the island whereon once stood the
shrine of the old H indu goddess Mumbadev i and that thisisland was of i nfini tely less importance than the island of
Mahim . Till the year 1 634, i t had not even acquired the
position ofa cacabé (Kasba) or principal place ofa district,possessed no dependencies, and was merely one among a
number ofareas leased on a quit-ren t to deserving Portuguese
famil ies . The Royal Charter of the Mazagon Manor, andtheseparate leases or ‘ aforamentos ’
of Parel and Varl i i n the“ tombo ofSimao Botelho clearly prove that these estates
or vil lages were originally whol ly independent of Bombaim ,
’
whi le the more northern vi l lages were never considered
otherwise than as appendages ofthe supreme cacabéofMahim .
At the time that Humphrey Cooke “ took i n his hand earth
and stones, and walked upon the bastions”
ofBombay, as
signal ofpossession by the Engl ish,the island had acquired
sufficient importance to reckon Mazagon , Pare ] and Varl i asits dependencies . Any larger area than this, however, couldnot, according to Portuguese views, be i ncluded in the
treaty of del ivery ; for Colaba was sti l l the Kol i’s portion ,
wholly i ndependent,and Sion
,Dharavi , and Vadala were
portions of the separate estate ( island ) of Mahim . Such,
i ndeed , was the decision of the Commissioners whom the
Engl ish Governor requested to define the l imits of the ceded
territory. Cooke’s action under the ci rcumstances wil l be
briefly recorded , after glancing at the principal land-marks of
the island and i ts dependencies .The chief feature of the island proper was
,to quote
Fryer ’s words, “ a pretty,well-seated, but il l-fortifiedhouse,
”
situated behind the present site of the Town Hal l . “ Four
brass guns were the whole defence of the island , unless a few
chambers housed in smal l towers, conven ient places to scour the
Malabars , who were accustomed to seize cattle and depopulate
wash, Pydhoni, ofwhich we have spoken in an earl ier chapter .Both the creek and the Foot-wash ’ owed thei r existence to
the great breach between the island ofVarl i and the northern
l imits ofMalabar Hil l , through which poured the sea at h ightide, submerging, accord ing to Dr . Fryer, acres of
good land , yield ing nothi ng else but samphi re .” Two other
smaller khinds ’ or breaches combined with this great breach
to render the modern areas ofTardeo, K amathipura and the
Flats, a partial ly-submerged swamp , of no small danger to
the health of those who dwel t i n the immediate vici n i ty .
The most importan t of the dependencies of the island w as
Maz agon , a great fishing - town,pecul iarly notable for a fish
cal led bumbalo, the sustenance of the poorer sort, w ho l ive on
them and batty field .
” The fishing -town formed but a smallportion ofw hat had once been a very rich manor or estate.
O ne Bernadino de Tavora was confirmed in possession of the
vi l lage of Mazagon by a patent of June 3rd, 1 637, to the
copy ofwhich was appended a note, show i ng that ‘Manekji
N ow roji’
s Hil l ’ Dongri) , th e O art Charney, and Varl iwere part of this estate . Added to these were Vez ry H i l l,Bardeen batty-grounds, the Pakhadivada oarts, and Bhoycalemor Byculla . The Franciscans possessed a church andmonastery here, the Portuguese owned houses, and the
Bhandaris and Kol is, dw el l i ng i n rude huts, manured thepalms, disti l led l iquor, fished , and repaired , on hig hdays andhol idays, to the rude shri ne ofK hadakadev or Ghorupdev , theRock-god, which lay to the north of Bycul la . N otw ith
stand ing that the original area of the estate had, by the date
of the cession , been largely curtailed , yet the Maz agon island,with i ts carts and batty-grounds, must have been the most
remunerative ofal l the areas , ofwhich Cooke took possession .
North ofMaz agon , and separated therefrom by the sea,
lay the lands and vi l lage ofParel . Here also were batty-fieldsand carts, and a large church belonging to the Jesu its, known
to us in these days as Old Government House.’ The church
anddwel l ing-houses associated with i t, were surrounded bysev eral acres ofgood land , beyond the l imits ofwhich were thei nevi table but settlements of the poorer Gentoos .
” Thoughno defin i te men tion is made ofSivri (Sewri ) andNaigaum , i tis probable that they were included in the area ceded to the
Eng l ish, being at the time but poor and insig n ificant places .Final ly there was the island ofVadal i or Worli , contain ing
a small fort and but settlemen t ofthe fisher folk . No exhaustiveaccount of the i nhabi tants of the ceded islands is i n existence
but Fryer divides them in 1 6 75 i n to seven main classes, mostofwhich must have been dwell ing here i n 1 665, albei t they
were then less numerous . Foremost among them were the
Portuguese proper, w ho possessed the land as tenants-in-chiefofthe King ofPortugal . According to a statement ofAnton ioBocar ro, i n his Livro das Plantas das Fortalezas,
” theyconsisted in 1 634 of “ eleven Por tuguese casados or marriedsettlers ; and had not, so far as we know, i ncreasedvery greatlyby 1 665. To us the most noteworthy of them all was D .
Ignez de Miranda, widow ofD . Rodrigo de Monganto, w ho
was known as the Senhora da I lha, and was sole proprietress
of the capabé ofBombay, with its cocoanut-gardens, rice-fields,and the duty ofbandrastal. Like the rest of her compatriotsi n these islands, she w as a faz endei ro ’ or holder ofa fazenda ,
’
or estate, granted upon a system known as aforamento.
’
Dr. Gerson da Cunha has clearly shown that this system
which had originally been i n troduced i nto these islands by D,
Joao de Castro, i nvolved both a right and a duty— the right topossess the land and enjoy its produce ; the duty to defend i t,at the tenan t ’s expense , by the mai ntenance ofmen and horse,and the build ing ofmoated towers and stockades The tenure
w as in truth emphyteutical for the land was granted ei ther i nperpetuum or for a long term ofyears , on condition that thegrantee should plant, cul tivate and otherwise improve it, and
that he should at the same time pay a ‘ foro ’ or quit-ren t.
Anton io Bocar ro’
s reference to the eleven Portuguese casados
( 96 )
i ndirectly proves the existence of the tenure ; for he adds that,together with some native blacks ( naturaespr elos) , they could
provide seven ty musketeers able to serve in war . At the hourwhen the Engl ish set foot in the island , the character of theoriginal tenure may i n some cases have been forgotten , andthe obl igation ofthe tenan t to furnish mi l i tary service to the
King of Portugal as supreme land-owner,have been gradual ly
set aside : but the payment of the foro ( pagar o foro,solverepensz
'
onem ) was sti l l i n force, i n almost every vi l lage
within the l imi ts of Bombay terri tory. Even to us of the
twentieth century, the name of the tenure is famil iar. Wemeet i t i n a Foras Road,
” i n the Foras Tenure ” Registerof the Bombay Collector ’s office . T he tenant-in-ch ief was
permitted to sublet h is possess ion to others, i n consequence of
which there existed at the time of the cession , a considerablenumber of landholders, who fel t that the adven t ofthe Engl ishmight interfere with their rights
,and who
,therefore , did all in
thei r power to preven t the terms of the marriage-treaty beingcarried out. I n point offact, by the articles ofdel ivery which
Cooke signed, they were not dispossessed of their land, butwere al lowed to continue paying the same foro ’ as before,and to enjoy and make use ofthe same as they have h ithertodone without the least contradiction from the part of the
English gentlemen . A later clause added “ that every personpossessing revenue at Bombay
,ei ther by patrimonial or
Crown lands, shal l possess them with the same right and shall
not be deprived thereof except i n cases which the ‘ law of
Portugal may di rect,and thei r sons and descendants shal l
succeed to them with the same right, etc . I t was also ex
pressly laid down that the estates of the Lady of the Islandwere not to be in termeddled with or taken aw ay from her,without her consen t : but that “ after death and her hei rssucceed to those estates
,the English gentlemen may, if they
choose, take them , paying for the same their just value, as isprovided in the case ofother proprietors ofestates.
”
So large
( 98 )
from whatever class or tribe they may original ly have been
drawn , the I ndian converts, i n the early days of Bri tishrule, contributed largely to the rise and development of
Bombay “ Thousands of I ndian famil ies, writes Dr. deCunha, had been converted by the Portuguese toChristian ity ;
” and i t was from these famil ies that the
early Bri tish Government drew their supply of clerks,assistants or . secretaries . They were the first fruits of
the instruction andeducation imparted to them by the Por
tug uese priests, at a time , m oreover,when there w as hardly
a H indu, Moslem or Parsi able to read the Roman cha racters.And they were the early instrum ents for spreading the influence of the new rule among the natives of Western I ndia,or the fi rst helpers in the expansion of the Bri tish power
throughout the country . The fear that they might be forced
to renounce the Roman Cathol ic rel igion was oneofthe reasons
preferred by Antonio DeMello de Castro for not giving up
Bombay to the Engl ish .
“ I see i n the I sland ofBombay,” so
ran the letter, so many Christian souls, which some day willbe forced to change their rel igion by the Engl ish . How wi llthey allow Cathol ics to reside in thei r terri tories when theyhand over Cathol ics i n the island ofA njuanne to the Moors PThe Viceroy need not have felt any apprehension for , from
1 665 onwards, no authentic i nstance exists of any native of
I ndia, Christian or otherwise, fleei ng from persecution by theBritish as the Brahmans of Bandora did in 1 6 77 from thei l l iberal actions of Portuguese missionaries.
Before speaking of the lower classes of natives, residenti n the islands, one is tempted to enqu ire whether any member
of the Parsi comm un ity dwel t here at the time of the cession .
That they existed i n considerable force i n Bassein territory is
an acknowledged fact ; and the physician Garcia da Orta, w hoowned the island of Bombay about the year 1 554, speaks ofthem in the following terms in his Colloquios There are
other shop-keepers who are named Coaris, and in the
99
kingdom of Cambay they cal l them Esparcis, and we, thePortuguese, cal l them Jews but they are not Jews, they are
Genti les who came from Persia, have thei r own characters,have many vain supersti tions, and when one d ies they take
him by another door and not by that they serve themselveshave sepulchres where they are laid down when dead , andplaced there unti l d issolved ; they look to the east, are not
ci rcumcised , nor is i t forbidden to them to eat pork but i t isforbidden to eat beef. And for these reasons you wil l see thatthey are not Jews . ” Accordi ng to a trad i tion current in the
community, one Dorabji N anabhai actual ly resided in Bombayisland wi th his fami ly during the Portuguese dominion , andearned a l ivel ihood by transacti ng miscel laneous business
with the natives on behalfof Portuguese authori ties. O n
the advent of the English , he i s stated to have served them in
a similar capaci ty . I t is possible that the population of
Bombay, i n 1 665, i ncluded a few members ofth is adventurouscommuni ty ; but that the number was i nsign ificant is apparentfrom the fact that un ti l 1 6 74 or 1 6 75, no Dakhma
’
or Towerof-Si lence for the reception of thei r dead had been bu i l t . In
the neighbourhood of Parel and Sion were two classes of
i nhabi tants, whom Dr. Fryer al ludes to under the title of
“Columbeens, w ho manure the soi l and Frasses or portersalso, each ofwhich tribes have a mandadore or superi n tendent,w ho give an account of them to the Engl ish , and bei ng bornunder the same degree of slavery, are general ly more tyrannical than a stranger would be towards them . T he fi rst
named were Kunbis or cul tivators, and must have included
both the Kunbis proper and also the Agris, who have lenttheir name to the modern d istrict of A gripada . The Frasses
or Farazes, so far as one can gather, were Dhers and others
ofextremely low caste for Garcia da Orta, i n describi ng the
races inhabi ti ng the settlement ofBassei n , speaks of them as
“ a people despised and hated by al l . They do not touch
others, they eat everything , even dead things. Each vil lage
100 ]
g ives them i ts leavings to eat, without touching them . Thei r'
task is to cleanse the dirt from houses and streets .” These
w ere,i n truth
,the forerunners of the modern Halalchor and
sw eeper ; and must have been l ivi ng not only i n Parel and
Sion , but in the vi l lages of the island proper and in Maz agon .
Lastly,there were the Kolis and Bhandar is, whose settle
ments were scattered here and there throughout Bombay,Mazagon
,Parel
,and Worl i . The Bhandar is, whose here
ditary occupation w as the tapping ofpalm trees and disti l la
tion of l iquor from the juice, probably resided in or near thegreat palm-groves and c arts , which stretched along BackBay to Malabar Hi l l . A certain number of them no doubtw ere engaged in other pursui ts such as agriculture proper,andi ncluded classes such as the Bhang ulis or Bhong les,w ho were original ly Bhandari Si rdars . I n the early days of
Bri tish rule, they provided an honorary g hard, and carriedstandards in fron t of the Governors ; w hi le the Bhangulis
acted as trumpeters before the High Sheriff,on the occasion
ofopen ing the Quarter Sessions . The Kol is were, as theyare now, agricul turists and fishermen . An accoun t of themhas already been given in the H indu period andi t wi l l sufficeat this juncture to remark that thei r settlements were foundin almost every portion of the ceded terri tory
,and that with
the Bhandar is and Agris, they probably formed‘
the m ajorportion ofthe population in the year 1 665.
Such were the main classes of i nhabi tants at the timew hen Cooke s igned the articles ofdel ivery. I t seems to usprobable that out of the ten thousand
,some few at least were
Parbhus. There had been a colony of them at Mahim,ever
si nce the day w hen their ancestors journeyed in the wake of
Bhimdev from Devg iri ; while a letter, dated Sake 16 70, fromthe Sar-Subedar of the Konkan to the Shrimant Peshva of
Puna , states that “ i n the times of the late Portuguese
Government,the Brahmins w ere
,by that Government
,made
to undergo compulsory labour like Cul is , and as the Parbhus
102
December 1 664 they numbered one hundred and threeprivates with a sadly thi nned l ist ofofficers . I n compl iancewith the request ofSir George O xenden, Mr. Cooke suppl iedthe following rol l of the force which accompan ied him to
Bombay - O ne ensign, four sergeants, six corporals , fourdrummers , one gunner
’s mate, onegunsmith , and n inety-sevenprivates, with twenty-tw o pieces ofcannon and eight hundredand seventy eight rounds of shot .The main characteristics ofBombay and its i nhabi tants
at the time of the cession havi ng thus been determined, it
now becomes necessary to trace the causes which led by the
year 1 6 75 or 1 6 77 to an i ncrease of i n the population .
Humphrey Cooke fel l i n to great disfavour both with theGovernment at home and with the Council at Surat for sig ningso “ derogatory and unjust ” a convention . Not only were
restrictions placed by the articles of del ivery upon the landnow vested in the British Crow n , and upon the free movement
ofpopulation , but the island of Bombav had been shorn of
i ts most important dependencies, the cession of which hadclearly been contemplated i n the original treaty between the
monarchies of England and Portugal . The non-del iveryof these outlying vil lages and islands
,moreover, afforded the
Portuguese an opportun ity of harassing the Engl ish , by
infl icting heavy imposts upon al l boats which passed Karanjaor Thana and the levy ofa 10 to 1 2 per cent . duty on themerchandiz e and provisions
,w hich Bombay boats brought
from the con tinent, eventual ly proved so burdensome that
Cooke was forced to put soldiers on board to resist thedemand . Notwithstanding
,however
,the manifest i njustice of
the capitulation , as King Charles I I . styled Humphrey Cooke’s
convention , we are not convinced that he fai led to make thebest arrangement under the circumstances . He found himself
confronted at the outset of his labour by a strong body of
landed proprietors, belonging to a race which had ruled Bombay and the neig hbouring country for over a century, w ho were
extremely jealous ofany infri ngement ofthei r rights, w ho were
firmly opposed to Engl ish in terference , and who had actual ly’
prov ed strong enough , with the aid of their supreme reprosentative i n I ndia , to withhold the del ivery of Bombay for
over three years . I t may have reasonably occurred to Cookethat, by insistence upon the full terms ofthe marriage-treaty,he was l ikely to i ndefin itely prolong the negotiations, andmight even be obl iged to return to an island , the cl imate of
which had al ready slain a large number of his compatriots
that, under these ci rcumstances, i t was better policy to takeBombay with al l the restrictions and disadvantages that thePortuguese might impose, and trust to overthrowing orcounteracti ng them ,
after once he and his men had the islandin thei r grasp. Be th is as i t may, Cooke
’s action after thecession was decidedly directed against the restrictive clauses in
the treaty ofdel ivery, and may in some respects be regarded as
the model upon which subsequent Governors framed theirpol icy. The tw o objects upon
'
which he appears to haveprincipal ly set h is mind were
,firstly, the acquisi tion ofmore
territory, and secondly, the attraction to the island of
merchants and others, who would help the community to
be i ndependent of the commercial i nhabitan ts of Portugueseterri tory. I n furtherance of the former desi re , he seiz ed, upon
the flimsiest pretext,the land wh ich was contiguous to the
island proper,and thereby excited in tense bitterness in the
heart ofAnton io DeMello de Castro, who gave vent to his
feel i ngs i n a letter to the King of Portugal , dated January
5th, 1666 . During the last monsoon , he wrote, “ I in
formed your Majesty that I had handed over Bombay.
Now I wil l relate to your Majesty what the Engl ish have done,andare doing
,in the way of excesses . The first act ofMr.
Humphrey,w ho is the Governor of that island , and whom I
knew in Lisbon as a grocer,was to take possession of the
island of Mahim in spite of my protests, the island beingsome distance from the island ofBombay, as your Majesty wil l
see from the map which I send herewith . He argues that at
low tide one can walk from one to the other, and if th is isconceded your Majesty wi l l be unable to defend the rightto the other Northern islands . The i nhabitants of
the north would have taken up arms and driven out the
Engl ish , if I had not had my suspicions and preventedthem
,by assuri ng them that your Majesty w as actual ly in
treaty about the purchase of Bombay . A nd, although thename of Humphrey Cooke appears i n all these matters , anawful heretic named Henry Gary
,a great enemy of the
Portuguese nation , is the author ofall these thi ngs .”
ThusMahim became ours ; and w i th i t Sion , Dharavi , Vadalapassed out of the possession of the Portugals , and becamethe property of the British . Notwithstanding the protestsof Ignacio Sarmento de Sampaio, the actions of Cooke,and the aw ful heretic ’
w ho worked w i th h im ,w ere upheld
so that, by the time the latter became Governor, Bom bayincluded al l the lands, except Colaba and Old Woman ’
sI sland , w hich have been un i ted to form the present island of
Bombay . While he thus i rri tated the Portuguese by usurpa
tion of thei r terri tory, Cooke roused the jealousy of the
Mogul Government by inviti ng native merchants to comeandsettle in Bombay
,and by his endeavours to strengthen
the garrison . These two actions,i ndeed
,represent the keynote
of our pol icy in this early period . Bombay w as tobecome ‘ the flour ishing est port i n I ndia
’
; this could onlybe attained by the settlement ofpeople from w i thout ; and
they w ould be more l ikely to make thei r home in the
islands, if complete rel igious toleration w ere establ ished ,and ifsecuri ty of l ife and property w ere afforded by a strong
fortress or garrison . These views were to some extent acted
upon by Sir Gervase Lucas , who, i n compl iance with the
orders of Government, arrived in Bombay i n November
166 6,ousted Cooke from the Governorship and cast him
into prison on a charge of fraud and embez z lement . Before
Broug ht forw ard 1 1 8 Xeraphins.
R ent of
T heTobaccoStanck or Farm.
The Taverns
The A ccount ofCustom s
T he A ccount ofCocoanuts
1 1 8 Xeraphins .
More may be advanced 1 6 2
Total Xeraphins 0 0
w hich at 1 3 Xeraphins for ster lingamounts to 1 7 9
The strengtheni ng of the garrison , also, was not neglected for , according to the letter which accompanied the abovestatement
,Mr . Gary had raised i ts numbers to 2 85, by the
en l istment ofFrench , Portuguese and Natives .Notwithstanding
,however, the laudable attempts of these
three fi rst Governors to augment the social and economicimportance ofBombay, the policy of aggrandisement cannotbe considered to have m et with very defini te success, un ti l
after the transfer of the islands from the Crown to theCompany in the year 1 668 . The cause of the transfer isstated by Fryer to have been “ the pomp and expensesmaintained by Gary l ” and by another writer
,a desire on
the part ofCharles I I . to pacify the annoyance felt by the EastI ndia Company at the conclusion of the Treaty of Breda .
The true motive probably w as the complete i nd ifference of
the King to the value and welfare of his lately-acquiredpossessions, and the very keen desire of the Counci l at Surat,firstly, to put an end to the quarrels w hich had arisen betw eenthemselves and the Bombay Governors on the question
of the issue of navigating passes, and secondly, to obviatethe hosti l i ties with the natives of I nd ia, w hich were occasionedby the high-handed actions of the Crow n representatives,and for which the powers in I nd ia held the Company reponsi
ble.The increase of population , w hich had taken place
by 1 6 75, must have resulted , for the most part, from the
actions of the Company, to whom the Port and Island w eretransferred by the Royal Charter ofMarch 2 7th, 16 68 , to beheld in free and common soccage, as of the Manor ofEast
Greenwich , at a farm-rent of £ 10, payable on the 3othSeptember i n each year. I nto the detai ls of the transfer
,-the
r eception of the Commissioners by Captai n Gary, the
petition of the Portuguese Gentus and others, the fate of
“ one Peter Stephenson , w ho at our fi rst landing w as
v ery muti nous and refractory, and laid down his arms, having
used many oaths and imprecations that he would neverserve the Honourable Company,
” i t is not our purpose toenter . Passing reference, however , may be made to the
Portugal scrivan (clerk) R amsimar (Ramchandra Shenv i) ,who “ is so necessary for his knowledge of al l the affai rs ofthe island by his so long residence here, that we are forcedto make use of him , desiri ng your approbation .
” One istempted to bel ieve that Ramchandra was not the solerepresen tative of his caste i n these islands, that
,i n
addition to the classes who are defin itely stated to have beenhere in 1 66 5, there were Brahmins also, the remnant of those
whom tyranny had driven into the territory of the Mahrattas .
The pol icy of the Company in respect to i ts new territory
is shadowed forth in the following note of the 7th September
1 668 , recorded by the Counci l at Surat I t being theHonourable Company ’s desire that we contri v e the best wayfor the making Bombay a port for the exportation and
impor tation ofgoods and persons to and from Persia, Mokha,andother parts ; and for the effecting of th is that we employ
at presen t the Chestnut pink and get some other vesselto be there that merchants may be encouraged to comethi ther, andfurther that we advise them what shipping wil lbe fitti ng for the encouraging this affair
,and they wi l l
send them us. We deliberately considering thereon do find
many reasons inducing us to build them shipping i n this
108
country, w here timber,i ron w ork
,carpenters, and many other
materials are very cheap, the buildi ng far m ore substantial thanin England and more proper for these parts, i n regard theywi l l requi re no sheathing nor caulking more than the decks,and by the i ndustry of these people from what they havelearned from our nation
,as handsomely buil t as our Engl ish
vessels, and yet further for the drawing merchants to the
port , who may be encouraged when they see us build ingshipping there , and for the encouragement of the natives insetting them on work, so that the money expended willremain i n the island and the people be the better able to paythose duties and ren ts annual ly received from them
, the besttimber being procurable near at hand very cheap . Theultimate object of the Company w as identical with that ofCooke , nam ely the encouragement ofsettlers, and the expan
sion of trade ; manifesting i tself i n the appointment of an
officer from England to superi ntend shipbu ildi ng, the deputation oftw o others to superintend the construction and repai r
of the fortifications, and i n an order to purchase lands in theimmed iate vicin i ty of the Fort
,provided the expense d id not
exceed to encourage plantations of pepper andmanufactures of cloths and to al low al l inhabitants “ a
moderate toleration . Hence comes it that we read of Mr.Phil ip Gyfford raising and in a manner finishing the bastions ,a w ork w hich was sti l l but beginning by the rest of the
enrolment i n 1 668 of the survivors ofSir Abraham Shipman ’s
force , as the Honourable Company’s first European regiment ”
or Bombay Fusi l iers ,” known to a later generation as the
1031'dFoot and of the supply of cannon to the small forts at
Mazagon , Sion , Mahim andVarl i .The increase ofpopulation occasioned by such m easures,
however, must have been small by comparison w i th that whichresulted from the progressive policy of “ that ch ivalric, i ntrepid man
,Mr. Gerald A ung ier , w ho became Presiden t of
Surat on the death ofSir George O xenden i n July 1 669. In
1 10
That for the time to come if any estates on the islecome to the Honourable Company by any title whatsoever, or l ikewise by cutti ng any tree or seiz ing any car tsor batty-grounds for the use ofbui ld ing the City or otherground for the defence of i t or any other fortification ,that the quantity that amounts to the said estate with
the quit-rents shall be deducted according to the value ofthe palm ieras or the ground .
To these and other n ine clauses the Governor and Counci l,“out of thei r earnest and unfeigned desire to promote thepubl ic g ood, peace and tranqui l lity of the isle, signified theirassent ; but inserted in the agreement certai n conditions, whichdemand passi ng attention . They stipulated z
'
mpr im z
'
s“ that
al l royalties,rights
,privi leges and immunities which did
formerly belong to the Crown of Portugal ofForas and Royal
Rents ofw hat nature or condition so ever shall be reserved asof right they belong to the Honourable Com pany . Secondly,that there shall be reserved for the Honourable Company allgrounds on the water side within the compass of the isle to bedisposed of i n necessary occasions for the publ ic, excepting
such grounds wherein there are at present planted gardens of
cocoanut trees or rice-grounds, as also churches, houses or
warehouses ofstone . And whensoever for the publ ic good it
shall be necessary to make use of any of the said places orproperties the Governor and Counci l shal l make satisfaction tothe i nterest in a reasonable manner. ” A third clause -to ourmind the most im portant ofall sign ified
“that i n regard the
l ittle isle Colio (Colaba) reaching from the outer point west
w ardly of the isle to the Paccari ( Pakhadi) or parish calledPolo (Palav=Apollo) will be ofg reat use to the HonourableCompany, i n the good design which they have for the securi tyand defence ofthis whole isle
,i t is hereby agreed that i t shall
be total ly andwholly reserved for the use ofthe said Company,they making such reasonable satisfaction to the persons in ter
estedtherei n as hereafter is expressed.”
By this ag reement,
therefore, we gai ned the last of the Heptanesia which have
been welded together to form a modern I sland of Bombay.
The original island ofMumbadev i or Bombay, Mazagon , Sivri ,Parel and Varl i had been gained by treaty ; Mahim ,
Sion ,Dharavi and Vadala had been seiz ed by force ; and finallyColaba passed over to us, after the estate holders therein had
been bought out, and thei r respective demands fully satisfied.
The second event, which indi rectly affected the p0pula
tion , was the establishment of courts and justices, i n the
absence ofwhich the satisfaction of the i nhabitants could not
be assured,nor that the peaceful condition of affairs, which
was so essential to the growth of the communi ty, be attained .
O n the 2 ndFebruary 1 6 70 the following resolution by theGovernor and Counci l was recorded —“ T he island ofBombayto be divided into two disti nct preci ncts, one comprehendingBombay, Mazagon and Girgaon ; and the other Mahim,
Parel , Sion , Varli and the Puckerys (Pakhadis or hamlets)thereunto belonging. I n each of these preci ncts there shal l befive justices, w ho besides the particulars expressed i n the lawsshall have power to receive
,hear and try and determ i ne all
plai nts, bi lls, petitions and actions for sums of money not exceeding the value of five Xeraphins (Rs . T o this endthose ofthe first preci ncts shal l convene i n the Custom HouseofBombay every Friday at eight o
’
clock in the morn ing, andthose of the second precincts in the Custom House of Mahimon every Wednesday of the same hour ” The resolutionfurther arranged for the appointment of Perbes ( Prabhuc lerks), andofa constable i n every parish ,
“ who for an ensign ‘
of h is office shall carry a staff tipped with si lver and the
C ompany ’s arms thereupon engraved , andshall attend thosecourts as necessity requires . A code of law s w as also publishedi n 1 6 70, no trace of w hich is now extant ; i t is notew orthy
,however, that itwas ordered to be translated i nto Portu
g uese andKanarese . To us the prominence, given to Kanarese, appears at first sight curious, but can be explained,
perhaps, by the fact that the early population of these islands
was to a large extent ofsouthern or Dravidian origi n , that the
Parsi w as hardly know n in Bombay, and that the bulk of ourMarathi-speaking inhabi tan ts imm igrated only after the toler
ant character ofBriti sh rule had been more fully noi sed abroad .
I n 1 6 75 the popularity ofthe judicial system had so far ad
vanced, had, moreover, given rise to so great an i nflux of legaltouts and others
, w ho haunt “the dusty purl ieus of the law ,
that i t w as deemed essential to appoint a Judge for the island on
a salary of £ 1 2 0 per annum ,with al lowances consisting of
“ a horse or palanquin,a sumbrera or sunshade boy , and
one new gown a year . ” To guide this official at the outset
of his work the follow i ng instructions were despatched fromSurat on the 8 th February 1 6 76 As we desi re that justice
may be done,so we would have you take care that vexatious
sui ts and contrivances laid by common barristers to disturb thequiet of good people , may be discouraged andprevented .
And let the judge know from us that we expect he maintainthe gravity, integrity and authority of his office
,and that
he doth not bri ng a disrepute on the Court of Bombay bylightness
,partial ity, self-seeki ng or countenanci ng common
barristers, i n which sort of vermin they say Bom bay is very
unhappy .
” Before quitting this subject,i t may he remarked
that one of President A ung ier’
s large-minded proposals for
im proving Bombay w as to bui ld a Fai r Common House,
wherein might also be appointed Chambers for the Courts of
Justice, w arehouses and prisons . The remains of that Fair
Common House are with us to th is day , have indeed beenvisited by the writer. Mapla Por, as i t is named, that isto say “ the gated enclosure of the Maplas
,or half-Arab
Musalmans of the Malabar Coast,stands about 300 yards
north of the north-west corner of the modern ElphinstoneCircle, on the west side of Borah Baz r r Street
,immediately
beyond i ts meeti ng w i th Gunbow Lane . ” I n this building,as
originally designed by A ung ier , justice was dispensed until
1 1 3 D
the year 1 720.- Its ruined pl inths and staircases constitute
to-day one ofthe most ancient monuments ofBr i tish dominion
i n this island .
A third event, which must have i nsensibly attractedmembers of the trading communi ty to Bombay, w as theestabl ishmen t i n 16 76 of a mint for the coinage of rupees,pies and bujruks and more especial ly so
,as such coin w as
not current outside British terri tory,and yet was favourably
regarded by the native communi ty. We have th is on thé
authority of Jean Baptiste Tavern ier, the traveller, who in1678 wrote that Si nce the present K i ng ofEngland married
the Pri ncess of Portugal , who had in part ofher portion thefamous port of Bombeye, where the Engl ish are very hard
at work to bui ld a strong Fort,they coin both si lver
,copper
andti n . But that money wi l l not go to Surat, nor in any
part of the great Mogul ’s domin ions, or in any of the territories of the I ndian kings ; on ly it passes among the Englishi n the ir Fort
,and some two or three leagues up i n the country
,
and in the vi llages along the coast ; the country people that
bring them their wares being glad to take that money.
To further encourage those, w ho had it in mind toem igrate from the main land to Bombay, but who at the sametime might have hesitated before settl ing in a region so Open
to attack by sea,President Aung ier took i n hand the improve
men t of the fortifications, andformed a certain number ofthe inhabi tants in to a mil itia . By 1 6 73 we findthe Fortsupplied “ with 1 20 pieces ofordnance, 60field pieces in their
carriages andmanned by 300 Engl ishmen , 400Topasses
or Portugal firemen, 500 well-armed mil itia under English
leaders, 300 Bhandaris with clubs and other weapons, andsome thousands more that could be rel ied on ifmatters cameto a push .
” Stark as the dei l , writes Sir James Campbel l ,was the oldFort
,what time Commodore R ickloffe van Goen
with the Dutch fleet endeavoured to take the i sland by
surprise ; andto these artific ial safeguards w as added the
‘5
1 14
g reater natural bulwark ofhuman intrepidity. For w i th the
galmness of a philosopher and the courage of a centurion,
A ung ier so exerted himself that the Dutch fleet melted likea cloud in the si lent summer heaven, and was seen no rnore.
We at this distance of time cannot perchance fully real ise
the extraordi nary effect upon the grow th of the island of
Aungier’
s personali ty but the Surat Counci l recognised i t
m a letter to Bantam of the 3 1 51 January 1 6 73, stati ng thatSince the latter endofMay last our President hath been 1n
his Government of Bombay But hispresence by animating the people being so absolutely noces
sary, and the great good he hath done by establish ing theEnglish laws and courts of judicature and sti ll doth in
streng thenlng the island, is of such force that he prefers hishonours in maintai n i ng the place before any other interest.
N ot the least important of the actions which stimulated
the growth of our population was the bui ld ing of a new
town within the fortification . As early as 1 668,an exodus of
weavers from Chaul had necessitated the Opening ofa street,“ stretch ing from the Custom House (north-west of presentM int) to the Fort ; andfrom that date onwards
,notw ith
stand ing Jesuit recalcitrance,land was taken up
,and dwell i ng s
bui lt,not only for the immigrant native
,but for the Engl ish
wr i ters and servants of the Company. W are-houses, a hos.
pital, streets “ reaching from Judge N iccollfs house to the
water,
” stables, a“ Dog-House
,Mint and Fortifications
necessitated the presence of labourers and bricklayers, thei r
wives and fami l ies, who came hither from Surat or fromdistricts nearer the island Kalyan at Rs. 10 a monthMahmud , Somji and Dhauj 1 at Rs . 9, and L ahor l at Rs. 4%journeyed hither under the orders of the Council ,
“ to beginand fin ish the houses formerly ordered to be bui lt betwixtthe Custom House and the Fort . I n the m i nor matter of
supplies for the Town and Island,the Company in no w i se
permitted its wishes to be jeopar dised . The immig rants and
( 1 1 6 )
modelled into so many orders or tribes, and that each nation
may have a Chief or Consul of the same nation appointedover them by the Governor and Council
,whose duty and
oflice must be to , represent the grievances which membersof the said nation shall receive from the Christians or anyother, as also to answer for what faults any of the said nationshal l commit
,that the offender be brought to punishment, and
that what duties or fines are due to the Company may betimely satisfied .
” Any of these Consuls,
“who merit wel lfrom the Honourable Company by good service, advancing of
trade , i nhabitants or shipping” were to be rewarded “by some
particular honours and specimens of the Honourable Com
pany’
s favour towards them .
”
A rrangement was also made
for the' constant and secure supply of provisions, for strict
supervisions of the shops of the Moodys or victual lers,” and
for a system of set prices on al l provisions,regulated in
weight and measure accordi ng to justice and the public goodandencouragement of the inhabitants . ” The utmost latitude .
of trade was to be permitted to weavers of cotton and si lk ,with a view to encouraging manufactures ; tie
- d iscouragi ngtaxes should be imposed ; freedom was to be granted to all
rel igions ; every effort, i n a word , was to be expended in preventing that stagnation of trade anddepopulation , which haderstw hi les resul ted from the rel igious fanaticism of thei r Por
tug uese rivals.“
Not only on the o comfort of the native com
munity w as the heart ofGerald A ung ier set the well-being of
his own countrymen eng aged his attention . Hemarked the
disastrous consequences, which had resulted from the inter
marriage of the Portuguese with low-caste women of the
native community, and made a special request to the Com
pany to send out Engl ish women to the island . I t was
no fault of the Presiden t that the Englishwomen did not
i nvariably prove desirable members ofthe community, that theSurat Counci l wrote as follows in December 1 675 A ndwhereas you give us notice that some ofthe women are grown
1 1 7
scandalous to our nation , religion andgovernment, we requireyou in the Honourable Company
’s name to give them all fai r ”
warning that they do apply themselves to a more sober andChristian conversation , otherw ise the sentence is this that theyshal l be confined total ly of thei r l iberty to go abroad and fedwith bread and water ti l l they are embarked on boardshipforEngland
.The system ofimporting needy Englishwomen
must be regarded in truth as a praiseworthy and phi lanthropicendeavour to save Englishmen from the charge of trifl i ng withthei r national ity andraising up a hybrid and possibly weaklypeople .
N ow the wisdom of the Company and the manifest desi re
of the English i n Bombay to make the most of thei r possessions bore frui t in due season . In 16 7 1 the Mahajan of the
Surat Bania community informedthe President that some ofthei r members were anxious to settle in Bombay
,provided
they were assured of certain priv i leges. The answer of thePresident was such as might have been expected from one
whose w atchword was Toleration and Progress. ” Many ofthese energetic merchants must have journeyed hither duri ngthe rule of A ung ier and assisted in layi ng the foundations oftrade . O f one i n particular—Nima Parakh—who voyagedfrom the Ci ty ofDiu in 1 6 77, documentary evidence sti l l exists,showi ng how that eminent merchant has expressed his desireto settle w i th his family and trade on the island of Bombay,from the fame w hich he has heard of the Honorable Com
pany’
s large commerce , upright deal ing, justice and moderation to all persons that l ive under the shadow of thei r Govern
ment.” Fortified by the written assurance that they should
“enjoy the free exercise of their rel igion, should be secure
from all molestation , and should not under any ci rcumstancesbe compel led to embrace Christian i ty, Nima Parakh andhiskinsmen sailed from thei r oldhome, forming in sooth the van
guard ofthat huge company of traders, which has invaded thisisland in the course of the last two centuries. I n the wake of
1 1 8
the Vani came the Armenian , of whom we find the SuratCounci l wr iti ng as fol lows in the year 1 6 76 —“These are at
the entreaty of Khoja Karakuz andother Armen ians concernedin the ship S . Francisco that is lately put i nto Bombay.
A s they have been very importunate with us to w ri te i n theiraffair
,w e do desire you to countenance and assist them as
merchants with boats and other necessaries,as also with con
venient warehouses to protect them from the rains. ” KhojaMinaz andKhoja Delaune
‘
were the names of two others, w ho
cairne her e about the same date , and swel led the numbers of
that community, which rapidly formed a settlement with in the
fort enclosure , and left the legacyof i ts name to the ArmenianLane
,which is with us to th is day.
!
And what may we say of the Parsis ? I s i t possible thatthey tarried quietly on the mainland
,whi le Armenian and
Vani sought a new mart for thei r wares ? The character of therace forbids such a suggestion and our bel ief i n thei r presence
is confi rmed by Fryer ’s remark that on the other side of thegreat i nlet to the sea is a great poi nt
,abutting against Old
Woman ’s Island and is called Malabar H i ll ; a rocky, woody,moun tain ; yet sends forth long grass ; atop of all is a ParsiTomb lately reared . That the Parsis were resident i n ourisland by 1 6 75, i s unquestionable for not only hadthey builta Dakhma or Tower-of-Silence
,but Modi Hirji Vacha had
founded an A g iari i n the Fort about the year 1 67 1 , which was
subsequently destroyed by the great fire o'
f’
1 803 . One Khar
sedji Pochaji, also a resident ofBroach , discerned possibi l i tiesof profit i n the erection of the fortifications . W e read .of himas contractor in 1 664 for the supply of common labourers andbaskets, requiredfor the buildi ng ofthe town w all . Kharsedji
‘
prospered , we doubt i t not ; for he was born of a race that has'
ever prospered by i ntellig ence, industry andphi lanthropy:The reason for the g radual disappearance of the A rmenians from our Island has
.
never been satisfactorily determined. Mr . E. H . Aitken sug g ests that in the strug g le for
Trade, the A rmenian learned by experience that he could not hope to compete w ith the
ParsiandBania andtherefore decamped to C alcutta ,
'
where the Parsi 1s practically a m um
entity.
1 20
Mendham ’s Point (Cooperage) from the first man ’s name
therein i nterr ed , where are some few tombs that make a prettyshow at entering the haven .
” The period which ends in 1 6 77
is characterised, as we have endeavoured to show,by the com
plete success of that policy of expansion , which commanded itselfalike to Humphrey Cooke, the servant of the Crown , andto Gerald A ung ier , the servant of the Company. T he most?fitting epi logue to the tale ofthese twelve or fifteen years willbe found in the wri tings of a French physician , M . Dellon,w ho visited the island in 1 6 73 The English have since
that time bui lt there a very fine Fort,where the President of
the East I ndia Company commonly keeps residence . They’
have also laid the foundation of a city, w here they grant
l ibe rty to al l strangers of what rel igion or nation soever tosettle themselves
,and exempt them from al l manner of taxes
for the first twenty years. We were treated here with abund-c
ance of civi l i ty, which w e i n part attributed to the good under-v
standi ng there was at the time betwixt those tw o nations. ”
Even so ! The al ien races dwell i ng i n our islands were i nthe enjoyment of poli tical l iberty and equality before the law
,
about a century ere France i ntroduced them to her own '
peasantry across the dolorous abyss ofthe Terror
PE R IOD THE SECOND .—I 6 7S T O 1 7 1 8 .
Our second period extends from the year 1 6 75, or for }
the sake of convenience, from the date ofPresident A ung ier’
s
death,up to the year 1 71 8 , when the population of Bombay,
accordi ng to the statement of the Reverend Richard Cobbe,
was From to with in the space of
forty-one years ! Can the estimate be accurate P With the
gulf of two dead centuries between h im and ourselves, i t isimpossible to decide . But th is much one can with assurancesay —that the ch ief events of these years rendered a decl ineof population i n no wise impossible : nay more , the decrease
was the very natural legacy of a periodfraught w ith both
1 2 1
domestic and external dangers . At the outset we di scernthe presence of trouble
,a note of mourn ing for the departure
of a chival rous and intrepid statesman . For on the 3oth
June 1 6 77 A ung ier , our master-pi lot, set forth upon his
last voyage to the Unknow n : and Posteri ty, musing regretful ly upon his departure , is fain to re-echo the words of
those whom he left behind — “ W e cannot rightly expressthe reali ty of our g rief at the perusal of the deplorable new s
of the death of our late noble President . Multi plicity of
words may multiply the sense of our loss, but cannot depaintits greatness and the know ledg e w e have of the true worth
and i ntegrity of his successors. It shal l be our continualprayer for a blessing on your g reat affai rs "— (Letter fromthe Bombay Counc i l , dated July 1 1 th, One rel ic of
his rule is w i th us yet—a silver chal ice, w hich he presented
to the Christian community ofBombay in 1 6 75.
The death of A ung ier w as the prelude to a pe r iod of
g loom andde pression .
“ T he last quarter ofthe seventeenth
century w as not only devoid of any g reat achievement or ofany appreciable progress in manners andm orals, but was
on the contrary a witness to sedition andstrife,immorali ty,
unhealth iness,and anarchy at home, and invasion , pi racy and
arrogance abroad .
” Sev ere as this verdict of Dr. da Cunhamay appear
,it wi ll be found on closer examination justifiable .
Let us glance first at the state of the publ ic health duri ngthese years
,than which w e reckon no more potent factor
i n .the rise or fal l of population . A s early as November16 75, the cl imati c conditions of the island were so deadlythat a hundred Engl ish soldiers perished ; whi le i n 1 689,
w hen the Rev . John Ov i ngton arrived here, “ one of thepleasantest spots in I ndia seemed no more than a parishgraveyard . O f the twenty-four passengers w ho sai led hither
w i th him , twenty died before the rai ns ceased , and of the
ship 's company fifteen . Overcome w ith horror of the island,
the Chaplai n wrote :“ A s the ancients ga ve the epi thet of
16
fortunate to some islands i n the West,because of thei r delight
fulness and health , so the moderns may, i n opposi tion tothem, denominate Bombay the unfortunate one in the East,because of the antipathy it bears to those tw o quali ties.A ilha da boa vida,
”
( the island of the good l ife) w as noughtbut a charnel-house, w herei n “ two Mussoons were the age
of a man .
” Upon young European children the effects of
the cl imate were appall i ng ; not .one in twenty reachedmaturity, or i ndeed passed beyond the stage of i nfancy .
“ Rachel weeping for her chi ldren would not be comforted,because they were not.
” “ O f what use,” cries Anderson,
“ was i t to send trusty factors and hardy soldiers thither ?
They breathed the poisonous air but a few short mon ths,after which their services and l ives were lost to thei r employersfor ever. ” Even Chi ld, when appoi nted Accountant of Bombay and Second in Counci l by the President and Counci l
of Surat, pleaded his apprehensions of disease and positivelyrefused to accept the cflice. Fluxes, dropsy, scurvy, barbiersor loss of the use of hands andfeet; gout, stone, malignantand putrid fevers, such , according to Fryer, were the disorders to which the unfortunate i nhabitants of the islandsuccumbed ; and more prevalent and terrible than al l wasa disease known as “ the Chinese death ”
(mar t dea corruption of the Portuguese Mordisheen , which isder ived i n real i ty from the Marathi tired} orM ,
i n allusion
to the intesti nal agony which characterised its attacks . The
sympathy evoked in our minds by this terrible r ecord of
disease anddeath is pecul iarly i ntensified, on learni ng of
the great plague which wasted Western I ndia between 1 686
and 1 696 .
“We have abundance of men sick and many
of them die, wrote the Bombay Counci l we are fin ishi ngthe account of His Majesty
’s sh ip Phoen ix,” but by reason
of some of her men lying sick i n the hospital , and we know
not how God wil l deal with them, cannot close the accountto send up
,which
,as soon as we can, shall be done.
”
The
1 24
not so. As late as 1 706 , matters w ere unchanged . We areonly eight covenant servants includi ng the Counci l and but
tw o that w rite, besides two raw youths taken ashore outofships
,and most ofus often sick i n this unhealthful , depopu
lated andruined Island . So writes Sir Nicholas Waite inthe January of 1 706 ; and later sends up that bi tter cry °
“We are six includ ing your Counci l and some of us oftensick . I t is m orally impossible without an overruli ng Pro
v idence to continue longer from going under ground if w e
have not a large assistance . Alas ! that assistance couldnot be obtained
,Once more, in January 1 707, the appeal
goes forth My conti nued indisposition and want of assistance in this unveryhealthful island has been laid beforethe managers and your Court. Yet I esteem myself boundi n gratitude and I wi l l briefly inform what material occursti ll I leave this place or the world .
”
But whence arose this terrible mortal i ty ? How came i tthat Heitor da Si lveira
’
s “ Island of the Good Life ” wasnought but a charnel-house ? The chief reason was probablythe gradual si l ting up of the creeks
,which divided the island
ofBombay from its dependencies , Old Woman’s I sland
,Varli
,
Mahim,Mazagon , and Parel . A t high-tide the ocean roared
through the breaches, overflowedthe lands,andlaid a pes
tilential deposit w hich at low -tide exhaled mephitic and deadly
vapours. That these low swam ps w ere productive of malariacertainly suggested itself to the Court of Directors ; for
between 1 6 84 and 1 7 10 they constantly urg ed upon their
Counci l at Surat the pressing need for stopping the breachesand for reclamation. Redeem those drow ned lands of Bom
bay,
they wrote in 1 6 84,“ for w hich we shall now propose
you a m ethod which , we th ink. cannot fai l . That is, youmay agree to give the undertakers every Saturday n ight a dayand a half’s pay for every day’s w ork for every man they shallemploy i n that service
,part money and part rice the rice
at a price by which we may be a l ittle gainers. Three
1 2 5
months later they resume , Prosecute wi th effect the drain i ng
of our overfloodedground at Bombay, as we wrote you lastyear while in 1 703, 1 708 and again in 1 7 10, we find the
Court di recti ng the Bombay Government to“ stop the
breaches on any tolerable terms,”
to encourage men to under
take the task by granti ng them leases of land so reclaimed, and to send to Karwar if necessary, for people well
skil led i n stopping breaches . A second cause of the general unhealthi ness is commented upon in a letter of the
20th Apri l 1 708 from the Court to the Bombay Government “ The buckshaw ing or dunging the toddy trees withfish occasions i n a great measure the unwholesomenessof the Bom bay air . O f this the venomous and putrid buckshaw fly which swarm in such abundance as to be verynauseous to the i nhabi tan ts is a plain proof. If the trees were
not buckshaw ed, the loss of thei r frui tfulness would be repaidby the general benefit of rendering the place healthy. Or ifthe buckshaw was laid at a suffi cient depth under the earth toprevent its corruption and i nfecti ng the ai r and breedi ng thatfly, the ai r would not suffer. Another cause ofthe unhealthy ai ris the thickness of the toddy trees at Mahim and Worl i woods,w hich hinders the land breeze that sets i n every morning fromcleansing the ai r and cooling the ground . If those woodswere thi nned , the remain i ng trees would bear the better. For
the sake of thei r health the people are contented thei r rents bediminished by cutti ng some trees down and prohibiti ng the
buckshaw ing the rest. By this m eans the health ofthe inhabitan ts wil l be promoted . So far as the European community
was concerned , the v i rulence of the diseases, arisi ng from the
above-m entioned sources, w as i ntensified by the careless life
which its members led . Anderson ’s reference to their immora
lity and dissoluteness is corroborated by the statement ofan eyewitness
, Mr . Ovington the Chaplain , who wrote as fol low sI cannot without horror mention to w hat a pitch all vicious
enormities were g rown i n this place . Thei r pr i nciples of
action,and the consequent evi l practices of the Engl ish
,for
warded their miseries,and contributed to fil l the air with those
pesti lential vapours that seiz ed thei r vitals and speeded theirhasty passage to the other world . Luxury
,immodesty
,and a
prosti tute dissolution of manners found sti l l new matter towork upon .
” These closing years of the seventeenth andopeni ng years of the eighteenth century form i ndeed a sadchapter in the history of the island . Not on the Europeanonly
,but on the native population also fel l the dread handof
fever and plague ; and to i ncrease their burden, an angryDeity sent forth a hurricane, which destroyed the growingcrop andwrecked a large number of their boats . There w as
none that might stand,as Moses did of old , between them
and calamity ; and therefore they died or fled from the “un
healthful and ruined islandOther events which barred the progress of affairs i n
these years,and which, if not directly occasion ing a decrease
ofpopulation , at any rate , militated against its augmentation ,were the internal feuds and domestic troubles of the Company.
There were firstly “ the i nterlopers,” mentioned i n a letter
from the Court in 1 683, whose aim it was to divert the trade
of the Company into their ow n hands . “ We send you
enclosed an authentic copy of a new Charter granted us byH is Majesty under the great seal of England , for the suppressing all interlopi ng and interlopers
,of which w e shal l
wri te you more largely by our sh ips. S0wrote the Directors ;and in the following year appealed agai nst t he action of the
O stenders to the King, w ho ordered a man-of-w ar to i nterceptthei r vessels. That the machinations of these merchant-rivalsconsiderably hampered the actions of the Company is evident
from a statement of the Court in 1 684 that Though wehave been in a hurry of trouble and confusion and forcedto please everybody during the competition of the i nterlopersand the rebel l ion of Bombay, yet we hope the arrival of
th is andour fol lowing ships wil l put our General andC O UGC“
Spectful to Government as to tear a Proclamation — all these
events testify to the disorder and disturbance,w hich for some
time marred the peaceful existence of Bombay inhabitants .
Desertion w as not infrequent ; for Lieut . James Hanmer wasi nformed in August 1 694 that
“ there bei ng runaw ay fromthis island i n the Ruby frigate boat sundry persons belonging to the sh ippi ng i n the road
,these are to enorder you
to make strict enquiry after them,andif on th is island sur
prise them ; whi le i n 1 701“the nakhudas of the Moors ’
ships ha v i ng paid off thei r lascars and being dubious w hetheror no some of them may not endeav our to run away
,
” Lieut.William Shaw w as ordered “ to permit no lascars to go off theland at Mahim , but to send such as shall endeavour it dow nhi ther ( to Bombay) .
Another obstruction to that old pol icy of expansion ,which had raised our population to i n the year 1 6 75,
was the rivalry between the old or London Company and thenew or English Com pany. I n Surat, i n 1 700, the affai rs of
the former were suffering seriously from the attacks andmisrepresentations of Sir Nicholas Wai te, the Chairman of
the New Company, ofwhom Sir John Gayer wrote as followsto the Directors Captain Hudson w i ll i nform yourHonours how that Sir Nicholas Waite said he w ould spendRs . but that he w ould have your flag at Surat struck.
Captain Hudson w i l l also i nform you ofother ofSir Nicholas’
foll ies which render him l i ttle i n the eyes ofEuropeans , ifnot
ofothers . By w hat we hear, Lucas is the person that spurshim on to such rashness to the detriment of the interest of thenation
,not consideri ng what the issue may be , so that he may
but gratify his malice toyour Honours." I n January of 1 701
i l l-feel ing and scandal w ere heightened by the seiz ure of SirJohn Gayer and his grenadiers
,and thei r confinement at
Surat. Though ostensibly the work of “ the barbarous andtreacherous Moors,
” Sir Nicholas Waite appears to have beenthe i nstigator of an enterprise
,which caused “ the g reatest
amusement to the new smongering natives ; for on the 2 8th
February 1 701 we find the Bombay Counci l expressing their
gratification at Sir John ’s release in the following termsWe hearti ly rejoice for the good news, and we render all duepraise and thanks to Almighty God for your release from soclose a confinement, and that it hath pleased him to make ouri nnocence appear and the wicked designs of our maliciousadversaries i n thei r true colours before the face ofthe heathens .
N ow Sir Nicholas may have time to look i nto his actions,
strictly examini ng himself, andat last say :‘ O w hat have
I done ! ’ May the shame and infamy to w hich he mostmal iciously exposed his fellow -subjects together with all otherhis undigested pol i tics fal l heavy on his head , being but thejust rew ard for such evi l ministers . We h0pe w ith yourExcellency that the g eneral certificate sent to Court attested byall the em inent me rchants may meet with the desi red effect tothe confusion ofour enem ies .
"It m ight have been supposed
that the union ofthe tw o Com pan ies i n 1 702 w ould effect themuch-needed settlement of this interneci ne struggle, andrender the openi ng period of the eighteenth century moreprosperous than the immediately preceding years. But to
such a pitch had the rival ry ofthe two com pan ies attai ned, so
opposed w ere the interests of thei r respectiv e servants,that
distrust and antag on ism sti l l flourished , occasional skirmishesat the outposts took place, and only the coldest and mostformal civi lities were exchanged by the two chiefs and thei r
respective Councils . Mutual constrai nt , incessant quarrel l i ngrendered the union of 1 702 a mere formali ty ; and the
resolution “ to obl iterate al l past heats ”
w as carried to nopracti cal issue unti l the year 1 708 , w hen the Earl ofGodolphi n ,after patient enqui ry i nto al l m atters of dispute, published
h is famous award ofthe 2 9th September. F rom that date the
tw o companies became in fact as well as i n style “the United
Company of Merchants of England tradi ng to the EastI ndies . " But some few years were yet to pass, ere the
disorganisation resulting from these internal feuds could berectified
,and domestic peace
,which exercises so marked an
effect upon trade and population , be attained .
Added to the disorder engendered by wide- spread illhealth and private quarrels
,were external troubles of no mean
magnitude . Ever since the year 1 6 72 the pol itical horizon hadbeen overshadowed by the presence ofa daring band ofcorsairs
,— the Sidis
,ancestors of that enl ightened prince, the
present Habshi ofJanj i ra. Sambhal, their Chieftain , w ho held
the appoi ntment ofadmiral to the Great Mogul , and w as eu
gaged in conti nual warfare w i th the Marathas,had burned
several houses in Mazagon in 1 6 72 ; and , return ing to Bombayi n the year follow i ng, had scared aw ay the i nhabitants ofSion
and taken possession of thei r houses . The evils attending the
presence of these sea-rovers i n Bombay is ful ly set forth in aletter from the Bombay Counci l to Surat
,dated October 9th,
1 6 77. I t is now several years,” they w rote, that the Sidi ’s
fleets have used this port as a place ofrefreshment and retreat on
all occasions, w i th how much trouble to the Government andd issatisfaction to the inhabitants
,your worships have been but
too wel l acquainted . A few months past Sid i Sambhal teceivedorders to surrender the fleet to Sidi Kasim . For severalmonths he made demurs because his wife and chi ldren and hisfamily w ere detai ned in Danda Rajpuri . These he receivedfour days ago, and promised to del iver up the fleet exceptingone of the great ships which he intended to keep to carry himself and his soldiers to Surat . Sid i Kasim being impatientof having part of his fleet detained from him and instigatedby that unadvised Subhan Kuli who came from Surat aboutthree months past with 1 50men to assist him ,
ere we wereaw are of i t
,did on Sunday last march up w i th al l his force to
Mazagon where Sidi Sambhal resided . We immediately sent
Captain K eig w in with a guard of horse to keep the peace .
Ere he could arrive they had begun the ski rmish,and so
obstinate were they, especially Sidi Kasim,that they were
many a home w as empty ; and the plague, as if i ntensified byhis malice , grew more virulent, and in four months
’ time slewmore men than even he and h is intem perate followers hadslai n .
To the violence of the sem i-barbarous African w as
added the barely-concealed hosti li ty of the Portuguese . Por
tug uese rule was moribund ; thei r provi nce of Bassei n wasrapidly decayi ng ; but the old hatred of the Engl ish was stil lal ive
,and disclosed i tself i n various acts ofenmity .
“ W e
have before took occasion ,w rote the Bom bay Governor in
1 6 77, to speak of the bad neighbourhood we enjoy from thePortuguese . I n the month ofApr i l last from a small beginn ing there had likely to have succeeded a quarrel betw een us
andthem ofno mean consequence . Again i n 1 6 84 comes aletter from the Court , sayi ng “ Your letters this year intimati ng the encroachm ent of the Mog hal
’
s Governors and the
repeated affronts of the Portuguese,give us further cause to
hasten you i n the bui ldi ng of such bastions as are w anti ng.
The refusal to pay custom s-dues imposed by the Portuguese atThana andKaranja , the im prisonm ent of Frea John de Gloriaby Judge Vauxe for having christened and received i nto theRom ish Church “ one N athannel Thorpe, son to LieutenantThorpe
,deceased , the seizure ofall lands and houses of the
Portuguese at Parel , Mahim and elsewhere, on the plea thatthey had aided the i nvasion of the Sidi
,these and other events
of a similar nature all originated i n that deep-seated anta
gonism ,w hich first sprang into being with the marriag e-treaty
between Charles and the Princess of Portugal. “ They havestopped all provisions from com i ng to the island
,cries Sir
John Gayer in 1 700.
“ All this puts the poor inhabitants intosuch a consternation that they thi nk of nothing but flying off
the island to save thei r l i ttle, for fear they should lose al l asthey did when the Sid i landed . By this your Honours mayperceive that ifa course be not taken some way or other to
correct the unparal leled pride and insolence of these Portu
1 33
g uese, no merchants ofany w orth w i l l settle i n Bombay where
by to i ncrease its revenue . On the contrary it w i l l go less dai lyby reason of the i nhabitants ' fears from the Portuguese,Moors andShivaj ts , against whom they are sensible we have
not strength to defend the island , though we may the fort."
T he obstruction offered by the Portuguese lasted ti ll theconclusion ofthe period , with which we are now deal i ng.
Guards w ere placed at Bandra andSion to prevent prov isionsreaching the island ; to w hich w e responded by orderingBoatsw ain Wrig ht w i th the machva to w eigh anchor and
sai l i n company of our boats to protect them from the Portuguese ” boats, carryi ng our rice, were fired upon from thePortuguese block-house at Curley (Kurla) ; whi le i n 1 702
the fort atMahim w as strengthened at a cost of Xeraphins,
w hich w e desig ned for an immediate strength to the island, i ncase it should be i nvaded by the Moors or Portuguese , withwhom w e had reason to expect a breach and that speedi ly ”
!
Attacks andrepr isals, obstruction anddisorganisation,loss of
trade and of population, are the chief characteristics of a
strug g le , w hich w as not to end unti l Chim naji Appa strode
v ictor ious over the battlements of Bassei n .
Other enemies w ere notwanti ng to assist i n ourdiscom fiture.
Captai n Oglethorpe reported in 1 68 6 that great m ischief hadbeen done by pi rates i n the GulfofMokha . Whether Arabs
,
or those termed Cota or Malabar Pirates , these marauders hadcaused no li ttle trouble in the past ; had lanced to death theunfortunate Mr. Bourchier, andplaced our trade i n jeopardy.
And once more we learn that VolupVenny (Valabh Veni )the r endez
’
r (farmer) ofthe customs is very uneasy, “ finding
that no vessels can pass unplundered by one sort of nation or
other and that complaints pour i n from “ several Ban ia andMoor i nhabitants and merchants of this island , that have
sustained great losses by three Arab ships belonging to Cong.
”
If the pi rates w ere but Arabs or Malabars , matters had not beenso bad but European pirates were abroad, i ndulging in
unheard-ofexcesses, seiz i ng Moghal pi lgrim sh ips (the Gunsway or Ganjasawai) , and leading to the i ncarceration ofourPresident and servants at Surat. We have so often wroteyour Honours concern ing our great want of suppl ies of men,
that i t is needless for us to mention more about i t. ” So writesSir John Gayer in 1 698 , and continues W e cannotforbear without unfaithfulness to our trust to acquaint youthat your island is exposed to extreme hazard , should any
orders arrive from the Moghal Court to the Sidi to invadeBombay, on account of frequent robberies committed by thepirates
,which , as we have often advised , are universally charged
on the English nation .
” Unhappy Island The hosti l i ty of
Shivaji, the enmity of the Moghal alone were wanting to
complete its solitari ness and dejection , “ About two days’
journey up the hi l l,
” says our Deputy Governor i n 1 6 77,
between the Mog hal’
s and Shivaji’
s domin ions, l ies a perpetualseat ofwar. No merchants can pass without apparent hazard
of being plundered, so that we cannot expect merchants
should land thei r goods here,without knowing where or
how to dispose of them . By 168 1 Shivaji and his rivalwere i n possession of Henery and Kenery, whereby the
admin istration of the i sland of Bombay has been the most
difficult as well as the most embarrassing part ofour duty ”
;
Sambhaji’
s“ twe lve armed galivats interrupted our trade ;
the presence of the Moghal fleet exposed the garrison to
attack . Our only chance was to temporise with both to askpermission of Sambhaji to re-establ ish the Factory at Rajapur ; to appease the Moghal by presents to the Governor
of Surat. “We shall not molest the Shivajis if they do notmolest us, keeping always cruisers out to oblige them to
civi l i ty such was our policy towards the power, whichif not engaged i n open hosti l i ties
,such as the seiz ure of
our boats in 1 701 , at any rate disturbed the peace of our
island , by choosing i t as the arena of his strugg les wi ththe Sidi.
1 36
Mahim , amounted to 500 men . We hear of them againon the 2 3rdMarch 1 68 7, how that
“ the Moors’ Delvys haveof late built one house on the island and are now very impor
tunate w i th us to dig stones to bui ld another. ” Thoughon the w hole the Company looked with less favour on theMoors than on the trading comm uni ty proper, they never
theless show ed them civi li ty,by perm i tting them to travel
on the Company ’s ships . “ These are to enorder you to
receive on board such Moorm en w ith thei r necessaries asG irdhadas shal l come w i th
,who being on board , w ind and
weather permitti ng, w eigh the anchor and make the best
of the way to the port of Chaul , w here the said Moormenbei ng landed
,return with al l expedition to us .
” So runsa ‘ permi t ’ of 1 694. And another of about the same datestates that “These are to enorder you to repai r on board of
the Right Honourable Company ’s sloop w i th your men and
make the best ofyour way w i th Habshi Hakim ,a Moorman ,
a ndhis people for Underi. ” We read of Fakirs on board acountry ship being allowedto come ashore
'
w ith five horses ;of “ N eury, Diodator and Yearm amoed, Armenians all of
them,being transported by the Company ’s vessels to Surat .
T he ships ’ commanders,apparently
,did not always treat such
passengers equitably ; for in 1 704 the Court ofDirectors tooknotice of complai nts against the comm anders for i l l-usage of
Armenians,and ordered thei r extortions to cease. O f “ Cof
feries or Zanzibar slaves mention is m ade in an order of the19th September 1 701 , forbidding them to leave the islandby w ay of Mahim , Sion or Worli , i n consequence of therobbery of several Mahommedans ’ houses . I t is noticeablethat
,notwithstanding the troubles ofthe period under review,
the representatives of the Company never wholly lost sight ofthe need for attracting settlers by impartial and beneficent
treatment of al l men . Thus when any Callimbines andBunderines (Kunbis andBhandaris) w hich l ive in the addas
(Vadis) come to you for a chit to have the country music,
137
you are to give them one without taking anythi ng from them .
So runs an order to Ensign Shaw . Mr. A islabie also was
ordered i n 1 694“ to permit the Moormen to come upon
this island to worship at the tomb at Mahim as customary ;but let none come armed at any time but persons of som econsiderable quali ty.
” Even the Marathas were treated withcivi l ity, for an order of 1 701 permits “ ten of the Shivajisbelonging to thei r galivat to come on shore to din ner ”
; andon various occasions petty benefits of ferry convoy and the
l ike were granted to the Sidi’s followers . Throughout the
dark days of pesti lence,and in spite of external aggression
and annoyance, the standard which Aunglet hadso firmlyplanted was kept ever i n view.
“We would , therefore , haveyou keep the island alw ays in a strong posture of defenceand our soldiers strictly to thei r duty and in the constantexercise of their arms . You should set your wits effectuallyon work to create some considerable manufacture upon theisland that may augment the number ofthe i nhabitants whomw e would have model led i nto trai ned bands under Englishor other officers
,as you shall see cause .
” So counsels theCourt. “ Take special care , they cry, that al l w ho pay
the duties and deal fairly be encouraged to trade ; that none
be suffered to engross all or any commod ities imported,or to do anything else that may discourage merchants fre
quenting the port or the i nhabitants that reside on the island .”
Advances were made to cultivators, notably 14 mudas of
batty to the Cur rambees of all the alldears (vil lages) of this
island by the hand of A lvazo Mozello,” and “
4 mudas to
the Kunbis, i n part of the quantity usual ly advanced to them .
”
Encouragement w as given to silk-weavers,“ half a score of
whom will come and i nhabit here, ifthe Company bui ld themhouses. ” L et none have our work ,
” write the Directors in
1 684,“ but such only as will become i nhabi tants upon our
island of Bombay,and persuade al l you can from the mai n
to go over and settle at Bombay upon the terms of hav ing18
constant work. Right wel l were the orders carried out ;for i n 1 6 86 we learn that Here is of late many silk-weavers
and others come from Thana and Chaul,and ifencouragement
is given , they wi ll dai ly come from other parts to us. ThePortuguese merely tyrannise over those poor people and exactsuch great taxes and customs from them that they fly fromthe cities and pr i ncipal places of trade. ” Nor was the Koli
neglected,for an order of the 5th Apri l 1 7 1 5 forbade anyone
“ to Oppress the fishermen,by forcing them to sel l fish to
a particular person . Let the market be free to everybody.
Nothing indeed was left undone,which might counteract the
baleful i nfluence at work duri ng the period ; and the factthat the population did not decrease more largely, must beascribed to the unti ring efforts of the Company to render theisland habitable by both rich and poor. “ Suffer poor peopleto come and inhabi t on the island ; and call the mili tia towatch with you every n ight sparing the Padre of Parel
’
s
servants ;” so writes Sir John W yborne i n 1 686 . Night
patrols for the protection ofpersons at Mahim ,Worli, Sewri,
and Sion ; the increase of the mil itia, “ to a complete bodyof near 600 men
, w ho are all possessors of land on theisland ”
; the addition “of a thi rd standing company and
tw o standing companies of R ashpouts the con
tinual bui ldi ng of bastions,which culmi nated in the com
pletion of the town wall on Christmas Day, 1 7 1 8 ; ordersto complete a dry dock and the improvement of the wretchedarrangements hi therto deemed sufficient for repairi ng shipsthe provision of communication between Bombay
,Mahim
and Sion , by ferry-boats “ rented for 103 Xeraphins and one
laree per month the despatch of ‘ twenty moneyers ’
to
the Bombay Mint ; and the permission to all men , notably
Parsis, Hindus, and Christians , to occupy what land they
pleased , so that“ by 1 707 the greater portion of the Fort
was private property ”
; al l these various actions were dictated
by the stern resolve to render Bombay, come what mig ht,
Here then we would take leave of’
a period , i n which themoralandmaterial progress, w hich should have crowned the effortsofour ancestors, was retarded and null ified by the presence of
the foeman and ofthe fell sergeant, Death . Perchance theperusal of that troublous record may inspire even us, who areso differently ci rcumstanced, with hopes for the future . The
small town w as sorely chastened i n those ear ly days ; but sherose triumphant in the years that followed, owing her successi n no small degree to the pol itic and prudent actions
,which
had quietly taken place during the years of “ Sturm undDrang .
” The city of our day l ikewise has been sore beset ;has w atched her people die, and knows not when the evi l maybe stayed . Can we not h0pe that im provements i ni tiated i nthe day of sickness wi l l hereafter assist her to rise
,l ike the
phoenix,more glorious from the ashes of the dead past
PERIOD THE T H1 R D .—1 7 1 8 T O 1 744 .
The period , with which we now have to deal , extendsfrom the year 1 7 1 8 ti l l the year 1 744, and is characterised inthe main by quiet and steady progress
,and by the gradual
restitution of the population , which the troubles ofprecedingyears had driven from the Island . Niebuhr states that thepopulation of Bombay in 1 744 numbered or tenthousand in excess of the number gained dur ing the earliest
years of British occupation . To w hat cause is the i ncreaseascribable Our island was as exposed to external aggressionas it had ever been : for the Portug uese, duri ng the earlyportion of the period , followed their ancient policy of obstrue
tion the Sidi , albeit h is dom i n ion w as moribund,could yet
make his presence felt ; w hi le A ng ria and the Maratha were
in the very zen ith of their power. The secret of our progressl ies
, w e bel ieve , i n the fact of our being for the first time anun i ted community ; the house was no longer divided againstitself; the dual control ofaffairs by Surat and Bombay Presi
dents had vanished ; i nternal feuds had been laid to rest ;
yards ofscarlet cloth , a pair ofpistols, and a gi lt sword. Aslate as 1 735, i ndeed, by which date there w as no longer any
prospect, as Mr. Cowan informed the Board,
of the Sidibei ng ever again able to make any figure at sea
,si nce the
Marathas and A ng ria are in possession of thei r whole fleet,”
the same line of action was adopted .
“We are well
convi nced , argues the Board ,“of the truth of what Sidi
Saut sets forth in regard to their poverty and the danger ofthei r country. We greatly apprehend that ifwe deny them our
assistance at th is time,they may be so far disgusted as to
strike up a peace with the Shahu Raja, by submitti ng to his
yoke . Thereby we should not only lose what they now ow e
us, but they would even become our enemies in conjunctionwith Shahu Raja and A ng ria. Should not this be theimmediate consequence, we are certai n they would proceed
with their force to plunder the country bordering on Penriver
,which would entirely put a st0p to the trade carried
on thither by this island . On the other hand, we have goodreason to bel ieve they wil l recover a large sum from the
Surat Government, and that, upon thei r fleet appeari ng
at the bar, our chief will be applied to for adjusting theirdemands
,which will give us an opportunity of repaying
ourselves as far as the ci rcumstances of the Sidis w i llpermit. For these reasons i t is agreed to advance theSidis Rs
.Fifty mudas of batty were also ad
vanced to them in the same year, as we would not
wil l i ngly disgust them by a refusal at th is time ” while
from 1 736 to 1 737 the policy of the Company led to theestablishment at Sion Fort of a body of Sidi tr00ps,designed to assist the garrison in repel l i ng attack . While
employi ng the Sidi as a foil , the Company forbore not
to harass A ng ria, whenever a favourable opportuni ty
was presented . At the outset of the period the pirate
carries off vessels belonging to“ Mulla Muhammad Ali ,
the Great Surat merchant, comm i ts his piracies on the
143
seas without restraint and thereby disturbs and h inderstrade . ” Shaik Islam Khan urges reprisals , saying
“ I
will represent to the King the method that the said pirate
may be total ly rui ned , and I h0pe i n God i t wi ll be
done i n a few days . ” The upshot of the business was a secretwar committee
,and an expedition against the A ng ria, under
the command ofMr. Walter Brown . On the 1 7th October1 720, the Defiance
,Eliz abeth and a g alivat from our fleet
before Ghéria brought new s that Mr . Brown had landed a
detachment, slai n a good number of the enemy, with veryl i ttle loss on our side ; has burnt some ofthe enemy ’s shipping and utterly destroyed tw o of A ng ria
’
s best grabs . ” I n1 72 4 there were negotiations for the release of English prisoners ; i n 1 73 1 a fresh engagemen t between
“the Bengal
gal ley and A ng ria’
s grabs in 1 733, the year i n which w e
undertook, at the instance of Teg Beg Khan , the duties of
Protectors ofTrade,
” an expedi tion agai nst Underi underLieutenant Inchbird, and an all iance with the seven principalSidis of Rajpuri . From that date unti l the close of the
period the Sid i sinks i nto insig nificance ; and the successof our pol icy depends as m uch upon fosteri ng the strifewhich has arisen between the brothers, Sambhaj l and
Manap A ng r ia, as upon subsidisi ng the Sidi . T he Com
pany sti l l needed time, was not yet prepared to emerge
as a pol i tical power,and abstai ned therefore from al l but
petty attacks. Aid to Manaj i A ng ria against his brother,and a refusal to conclude peace wi th Sambhaji, for fearthat such a concession would expose us to the contemptofal l our neighbours
,
” were fol lowed by renewed hosti l i t ieswith the twai n , capture of grabs
,confinement of thei r
subehdars i n i rons, and confiscation of the batty abroad
two boats captured by “the Dolphin .
” I n 1 737 the Company blockaded the A ng ria
’
s ports with “ the Britann ia,
King George and Pri nce of Wales ’ galleys,
” but hesitatedto make any attack by land. The President informed
the Counci l that the land forces of Bombay were of the following streng th
A . MIL ITA R Y .
Europeans (including O flicers)Topasses
SepoysB . MA R IN E R S .
Europeans (inc luding O fficers)A tMokha
T otal
Will i t be prudent, he asks, w i th the above force and the
assistance ofthree Europe sh ips to undertake anything againstthe comm on enemy A ng ria by land The safety of theisland ought to be first considered , repl ies the Council .As we could not expect to undertake any such expedition
without the enemy gain ing i ntel l igence of our design , hew ould have time to make application to Shahu Raja, who canand i n such cases w ould send a large number of men to hisassistance . The greatest care was needed to prevent a de
claration ofw ar , ere we fel t ourselves strong enough to support a contest, requi ring a large expenditure of money andstores . Once again , i n 1 739, w e were tempted to hosti l i ties
i n the matter ofthe island of Karanja . Sundry inhabi tantsthereofproposed to take possession ofand hold the same for
the Honourable Company ; “ the situation and conven iency
of that island together with i ts surrender from the Portugueseto an enemy appeared to demand our compl iance wi th their
suggestion . But prudence once more prevai led ; our positionw as not yet sufficiently assured .
“ It would require the raisi ng at least twelve or fifteen hundred men
,argued the Coun
cil,“ to dislodge the troops now on Karanja with Manaj i i n
person . And though it is probable, unless opposed by theMarathas, we might carry the attack through with success,yet as a suflicient force could not be got together wi thout dis
open ing ofthe period , the old sentiments of enmity betwixtEngl ish and “ Portugal were sti l l rife, and found vent invarious annoying actions and counter-actions. On the 1 5th
May 1 720, we read ofPortuguese priests and bishops, suspected ofcomplici ty with R ama Kamathi in h is treasonable deali ngs with the Marathas
,being ordered to qui t the island with
i n twenty-four hours ; to which the Portuguese respond bystopping several ofour patamars,
” beating and i ll-using our
workmen,and by seizing letters i ntendedfor Madras . On
the 5th July, i n the same year, the President issued a procla
mation,
“requiring al l persons who live i n other parts to repairhi ther with their arms i n the term of twenty-one days, on pain
ofhaving thei r estates confiscated to the Right HonourableCompany —a proceeding which so greatly annoyed our
rivals, many ofwhom owned properties on the island,that
they got a gibbet erected at Bandora, and “ hoisted up and letdown again three times D ’
Chaves and another man, bothi nhabitants ofthis island
,who were sent hence to give Fernando
d’
Silvera notice of the proclamation .
” The ' estates werenevertheless confiscated ; and to obviate a recrudescence of the
trouble, i t was unan imously resolved that as the practice of
Portuguese and other foreigners making land purchases on
this island has been prejudicial to the Government,no per
son,who is not an inhabi tan t on this island
,shall for the
future purchase any estates .”
By the year 1 735, however, the forward march of theMaratha had effected a change in our mutual relations. To
both the Portuguese and the Engl ish the presence of thispeople was synonymous with peri l ; and w hen the invasionofSalsette commenced i n 1 735, the vi tal question for theCompany ’s decision was whether they should stand shoulderto shoulder with their ancien t enemy and endeavour to staythe onslaught of the i nvader, or leave the Portuguese dom inion to i ts i nevitable fate . Thus on the 2 7th Apri l 1 737 w e
read of the President recommendi ng to the Board to
147
take i nto consideration what part i t wi l l be proper for us to
act i n the present juncture, though it wil l not be prudent tocome to a final resolution ti l l we know for certai n what forcethe Portuguese can raise . An idle proposal has been madefor permitting the Marathas to conquer Salsette and privatelytreat with them for del ivering it to us . Besides the perfidyofsuch an action i n regard to the Portuguese, and the mischiefit might bri ng upon our Honourable Masters from thatnation , so many objections and difficulties occur against sotreacherous a scheme that w e can by no m eans thi nk ofundertaking i t, were we even secure of the event. The Board afterdeep cogitation com es to an unan imous decision that If our
force, joined wi th the Portuguese, should be j udged capableofwithstanding the Marathas or suflicient to regain the islandof Salsette, our coming to hosti l i ties wi th the Marathaswould be more el igible than our con tinui ng in our presentstate . Because , if the Marathas were removed from Salsette,w e should be under no apprehension of danger from them ,
nor be obl iged to continue the great additional expensewe are now at
,to secure ourselves agai nst them , whi le
they remain on that island . Sti l l when we consider the greatnumber ofmen the Marathas can at any time bri ng into thefield, they appear too powerful for the Portuguese and our
un i ted force to stand against, and ( according to i nformationw e have received) they are too well secured i n Thana for usto hope to expel them . Therefore, seeing that as we mightdraw great i nconveniences upon ourselves, besides a heavyexpense, by declaring agai nst them ,
i t is resolved not todo i tunless a very favourable opportun ity offers ofefl
'
ecting some
th ing considerable against them .
”
For thepresen t, therefore,i t was decided to hold alooffrom the struggle, and to contentourselves with despatching Ramj i Parbhu, a person of
capacity and experience,” to discover what w ere Chimnaji
’
s
exact i n tentions . Closer and closer press the invaders round
the Portuguese ; and once ag ain the General of the North
entreats our succours for the expulsion ofour enemies , the
Marathas , from the island ofSalsette sends h is request bythe hand of Padre Manoel Rodrigo d’
Estrado, who beingcal led before the Counci l
,
“ uses many arguments to induce us
to join with the Portuguese in this undertaking ; that therewould be l i ttle doubt of success w ith our un ited force ; howgreat credit our nation w ould gai n thereby and the returnsof service w e might on any occasion so justly claim fromthe Portuguese . The arguments of the Padre are in truthspecious, might haply command success if addressed to
Counci l lors endowed w ith less subtlety and foresight. Butthe Engl ishmen of that day walked ci rcumspectly, knowingthat thei r instruction in pol i t ical m atters was bu t justbegun “ The strict al l iance
, they wrote,“ between our
respective sov ereigns in Europe,and the natural i nterest of this
island render us hearti ly incl i ned to assist the Portuguese for
regain ing thei r terri tories . Sti l l w e can not help remarkingthat thei r affai rs i n I ndia are in a very decl in ing, ifnot desperate and irretrievable condition . The Presiden t assures theBoard that from the letters he has received from the Viceroy,and the late and presen t Generals of the North , as w ell asfrom the frequent discourse he has held w i th many of the
gentlemen and Padres of that nation , i t seems as ifthey themselves had l ittle hopes ofdoing anyth ing but depend upon usto fight thei r battles . We are, therefore, very apprehensivethat, ifwe were once engaged i n the war
,they w ould after
w ards take very l ittle upon them selves but saddle us with
the burthen of the whole charge and trouble. Ifwe declareopenly against the Marathas, the trade of this island would beenti rely stopped and our Honourable Masters be greatsufferers i n the loss of the Customs, and would be driven togreat strai t for provisions for our i nhabitan ts and other
stores and necessaries greatly wanted for the service of the
island and w hich are furn ished from the Maratha’s country.
Another objection that occurs against joi n i ng with the
1 50b A
w e fight or temporise? Prudence once more declares for thelatter course ; for w e are not yet ready to meet the foe onequal terms. Consequently w e read that on May 1 5th, 1 739,
the Board decided that as Bassei n is reduced, i t wil l behighly proper to send a letter of compl im ent to Chimnaji
Appa with a smal l present i n the Eastern manner, to consist
of six yards of redvelvet, six yards ofgreen , and six yards ofcloth . This present Bhiku Sinay (Shenv i) is pi tched upon
to carry, a person the best qual ified we can find for such an
employ, as the same may be an open ing or i n troduction to a
further knowledge and insight into Chimnaji’
s movements . ”
The transfer of Chaul to the Marathas i n 1 740, might well
have given rise to i l l-feel i ng between those people andourselves ; but so certain was the Counci l of the wisdom of
i ts pol icy,that they even appointed one of their ow n officers,
Captain James Inchbird, to act as m ediator between thePortuguese and Chimnaji. The protection of our trade isal l that arms us or make us desirous even of holding Bombay,without extending our dom i n ion or gai ni ng ports or settlements that m ight give them a jealousy , since they cannot
but confess that w e had a fair opportuni ty of getti ng
Chaul for ourselves , had not those maxims we profess beenagai nst i t. ” Such are the concluding words of the orders
to Captain Inchbird and during the remainder ofthe period,the views expressed i n those orders were rigidly adheredto . There are letters extan t from Shahu Raja to the Bombay
Government, which breathe a spi ri t of friendl i ness ; answersthereto from Bombay, begging the serene Maharaja ’sacceptance of “ a statue of a cow and calf; also a clock
with chimes and several moving figures. The greatest carewas observed i n deal i ng with a power, whose good fai th
was i n the h ighest degree questionable.
“As we have i t not
in our power,” says the Presiden t, “ to oppose them by
force , i t is indispensably necessary to proceed with the utmostcaution, and as . far as possible prevent the evil designs
w hich sooner or later they may attempt to put more
effectually i n execut ion . A letter from the Directors, datedthe 1 3th March 1 743, shows how far successful was thispol icy
, the object whereof was to gain time, unti l our com
muni ty was strong enough to march forth and conquer.
W e take notice wi th satisfaction ,”
so runs the letter, that
you conti nue on good term s w i th the Marathas upon Salsette,there be i ng no manner of com plaints i n the advices beforeus of thei r conduct. We persuade ourselves that by apruden t m anagement and behaviour, they wil l be very good
neighbours, and for the welfare of the island w e would
have you cul tivate a lasti ng friendship with them , bei ng at
the same time duly upon your guard against all treachery
and decei t . ”
These twenty-six years, therefore, witnessed a radical
al teration i n the relations existing between our island andsurrou nding principal i ties . The Sidi , as a sea-power
,
disappeared ; the Portuguese lost the land-rule which theirstrong men had bui l t up more than a century before ; both
nations yieldedplace to younger and more vigorous peoples ,in dealing with whom our rulers i n this island received thei rfirst instructions in the art ofWestern I ndian poli t ics. Ostensibly we were sti l l no more than merchants, actuated solelyby the desire for peaceful commerce and our Presidents yetaffected to set more store by dutties
,
”
tapseils,” guinea
stuffs,
” “ chintz es with large nosegays and bunches offlowers,”
than by Sidi all iances and the course ofpoli tical affai rs in theDeccan . But slowly and surely w e were exchanging the role
ofa purely mercanti le commun ity for that ofa great pol i ticalpower ; and the years which elapsed between 1 7 1 8 and 1 744
w ere pregnant with events,testifying to the al teration of our
character . As yet, i t is true, w e were but learn ing our part ;w ere w aiting, watch ing and perfecti ng our knowledge ; butsome god-given insti nct w as with us, as w e directed theaffairs ofthe warehouse, andguided our faltering steps along
f1 52 l
the path to conquest andom n ipotence . I t prompted, as w e
have seen , our action i n deal i ng with Chim naji A ppa and his
fighting hordes ; i t prompted us to make a friend of Bajirao.
The watch that came out i n the Queen Carol ine packet forBajirao having been sent to h is son , and the receipt thereof
acknowledged with a complaisant answer for the favour, the
Board think i t wi l l be best to omi t charging Bajirao anythingfor the mendi ng
,but make h im a compl iment thereof i n
regard to the friendsh ip which exists between our governments . So runs the record ofNovember 7th, 1 741 ; andin theyear fol lowing, on the occasion of the marr iage of one of
Baj 1rao’
s sons, one learns that “ a presen t w as unavoidable,andi t is, therefore , agreed that the fol lowing articles be sentby a special messenger
6 Shaw ls of R s. 20each
1 Goldchain
1 Sari or covering for a w oman
Putalis or g oldcoinsCharg es for the person sent
Total R s.
The strengthening of our possessions was not the leastimportant of the actions undertaken duri ng these y ears, andresul ted natural ly from the transformation
,w hich we, as a
community , were being forced to undergo . Thus , there areconstant references to the strength of the garrison , to thenecessity for maintai n i ng so many European and TopassCompanies in spite of an impov erished exchequer ;
“ for wehave judged it h ighly proper
,writes the Court
,to put our
mil i tary and arti l lery upon a new footi ng ”
;“ a reasonably
commodious lodg ment or cazern is bui l t for the troops atSion ; strict orders are issued i n regard to “
the presen tpern icious l icense given to the i nhabitants of deal ing in the
several ammuni tions of war while pecuniary i nducement is
offered to the Topasses to l ive with in the walls , i n order that
become too formidable to be kept in awe with the small sea
force we have at present i n our service. Hence comesi t that the marine paymaster was directed to treat withthe proprietors for the Rose gal ley, “ a vessel very fi t for
our purpose,bei ng strong and w el l bu il t, a prime sai lor and
three years old that the “ Fort St . George,the Bombay,
and the Britann ia were condemned in 1 736 , and new grabsand country vessels constructed in their stead ; that continualaddi tions were made to the fleet unti l the year 1 742 ; andfinal ly that L owji N assarw anji, the Wadia or Shipbui lder, of
whom we shall speak again , was brought down from Surat tosuperintend the construction of new vessels .The instinct w hich led the Company to bui ld fleets and
fortifications, obl iged them also to the stern repression of
treachery w i thi n their own ranks . I n the early portion of
the period,the publ ic mind was much exercised by the tale of
Rama Kamathi’s treachery ; i n 1 743 the President proposed
to deport certai n Topasses from Sion , w ho had acted mutinous
ly. The old days ofK eig w in revolts andthe l ike had passedaway ; the island w as to become powerful ; domestic in triguecould not be permitted to jeopardise i ts future well-being.
This trial of the Shenv i, Rama Kamathi , for treasonabledeal ings with the Angrie, was in truth a very sorry busi ness .The Governor and his Counci l seem never to havedoubted
the man ’s guil t. Before them lay that damn ing letter of
October 1 2 th, 1 7 1 8 , which we here reproduce in part ° Tothe opulent, magnificent as the sun , valorous and victorious,always courageous, the l iberal, prudent , and pi l lar of for
titude, the essence of understand ing
,the protector ofBrah
mins, defender of the faith, prosperous i n all things, honouredof kings above all counci l lors
,Senhor K anhoji A ng r ia
Sarqueel—Ramay Kamathi
,your servant
,writes w i th al l
veneration and readiness for your service, and w i th yourfavour I remain as alw ays . Our General here has resolved inCouncil to attack and take the fort of Cundry, and thus it is
1 55
agreedto environ the said fort on the 1 7th October, and thearmada powder and ball and al l other necessaries for war are
ready . I , therefore, write your honour that you may have thesaid fort wel l furn ished .
” Beside that letter,the w retched
Rama ’s protestations of i n nocence seemed utterly w orthless ;were i n the eyes of Governmen t proved to be false by the
confession ofGov indji, lately his clerk , w ho w as subjected tothe barbarous practice ofscrewing i rons on his thumbs , unti lunder the smart of them the truth was squeez ed out of him .
”
Perpetual imprisonment in the Trunk ( Por tug uese,T roncoJai l ) , and confiscation of property worth some forty thousandrupees w as the punishment meted out to the Shenv i, to whomas a comrade i n m isfortune came soon afterwards, one DalbaBhandari, l ikewise gui lty of high crimes and misdemeanours .W e can never forgive Mr. Boone for countenancing the tortureof the i l lstarred Govind . T he memory of w hat he effectedtowards amel iorating the helpless condition of our islandis completely overshadowed by regret for this act of i nhumanity ; regret which is heightened by the knowledge, nowvouchsafed to us, that R ama Kamathi was guil tless, that the
i ncrimi nating letters were the merest forgeriesNow the pol itic behaviour of the Company towards those
i n whose power i t lay to blockade and impoverish the island,afforded leisure for the progress of i nternal administration , andthereby led to the immigration ofpeople from the main land .
We read ofjustice being advanced by the creation , i n 1 7 2 8 ,
ofa Mayor ’s Court,declared to be a Court of Record and
empowered to hear civi l cases of al l k inds , subject to anappeal to the Governor and Counci l ; by the constitution ,in 1 7 2 7, of the Governor and Council as a Court of Oyer andTerminer and Gaol Del ivery, whereby the comm un ity mightbe purged of felons and burglars such as Joseph Couti nho
and Badhou, whereby also the horrid crime ofmurder may
be better prevented . The island for the purposes ofcriminal
justice w as considered to be a county ; and Dongri For t,
after sundry repairs and alterations, w as consti tutedthe
county-gaol . Trade w as encouraged by the establishment ofa
Bank i n 1 7 20; the Presiden t proposing that “ Messrs.
Brown and Phi l l ips be appointed for his assistance in that
affair,as the setti ng a bank on this island wil l i nd isputably
be for the mutual benefit and advantage both of the RightHonourable Company and the inhabi tants, by the increase of
the trade and revenues thereof. ” Hence comes i t that we
read of 1 2 Fazendars of Mahim representi ng that they haveborrowed money of the Bank to the amount ofRs . for
securi ty ofwhich thei r estates are m ortgaged, and that theyhave regularly paid in terest for the same every six months andare ready to do so in future ; but that the assistant to themanagers of the Bank havi ng demanded the principal as w ell
as the i nterest , they are not able at present to comply therewith, and therefore request the space offour months to pay iti n . The Counci l responds by allowing them three months to
clear thei r respective debts, considering that “ al l trade is
enti rely stagnated duri ng the rains and that there is a scarcity
ofmoney at this t ime upon the island .
” One can wel l imag i ne
how great an i nducement to immigration and settlement such
a Bank would prove. Later on , w e meet with evidence of
trade with China a letter from the Court in 1 738 stated that“ with a view to encourage our servants at Bombay and thesubordinate factories to carry on the China trade i n a defensible Europe sh ip , we shal l i n future send out yearly to
Bombay , on or before the 20th May, a sh ip which may arr ive
at Anjengo or Tell icherry i n December following. After
del ivering her outward cargo at Bombay , and doing other
service, she must, about the end ofMarch , be laid in at Surat
or Bombay for a voyage to China and back to Bombay. ”
The expansion of Bombay commerce was sought by
al l means possible, even at the expense of our other ports inWestern I ndia.
“ I n case you have reason to apprehend ,”
wr i te the Directors i n 1 743, that any species of g oods will,
1 58
the w harf and warehouses ; and then indeed, the value of
breach-stopping and reclamation was fully real ized . In
minor matters,such for example as the supervis ion of the
market and the regulation of prices,the conven ience of the
people w as carefully studied.
“ The Moodys used manyargum ents, w e are told , “ against any reduction of the
prices stipulated in their former agreement. But the Council was obdurate , referred to the present course of the
markets at this place, as also to the last received price-current
from Surat , and let i t be clearly understood that the peoplewere not to be starved out of the I sland for the private benefit
ofa few victual lers. Facil i ties for journeying to and from the
island,w hich fear of i nvasion had obl iged the Counci l in
earl ier years to do away with , were te-establ ished for , when
Lakshman Pant requested the resettlement of the Mahimand Salsette ferry boat in 1 739, the Counci l , after full consideration of the island ’s circumstances, decided that “ thepassage be again opened and freedom given for al l unsuspectedpersons to have free egress and regress to our island .
” Thatthe tide of population w as setting towards the island inthese years is apparent from the conclud i ng portion of the
same resolution. As regards L akshmanji’
s fur ther re
quest,
”
so the record runs , that leave be given for thereturn ofsuch persons as have forsaken Salsette and are at
present on our island , as this poi nt is strongly i nsisted upon
the part of the Marathas , and as a refusal may be attendedwith great disgust ; i t is agreed that free l iberty be given to
such as have a mind to return under the Maratha Government These few examples wil l , perhaps , suflice as proofofthe encouragement gran ted to immigration by the domestic
pol icy of the Government .The “ Corumbees or Kunbis are met wi th duri ng the
period appear to be dissatisfied wi th the terms of the RoyalCharter
,and wil l not manure the batty grounds upon the
ancient established terms.
” Exci te these useful men,is the
9,
159‘
Court’s advice, to continue among you by good usage ;grant them relief
,if, on serious consideration
, you are
persuaded that the prohibiting ofkut or fish manure has sensi
bly lessened the produce ofthe lands To the Kunbis, who
make sal t i n the several vi l lages,also, consideration is
shown by the loan of “200 bags of Bengal rice at Rs . 6{
per bag,the patels and mukadum s sign ing a bond for the
amount ” whi le i n 1 735, a year ofgreat scarci ty, the Kunbis
ofParel , Bom bay, and Mahim w ere al low ed an abatement
of the toka (assessment) , to the amount of mudas 44- 1 8
A consul tation ofMay 7th, 1 736 , records the loan of Rs . 200
to the Mukadam or head of som e new Bhandaris come fromthe othe r side to settle i n Bombay, to provide them withhouses andother conven iences andi n 1 740members of thesame communi ty, resident i n Chaul , forw arded to Bombay a
lengthy petition , stating that Manaj i A ng ria had burnt thei rhouses and cut down thei r trees , that, the Portuguese beingno longer strong enough to protect them , they were desi rous
of placing themselves under the protection of some otherGovernment
,and prom isi ng, that if Bombay w ould provide
them with a home , they would be “with all fidel ity goodsubjects to this Governm ent . ” “ Let them come
,
” repliedthe Council , “for they are a useful body of people fit foraction and always esteemed fai thful to the Government they
l ive under ; and let the President admi t them on such terms
ofentertai nm ent as he shal l please to adjust wi th them for
the good of the service , Nor w ere the weavers forgotten .
In 1 735 the Company’s officers at Surat were directed to
persuade “ sundry weavers who hav e deserted from Ahmed
abad, Dholka and other parts , to come to Bombay , and topromise them
,i n the event of thei r agreement, “ all fi tti ng
encouragement and employment . ” We also assisted thecommunity with loans— R s. i n 1 735,
“ to enable them
to carry on the in vestment of Bombay stuffs ,” Rs . i n
1 739to thei r mukadam , Janoji, for the same pu rpose ; and
1601
Rs . on the security ofthe Mukadam and R upj 1 M any ,
i n the year 1 740, to enable them to rebui ld thei r houses,
recently destroyed by fire. I n 1 736 , under the auspices ofone
Bamanji Patel , w ho came down hither from Surat with Mr.
Braddyll, forty or fifty famil ies ofweavers immigrated to the
island,and were provided wi th small habitations
,rent free
for tw o years . ” Towards the Kol is the same phi lanthropic
atti tude was adopted ; for when they complained of being
forced to act as palanquin-cool ies , to the detriment ofthei rancient and time-honoured duties as fishermen and ag ricul
turists, the Council restr icted the number of those entitled to
such service,and further granted to al l l icensed palanquin
Kolis halfa rupee advance on thei r present wages and i n1 741 , on a representation made by Mr. Charles Crommelin ,Col lector of the Revenues, a sum ofRs . 100was advanced tohelp tow ards the repai r of thei r fishing craft. No commun itycan be said to have lacked encouragement. To the Baniaswere presented i n 1 72 4 four horses
,altogether unserviceable
,
and if offered to sale, not l ikely to fetch anythi ng,
” butrendered more acceptable by thei r being dressed
,on the
suggestion of the President, with a yard and-a-half of redcloth .
”
T o us, such a donation may appear of l i ttl e value ;but the quartette of spavined steeds doubtless served i tspurpose , by keeping us on good terms wi th those who knewhow to augment our trade . To L aldas Vithaldas, theCompany ’s broker at Surat, the Council turned not a deafear ,when he sought to bui ld a commodious house on BombayI sland ” merely stipulating that he should send one of his
family to reside here , i n order that “ other merchants of
substance may be encouraged to follow his example Then
there were the Vanjaras or heads ofcaravans, w ho w ere
much inconvenienced by an order of 1 742 , forbiddi ng strangersto lodge within the town .
“ These Vanjaras,” wrote the
Council , “ are inhabitan ts of the Ghat country,who
,i n the
fai r season, resort h ither bri nging considerable sums of
1 6 2 )
the fourteen w i th accoutrements , the oflicers being enjoinedto render them expert i n the use of firearms . That the
import of these people was not always a source of unmixedjoy to our Governor and Cou nci l is further proved by a
proclamation of the 3rdJune 1 741 , wherein it is laid down
that “ the custom w hich hitherto prevai led on this islandof persons buying and sel l ing slaves from or to w homsoever w i thout any regard to the caste or rel igion of the persons
so purchasi ng or sel l ing,has been attended w ith great in
conven iences and frequently occasions disputes and troubles
to the Government of this island. ” The Presiden t and
Governor, by and with the advice of his Counci l , therefore,orders that from and after publ ication of the proclamation
no slave, either male or female, shal l be bought or sold to
any person but such w ho are of the same caste and rel igion
both w i th respect to the sel ler and purchaser. ”
O f i ndividuals w ho resided or journeyed hi ther duringthis period , w e note i n particular Rustom Dorabji and L owji
Nassarw anp Wadia. The former had been connected withthe island since the year 1 692 , when he assisted wi th a
body of Kol is to repel the invasi on of the Sidi . For thisgood work he was appoin ted by Government Patel of
Bombay, and a sanaa’
w as issued conferri ng the ti tle uponhim and his heirs for ever. At the tim e of w hich w e wri tehe w as l iving quietly i n the island , honoured al ike by Gov
ernment and by the Kolis , w hose domestic disputes he wasempowered to settle . I n later years his son Cow asji bui ltthe tank which bears his name, and has given i ts ti tle to
the Cow asji Patel Tank Road ofour modern C . Ward .
The history of L owji may be said to be in some measurethe h istory of the Bombay Dockyard . The Company, as
we have already shown , had been obl iged to have ships buil t
for many years, i n order to defend their coast against thepirates ; but up to the year 1 735 these had been constructed
g enerally in Surat. In that year the Company’
s agent, w ho
l 1 63 I
had been despatched to Surat i n connection with the bui ldingofa new ship , became acquainted with L owji andpersuadedhim to migrate to Bom bay . L owji came with his ar tificers,
and , havi ng selected for the Docks part of the ground uponwhich they now stand , set to w ork to perfect our marine.I n 1 736 we hear of his bei ng commissioned to buy timberfrom the forests i n land
,the re being great scarcity of mate
rial in Bombay . In 1 737 he brought his fam i ly here ; andfrom that day forth for several generations L owji andhisdescendants were the master-builders of the Dockyard . I—Iis
great-great-grandson was at work there i n the year 1 8 10.
Besides these twain there were other Parsis of whom historymakes no special mention— Homji Byramji of the Dadysettfami ly , Banaj i Limj i from Bhagwa Dandi near Surat, Jessaji
Jivanji, a supervisor on the Tow n Ditch work ; Muncharji
Jivanji, ancesto r of Sir Cow asji Jehangi r, w ho cam e fromN ow sar i i n 1 72 8 to engage in the China trade ; Cooverjiof the Kama family
,a fel low- immigran t with L owji in 1 735
and Manekji Sett , who bui l t an A g iar i at Bazaar Gate Streetin 1 734. The last-named was the owner of N ow roji Hil l ,once part and parcel of the Mazagon Manor, now the chieflandmark of the Dongri Section . Other commun ities senth i ther “ Shenv i Bapu ,
”
the shroff ; Madhavji T ankoji
Sonar, the money-lender ; Sahanoba Vithoji and Puta
laj i Parbhu,men ofcommerce ; as also Sadashiv Mangesh "
and “ Shenvi Pandurang Shivaji."
Krishna Joshi , the
astrologer,from Kelva-Mahim ; Rupj i Dhauj 1 and Shet
R amdass from Kathiawar ; Dhakj i, the Parbhu from Thana ;Sakhidas Nagardas Shah from Ahmedabad ; PitambarChaturbhuj Parekh and Vr ijbhucandas Tapidas from Surat,and Babulshet Ganbasheth, ancestor of Mr. Jagannath Shan
karshet, from Ghodbandar—al l these were attracted to the
i sland i n these years by the l iberal pol icy of the Company'
sGovernment
,and w ere in many cases the founders of rich
and respected famil ies . O ne wonders whether the tide of
1 64
immigration bore h ither any members of the Ben i- I srael com
munity . I t is not un l ikely ; for ever since the dark days of
the th irteenth century,when their ancestors w ere shipw recked
near Chaul , they had gradually i ncreased in numbers andspread themselves among the vi l lages
,and particularly
among the coast ham lets of the Konkan . Unim peachabl eauthor i ty declares that they commenced to settle in Bom bayafter the island had passed over to the English ; and i nasmuch as the community consisted for the most part of art isans, masons , andcarpenter s— classes which were much in request during these years— it is quite possible that som e of
the m ore adventurous spi ri ts may hav e voyaged hi ther fromthe main land by the year 1 744, and formed the nucleus ofthat most r espectable comm un ity w hich now dwells i n IsraelMobolla andneighbouri ng local i ties.
Enough , perhaps, has been said to show that our popu
lation largely increased in this period , that Niebuhr’
s estimateof w as justified ; but if any final evidence be neededthat this resul t w as attai ned by the careful pol icy of the Company in both external and i nter nal m atters, w e w ould ask the
reader to peruse a record of the 2 8 th January 1 742 , describingthe measures taken for the protection of our grow i ng town .
“ Consideri ng the si tuation of this I sland , observes the
President, w ith respect to the several neighbouring governments, the various and large numbers of people w ho contin
ually resort hi ther, ei ther on trade or otherwise, furn ishes
cause ofanxiety . Further, even as regards those properly es
teemed inhabi tants, w e are not sufliciently acquain ted either
with their character or thei r tr usti ness . Bearing in mind thati t is the undoubted and fundam ental m axim of al l states to
enforce such cautionary measures as may be best calcu lated for
the prevention of any designs,w hether attempted from open
force or secret treachery, I am induced to propose the fol low i ngpoints for the consideration of the Board as tending to greatersafety and security z—That as the Baz ar Gate, where is a
were found at Warl i , Parel , Sion , Dharavi and in Bombayproper . I t was not a long w alk from Mazagon to the vi l lageofParel , with i ts hamlets Bhoivada, Pomalla and Salgado,once the property of the Jesuits
,yieldi ng 1 54 mudas of rice
and some brab palms, representing a yearly revenue of
X 3 . and thence one w andered i nto the vi l lage of
Vadala , divided into A ivadi and Govadi, and form erly ow nedby the Jesui ts of Agra
,w hich yielded a yearly revenue of
som e Xs. There w ere the vi l lage ofNag aon (Naig aum )worth Xs . per annum
,the ham lets of Bamanavali
and Coltem (North of Parel ) , yield ing X5 . 400 per annum ,
Dharavi,the pakhadi ofSion , worth X5 . 2 2 5 a year, and the
b1g vi l lage of Sion,
“ once the property of Miguel Muz z ello
Coutinho, yielding a yearly sum ofX 5 . I n Sew ri andVadala there were salt-pans “ belongi ng to the Company
and yieldi ng 34 rasis or heaps, worth Xs . annually .
South ofDharavi , betw een Mahim and Sion , lay the vi l lageof Matunga, or Matuquem ,
w hich yielded every year 6 5mudas of rice, or Xs . and also contained sal t pans
(at Raul i ) , from w hich the Company derived a rent of
X5 . Lastly there w as the Kasba of Mahim and the
vi l lage of Varl i . The former, accord ing to contemporaryPortuguese records, contai ned cocoa palms , of
w hich about belonged to the E nglish Company . Somegardens and paddy fields w hich have fallen to the Company
from w ant ofheirs yielded 592 m udas of rice . The Companyhas also land yielding 1 8 mudas of rice , once Jesui t property,and other lands yield ing 1 8 mudas, once held by other qui t-rentpayers . That is a total yearly rental of X5 . Butbesides these sources of revenue
,there w as also a Bandvastae
or disti l lery,w hich , together with one other in the Kasba of
Bombay proper,real ised Xs. a year ; and a ferry , w hich
w as farmed out w i th the Sion ferry-service for Xs.
The total rental of our island for the year 1 72 7 was
estimatedat Xs.—a considerable advance upon the
( 1 70 1
occurredduring these twenty years, whileon the other hand sogreat an increase as is scarcely credible , consideri ng the
shortness ofthe period, and the fact that i n 1 780the total number
ofour inhabitantswas 1 1 3, 72 6 . I t appears to us a more reason
able supposi tion that the population gradually i ncreasedbetw een 1 744 and 1 780 from to and that by
1 764, which is approximately the midmost point ofthis period,i t numbered some eighty or eighty-five thousand . The
foundations ofour bel iefi n an i ncrease are , firstly , the condition
of the island by the year 1 764, and , secondly, the fact that
throughout th is period the Company in no wise relaxed its
efforts to expand the community by the same prudential and
beneficent methods which had met with such marked successi n preced ing years .
Regardi ng the first point—the condi tion of the island—itis necessary to dw el l briefly upon the external ci rcumstances of
these years, and discover what effect they exercised upon the
policy of the Company and i ts servants . The period Openswith a declaration ofwar by France and Spain against England, which , as the Directors warned the Bombay Govern
ment, required all our servan ts to exert al l possible sagaci tyfor the preservation ofour property, trade and estate . Aided
by the presence ofa squadron of His Majesty ’s ships,which
had been despatched to cru ise against the French andSpan iards i n the I ndian Seas
,
”
our Counci l set themselves to
carry out the wishes of the Court ofDirectors Al though
Bombay is i n good condi tion agai nst al l country enemies,
” they
wrote i n 1 746 , yet as the European manner ofattacking atown differs widely from that of the I ndians
,some additional
works are judged necessary towards the sea side,the better to
annoy such ships ofthe enemy as may be stationed i n theroad to bombard the town . Taking all the ci rcumstances i n to consideration , it is unan imously agreed that thePresident write to the ChiefofSurat to raise with all possible
expedition for the present season men-of-arms, consist
i ng of Arabs, Turks, and others of different nations,
preferable to thei r being all Moors or ofany other one nation .
Further, as the Sidis are a very resolute and warl ike people
and , from the assistance they have often received , l ikely to be
attached to this Government,i t is resolved to send to Janj ira
Captain James Sterl i ng,who speaks the language , w i th the
President ’s letter to the Sidi,asking leave to en list 2 00men .
Except a party of200, the Sidis and the recrui ts fromSurat wil l be encamped i n the body of the island readyon the shortest notice to be sent to any part w here they maybe wanted .
” Great activity w as manifested,and sustai ned
efforts were made to strengthen our garrison and fortificationsunti l 1 748 , in which year, as th e Court wrote ,
“ a treaty of
general peace is happi ly concluded betw een Great Bri tain ,France
,and Hol land
,to which Germany, Spain and the other
powers engaged i n the late w ar have acceded . Fear of
French aggression was thus for the time being removed, butw as evoked once again ere the period ended , by the arrivali n October 1 756 ofa packet from the Honourable the Secret
Committee ( i n England) , enclosi ng some ofH is Majesty’
s
printed declarations ofwar against the French King .
”
Thissecond war lasted ti l l the endofthe year 1 76 2 , and i ndi rectlyresulted
,as the former had
,i n the strengthen i ng of our
posi tion i n Bombay.
“We conti nue putti ng th is island ,”
wrote the Bom bay Government i n 1 758 , i n the best posture
ofdefence under the direction ofMajor Mace . Your Honoursmay depend our utmost endeavour s wil l alw ays be exerted for
i ts securi ty . We have no account of the enemy havi ng
yet any force on this coast.” The state ofthe Castle w as care
ful ly noted by a comm i ttee of five,its curtai ns w ere faced
with stone, i ts upper works moun ted with heavy cannon, i ts
bu i ldings rendered bomb- proof, whi le the European inhabi
tants and the mil i tia were formed i n to companies to be
stationed at various parts of the w alls . Large stores of
provisions were laid in as a necessary precaution , while
1 7 2 I
general proposals for the better defence of the island were
drawn up by Major Fraser in 1 760, and adopted by the
President andCounci l . In 1 760 the French suffered several
reverses ; for a letter ofOctober 14th from Fort St. George
describes them as effectual ly shut up within thei r w al ls, andbeginning to g iv e tokens ofdistress by forcing the black in
habitants to leave the place w hi le about a month later the
Directors wrote to Bom bay saying, “ I n the course of this
year i t has pleased God to bless the British arms w i th mostremarkable success against the French in al l parts of theworld . The most vigorous measures are sti l l pursuing as the
best, i ndeed as the on ly, means of bringing the enemy toequ itable terms ofaccommodation and attain ing that desirableobject, a safe and honourable peace . ”
T w o years later thewar was brought to a close by the prel iminary articles of
peace , signed at Fontainebleau on November the 3rd, and theprospect ofdanger to our island
,w hich had been heightened
during the early portion of that year by the adhesion ofSpai nto the enemy ’s side
,was final ly obviated .
Not from France and Spain only was trouble an ticipated
during these years The Dutch also seemed l ikely to provedangerous . rivals . We shall depend l ikewi se
,w rote the
Directors in 1 757, upon your using all prudent measures topre ven t the Dutch settl i ng in the Sidi ’s country at Rajpuri ;a letter which w as fol low ed a year later by a despatch couched
in the following terms -“ It i s with infin ite concern weplai n ly see that the destruction of A ng r ia proves a happyevent to our rivals i n trade . After al l our immense expenses,the Company ’s affairs are brought i n to a worse situation .
For, although from year toyear we have been amused withthe most specious promi ses that the Dutch should be drovefrom Rajapur , andth is i ndeed is one ofthe strongest articlesi n the treaty, yet the Nana has not driven them out . And
now Gheria is gone, we are i n doubt if he ever w i l l . Now, asw e esteem it a matter of the last importance to Bombay
ly annoyed them . That Achan reports he has provisions
and ammuni tion for tw o :year s, and that he wi l l defend the fortto the utmost. On the other hand
,the Sidi declares he intends
to take andmake himselfGovernor ofthe Castle and establ ishSafdar Khan Governor of the Durbar . That the Ghinim s
( that is, Ghanim robbers or Marathas) are reti red out of thetown , and stop provisions and trade ofal l kinds from coming
in to i t, threaten i ng to return with a number ofmen to revengethe Sidis ’ burn ing the house ofone ofthei r pri ncipal oflicers.
”
Eventually, after endeavouring to arrange matters with thehelp of “ Nana the Pandit Pradhan Balaj i Bajirao) ,the Bombay Governor concluded a treaty ofpeace with SidiMasud , whereby the Castle was given to him,
and the ci tyto Safdar Khan on payment to the Company ofcompensationamounting to Rs . Unti l 1 760 no further trouble
was experienced ; and, according to a letter of 1 757, the
Company was on terms ofcordial i ty wi th the native govern
ment. But in 1 760, shortly after receipt of the news that the
Company had been made commandants ofSurat Castle , w e
find the Court of Directors expressing thei r sorrow at “ the
dangerous anddisgraceful si tuation of affai rs in that ci ty ,and opini ng that
“ the promoter of these misfortunes w as
the Dutch broker Muncher (Muncherji) , a miscrean t w ho,
although in a foreign interest,had been most shamefully
suffered to influence al l our publ ic concerns . The Com
pany,however, held manfully to the Castle ; andby keeping
in readiness “ a respectable force,
” by the maintenance of
“ great order and severe discipl i ne , by choosing thei r commanders rather on the score of temper and abi l i ty than of
seniori ty,by keeping fair with the Governor ofSurat City
,
and lastly by gain i ng the support of the merchant commu
nity, they managed to avoid further trouble during the
remainder of the period .
O f the Sid i some mention has already been made . Not
withstanding that h is quarrels at Surat caused the Company
I 7S
some annoyance and temporary loss, his atti tude in generalwas one of friendl iness , to which our Counci l responded by
permi tti ng him to en list troops on the island in 1 747, and by
supplyi ng him wi th implements of war. “ Sidi Masud,according to the words of the record , “ requesting to be
suppl ied with two four-pounder and six six-pounder ironguns for the use of his grab, the storekeeper is di rected to
del iver them accordingly at the rate of Rs . 1 8 per cwt . , the
price charged our own inhabi tants, taking care duly to receive
the amount before the guns are del ivered .
”
The Company’s relations with A ng ria were of more
importance. At the outest of the period he appears to have
been extremely obnoxious ; for the Court on the 1 7th J une
1 748 i nformed the Counci l that they m ust “ employ the
cruizers i n the best manner for the protection of trade on thecoast against Angrie,
” and that they should “ also keep h is
brother Manaj i i n due subjection . I n 1 752 one learns that“ Manaj i A ng ria havi ng been guilty of many insu lts to the
vessels belonging to the inhabi tants of this island, and i nparticular lately seized four vessels coming from Muskat
,
which he plundered of goods : to the amount of Rs .i t is resolved to deter him from the l ike in future -by the issue
of orders to the commanders of the Honorable Company ’svessels to treat him as a common enemy by taking, sinkingand destroying his grabs and g alivats or otherwise distress
i ng him . This, we doubt not, ow ill soon bring him to reason .
”
Three years later the object for which the Company hadwatched and schemed was attained they had w aited for manyyears, i n antic ipation of the hour, when wi th increasedstrength they might assume the offensive and rid themselves
for ever of the pirate ’s opposition . I n 1 755 they coalescedwith the Marathas and sent forth an expedi tion against
Tulaj 1 A ng ria, w h ich , meeting with unqual ified success,resulted in the inclusion of Bankot among our possessionsi n W estern India. By articles of ag reement w ith the
Marathas i n March last, so the President i nformed the
Board , “w hen our troops w en t wi th them on an expedition
against T ulaji A ng ria, i t was stipulated that the forts atPancote (Bankot) and Himmatg ad with thei r dependentvi l lages should be yielded to our Honourable Masters andtheother conquered places to the Marathas . I n consequence ofthis stipulation the Marathas have offered andare now readyto comply with their engagemen t . ” The Board
,
“ hoping
the possession of i t wi ll prove agreeable to our HonorableMasters ,
” thereupon nominated Mr. Will iam Andrew Priceas Chief of Bankot , as he is perfectly acquain ted with themanners and customs of the country-people and thei r lan
guage and sent thi ther with him a company of arti llery,another of sepoys, and a detachment of the train to be held inreadiness to garrison it . But the A ng r ia w as not yet con
quered ; from his stronghold of Gheria (Viziadrug) he couldyet sal ly forth and im peri l our trade and shipping. Severndroog had fal len “ by the vigour and judgm ent of Com
modore James , of the Bombay Marine , and the resolution of
his handful of troops and sailors . O ne more expedi tion wasnecessary to reduce our ancient enemy to absolute harmlessness . Hence comes it that w e read of the President informing the Committee on January 1 5th , 1 756 , that,
“ i n couse
quence of the assurances given him as regards ammunition
anddamage in attacking Gheria , Rear-Admiral Watson hadagreed to proceed wi th the squadron under h is commandto act i n conjunction with the Marathas. ” Though we wereostensibly w orking in concert with the Marathas, operations
were precipitated so as to exclude them from al l share of the
enterprise, as suspicions were entertained of commun ication
betw een them and A ng r ia. On the 7th February 1 756 started
the expedi tion w hich, according to Grant Duff, consisted of
three ships of the line , one ship of50 and another of44 guns ,w i th several armed vessels , amounting i n al l to 14 sai l , and
manned by 800 European soldiers and Native Infantry.
1 78 d
utmost care and attention i n preserving friend ly relations .
Among other advan tages from thei r friendship we hope to bei nformed that the Marathas wil l not permit the Dutch to
establ ish a factory at Bassein .
” I n 1 757, when the prospect
of a French invasion was imminent, the Nana Peshva
Balaj i ) offered through R amaji Pant to accommodate European ladies and chi ldren at Thana ; whi le i n 1 760, accordi ng
to an en try in the Government d iary, Govind Shiv rampant“ del ivered at the Company ’s new house an elephant, presented by Nana to our Honourable Masters . ” Apparentlythe elephant proved more valuable as a symbol ofamity thanas a possession ; for i n the same year Bombay informed the
Directors that “ a v ery fai r opportunity presented for easing
you of the charge i ncurred by the elephant given your Honou rsby N i na, namely, by sending i t to Pharas Khan at Surat as
a mark ofyour favour , andin consideration ofhis services andassistance in procuring the Phirman for the Castle andTanka . To Pharas Khan
’s great disappointment the elephantun lucki ly died on the road . We intend to consider PharasKhan ’s services i n some other as frugal a manner as we can .
Now these pol itical events—the hosti l i ty ofFrance, Holland and Spain , the i nsolence and final overthrow ofA ng ria,
the close proximity of the Marathas— resul ted directly i n the
stfeng thening of fortifications andan increase ofsea power .
I n 1 746 we read ofenlargement of the Dock Pier Head ,“so
as to mount n ine guns in the face towards the road, and tw omore for flank ing the face of the Royal Bastion
,repairs to
walls of communication ; and the excavation ofdry ditches .
T en years later, fascine batteries made of cocoanut trees andbamboos and mounted with heavy cannon ” were erectedbetween the bandar andthe fort ; two prahms were constructed “
to block up the entrance between the tw o Pier Heads ;and Major Chalmers with the king ’s and our own arti llerycaptains is consul ted regarding our present si tuation and what
is necessary to render the place more defensible .” Two names
tinnedandthe communicator to Dongri H i ll has been carriedabove halfw ay. The tw o flanks and one face of the ravelinbefore the Bazar Gate have been completed and terrace platforms raised . One face w i th five embrasures and flanks toeach and the other face with a drawbridge are far advanced.
Several of the deep holes and pits adjacent to the wal ls havebeen filled wi th sand from a risi ng ground Opposi te to the
Prince ’s bastion . A battery to secure the ground before theApollo Gate andprevent any attempts to land near O ldWoman ’s Islandis not quite fin ished . A wal l has been raisedabout eight feet and carried from the north shoulder of the
Cavalier bastion,northward obliquely before the low curtain
between that bastion and that of the tank . On this wal l there
will be three returns or faces towards the before-mentionedanchori ng ground Opposite the Caval ier bastion . This is extremely necessary, as the battery which was behind it andraised w i th cocoanut trees was w asted away and rendered use
less . Dongri Fort was partially dismantled,on the ground
that i t w as i n dangerous proximity to the town ; while thegeneral protection of the island was sought i n the strength
ening of the outforts. As the safety and preservation of the island
,
” runs the Government record ,“ so much
depend on the arti l lery,i t is unan imously resolved to lay in a
quantity of timber proper to gun carriages , as this is deemed
the cheapest season ofthe year for entering into a contract.
The strength of the garrison was a subject constantly before
the President and Counci l i n these years ; Sid is, as we have
already seen , were enl isted ; the Honourable Company’s cove
nant servants,with such other English inhabitants as are
capable of bearing arms,were stationed upon the works
in accordance with the orders of the Governor ;” and in 1 759
Mr. Thomas Byfielddrew up an estimate ofthe number ofpersons avai lable for the defence ofBombay. Fifteen thousandseven hund red and fifty men were
,accordi ng to his scheme,
prepared to hold the Island against all opponents.
1 8 1
I n regard to our sea-power, the same activity was mani
fested. Additions were made to the fleet i n 1 752 ; in 1 76 1
“ many inconven iences having been found to result i n the
course of refitting the squadron from a want of the thi rd dry
dock,i t is ordered that i t be carried out with the utmost ex
pedition, which wi l l enable us to dock the largest ship of thesquadron at any springs .
” Till 1 748 , i ndeed, the only dry
clock was a mud-bas i n , i n and out of which the tide flowed atwil l . This basin was situated near the centre of the present
Government Dock-yard . Under the auspices of the HonourableWi ll iam Wake
,a new dock was completed by 1 750on the si te
of this old mud basin , and proved so successful that in 1 754
the Marine Superintendent sug gested the construction of a
second . To the latter, apparently, Admiral Corn ish referred
i n h is letter ofJune loth, 1 76 2 , urging the completion of theouter dock before the return of the squadron .
” This work,which was finished by the close of 1 76 2 , was almost immediate
ly fol lowed by the bui ldi ng of a thi rd dock, to which the
Honourable Charles Crommel in referred in 1 765. Our
treasury,” he remarks, being now pretty strong
,and the th i rd
dock nearly completed , the same is ordered to be conti nuedand finished as soon as possible . ” The provision of dockscoincided with the augmentation of the fleet, to which theDirectors referred in 1 757 i n the following words A l
though your success in taki ng Gheria with the enti re
destruction of A ng ria’
s fleet would at another time have madei t prudent and necessary to have reduced our mari ne force
,
the unhappy event of a French war for the present forbids it.You must, therefore, conti nue the marine upon our last establishment unti l you have our further orders. ” More power byland and sea was the constant refrain of our Government ’sconsultations. L owji was hard at work al l these years, plann ing and constructi ng, helping us, by his industry and fidel itytowards the position which we coveted . O n tw o occasionshis merits were open ly rewarded once in 1 754, when a silver
18 2
rule, a set of i nstruments and a shawl were presented to himi n the Company ’s name ; and agai n in 1 764, when
“the
marine paymaster and superi ntendent, representing that thelong services of L owji, Master Bui lder, and the attention heandhis two sons have paid to his Majesty ’s squadron ever si ncei t has been in I ndia
,as w el l as to the Honourable Company ’
s
and all private shipping, renders them truly deserving of
every encouragement, i t i s agreed that thei r standi ng month lypay in future be as fol lows : L owji Rs . 50, his eldest sonRs. 30, andhis youngest son Rs.
N ow th is protracted endeavour on the part of Government to render the island unassai lable by European fleet ornative legion must have i nfluenced the mind of at least onesect ion of the I ndian public. The merchant, noting how capable of defence the island had become comparing the orderlyprogress of affairs here with the turmoi l and confusion atSurat
,andfinal ly witnessing the overthrow ofone of the most
powerful obstructors of commerce, can have arrived at oneconclusion only ; that here, indeed, was an island whence one
might trade almost undisturbed both w ith the main land andwith ports outside I ndia
,and the Government ofwhich would
put forth all i ts might to protect the immigrant and settler.We cannot but bel ieve that the foreign policy of the Company
andthei r strengthening of garrison , marine and fortificationsindirectly fostered an increase in the number of i nhabitants ;whi le
,added to the i ncentive to immigration afforded by a
prospect ofprotection to trade,there must have arisen a natural
desi re to dw ell under the shadow of a Government which
manifestly treated its subjects with l iberali ty. Read that oldletter of the 1 5th March 1 748 , i n which the Directors sum
mari se their aims We are encouraged to bel ieve our islandof Bombay may be rendered a very advantageous settlementand less expensive to us . To this end , therefore, we positivelydi rect and require that by the exercise of a mi ld , good Government
,people from other parts may be induced to come and
V
1 84 I
ow n ships themselves in what manner and how they please,
and be supplied out of our stores wi th what materials they
want at the rates and prices al lowed to Europeans ; and,i n general
,that they have al l the reasonable privi leges that
can possibly be given them .
”
T he wishes of the Di rector swere faithfully carried out. Did scarcity ofgrain , as i n 1 755,
threaten to cause discomfort, the import duty was at once
cancelled, to encourage merchants and others to bri ng in
a quanti ty for the rel ief of the i nhabitants ; or a commi tteewas specially appoin ted , as i n 1 757, to concert the mostproper measures for bringing and constantly keeping a suflicient quantity of batty on our masters ’ account for the relief
and support of the inhabitants i n general .” Relief, we doubt
i t not,was afforded to the shoe-makers , who represented
i n 1 759 that they suffered much“ from a notable rise not
only i n the price of leather, but also in food and house rent ;help was extended i n 1 747
“ to the poorer sort of our inhabitants
,who had been much troubled by “ the common
people belonging to Nadi r Shah’s two ships and protection
was extended in 1 747 with the full approval of the Court to
a wealthy merchant who reti red from Surat, as also to ashroffbelonging to Tarvari
’
s house,” who settled on the island
in 1 76 2 . Mr. Richard Bourchier prevai led upon certain
weavers to come hither from Bassei n i n 1 758 ; th irty-six
bricklayers,each granted “an advance of three months ’ pay
and ten days ’ provisions, voyaged from Surat i n 1 756 ; whiletowards the endof the period , many of the principal traders
ofPoona asked and received permission to repai r h i ther withtheir fami lies, i n consequence of the destruction of Poona
by the N izam ’s army. As our Honourable Masters,”
quoth Government,“ have frequently recomm ended us to
give al l suitable encouragement to people of substance resort
ing to this island, it is ordered that a publication be issuedsign ifying that all persons who may repai r h ither shall enjoy
the same privi leges as other i nhabitants, and be permitted
to purchase lands or houses from any persons they th i nkproper . The welfare of the inhabitants i n general wassought by the issue i n 1 757 of regulations for preserving
good order and governmen t on the island ; by the appoint
ment of a member of the Board as Town-Scavenger, “ as
the town has become very di rty i n great measure owing to
the l i ttle regard the inhabitants pay to the scavenger, onaccount ofhis being always a junior servant ; by the prevention of all combinations, monopolies and attempts againstthe freedom of trade ; by the promulgation in 1 748 of bui ld
i ng-rules, designed to minimise the danger of fires among
merchants’ houses and warehouses ; by advances of moneyfrom the Land Pay Office to those whom the fire of thatyear had rendered homeless ; by the systematised up
-keepofcommunications, such as the Bombay passage boat, whichw as
“ let to Curwa Bhat (K harva Bhat) in 1 763 for Rs. 6 75
per annum ; by strict attention to the rel igious foibles of
the people, as manifested in an order of 1 746 that“ the cow
oath,” which had occasioned so much uneasiness and dis
content, was no longer to be admin istered in the Mayor ’sCourt ; and lastly by the institution i n 1 753 of a Courtof Requests for the recovery of debt. As this Court,
”
w rote the Directors, “ is calculated for the benefit of thepoorest of the people, we h0pe none of our servants, orof the inhabitants that shall be nominated Commissioners,wil l decli ne the service, as by an honest and faithful
d ischarge of thei r duty they may be a blessi ng to the
people.Var ious communities are separately mentioned in the
records appertain ing to this period .
“Two of our sepoyshave gone over to the Maratha country, and , under pretenceof being Sid is
,plundered several people there so runs the
record of Apri l 2 4th, 1 759.
“ I t is ordered that the Sheriffcause them to be whipped through the town at a cart ’s tai landturnedoff the island
,and that theproduce of thei r effects
24
be applied to the use of the chari ty school . Two hundred
and fifty Arab soldiers also were discharged in the followingyear for misbehaviour. Arab and Topass, however, were notsi ngular i n their defiance ofauthority ; for on the 1 8th Novem
ber 16 73 we find “ Andrew Pope, W . Bruce and T. Mooreconvicted of pi racy and condemned to be hanged as the lawdirects . ” The Parsis are spoken of as offeri ng “ to supplythe island with provisions agreeable to the enclosed rates
settled by your Honourable Board on the soth September
1 757. Upw ards of 400 other side across harbour)Kolis have settled with their famil ies i n the district ofMahim ,
”
from w hom the ordinary ‘ pension ’
w as levied in 1 748 ; andfor the benefit of the fisher-folk general ly
, fresh orders w ereissued in 1 754, forbidding any one to keep Koli palanquinbearers
,except “ the Governor, Counci l , Superintendent,
Mayor,Chaplains, Surgeons, and such English as have fami
l ies . We hear of Kamathi labourers,employed on the for
tifications, being enrol led in 1 757 i nto a regular body of
mil itia : of Hamals and Carwars ( K harvas or Sai lors) , of
w hom there were many on the island out of work , beingplaced in 1 760
“ under the Bombay Custom Master ’s orders
for fortification purposes ; ofPotters and Ti le-makers,whose
business necessi tated their removal to the suburbs i n 1 758 ;
of the K unbis and other inhabitants of Mazagon vi l lagebeing relieved from the oppression of an i ntemperate farmer ;of “ Dadaji Naik andall the Bhandari i nhabitants of thisisland ” entering into a five-years ’ agreement “ for farming
the arrack rents and out salami, that is the toddy-kn ife tax ;of Topasses, whose pay w as raised in 1 760 to R s. 7 a month ,“ i n consideration of the dearness ofprovisions and all the otherrequisi tes of l ife at this place ; of the Portuguese, i n the
person of Ignatio da Gama, who offered Rs . i n 1 760
“ for the privi lege of keeping four l icensed punch-houses ;and lastly of the Madagascar slaves . For the benefit of
the last-named community special reg ulations were framed
f 1 88
When we consider that this l ist referred on ly to Bombayproper
,that a separate statem ent was submitted for “ the
d istrict ofMahim when we consider all the ci rcumstances of
the period,and the policy of the Company towards immigra
tion,as evidenced by its treatment of i ndividuals and commu
nities, we are assai led by an overpoweri ng conviction that the
estimate of i n the historical account is i ncorrect, and
that our population had i ncreased by 1 764, though not, perhaps,to the extent suggested by Karsten Niebuhr . A perusal ofthe
scattered references to the appearance ofthe town and island inthese years only serves to str engthen that conviction . I n 1 746
Messrs. Rawdon and Saunders were appointed “to al lot proper
spaces of ground to such ofthe inhabi tants as may be i nclinedto build i n the town .
” This order was doubtless necessitated
by an influx of people prepared to settle on any vacant spotthat they might find . Four years later Grose referred to the
houses of the black merchants,
” si tuated “ i n the town,which
was about a mile i n ci rcuit . Most of these merchants ’ houseswere i l l-bui lt and i ncommodious
,with smal l window lights and
i ll-arranged rooms. Even the best have a certain ai r of meanness and clumsi ness. But more valuable evidence of the ex
pansion of the town is perhaps afforded by the followi ng publication of 1 754 Whereas
,i n contempt of the Government,
several of the inhabitants have made encroachments on thehigh roads by erecting bui ldi ngs and sheds wi thout license, thePresident and Governor
,by and with the advice and consent
of his Counci l, has thought proper to ordain and direct that allcaj an and palm-leaved sheds and pent-houses are to be pulleddown ti l l the monsoon sets i n . That i n future no houses,walls, compounds or sheds be erected wi thin the town wall, before a certificate is granted by the comm i ttee under their handsfor that purpose . When liberty is given for bui lding a house,the appl icant must set about i t i n twenty days . No stones,
chunam or other materials to lay longer in the publ ic streetsthan ten days before the work of bui lding begins. A ll the
I
g ramalook (prickly-pear, Gn i‘
a’
maluco) hedges w i th in the townwall to be dug up by the roots, especially those around theramparts. That as few of the present holders ofhouses agree
wi th the names on the rent-roll,the name of every person pur
chasi ng a house within the wal ls be recorded in the Collector ’soffice before the purchaser enters in the premises. Two yearslater came a letter from the Court saying It is with satisfaction we observe your scheme for accommodating many ofthecreditable i nhabitants i n the town
,who
,much against their in
clinations, were obliged to l ive without i t. We shal l add that
whatever regulations are made for the encouragement of the
people in general and of the richer sort in particular will always meet with our approbation, when they are calculated for the
mutual interest of the Company and the people residing under
thei r protection .
”
So numerous were the houses in the nativetown , that many ofthem had eventually
, for safety’s sake
, to be
removed , and were then rebui lt outside the walls. Severalof the propr ietors ofthe houses now pull ing down by your
Honour ’s orders just without the Bazar Gate have lately applied to me for ground to rebui ld ; so wrote the Collector in
1 757. We hear ofclearances outside the Apol lo Gate ; ofthedemol ition ofMoormen
’
s mosques at the Bazar Gate in 1 760 ;
ofpeti tions from the evicted householders for space to rebui ld,i n any locali ty set apart by the fazendars of large and lofty
houses buil t betwixt the Church and the Fort, w i th severalothers contiguous of waste ground at the line ofcommu
nication between Dongri and Back Bay being let out for therebui ldi ng ofhouses on the same terms as ground is let with i nthe wal l, namely, 1 1 res the square yard .
” The town was indeed choked w i th dwel li ngs, and was duri ng these years sub
jectedto improvements, the ultimate result of which was todistribute the population over the wide area , rendered habitableby partial reclamation . Grose, i n speaking of the oarts i n1 750, remarks that many together form groves with shadedroads andpathways, thickset with houses, but wanti ng in
air ; and as the displacement of the people progressed,new
roads and burial grounds were opened up . We hear of landtaken up for a public road from Parel to Sion
,compensation
for which had not been paid to the proprietors in 1 76 7 ; ofaroad from Church Gate to the Black Town , carried very
near i ts full length of 360 yards and ofa branch from thisroad leading 6 72 feet to the English burying-ground.
”
The burying-ground here mentioned was Sonapur, “ i n acocoanut garden near the water side at the nether end
of the Moormen ’
s old burying-place , which from the year
1 760 w as uti l ised for the i n terment of the English dead
in place of the historical Mendham ’s poi n t. The latter wasdoomed to demolition at the time of the clearance in front
of the Apollo Gate . The batty grounds w ithout the town wall
were reserved for building sites ; for Captai n Cameron , accord
ing to a letter of April 9th, 1 756 , expressed doubts w hetherthe l in ing out ofstreets thereupon might not i nterfere wi th thecannon at Dongri . Not on ly the N ative but the Europeanalso had commenced by the close ofthese years to journey out
side the Fort and town . There was Mr . Thomas Whi tehi l l
w i th a house cal led Vil la Nova, and a garden ofsome conse
quence at Mahim there were two very pleasant gardens ,according to Grose, outside the gates “ and cultivated afterthe European manner ; and at Parel the Governor had avery agreeable country-house which w as original ly a Romishchapel belonging to the Jesuits, but confiscated about 1 7 19 for
some foul practices against the English interest. I t is nowconverted
,says the same writer,
“ i nto a pleasant mansion
house, and what wi th the addi tional buildings and improvements
of the gardens, affords a spacious and commodious habitation .
”
I n 1 758 Mr. Thomas Byfieldproposed“ to fit up at his own
expense for an habitation to live i n ” the old Mark Houseon Mazagon H i ll , which , i n the early part of the century, hadalways been kept well whi te-washed
,to serve as a mark for
vessels sai l ing up and down the harbour. To this proposal
191
Government agreed , on condition that the tenant would white
wash the fron t of the house once a year, to conti nue a markto the shipping coming in or going out of this harbour.At th is point our survey of the period must close . We
leave the islands strongly fort ified , and m ore compact thanwhen we started. Colaba and Old Woman ’s I sland are sti l l
separated from Bombay and from one another by sea ; but thedam at Worli has already worked a wondrous change . Savefor a narrow strip ofsalt water on the i nner side of the breach ,there is firm ground from the ruined vi l lage ofApollo to WorliFort, from the Light-house at Malabar Poin t to the Salt pansof the northern vi llages and the Sion Fortress . The Fort,with its vast array ofNative and European dwel l ings, the latter
white-w ashed and with covered piaz zas, of warehouses,
shops, w ork-yards,with i ts triple Dock, Green , Protestant
Charity Schools,called i n after time the Bycul la Education
Society ’s Schools,Courts ofJustice , Mint, and Church ofSt.
Thomas, frowns across the Harbour to the east, and on the
west over the Esplanade, whence the old Portuguese Churchhas but lately been removed . A new town is a-bui lding to
northward of the great walls, flanked on the one side by thepartial ly-demol ished Dongri Fort
,and on the other by the
house-dotted oarts and gardens, which crowd along the shoreofBack Bay
,and are broken only by the new burial ground
of Sonapur, and the vi l lage and the w aste ground ofGirgaon .
The dwellers in this town rent parts of Malabar H il l from the
Company ; and also ti l l the wide expanse of lowlying land,which , starti ng from the northern boundary ofour new settlement, stretches away to the cocoa woods of Mahim
, to the
Breach on the east and the populous vi l lages ofParel andMazagon on the west . Mahim and Sion, the outposts, are
strongly defended , and are proud offorming part ofthat territory, which, erstwhi les a cluster of islets
, now one almostunbroken island , is bei ng gradually colon ised a nd enriched bythe wisdom and beneficence of i ts merchant-rulers.
192
PERIOD THE F IFTH.— I 764 T O 1 780.
I t is probable, as we have remarked , that by the year 1 764an increase ofpopulation had taken place, the precise extent of
which must remai n undetermi ned. At the close of the next
sixteen years, w hich consti tute a fresh chapter of this review,the number of i nhabi tants is no longer open to question ; forwe have it on the authori ty of the Compi ler of the Gaz etteerthat a special Committee was appoi nted in 1 780 to enquire intothe causes of the high price of grain , and was incidental lyfurn ished with a preliminary return of47, 1 70persons, ofwhom
lived i n Mahim and i n Bombay. A s this totalappeared to the Committee to be far short of the actuals, andas i t was shown that no sepoys
,labourers or others from the
adjacent countries were included , the vereadores were asked togive thei r estimate of the population. They replied that the
least w hich ought to be reckoned for the district of Bombaywas T he Mahim return of they imagined to
be pretty just . By the year 1 780, therefore, the Bombaypopulation had risen to The increase is considerable
,and warrants at least a cursory review of the external and
domestic changes which our island underw ent duri ng these
years.The poli tical h istory of the period is concerned for the
most part w i th the relations subsisting between ourselves and
the Marathas . Danger of war wi th France was not w hollvabsent ; for letters from Madras i n 1 77 1 observed that such an
event w as probable ; whi le i n 1 777, we received from Mr.Mostyn “
alarming accounts of the proceedings of the Frenchwith the Poona Governm ent, and applied “ to Sir EdwardHughes or his successor in command to bring round his Majesty ’s squadron to Bombay as early as he possibly can .
” Ayear later the French Factory at Surat was seized by the Com
pany,and all the Frenchmen in the City
,with the exception of
the Consul and his family, were deported to Bombay. But, as
Mr . Horsley poi nted out to the Governor-General in a letter
of August 2 nd,
1 779, there was never any apprehension of
direct i nterference with our island ; there was only the pos
sibility that Nana Fadnav is, w ho w as at the head of themi l itary party i n the Maratha State
,might encourage the
French by grants of territory to settle as a barrier bew eenEngl ish andMaratha Domin ions ; and that, i n consequence,the expansion of our pow er and trade might be seriously
jeopardised . But the Bombay Government had attained aa very strong position by the pursuance ofa careful pol icy in
earl ier years, and by the gradual disappearance offormer foes
and the danger of French designs merely resulted in greatercaution andi n the adoption of measures for more sternly re
sisti ng external aggression . The confidence in thei r ownstrength , which now characterised the Company
’s Government,
i s seen in the despatch of an expedi tion to Persia in 1 768 .
The unhappy accident ofthe ship Defiance being blown up in
the GulfofPersia,” wrote the Board in 1 76 7, renders the
sending another capital cruiz er to the gulf unavoidable . As
w e have al ready determined to accept K harim Khan ’s proposals for acti ng jointly with him against Car ruck and Ormuz
,
and have di rected the Agent and Counci l at Basra to sign ify
the same to him,our Honourable Masters ’ i nterest would be
greatly affected , if not enti rely ruined , i n case of the Khan’s
bei ng disappointed i n the assistance promised him,which
must be the consequence if the Defiance is not replaced.
” Amonth later orders were issued to Major Mackenzie “ to embarksuch a number ofmen on the vessels bound to Persia as w i l l
complete the force origi nal ly intended,allow i ng for the men
lost on the Defiance. ”
R egarding the Marathas, i t wi ll be remembered that theclosi ng years ofour last period found us on good term s w i ththem , but keen ly al ive at the same time to the danger of
treachery andhosti l ity. “ Al l the states in India,
” writes“
Grant Duff, were inim ical to Europeans ofevery nation, andas
1
'
194‘
1
even w hen bound dow n by treaties, they were at best but faith
less friends, w hose jealousy no less than their prejudice would
have prompted them to exti rpate the foreigners . Clive himself,at the time ofthe expedition against Angrie, had clearly shownthe Bombay Government that no reliance ought to be placed
upon the good faith of the Marathas ; and the Government
had,by the year 1 764, decided once for al l that exceptional
prudence was necessary to prevent thei r underm i n ing ourpow er or precipitating hostil i ties with us. For the first few
years of this period , therefore, the old pol icy of cautionand outward friendship was pursued . It was responsible
for an order of March 2 2 nd, 1 765, from the Directors,absolutely forbidding the supply ofarms to any country power,“ unless for special reasons to the King of T ravankor .
”
Cannon,
” they said , we absolutely forbid your supplying.
We further positively forbid your supplying country pow erswith any warlike stores w hatever. The same prohibition ex
tends to all ki nds ofmarine stores unless upon very extraordinary occas ions, for which we shal l expect the ful lest and mostexplici t reasons . We forbid the bui ld ing in Bombay of anysh ips for the use ofcountry powers . ” I t was l ikewise respon
sible for a letter ofMarch 1 2 th, 1 766 , i n w hich the Court statesthat “ you acquaint us that two sons ofT ulaji A ng ria, escapedfrom Maratha confinemen t
, are arriv ed at Bombay claimingour protection . We wish you had not entertained thesefugitives, as it may give umbrage to the Marathas. I t wi ll bemore agreeable to us ifyou can get rid ofthe A ng rias by givinga smal l sum ofmoney to each
, anddesiring them to go to someother country.
” The prohibition of the export of i ron,
which Boboras and others sent across the harbour for the
service ofthe Marathas was a further measure of precaution ,dictated by the knowledge that before long w e should have to
meet the army ofthe enemy. As late as 1 77 1 , when that keen
poli tician,the Honorable William Hor nby, succeeded to the
Governorship, we find the Boand objecting to the sale or
( 196 )
negotiations proved fruitless . The advantage of acquiri ngthese islands
,under the pretext of all iance with the fugitive
ruler of Poona,was emphasised by a sudden burst ofactivi ty
on the part of the Portuguese. On the 2 8th November,1 774, the President i nformed the Select Committee that he
had called a meeting to lay before them a letter “ from Mr.
Robert Henshaw,who at present resides at Goa.
” Mr.
Henshaw therein gave an account of the mi l i tary and marine
force lately arrived at Goa from Portugal,and of the intention
of the Portuguese speedi ly to attempt the recovery of thedominions they formerly possessed to the northward of Bombay and particularly of the island ofSalsette and Bassei n . The
Committee,after due consideration , observed that there
appears no doubt of the Portuguese i ntentions against the
island ofSalsette and as surely as they attempt the conquest of
that island w i th thei r present force, so surely they wi ll gai n the
possession of i t . This event wi ll not only put it out ofour
power ever to acquire its possession for the HonourableCompany
,who have so frequently expressed their ardent wish
to obtain i t,but wil l also be attended w i th i nfinite prejudice to
the trade and interest ofthe Honourable Company at Bombay,by reduci ng thei r customs and revenues i n a very great degree,as by the possession of Salsette the Portuguese wi ll become
masters ofall the passes i nland , and wil l consequently be able,as they were formerly so prone on every occasion to do, toobstruct our trade and to lay whatever imposi tions they please
upon it. We therefore thi nk it becomes our undoubted duty,by taking it ourselves without the least delay
,to prevent
Salsette falli ng into Portuguese hands . It is observed that amore favourable oppor tuni ty than the present will probablynever again offer, as by the divisions i n the Maratha Govern
ment that Empire is now without a head,and i t wi l l be out of
the power ofei ther party to send any effectual force to obstruct
our proceeding.
” On these considerations the Company
signed a treaty ofall iance with R aghoba, andcommenced the
ll97 J
first Maratha W ar by invading Salsette and laying siege to
Thana . The Portuguese protested on the ground that al lthe coast between Chaul and Daman belonged by right to thei r
nation,to which our Government replied curtly in the follow
ing words As to the claims ofyour nation to the countriessi tuated between Chaul and Daman , we are perfectly nu
acquainted with them. Though part of those countries did
formerly belong to your nation , yet they were taken from you
by the Marathas about seven and thi rty years ago. During
all the in terven ing time we have never understood that you
ever made any attempt to recover them .
”
T he expeditionprospered ; Thana was taken by storm ; Salsette and thesmaller islands were occupied . Although War ren Hastings,the Governor-General, subsequently annulled the treaty withR ag hoba, Salsette, Karanja, Elephanta and Hog I slandremained i n the Company ’s possession ; and to them w ereadded Bassein , Kenery and other islands i n a second treatywith R ag hoba, formulated by Mr . Hornby in 1 778 . We passover the tale of the second Maratha War
,the expedi tion up
the Bhor Ghat, the battle and disgraceful Convention of
W argaum , whereby the English gave up the terri tory and
islands about Bombay, on condition ofobtai n ing a free returnpassage for their troops. Humi l iating as this treaty was, i ts
effects were counteracted , to som e extent, by Goddard’s successes
over the army of Sindia, andhis capture of Ahmedabadi n 1 780 ; whi le the coveted islands were restored very shortlyafterwards by the Treaty ofSalbye.
These years, therefore, witnessed the début of the
Company as a mi li tary power in Western I ndia. T he garrison
w as streng thened,“ after consulti ng Lord Clive, Generals
Lawrence, Cailland, Carnac, and other mi li tary gentlemen onth is important subject ;
” barracks were bui l t for sepoys, a fullnumber ofwhom it was i ndispensably proper to keep on the
island ;”
the Marine Battal ion w as established ; and“ since a
considerable number of troops hadto be posted on Salsette to
garrison Thana and the other outposts on that island , an
addi tional mili tary force for the Presidency was absolutely
necessary. The Fort and Castle were again surveyed;ravel ins were bui lt, faces raised, dock pier-heads heightenedunder Captai n Keating ’s supervision . The outforts, such as
Sion and Reva, were rendered more impregnable ; Dongri ,after much delay and doubt
,was finally blown up i n 1 769, a
new fortress, to be call ed Fort St. George , bei ng commencedi n the fol lowing year . The reports of the period bristle
with projects for counterscarps,” terraces,
” ravel i ns,”
“mines,
” “ glacis,” “ casemates ” and “ cremai llere works,
the completion of which ful ly justified the account of our
position,which Parsons recorded i n 1 775.
“ Between the
two marine gates,” he wri tes
,
“ is the Castle, properly calledBombay Castle, a very large and strong fortification which
commands the Bay. The works round the town are so manyand the bastions so very strong and judiciously si tuated and
the whole so defended with a broad and deep ditch , as to make
a strong fortress , which , whi le i t has a sufficient g arrison andprovisions
,may bid defiance to any force which may be
brought against i t. ” The construction and repai r of the fleet
was at the same time actively prosecuted .
“As it is essentiallynecessary
,
” wrote the Court i n 1 778 ,“ that a large stock of
timber should be constantly kept up for the service of ourmarine
,that the vessels may be bui l t and repaired with
seasoned timber , w e strongly recommend this object to yourattention
.We hereby posi tively order and di rect that the
Company’s timber be used i n bui ldi ng and repai ri ng ourcruisers on ly
,and on no pretence whateve r be applied to the
service of private vessels .” I n 1 769 i t w as decided to bui ld a
new dock at Mazagon for the use ofships that do not exceed
300tons ofburthen and i n 1 78 1 was recorded a letter from
Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, warmly acknowledgi ngthe assistance which the Mari ne Department had granted i n
docking , repai ri ng, andrefitting His Majesty’
s squadron .
station,with a small assistance from your Presidency , wil l in
general be ful ly adequate to such service wi thout increasi ngyour marine establ ishment. I n the follow i ng year the
Company went so far as to forw ard to Colonel Upton a copy of
a memorial from “ the principal European and countrymerchants
,complai n ing of the obstruction offered to free trade
by the Poona Government, and to strongly recommend h im to
obtain from the Peshva an amel ioration of the conditions,under which communications were carried on between Bombay
and the terri tory of the Marathas .
The progress of internal administration during these years
is shadowed forth in a miscel lany oforders . At one moment
the Court is endeavouri ng to protect the native servant,whom
careless Europeans were in the habit of taking to England and
then forsaking ; at another they are seeking to protect the
highw ays ofthe town by forbiddi ng the owners of private
bui ldi ngs to lay large quanti ties ofstones i n improper places .”
Communications were improved by the establishment ofa ferryboat between Thana and Bombay i n 1 776 , as regular passage
boats w i l l be convenient to both islands and be of some
advantage to the Company . Orders were issued for the
erection of two large sheds, for the markets to be held i n, one
for meat and fow ls, the other for frui t and greens,” and for the
attendance “of a constable with an . al lowance of a quarter
rupee a day . Committees were appointed to fix a tariff of
labour rates ; w h i le between 1 77 1 and 1 780 the health of the
public w as a subject constantly under the consideration of
Governm ent . Orders must be given , observe the Board in 1 777,for cleaning the town ditch i n the most effectual manner, andmen must be immediately raised for this service
,who
must be em ployed upon the fortifications unti l the properseason arrives for setti ng about the other work . And as thecommon sewers which are discharged into the ditch make thewater very offensiv e , and we are incl ined to thi nk must affect
the health ofthe inhabi tants, it is further ordered that estimates
201
be prepared of the expense of maki ng sewers to discharge
themselves into the sea,which
,i n eve ry respect, must be
preferable to the present ones. ” By 1 780 radical reforms had
been effected in pol ice arrangements. Frequent robberies,wrote the Grand Jury in 1 779,
“w i th the difliculty attending
the detection of the aggressors,cal l aloud for some establish
ment with such authority as will effectual ly protect the innocentinhabitants and bring the guil ty to trial .
” I n consequence
we hear of the substitution of regular sepoy patrols for
the old Bhandari Mi l i tia, and of the appoi ntment of Mr.
James Tod to be Deputy of Police . A convalescenthospital w as started in 1 76 8 on Old Woman
’s I sland ; plansfor a sepoy ’s hospital were cal led for i n 1 769 ; so that by thetime Forbes left Bombay there were three large hospitals,one within the gates for Europeans , another on the Espla
nade for sepoys or native troops in the Company’s service, anda th ird on an adjacent island for convalescents . ” I n the matterof land, the Board expressed their satisfaction at the immense
improvement of oart-revenues . “We find,
” they add, “ thatupon the w hole the oarts have been let out for Rs . ayear, which is Rs . more than w hat they were last farmedfor, though the present term is for tw o years less .
” I n 1 772 , an
accurate survey of the whole island was agreed upon, i n order
that “ the situation ofthe farmed out villages,namely, Malabar,
Sion , Parel, Matunga, Dharavi, Nagaon, Vadala, Mahim andBamancally, and of all the Honourable Company’s oarts andgrounds may be exactly laid dow n, as well as those ofall
persons whatever. ” I n other directions also the spirit of
progress was manifested . The year 1 773 witnessed Mr.Holford’
s successful journey up the Arabian Gulf, and the
earliest voyage ofEnglish ships direct from Bombay to Suez ;the year 1 770w as marked by the commencement of a cotton
trade with China, ow ing to “ a considerable famine in thatcountry and an edict of the Chinese Government that a greater
proportion ofthe lands should be thrown into the cultivation of2 6
grain . The demand for cotton went on increasing from thatyear unti l “ the scanty supply during the Maratha War
, the
i nattention to the quality, andthe many frauds that had beenpractised, prompted the Chinese to agai n grow cotton for theirown consumption .
”
Meanwhile the aspect ofthe town was undergoing a gradualalteration. I n the previous period we remarked the beginningsofextension the present period witnessed the furtherance ofthatw ork . I n 1 770 the principal Engineer represented that theKolis ’ houses on the ridg e ofDongri H i ll m ust be immediatelyremoved in 1 772 the Board stated that “ as there is great wantofroom w ithin the town walls for Europeans to build, andasthe Church Street is a very proper place for that purpose, the
present proprietors are posi tively proh ibited repairi ng thei rhouses ” and in the same year was issued an order that “ theshops to the south of Church Street having become a greatnuisance , they shall all be removed to the bazaar . I n future noshop must be permitted to the south ofthe north side ofChurch
Street . ” We read of the demolition of small houses atpresent occupied by hamals and other indigent people betweenthe Church andBazaar Gates of the refusal ofGovernment
to permit the existence w ithin the town walls of cocoanutplantations, and orders to the proprietors of such lands to letthem out for house-buildings .
” Such measures w ere not
enforced without giving rise to complaints ; the Moormen, the
cart-ow ners, and others, all petitioned against the removal oftheir dwell ing-places but the w ork progressed in spite ofthem ;the town proper was g radually cleared ; a new town began torise to the north ofthe Bazaar Gate. The Esplanade underwentconsiderable alteration ; being levelled in 1 772 , extended
“ to thedistance of 800 yards and cleared“
ofall buildings and risinggrounds in 1 779; and subsequently further extended toyards . “ I t is very improper ”
, w rote the Board, “ to erectbuildings thereon
,which may in a short time be again pulled
down. Some other accommodation m ust, therefore, be found
pass through the holy cleft at Malabar Point ; but the hil l w as
still w aste-land, small portions ofwhich w ere utilised for grazingand other similar purposes. We hear ofexcavations for l im estone at Parel and Sion, w hereby the Kunbis were put to some
loss ofa petition on the point from Gaspar Dagon,the farmer
of several vi llages in that locality . A petition w as also received
from Lieutenant Jam es Jackson of the Artillery, “ requesting thata lease ofa piece ofwaste ground situated near Byculla may begranted him, as he is desi rous ofbui lding and making other
improvements on the same. ” In 1 76 8 the old Mazagaon estatefinally disappeared for on the 2 7th March 1 76 7 the Board
decided that as the lease of Mazagaon estate expires on
the 1 1 th May next, and as our Honourable Masters have recommended the letting it out i n small lots
,i t shall be let out accord
ing ly on Tuesday, the 1 5th day ofMay, in such lots as the
Collector,after making a proper enqui ry
,may judge most to our
Honourable Masters’ i nterest. ” Ev entually the following subdivisions of the estate were let separately for fourteen years
I sl: lot Nangar, i ncludi ng GhodapDev, let to Framjee HirjeeMoody for Rs . 845 a year ; 2 ndlotMallavady, i ncluding Byculla,except the Mango tree general ly know n by the nam e of theGovernor’s mango tree , which is to remain as heretofore for hisuse
,and the ground let to Mr . Andrew Ramsay
,and one muda
ofbatty ground to be allowed to the Mhatara for his pay, let to
DadabhaiManekji R ustamjee and Dhanjee Punja for Rs . 410a year 3rdlot Culvodey (K olivada) Surji let to R ag usetGoldsm i th for Rs . 340a year ; 4th lot Bandarvadia let to ManekjiLimj i and Bhimji R amset for Rs . 5oo a year ; 5th lotMazagaon
Cullowdy (K olivadi) let to R ag husetMadset for Rs . 640a year.I n case the Honourable Company should want ground for theDock or the Powder Works, they are to have such ground onmaking a reasonable deduction in the rent 6th lot Qart Charney
let to Mungaj i Visajifor Rs.Perhaps the most remarkable alteration in the outward as.
peet of the island was the construction of the Hornby Vellard
205
(from Portuguese Val/ado=a fence) , called in these days alsoBreach Candy or the Beach beside the Khind or Pass. ” Wehave seen that in the preceding period some attempt was madeto resist the encroachment of the ocean ; but the dam erectedin those years w as scarcely stout enough to wholly check thew anton inrush of i ts waves . So
,during the Governorship of
William Hornby, the great vellardw as built,w h ich rendered
available for cultivation and settlement the wide stretch of theflats, and resulted in the welding of the eastern and westernshores of our island into one united area. A general desc ription ofthe town
,as it appeared in these years
,is given by two
writers - the traveller Parsons, and Forbes, the author of
Oriental Memoirs. ” The former, w ho visited Bombay in 1 775,
informs us that : “ The town of Bombay is near a mile inlength from Apollo Gate to that of the Bazaar, andaboutaquarter
of a mi le broad in the broadest part from the Bunda ( Bandar)across the Green to Church Gate , w hich is nearly in the centre as
you walk round the walls between Apollo and Bazaar Gate.
There are likewise two marine gates, with a commodious wharfand cranes bui l t out from each gate, beside a landing place forp assengers only. Between the two marine gates is the Castle
properly cal led Bombay Castle, a very large and strong forti
fication which commands the bay. Here is a spaciousGreen
,capable ofcontaining several regiments exercising at the
same time . The streets are well laid out and the buildings so
numerous and handsome as to make itan elegant town. Thesoi l is a sand
,m ixed with small gravel, w hich makes it always
so clean,even in the rainy season , that a man may
walk all over the tow n w ith in half an hour after a heavyshower without dirtying his shoes. The Esplanadeis very extensive and as smooth and even as a bowling-green
,
which makes either walking or riding round the town v ery
pleasant . Mr. Forbes is ofopinion that the generality of thepublic buildings at this epoch were more useful than elegant.The Government House, he writes
,“ custom house
,
marine house,barracks
,mint. treasury, theatre and prison
included the chief of these structures . There were also th reelarge hospitals, one w ith in the gates for Europeans, another onthe Esplanade for the sepoys, and a third on an adjacent islandfor convalescents . The only Protestant Church on the islandstood near the centre of the town
,a large and commodious
building with a neat tower. Therewas also a charity school forboys and a fund for the poor belongi ng to the Church of England . There were seldom more than two chaplains belonging
to the Bombay establishm ent. When I was in I ndia ( 1 766the one resided at the Presidency
,the other alternately
at Surat and Broach , w he re were considerable European garri
sons . The Roman Catholics had several churches and chapelsi n diflerent parts of the island andenjoyed every indulgencefrom the EnglishGovernment. The English houses at Bombay,though neither so large nor elegant as those at Calcutta andMadras, were comfortable and well furnished . They were buil tin the European style of architecture as m uch as the climatewould admit of
,but lost something of that appearance by the
addition of verandahs or covered piazzas to shade those apartments most exposed to the sun . W hen illuminated and filledw ith social parties in the evening, these verandahs gave the towna very cheerful appearance. T he houses of the rich H indus andMahommedans are generally buil t w ithin an enclosure, surrounded by galleries or verandahs not only for privacy but to excludethe sun from the apartments. This court is frequently adornedwith shrubs and flowers and a fountai n playing before theprincipal room w here the master receives his guests
,which is
open in front to the garden and furnished w i th carpets andcushions . The large bazaar or the street i n the black tow n
w ith in the fortress contai ned many good Asiatic houses andshops stored with m erchandise from all parts of the world for
the Europeans and Natives . These shops w ere generally kept
by the I ndians, especially the Parsis, w ho,after paying the
established import customs, were exempted from other duties.”
letter from the Collector. I beg to inform your Honourab leBoard,
” he writes, “ that not any Kolis w ho act under me haveever been employed to fish in the Breach water. The Dolkars
,
w ho are the fishi ng Kolis i n my department and the on ly
people who possess nets, are never employed to carry palanqui ns . Those Kolis employed for that purpose receive thesame fixed pay established for all Kol is w ho carry palanqui nson this island ; and whenever they are employed i n such amanner as to leave their famil ies and habitations
,they receive
,
ifonly for a single day, much higher ‘ bhatta ’ than what i t i scustomary to al low Kol is in ' adjacent countries . The greatOpulence of these people is too notorious to need my notici ngto your Honourable Board further than to remark that thisopulence has in a great measure been acquired from the manyindulgences granted them and which no other caste on th isisland ever enjoy .
” Slaves from Madagascar and other partsare spoken of as employed in the Marine yard
,and as being
apprenticed as caulkers in 1 765, the Mazagaon boys, who hadhitherto performed such duties
,being “ bred upas cooks and
servants i n the manner formerly practised .
” Mr. John Watsoncontracted in 1 77 1 for the supply of800 slaves to Fort Marlborough ; while in 1 780 the Directors sent to Bombay thefollow i ng advice Having given direction to our servants on
the west coast of Sumatra to send to Bombay on the SnowElizabeth a number of coffrees which were unnecessary at thebefore-mentionedsettlement
,we direct that the said coffrees be
employed under your Presidency either in your mil itary ormarine in such manner as you shall judge will best promotethe Company ’s interest. The population return of 1 780
shows that 43 1 slaves were then resident on the island, 1 89
ofwhom belonged to Bombay and the remai nder to the Mahim
district. The number of domestic servants must hav e been
an increasing factor in our population during these years .
The I ndo-Portuguese or Goanese hadapparently not yet takenup the duties ofbutler and cook ; for Forbes in his Memoirs tel ls
209
us that “ European ladies were well served by young female
Malabars trainedby themselves ; and the men by Negro orMalabar boys
,who were our favourite personal attendants.”
The upper servants,
” he adds, were usually Mahommedans
and Parsis. ” Times have changed since then ; the Parsi hasyielded place to the Goanese, the Mahommedan to the ‘Surti
,
’
who is ofDhed or Mhar extraction . The Moors or Mabomm edan sepoys are heard of i n 1 769; such ofthem as w ere i nm i litary service declined to wear ‘ Christian boots
,
’as being
Opposed to religious principles ; andin 1 774‘ Shzituddin Patel ,
Commandant-Subhedar of the Moormen ’ appealed against an
order to pull dow n certain houses . The Bhattias attainedan unenviable notoriety in 1 775, in connection with
‘a most
horrid murder committed on a Banian boy named Pitambar,
’
whose body w as afterwards found in a house occupied by their
castefellow s. The Bhandaris figure as militia, present a petition
in connection with that system in the year 1 780. Ever since
this island,
”so the appeal runs, “ has been under the jurisdic
tion of the East I ndia Company the Bhandaris have provedthemselves good and faithful subjects ; they have been instrumental to the increase of the inhabitants of this place, andit isnotor ious that w hen the Sidis invaded Bombay, thei r forefathers
d id distinguish them selves i n the defence thereof, for w hich they
have received repeated marks of favour and countenance fromthis Government. l“ It w as with no little troublethat the Bhandaris were induced to come andreside on th isisland , and your petitioners are enti rely ig norant of their having
deserved the ill-trea tment they now suffer. The farmer hascontracted with your Honour to supply 800 men Upon the
shortest notice . I n this matter your petitioners are manifestlyinjured, as they are by this become the immediate dependents ofa Parsi , instead ofyour Honour, to whom they have ever lookedfor protection and for whose serv ice they are always ready,whether they are paid for thei r trouble or not.” Some com
promise, doubtless, was made between the distressed Bhandaris2 7
andthe arrack-farmer. The Kunbis have already been noticedin connection with the excavations in Parel and Sion rice-landsthe Topasses w ere sti l l being enlisted in military service
,were in
1 775 granted Rs. 6 a month for their subsistence, and R e. 1 a
month for their clothing in like manner as those that are keptfor the Mandvi Guard
,that is, Re 1 a month less than the
Topasses were formerly al lowed. Lastly a new European
element was introduced into the island by the import of German
artificers. Ensign Witman declared that the native was unsuit
able for the conduct of Military works, and was despatched at
his own suggestion to Germany to raise a Company ofartificers,
to be added to the battalion of infantry on this Establishment. ”
As far as can be determined from existing records, Mr. Witman’s journey was not h ighly successful, as only 2 5 men ofthe
requi red description had been despatched to Bombay by the
year 1 779.
The survey of these sixteen years may endmost fitting lywith the detai ls ofpopulation , submitted to the Grai n Com
m ittee of 1 780. T he castes, resident i n Bombay, exclusive oflabourers and non-residents, w ere as follows
Caste. Total.
R ug vediBrahm insPalshe Brahm ins
Gujarati Brahm insShenv iBrahmins
Prabhus
GoldsmithsBanians
CoppersmithsWeavers
Bhansalis
1 1 Carpenters1 3 Panch Kalshis
1 3 Chan Kalshis
1 4 Bhatias
1 5 Parsis
Car ried
The corresponding detai ls for the Mahim Distr ict
R ug vedi B rahminsPalshe Brahmins
Gujarati Brahm insShenois and C h i t t t s
(Chitpavans)Parbhus
GoldsmithsBanians
Bhansalis
CoppersmithsPanch Kalshis ofParel . .
Ag ri Kunbis
Kunbis ofN agaon
Sion CooliesKunbis ofMatung aMahim Punch Kalshis
Kunbis ofSion .
Ag ris ofT hakurw adiBhoivadaKunbisMahim Sattas CooliesMahim Bhandaris
Kunbis ofSiv ri
Kunbis of VadalaBhandaris ofMatung a
Carpenters ofMahimBarbers
Kunbis of
Siv ri CooliesDharav i CooliesSion BhandarisK ilmekars
Chau Kalshis
Kunbis ofBamnauli
Bhandaris ofMahimWashermen
Carriedover
Caste.
Broug ht forw ard
Wor li Panch Kalshis 107Tailors 20
Kitta Bhandaris 1 2
Bhatias 1 1
Moormen (see 49below ) 1 1 3
Moorish Weavers 1 2 3Mag nellas 64Wool-makers 2 2
Mocry Coolies 1 3War li Coolies Pankars. 296
Do. do. Thalkars 2 10
Turners 4Shoe-makers 5Moormen 1 36
Bhandar is Kate Kamle 32
Washermen of Pare!
Christians
Total
As w e close the tale ofthis period, we cannot help remarking the extraordinary change which our island underw ent inthe space of l ittle more than a century. Those seven disconnected isles of 1 66 1 , with a population of ten thousand
persons, had by 1 780 become practically one land with apopulation more than ten times as numerous. Colaba andOld Woman ’s Island, i t is true, sti ll held aloof; but the time
was not far distant when they also should become merged
in the Island of Bombay. The nineteenth century, to wh ichthe course of the narrative has almost brought us, is charac
terisedpossibly by more brill iant progress, by more notablereforms ; but the satisfaction which they evoke cannot begreater than that with which the tale of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries i nspires us—the tale of quiet prog ress
i n the face of many and great difliculties, of tr iumph ov eri nternal disabil ities and external peril, the story of a companyof merchants practising with one accord the old doctrine of
good-will to all, and guided by their strong men towards thegoal ofpolitical supremacy.
PERIOD THE Sc um— 1 780 To 1 8 14.
As we survey the period subsequent to the year 1 780, andcast about for the most convenient point at which to interceptthe course of the narrative, tw o dates—the years 1 8 1 2 and 1 8 14-at once engage the attention
,Estimates ofthe population of
Bombay are recorded against both years ; and the only question for decision is which of the tw o is the more suitable for
our purpose. Glancing at the figures of 1 8 1 2 , one notes thatthe large total of by no means represents the normalpopulation ofBombay ; but that some persons are classedas “ migratory or as
“ famine refugees. ” I t is quite clear that
the population ofBombay in 1 8 1 2 was abnormal, was subjectedto spurious and temporary augmentation owing to certain un
usual ci rcumstances. This being so, it seems advisable to rejectthe year 1 8 1 2 as a halting-stage, and look forward instead to1 8 14, in which year, according to Warden, our population was
There is no reason to doubt the approximate ac
curacy of this estimate, andi t only remains, therefore, to noticewhether a rise ofover sixty-five thousand in the number ofouri nhabitants synchronized with any conspicuous poli tical eventsor with any remarkable internal changes.So far as the Marathas are concerned, the present period
merely witnessed a continuance of the st ruggle, which, com
mencing with the 1 8 1: Maratha War, had been temporarilyinterrupted by the humiliating retreat of Colonel Egerton ’sarmy to W urgaum . I n 1 78 1 Mr. Hornby was sti ll at the
head of affairs in Bombay ; and knowing the views which he
held in regard to the Maratha power, one is not surprised to
findhosti lities recommenced in that year . W edo not mean to
( 2 15 )
i nfer that Mr. Hornby alone was responsible for the continu
ance of hostili ties . The Bengal Government recognised quite
as fully as he, that the struggle between ourselves and theMarathas w as both necessary and inevitable. But there mayhave been among the Bombay public persons w ho, knowing inwhat great need of funds Government then was placed, mighthave felt disposed to postpone actual warfare for some timelong er ; and to the subversion of such Opinions the generalbelief i n Hornby ’s sag acity and prudence must have i n no
small degree contributed. . In 1 78 1 , therefore, we find the
English in possession ofKalyan, and General Goddard march
ing to the siege of Bassei n. The European part ofhis army
was sent down to Salsette by sea, the batter ing train was prepared in Bombay
,and the sepoys were to march by land .
Early in October the whole of the disposable force at Bombay
and in the neighbourhood, consisting of five battalions,was
placed under the command ofLieutenant-Colonel Hartley,who
w as i nstructed to dr ive out the enemy’s posts andcover as.
much
of the Konkan as possible, so as to enable the Agents oftheBombay Government to collect a part of the revenues, andsecure the rice harvest, which is gathered at the close of therains . There is, perhaps, no part of Mr. Hornby’s minutemore expressive of the distress under which that Government
laboured than that where, alluding to the field forces they werepreparing, he observes, ‘
our troops wi ll better bear runningin arrears when employed on active service
,and subsisting
in the enemy ’s country ’ ; for it is a principle wi th the BritishGovernment and its officers in I ndia, than which nothi ng has
more tended to the national success, alw ays to consider the
peasantry under their str ictest protection. After a spiritedaction, whereby the enemy were for a time dr iven out of the
-Konkan,Hartley was enabled to cover 50 successfully the siege
ofBassein, that the city capitulated on the 1 1 th December 1 78 1 .
In the meantime Hyder Ali of Mysore had been endea
vouring to form a confederacy of all the Native Powers of
2 1 6
I ndia against the English ; and the opportunity appearingfavourable, the Governor-General decided to make peace withthe Marathas, and uti l ise against Hyder the forces whichwould otherwise be engaged against them . General Goddardwas accordingly di rected to offer terms to the Court at Poona,while Scindia was vigorously attacked i n h is ow n dominionsby another division under Colonel Carnac. O f Goddard ’s
advance to the foot of the Bhore Ghaut,and h is disastrous
retreat to Panvel, “ with a heavy loss of 466 i n killed andwounded, ofwhom 1 8 were European O flicers, it is unnecessaryto speak at length . Hosti lities were eventual ly closed by theTreaty of Salbye in 1 78 2 , whereby we at last gained permanentpossession of Salsette
,Elephanta
,Karanja and Hog Island,
but gave back Bassein and all our conquests in Guzarat tothe Peshva, and made over Broach to Scindia. The Marathason their part agreed to become the allies of the English against
Mysore , and the Peshva pledged himselfto hold no intercoursewith Europeans of any other nation . The cause of R aghoba
was definitely abandoned by the English and he became apensioner of the Peshva. The treaty w as a good strokeof imperial policy, says Maclean, “ for i t set the English free
to deal separately with Hyder Ali ; but, i n spite of somebrill iant feats of arms performed in Guzarat, the Konkan and
Central I ndia,i t cannot be said that the reputation of the
British arms had been raised by a war in which they had
suffered tw o such reverses as the capitulation ofW urgaum , andthe retreat of General Goddard . These disasters were plai nly
due to the incompetency and want ofenterprise of the oflicers
i n command, who systematically over- rated the strength of the
enemy, though the Marathas w ere always beaten easily, whenthere was any actual fighting. There was safety in aggression,but none in retreat before an enemy quickly elated by anysign ofdiscouragement among their adversaries ; and had some
of the brave young oflicers who chafed at Colonel Egerton ’s
irresolution been in command at Talleygaum , the British force
( 2 1 8 )
in the North-W est against the Afghans ; but instead ofl isteningto this advice, Sindia and the Peshva meditated joining T ippooagainst the English, and were only disconcerted by the rapidity
and completeness of the English success . The weakness of thePeshva
’
s Government, and the natural disinclination of the
predatory Marathas to abandon the pleasant habit ofplunder ingtheir neighbours
,caused the greatest disorders throughout the
Maratha country,and every petty chief with a band ofarmed
followers made war and raised revenue on his own account.I n Poona itself law less excesses of all kinds were committed ;and the Peshva and Sindia w ere both at the mercy ofa turhulent and rapacious soldiery . I n 1 801 , a new pow er appeared onthe scene. The Holkar fam i ly had for many years been keptin check by Sindia but JasvantRao Holkar , the most celebrated of all the Maratha freebooters, succeeded in getting togetheran army strong both in cavalry andin disciplined infantry andarti llery. Marching on Poona in 1 802 he w on a completevictory over Sindia in a desperately contested battle ; andthepusi llanimous Peshva, w ho had not appeared on the field
,fled
fi rst to the fort of Sing hur , andthence to Revadanda on thecoast
,w here he found an Eng l ish ship to take him to Bassein .
”
This crisis ofaffairs appeared to Lord Wellesley “ to afford
a most favourable opportunity for the complete establishment
of the i nterests of the British power in the Maratha Empire. ”
Hence negotiations w ere set on foot, w hich resulted i n theTreaty of Bassein being signed by Bay Rao on the 3 1 51
December 1 802 . By that treaty he bound himself to accepta subsidiary force of men and to assign territory worth
a year for their pay,to give up his claims on Surat,
to accept the Company as arbiter in the disputes ofthe Peshvawith the Gaekw ar, to admit no Europeans into his service, and
not to neg otiate w ith any other pow er w hatever w ithout givingnotice and consulting w ith the Company’s Government
.I n
return the Company undertook to replace him on the “Masnad”
at Poona, and did so on the 1 3th May 1 803 ; an action
t 2 19
which resulted in the campaign ofAssaye, A rgaum ,and Laswari
against Sindia and the Raja ofBerar . The m i l i tary force atBombay w as employed during the campaign in reducing theFort and territory of Broach, and the possessions of Sindia in
Guzarat and to the southward ofthe Nerbudda—a work whichwas successfully carried out. It may be noted that in 1 799,
when extra help w as required to crush T ippoo, our tow n and
Island raised a corps of Fencibles strong, ofw hich Mr.Forbes equipped and paid 50 men ; and that for the campaign
of 1 803 , Mr . Duncan, the Governor, was authorised to convertthis corps into a regular reg iment, the 9th Reg iment ofNative
I nfantry . The war of 1 803 w as follow ed by w ar w ith Holkar
in 1 804, which w as finally concluded by the peace of 1 805.
From that year up to the end ofthe per iod under rev iew open
hosti lities w ith the Maratha power w ere temporari ly held in
abeyance .I t was not only for her own hand that Bombay foug ht
during this period ; she also aided the Government of I ndia i n
its war w ith Mysore , by the despatch in 1 78 1 ofan expeditionunder Colonel Humberstone
,w hich took Calicut and Ponany,
and by the supply of reinforcements in 1 78 2 , w hich took
Honore,Mangalore
, Cundapur , Karw ar, and all the strongplaces on the coast ofthe province ofKanara . The story ofthe
assault of Bednore and the death of General Mathew s andtw enty other Bombay oflicers is too w ell know n to requi rerepetition . Once again in 1 799did Bombay stretch out a helping hand against the son of Hyder Ali ; and to such goodpurpose that the Marquis Wellesley expressed in the w armest
terms to Mr . Jonathan Duncan , then Governor of Bombay, hisappreciation of the work done by the Bombay conting ent,declaring that “
the merits of Generals Stuart and Hartley, as
wel l as of Colonel Montresor and other officers, have seldom
been equalled and never surpassed in I ndia .
”
Bombay,in truth
, w as supremely conscious that she had
become a political power, andwas determinedto raise her
( 2 20 )
military prestige to the same level with her commercial reputa
tion . Thus w e hear of her citizens, headedby the Governorhimself, subscribing a sum ofRs . towards prosecuting
the war with France, of the raising ofa corps ofarmed men ;and finally there are the eulogistic w ords of Lord Wellesley
,
i n reply to an address from the inhabitants ofBombay upon the
glorious termination of the Mysore War . “ The distinguished
part,
” he wrote,
“which the settlement of Bombay has borne
during the late crisis i n the labours and honours of the commoncause has repeatedly claimed my w arm approbation
,and wi ll
ever be remembered by me with gratitude and respect . I n your
liberal and voluntary contribution towards the exigencies ofyournative country, and towards the defence of the Presidency under
w hose Government you reside , and in the alacrity with whichyou have given your personal services for the mi l itary protection
of Bombay, I have contemplated with pleasure the same charac
ter of publ ic spi r it, resolution and activity, which has markedthe splendid successes of the army of Bombay from the com
mencement to the close ofthe late glorious campaign .
”
The despatch ofa detachment to occupy the island of Perimin 1 799, andto initiate political relations with the Arab chief
of Aden, the equipment of the expedition to Egypt under Sir
D.Baird in 1 801 , when
“ the troops embarked in five days after
the requisition w as made for them ,and the whole businesswas con
ducted w i th regularity and rapidity ” and finally the operations
against the Pirates of the Coast ; all these events are proof thatthe power of our settlement was increasing, that our island was
gradual ly gaining the position, which might justify the subjects of
other Governments seeking her protection. Notw ithstanding that
A ng ria’
s power had been shattered, piracy was sti ll carried onby Maratha cruisers which issued from Malwan in Kolhapur or
from Ving urla in Savantw adi while to the north of Bombay
no serious attempt had yet been made to harry the nests ofpirates,who had sheltered from time immemorial in the creeks and
islands along the coasts of Gujarat, Cutch andKathiawar.
subduedall the native powers,and reduced to mere ciphers
those of them that stil l retained a nominal independence. ”
These events were suflicient in themselves to occasion a rise
ofpopulation ; for, as General Wellesley remarked during hisvisit to the Island in 1 804,
“ increasing channels ofwealth hadin consequence of his victories been opened “ to this opulent
settlement . ” This island,
” he w rote on another occasion,
has now become the only place ofsecurity in this part of I ndia
for property, and for those w ho are the objects of the Peshva’s
enmity and vengeance,a circumstance equally honourable to the
character of the British nation andadvantageous to their interests, and affording the strongest proofofthe confidence which
the natives repose in the justice and wisdom of our policy andour law s . ” Commercial rivalry on the part ofother European
nations was an event no longer to be apprehended ; trade was in aflourishi ng condition and the old system of impartiality and
good-will to all manner ofmen , which had first been born of the
great mind ofA ung ier , had , in conjunction with carefully fostered
military strength , i nsensibly, but none the less inevitably, ledto
the steady colonisation ofa once barren and inconsiderable ”
land .
As regards domestic affairs, it w ill perhaps suffice to noticeon the one hand certain administrative measures, designed for thebetter government ofour possession , andon the other hand anyalterations which the tow n or island may have undergone during
th is period . We have already made mention ofthe good work done
by the Bombay Marine of how the fleets of the king were
repaired in the Dockyard how it had become the police-force of
the Indian seas . Its importance as a part ofthe executive pow erwas increased by the appointment in 1 785 of a MarineBoard
,and in 1 786 of a Comptroller of Marine.
“Thereasons wh ich you offered during the war,
” wrote the Court inMarch 1 785,
“ that the sh ips belonging to h is Majesty’s squadron so fully engrossed the marine yard that you could not then
carry i nto execution our orders and regulation of December 1 778
( 2 2 3 )
for forming a Marine Board,can no longer exist
,now that peace
is restored. Nor can the excuses offered in your letter of the roth
February 1 784 ofthe many more necessary avocations in whichour President is engaged be admitted for further postponing th isessential business I n our Opinion the Regulations bid fair toproduce the most beneficial consequences to the Company as w ell
as to those merchants who may bui ld or repair their ships atBombay. They have been drawn up w i th all the care and attention due to so salutary a measure. And we are determined ourorders shal l in this respect be obeyed . You are
,therefore, to
consider itas our positive demand to which w e w i l l not admit anyfurther evasion or excuse, that immediately upon receipt of th isletter you do form the Marine Board and comply w ith the severalorders and instructions respecting the same
,as di rectedin our
letter of the 2 3rdDecember During these years, a
Marine Survey was also established , for the benefit of both
Government and private merchants . Equally important were themeasures taken to ensure more accuracy and despatch in thegeneral business ofthe State. In September 1 785 the Directors
forwarded the follow ing instructions I nstead of the various
sub-divisions ofdepartments by w h ich the business of our settlement is now conducted, it is our order that the whole detai lshould be carr ied under the following branches
1 . The Board ofCouncil, 3. Board ofRevenue,2 . A Military Board , 4. Board ofTrade.
Our President and Counci l will sti ll continue to act i n theirdouble capacity ofPubl ic and Secret. As the duties respectivelybelonging to each seem to be accurately defined in a Minute of
the Governor-General and Council of September 2 3rd, 1 783, we
enclose a copy thereoffor your guidance. The sole d ifference isthat
,in the definition ofthe business of the Publ ic Department
,
it mentions matters w hich regard commerce and shipping,whereas
our intention is that matters ofthat description shal l belong to the
Commercial Department. ” The Court proceed to lay dow n the
constitution of the Mil itary Board,and of the Board of Trade,
adding that al l subsequent despatches will be addressed to the
( 2 24 )
Bombay Government in its Publ ic,Secret, Military, R evenue
and Commercial Departments . Four years later the PoliticalDepartment w as instituted and also the post of Private Secre
tary to the Governor’s Office,” to w hich Mr. Edw ard Galley was
appointed on a salary ofRs. 500a month .
The most notable change in the Judicial Department of theadministration was the foundation in 1 798 ofa Recorder
’s Court,
which succeeded the O ldMayor’s Court, on the arrival of SirWilliam Syer
,the First Recorder. The Court w as accommodated
at first in Colonel Jones’ House in Marine Street (now the Apollo
Bonded Warehouses) andby 1 800 in the Admiralty House (Mr.Hornby’s) , w hich in these days has become the Great Western
Hotel. Sir Will iam Syer died in 1 802 , and w as succeeded by
Sir James Mackintosh,
‘the Man of Promise,
’ who,in the
words ofhis Diary, used to vary h is idle and disengaged life at
the Governor’s noble country house ofParel by days of businessat the Recorder’s Court. In 1 804 he w rites I have four termsfor civi l business and four sessions for criminal . The numberofmy days ofattendances is about 1 10 in a year ; and I commouly sit three or four hours each day. I have found the busi
ness very easy, indeed rather an amusement than a toi l . The
two Barr isters are g entlemenlike men.
” Another importantmeasure during these year sw as the appointment of Justices ofthe Peace . In 1 793 the Governor and Members of Council
w ere the only Justices ofthe Peace in Bombay, and in 1 796 sat
in a Court ofQuarter Sessions, invi ting two of the inhabitants,agreeably to Section 1 55 ofthe Assessment and License Act, to
sit with them . This system appears to have continued unti l1 798 , when the duties of the Justices were l ightened by thetransfer to the Recorder’s Court of the Sessions of Oyer andTerminer. In 1 807 the Governor and Counci l of Bombay were
empowered by Act, 47, George I I I , to issue commissions,appointing so many ofthe Company ’s servants or other Britishinhabitants, as they should consider qual ified , to act as Justicesofthe Peace, under the seal of the Recorder
’s Court. The first
2 2 6
them every other Wednesday til l the four pairs are in
employ.
4. That as soon as the Kasids can be procured at
Bombay, they shall be returned from thence on the secondand fourth Wednesday of every month, by pursuing of
which method,a constant and regular communication will
be kept on foot.
5. That such ind ividuals as choose to avail themselvesof this mode of conveying lette rs to and from eachPresidency
,are to pay w hen put into the oflice, for a single
letter Rs. 2 , for a double letter Rs. 4, and for a treble letter
Rs. 6 . Packets,according to their weight, at the rate of
Rs. 4 per ounce .6 . That the Kasids undertake to deliver the packets
entrusted to their charge for either settlement within
2 5 days, and to return within the same period with other
despatches,unless detained by Government on account of
their packets not being ready.
O fminor arrangements for the benefit of the people , onemay remark in particular the emancipation of the Kolis, and therefusal to grant a five years ’ monopoly to the sellers ofbetel-leaf.As we understand, wrote the Directors in 1 791 ,
“ that an
old arbitrary power, w hich was established when the island
belonged to the Portuguese, has been exercised in later times,and perhaps is in some degree sti ll exercised, against that mostuseful set of people , the fishermen
,a certain number of them
being obliged to fish in the Breach water,and to act as
palanquin-bearers to some ofthe gentlemen in oflice, for the first
of which duties they either receive no pay or scarce any and forthe latter not near the w ages customary, and that they experienceother grievances w hich must not only subject their industry to
imposition,but their persons to insult and Oppression from the
sepoys or others authorized to compel them to execute such duties,
we direct that in case such grievances do stil l in any degree exist,they be on receipt ofthis letter entirely abol ished andthe fishermen
2 2 7
released from all such serv itude and left as free as the otherinhabitants ofthe island . The idea ofa betel-leafmonopoly was
sternly discountenanced , on the ground that monopol ies of this
nature, however apparently calculated or intended for the publ ic
good,frequently produce inconvenience and grievances, which in
th is case would chiefly fall on the lower order of people to whom
betel-leaf is an absolute necessary of l ife. ”
Such w ere the more important domestic improvements of thisyear ; but no survey of the period w ould be complete without areference to bui lding Operations . As early as 1 787, encroachmentswithin the walls ofthe garrison had become so numerous that aspecial Committee, consisting of the Land Paymaster, Col lector
and Chief Engineer , w as appointed to examine the privatebuildings which natives were erecti ng
,and decide how far they
might prov e prejudicial to publ ic works and the general health of
the inhabitants. One learns that in the absence ofany restriction
respecting the height of houses,the confined extent of their
ground has led many of the black inhabitants to raise their houses
to so great a height as may be injurious to the healthiness ofthetown . I t has l ikewise been unfortunate, both for the coolness and
the appearance of the tow n, that little attention has been given tothe breadth ofthe streets, and to keeping them as much as possiblestraight cutting each Other at right angles. The Committee
made various suggestions for improvement ; that the principal
street of the town should be enlarged to fifty feet, the cross streets
to twenty-five feet, and the lanes or galis to fifteen feet ; that nonative house should exceed thirty-two feet in height
, from the
terreplein to the eaves ”
; that al l shop-projections should be
removed , as being positive encroachments on the streets,and
receptacles for every kind of filth andnastiness ” that every
house-holder should be compel led to clean daily that part of thestreet Oppos ite his dwell ing-house ; that any house-holder al lowing dirt to remain in the street Opposite his dwell ing-house should
be fined ; and that the pil ing ofgoods on the green or any other
open area w ithin the tow n should be restr icted to particular kinds
ofspecified goods ; and that the inspection and control of the
business should be placed under such authority as might effectuallyprevent the inconvenience from going beyond the limits allow edby Government. ” Notw ithstanding the approval of thes esuggestions
,and the issue ofan order to carry them to a practical
issue,some external stimulus w as needed to effect definite
expansion and improvement. An Opportunity of introducingwider and more regular streets
,and of relieving congested
localities,was eventual ly afforded by the great fi re which broke
out in the north ofthe town on the 1 7th February 1 803. How
it arose,w as never definitely decided but to quote the words of
the Honourable jonathan Duncan, So great and violent was
the conflag ration, that at sunset the destruction of every house inthe Fort was apprehended . The flames di rected their course in a
south-easterly direction from that part of the Bazaar Opposite tothe Cumberland Ravelin quite down to the King ’s barracks.During the whole ofthe day every effort was used to Oppose itsprogress
,but the fierceness of the fire driven rapidly on by the
wind baffled all attempts ; nor did it visibly abate ti l l nearly athird part of the tow n within the wal ls had been consumed .
” Aletter from the Bombay Government of the 2 6th February 1 803
show s that altogether 47 1 houses were destroyed, out ofwhich
5 were the property of Europeans,2 3 1 of Hindus
,141 of
Parsis, 83 ofMahommedans ; w hile 6 “ places ofworship and
5 barracks ( the Tank barracks) were also burnt to the ground .
The last embers were hardly exti nguished , before the Bombay
Government was in i tiating the work of reform. A carefulsurvey was made not on ly of the quarter affected , but also
of those locali ties w hich had escaped w e read ofmany houses
being removed as dangerous, 10 i n Church Gate Street, 7 inGovind Kanoba’s Street, 5 i n the lane Opposi te Sorabji
’
s house,2 i n Vithoba Yadavji
’
s Lane, 2 i n Framji Nanabhai’s Lane, 4
i n Purshottam Chimaji’
s Street, 5 i n Cavasji Patel
’s Street,
3 in Nanabhai Bamanji’
s Street,2 i n Kavasji Subehdar
’
s Lane,
5 in the Governor’s oldstable and 9 others. A large quanti ty
bui ldi ng.
“ The exclusion of inhabi tants,” said the Commi t
tee, “ is a desi rable object to be attained, as many ofthe prev iousinhabitants had no right to a residence i n Fort. They hadno
business to transact, and were merely drones in the hive interrupting the business and pursuits ofothers . T he change of the
Mandvi w i ll also withdraw a considerable number of pettytraders
,who will find i t to their interest as well as to be more
convenient to be near the scene of their traflic. Thus the
accommodations w i thin the Fort w ill be left to the more respect
able and wealthy merchants, who have the best claim to its
protection .
” By the close of 1 803 the Committee were steadi lyengaged in apportioning new sites outside the town walls, and ingranting reasonable pecuniary compensation as well, in all caseswhere the new extra-mural plots were of less value than the
old sites .The fire of 1 803 was in real i ty a b lessing in disguise for i t
accelerated the foundation of that settlement, which gradually
grew into the City of Bombay. The Hornby Vellardandsmaller dams had provided the necessary ground the conflag ra
tiOn resulted in the conversion of that ground to a practical
purpose . Milburn in his “ Oriental Commerce ” gives the
follow ing sketch ofthe old town, as it appeared betw een 1 803 and1 808 Betw een the two marine gates is the castle called
Bombay Castle, a regular quadrangle, well bui l t ofstrong hard
stones. I n one of the bastions is a large tank or reservoir for
water. The fortifications are numerous, particularly towards
the sea, and are so well constructed, the whole being encompassed by a broad and deep di tch, which can be flooded at pleasure,that it is now one of the strongest places the Company havein I ndia. Besides the Castle are several forts and redoubts
,
the principal of w hich is Mahim situated at the opposite
extremity of the island , so that, properly garrisoned, Bombaymay bid defiance to any force that can be brought against it. I n
the centre of the town is a large open Space, cal ledthe Green,which in the fine weather season, is covered with bales of cotton,
l 2 3 2
Bombay,separated only by a small creek fordable at low water,
is Colaba or Old Woman ’s I sland, w hich partly forms the northside of the harbour. I t is about 2 g miles long. Near its
southern extremity, stands the l ighthouse . This bui ld ing is of
a circular form,and has within i t a fl ight ofsteps to ascend to the
top the height i s upw ards of 1 50feet above the level of the sea,
and the light may be seen in clear weather the distance of sevenleagues . There is also a signal station where a regular watch iskept day and night
,the expense of which is defrayed by a rate
levied on all vessels frequenting the port. On this island are
barracks for the military, and occasionally a camp is formed here,being esteemed a healthy situation. I t has many delightful villasscattered about. The point ofColaba on which the Lighthousestands
,is guarded on all sides by an extensive reef of rocks,
div ided into prongs ; the most dangerous is the S .-W . prong,
which forms the northern boundary of the entrance i nto the
harbour,and Tull Reef the southern. The breadth of the
channel betw een the prongs and Tull reef is about three miles.
”
For many years there had been complaints about the incon
venience of the Town Jail , which after 1 745 was situated in the
Marine Yard. “This bui lding, the County Jai l,” wrote the
Civ i l Auditor in 1 798 ,“would be very valuable, if laid into the
Marine Yard . And I do not see any necessity for having aprison w ithin the fort. The present one has been often and very,justly complained offor not affording suflicient accommodation tothe prisoners .” In 1 799, therefore, a plot ofground was purchas
edat Umarkhadi, upon which the present Common Jai l w asbui lt. An inscription on the western gateway ofthe enclosureshow s that “ This Gaol was bui lt during the administration ofthe Honourable Jonathan Duncan, Esquire,
Mr. Hornby’s house in Marine Street, w hich forms anotherlandmark, was used ti l l the Opening of the nineteenth century asan Admiralty House ; for, as the Bombay Government ex
plained, it was “ necessary to provide a proper house for theaccommodation of the Commander- in-Chiefofthe fleet in India,
and there w as no other in the place either in point of situation orconvenience or in other respect so well adapted for his residence. ”
But in 1 800the main bui lding w as reserved for the accommodation of the new ly establishedRecorder’s Court, a smal l portionbeing util ized as a store-room for the Admiralty furniture.Another bui ld ing
,which has given its name to a portion of
the Island,was the Cooperage
,described in 1 759as
“ a shed thecoopers w ork in.
”T he erection in 1 78 1 of proper Cooperage
buildings on the Esplanade resulted from a recommendation by
Rear Admiral Si r Edw ard Hughes to the effect that, “ As theCompany furnish warehouses for the reception ofsalt provisions
sent to th is place for the service ofhis Majesty ’s squadron , andas much i nconven ience has arisen to the i nhabitants resid ing inthe garrison from the necessary surveying, repacking andrepickling the said provisions, I am ofopinion that lodgingsuch provisions in a dry wel l-bui l t shed or i n a house erected onthe Apollo Ground
,walled round and ti led on the roof, would
rel ieve the inhabitants from the much-complained-of stench,
arising from doing what is absolutely necessary for the preser
vation of the salt provisions .
” I n consequence of the Adm iral ’s
letter,Government decided to erect a proper shed on the
Apollo Ground for the reception ofthe King ’s provisions . ”
O fsome interest i n those years must have been the house ,long since pulled down
,which was occupied by the Duke of
Wellington in 1 801 -2 . A correspondent of the Bombay T z'
mes
w rote the fol lowing account of i t in 1 856 I t is a mere hut of
a place, such as a subaltern of the Bombay Army wouldperhaps turn up his nose at
,and think only fit for servants or
for a stable. It is situated between the road and the sea at thecurve of the Bay (Back Bay) towards Malabar H i ll , close towhere the road from Byculla turns into the Breach road from the
Fort. It is in the middle ofa wood yard , and in fact cannot bemistaken.
” This explanation wi l l be clearer to modern mindsby remembering that “ the road from Byculla ” corresponds tothe Gamdev i R oad ofthe twentieth century.
30
The increase of population,which hadtaken place by
the year 1 8 14, w as in great measure due to the poli tical andi nternal progress
,w hich we have br iefly delineated. But it is
doubtful whether mi litary achievements, protection of trade andgood government, could by themselves have ensured an increaseO f I t is a recorded fact that in 1 8 1 2 the population of
Bombay w as 2 3 and that ofthe whole number at
least w ere famine refugees ; and we incline to the belief that in1 8 14 also, there w ere on the island a considerable number of
persons w ho, originally driven hither by the great famine of1 803,had decided not to return to their homes in the Konkan orDeccan
,but to seek such new means of subsistence
,as were
afforded by a thriving and well-governed settlement, Many no
doubt returned to their vi l lages, w hen the stress was over as theydo in these later days ; but many must have remained and contributed by their presence to the total of O fthat memorable famine one catches a glimpse in the Oriental Memoirs. ”
“What infinite advantage,says the writer
,what incalculable
benefits must accrue from a w ise and liberal administration over
those extensive realms which now form part ofthe British Empire,is not for me to discuss . What immense good was done by the
wise policy of the Bombay Government alone during a late
famine,we learn from the address of Sir James Mackintosh to
the Grand Jury ofthat I sland in 1 804. N O other language thanhis ow n can be adopted on this i nteresting subject . I t indirectlypoints out the object I have often mentioned, the amelioration ofthe natives of I ndia by the introduction of religion, laws, art,science and civi lisation
,in thei r best and most comprehensive
sense. T upright and able Magistrate,after descanting upon
famine in general, enters into the particulars of that in the
Konkan, occasioned by a partial fai lure of the periodical rains
in 1 802 , and from a complete fai lure in 1 803, from w hence,he says, a famine has arisen in adjoining provinces of India,especially in the Maratha territories, which I shall not attempt todescribe
,andw hich, I bel ieve, no man can truly represent to the
and w hat is more important that i t has prevented the greater
part of the misery th rough which they must have passed , beforethey found refuge i n death beside the misery ofall those wholoved them or w ho depended on their care.
” One cannot helpth inking that the beneficent atti tude of our Governmenttowards the starving immigrants of those years formed a direct
i nducement to the latter to remain upon the island , and that
had there been no famine to drive them hither in the firsti nstance
, our population would not have i ncreased to qui te
so great an extent.The trading communities were steadily advancing in num
bers during these years,andwere settl i ng i n locali ties outside thefortifications, and as near the docks as possible. From 1 803
onwards,dw el ling-houses, godow ns, shops, and markets began
to rise,the original nucleus of our Mandvi , Chakla and
O omerkhar ry Sections . The present Secretary of the Dassa
Oswal Jain Communi ty informs us that by 1 800 there weresome six or eight families of that class, settled in whatwe now know as Dongri ’ Street ; and that i n immediately
succeeding years, there were fresh arrivals from Cutch , temptedto the i sland by the prospect offai r trade , who bought land,built houses
,and general ly laid the foundations of one of the
most prosperous ofour modern commercial classes. The Parsis
w ere in no w ise behindhand a considerable l ist ofnames, whichit would be but tedious to recal l, has been handed down to us,proving that the ancestors of several famil ies, w ell-know n inthese days
,w ere in Bombay by the year 1 8 14. L avji
’
s grand
son, Jamshedji Wadia, was carefully guarding the reputation
w hich his sire and grandsire had bequeathed , and earn ing the
golden Opin ions of the ruling body by bui lding first class
frigates for the I ndian Marine, and stout vessels for such
friendly pow ers as the Imam ofMuscat . The [ an-i-Bambaz'
( z'
. e. ,the Soul ofBombay ) , a Persian pamphlet written i n 1 8 1 8
by an anonymous Mughal scribe,speaks of the Memons as
sel lers of fuel , and ofone “A bba Fateh Muhammad as the
12 37
headman of that community. The Khojas are also mentionedas hawkers ofparched rice. Notwithstanding that the Bohras
and other Mahommedan communities w ere perm i tted to residewithin the Fort, a considerable num ber of Moors must, bythe close of this period , have gathered round the four mainbandars ” or ports of the . Island
,namely the Bori Bandar
( now the Victoria Rai lw ay Term i nus) the Kol i Bandar or Gowl iBandar, the Masjid Bandar, and the Chi nch Bandar . The two
latter have given their names to w el l-known modern local ities .The situation ofthose Mahommedan cemeteries and shrinesalso, w h ich existed at the close ofthis period , point perhaps to the
g radual dispersion of the community over the face of theIsland . Our unknow n Persian historian tel ls ofburial-grounds
at Sonapur, O omerkhari,Khetwadi
, T arvadi, and Mahim and
g ives the fol low ing lengthy l ist ofshrines upon the i sland
(i) T he shr ine ofthe SaintMakhdum Fakih A li.
( ii) Sheikh Misr i at Sew r i.
(iii) SayadBadrudin in theBhendy Bazaar .
( iv ) Sayads Nizam uddin and-Muhiuddin in
O omerkhar i.
(v ) SayadA shik Shah in Dong r i.
( v i) Sayad Hussein Idrus in Sat-Tar
(lzodz'
e) Satar Street.
(v u) SayadHisam uddin at Do-Tar e. ,
Don T ad,m odern Dontar ) .
( v iii) Sana Shah in Cow asji Patel’
s garden.
( ix) Pedro Shah (a Por tug uese conv ert
w ho on conv ersion to Islam obtainedthe honour of sac rosanctity) , on the
maidan ( i. e. , the Esplanade, northof the modern G. I. P . R ailw ayT erm inus) .
Bism il lah Shah, adjoining the Fortw al ls ( 11a , to the east of modern Victor ia T erm inus) .
( xi) T he Chil la ofShah Daw at in K umbharw ada.
(xii) T he tw o“ Chil las "
ofShah Madar , one in Sat Tar,
andone near theBhendy Bazaar .
( 2 38 1
(xiii) The Shrine ofShah Hasan Ghazati near the lighthouse.
(xiv ) Shah Hussein Gazati atMoba
( xv ) Sheikh Mom in Barkat near BarkatBazaar .
That the foundations ofour modern city were laid in theseyears, will appear more clearly by reference to the numbers ofpersons actually resident with i n the Fort . A survey of the
Fort population was made in 1 8 1 3, whence it appeared thatpersons were dwel l i ng withi n the walls . O f these, 2 50
w ere Engl ish , were Parsis, Hindus, 775 Moors,
146 Portuguese and 105 were Armenians. On deduction ofthese figures from the total population of the island, one mayassume that the extra-mural population w as roughly
and allowing twenty or th irty thousand persons to the
Mahim district, i t seems probable that there were aboutone hundred and thirty or one hundred and forty thousandresident between the Bazaar Gate in the south and the Parelvi l lage and the Mahalakshmi temple in the north.
A few remarks upon the commercial ci rcumstances
of the Island w i l l form a suitable epi logue to the history
of the period . Up ti ll the year 1 8 1 3, as we learn from
Maclean and other writers, the East I ndia Company re
tained exclusive possession of trade, private persons beingallowedto indulge in commerce only w ith the Company
's li cense.Private enterprise had l ittle or no chance in Bombay at a time
w hen the Company and its servants had the pick of the trade ;and Milburn gives the following as
.a complete l ist of independent
European firmsB ruce, Faw cett 8: C0.
Forbes Co.
Shotton 8L Co.
John L eckie.
S . Beaufort.
Baxter , Son 8: Co.
John Mitchel l 8L C0.
W ooller 8: C0.
R . McLean 8: Co.
2 39
The commanders andoffi cers ofthe Company’s ships employedParsi dubashes or agents to manage thei r i nvestments. Thetonnage of the merchant ships in 1 8 1 1 , w as tons, some
of the ships carrv ing tons, and the largest class couldtake a cargo of bales of cotton. There was only oneInsurance Offi ce, the Bombay I nsurance Society, with a capital
of 20 lakhs ; but much underwriting was done by private
persons."
Notwithstanding the restrictive effect ofa monopoly,which
certainly contributed, conjointly with the subversion of theMoghal Empire
,to a decline in the trade of Surat
,Bombay
attained increas ing importance as a trade-centre, and appearedto M ilburn
,at the commencement of the ni neteenth century
,l ikely
to prove the most durable of all the English possessions inI nd ia . We read of imports between 1 802 and 1 806 valued at
and ofexports worth ofcotton exported to China in 1 805, worth Sicca Rupees ofgoodsand treasure exported betw een 1 792 and 1 809 of the aggregatevalue of
But in 1 8 1 3 a change was introduced into commercial conditions by the passing of Lord Melvi l le’s Bi ll
,which abolished
the exclusive trade of the Company with I ndia,securing to it
for twenty years longer the monopoly of the trade with China.
The removal of oldprivi leges gave g reat encouragement to theisland ’s commerce, particularly to the export trade to Englandin raw cotton, which rose from 30millions lbs . i n 1 809 to 90 mill ions lbs . in 1 8 16 . What would those old adventurers
, R alphFitch and John Newbury, have thought, had they been alive inthese years andwitnessed the opportunities for trade, wherein allmight, if they so wished, equally participate . They, after tediousoverland journey in 1 583, had met with but a poor welcome, and
learned more ofPortuguese jai ls than ofthe spices, ivory and finestufi
'
s of I ndia.
By the year 1 8 14 the circumstances of Bombay were most
favourable. Mi l itary and political prestige had been acquired ;
2 40
trade was expanding ; progress in domestic matters was
assured and these three facts produced so favourable an impression upon those communities, which recog nised or had learnt byexperience the inherent weaknesses of Maratha dominion, that
increase ofpopulation and occupation ofhitherto w aste areas bid
fair to be simply a question of time.
PER IOD THE SEVENTH .—1 8 14. To 1 838 .
On two occasions during the period lasting from 1 8 14 to
1 838 , estimates of the Bombay population were recorded . I n1 830, according to Lagrange, the numbers on the Island hadrisen from to by 1 836 , they hadagain in
creased to 2 The latter date should, strictly speaking,form the close ofthe period : but, on the supposition that a periodof tw o years would not have largely affectedthe total of 1 836 ,and in consideration also of the fact that Si r Robert Grant’sreti rement in 1 838 constitutes a more natural conclusion to a freshchapter, it is proposed to extend the boundary ofour survey to thelatter date. The lapse of roughly tw o additional years cannothave added more than a few hundred—if indwd any increasewhatever occurred—to the total of recorded against theyear 1 836 .
The political history of the period under review is remarkable for the final extinction of piracy on the Western Coast of
India, and for thedethronement ofthe dynasty ofPeshvas. W e
have already reviewed the steps taken to undermine the powerof the pirates i n the preceding period .
“ Those arrangements, remarks Maclean
,
“ led of course to disorders andi nsurrections among the turbulent classes of the population ;and the final blow was not given to the pi rates ofKathiawarti ll 1 8 19, when a British force under Colonel Stanhope escaladed Dwarka and put the w hole garrison , who refused to askfor quarter, to the sword .
” Thus a just retribution overtook
them ,w ho had for many a long year terrorised the peaceful
merchants of Surat and Bombay ; the last of the Rover
f 2 42
rity, led to i nsurrection and unrest, and rendered the continua
tion of his sway abhorrent to the i nhabitants of his kingdom .
Baji Rao ’s hosti l i ty to the Engl ish provoked him to stultifya guarantee ofsafety which the latter had granted to the Gaek
war’s Agent,Gangadhar Shastri
, w ho visited Poona in 1 8 1 5,for the purpose ofsettl i ng certain claims preferred against his
master by the Peshva. The story ofhis murder by Trimbak
ji Dang lia, of the latter’s imprisonment at Thana, and escape
i n 1 8 1 6 , through the kind offices of “ a Maratha horse-keeper,who sang in an apparently careless manner outside T rimbakji
’
s
cell,the i nformation which would help h im to escape,
” needsbut passing reference. No sooner was the infamous ministerback in Poona
,than we find Baj i Rao allying himself with
P i ndari free-booters, and with Scindia, Holkar , and the Rajaof Berar, i n a confederacy to overthrow the British power.
The hesitation,which formed a considerable element in the
Peshva’
s character,prevented h is joining issue with the Engl ish
for some days and the latter profited by the respite to obtai nreinforcements from Bombay, which covered the whole distance
from Panw ell to Poona with only one halt, and arrived i n the
Deccan capital on the 3oth October 1 8 1 7. On the sth November was fought the Battle ofKirkee
,the crowning-poi nt of the
struggle against Native powers, which had commenced i n thelatter halfof the seventeenth century.
“Those only,” quotes
Maclean,
“ who have witnessed the Bore i n the GulfofCambay
,and have seen i n perfection the approach of that roaring
tide,can form the exact idea presented to the author at sight
of the Peshva’
s army. I t was towards the afternoon ofa verysultry day ; there was a dead calm ,
and no sound was heard,except the rushing, the trampli ng and neig hing ofthe horses
,
and the rumbling of the gun-wheels . The effect was height
enedby seei ng the peaceful peasantry flyi ng from their w ork
in the fields, the bu llocks breaking from thei r yokes, the wildantelopes startled from sleep, bounding offand then turn ingfor a moment to gaze on this tremendous i nundation , which
swept al l before it, level led the hedges and stand ing corn , andcompletely overwhelmed every ordinary barrier as it moved .
But the doom ofMaratha misrule had been sealed ; an army ofhorse and foot was powerless to save h is kingdom
,
for Baj i Rao who, from the h i l ls overlooking the plain of
Kirkee, watched his ranks shiver, break andflee . Accompanied
by a small band of personal attendants, the Peshva escaped,and passed the next few months in concealment, and i n attemptsto avoid arrest by the English
,who overran the Deccan
andSouthern Maratha Country . Eventually, on discoveringthat h is last chance of effecti ng anythi ng against the English
had passed away, he surrendered h imself to Sir John Malcolm ,
and , renounci ng for h imselfand h is family all claims to sover
eig nty, w as permi tted to retire on the enormous pension of
a year to Bithoor on the Ganges,w here he doubtless
insti l led into the mind of his adopted son,Nana Saheb
,that
hatred ofthe British, which bore such terrible frui t i n the year1 857.
O fmil itary events, subsequent to the battle of Ki rkee, of
battles ofSholapur,the capture of R aig hur , and heroic defences
ofKoregaon , i t is unnecessary here to speak . The dynasty of
the Peshvas was dead ; their domin ions, or the major portionthereof, were annexed to the Company
’s territory in 1 8 1 8 . Asmall tract was reserved “ for the comfo rt and dig nity of theimprisoned Raja of Satara, which might serve as a counterpoise to the remai n ing influence of the Brahmins , conci l iatethe Maratha nation
,and leave an opening for the employment
ofmany persons in their own way,whom it w ould have been
expensive to subsist,and w ho could not obtain a l ivelihood
under the English adm i n istration . Kolhapur, Savantvadiand A ng ria
’
s Kolaba remained for some time longer independen t Maratha principal ities .
The annexation of the Deccan is regarded by a wellknown student of Bombay H istory as one of the three great
events, wh ich materially contr ibutedto the making of our
f
Town and Island of Bombay . Free and un interrupted tradebetween our port andthe mainland , which had suffered g reatlyin the past from the jealous restrictions of the Maratha government
,was thereby assured ; the milder sway of the British in
both the Deccan and Konkan perm i tted the house-holder tojourney to the coast, without fear ofdanger to his hom esteadand belongi ngs during his absence, and lightened the burden
of taxation , which had formerly kept him prisoner w ithin the
l imits of his vi llage . The dynasty of the Peshvas, saysMaclean , “
existed only seventy years, and i ts decay was so
rapidthat if the English had not dethroned Baj i R ao, the Arabmercenaries w hom the Marathas had h ired to fight for themwould soon have founded kingdoms of their own i n I ndia . Soextreme was the m isrule - justice bei ng den ied to every one w hocould not use force to obtain it
,while cultivators and citizens
al ike were ground down to the dust by ever-i ncreasing taxationthat only the Court favouri tes and military chiefs and adventurers regretted the change ofGovernment. Even the sold iers
pay was in arrears, and many ofBaj i Rao’s troops entered the
service of the British Government within thirty-six hours afterthe proclamation of the Peshva’
s dethronem ent . But,whi le
the rise of the English pow er m ust be ascribed in some degree
to the radical i ncapacity ofHindus to do any work,w hich they
undertake,thoroughly and completely
,andto the more syste
matic and strenuous character ofwestern civi l isation, i t should
never be forgotten that the conquest of I ndia is real ly the frui t
of the incomparable fighting quali ties of the British soldier. ”
Whatever the immediate cause of our success may have been ,th is period witnessed the final emancipation of our I sland fromthe fear of attack by native powers . Throughout a centuryand-a-half she had fol lowed a pol icy
,which enabled her to
gradually strengthen her own hand and deal with surround ing
foes one by one,unti l the last and most powerful ofall fledl ike
a hunted an imal from his capi tal,and reli nquished his down
trodden subjects to her mercy andprotection . Havi ng thus
structed a road , for the benefit ofhis transport, which had beendesignedly destroyed by the Peshva ; and one of the earl iestorders ofthe Hon ’
ble Mountstuart Elph instone resulted from
the need of easy communication between the Konkan and the
country above the Ghats. By the time Bishop Heber,whose
experience of the journey from Bombay to Poona is quoted inMaclean ’s Guide, was resident in th is island , a passably good
road had been constructed . From Campoolee,” he writes
,
I walked up the Bhore Ghat 4 m i les to Khandalla, the roadsti l l broad and g ood but in ascent very steep, so much so indeed that a loaded carriage, or even a palanqui n with anybody
in it,can with great diffi culty be forced along it. In fact,
every one walks or rides up the hi l ls, and all m erchandise is
conveyed on bullocks and horses . The ascent might, I th ink,have been rendered by an able engineer much more easy . But
to have carried a road over these hi l ls at all , considering how
short a time they have been in our power, i s h ighly creditableto the Bombay Government." The work thus begun byE lph instone was completed by his successor, Sir John Malcolm ,
w ho refers in the following words to the achievemen t O n
the loth November 1 830 I opened the Bhore Ghat, which,though not quite completed , was sufficiently advanced to
enable me to give a correct idea of th is splendid work , whichmay be said to break down the wall between the Konkan andDeccan . It wi l l give faci l i ty to commerce , be the greatest of
conven iences to troops and travellers, and lessen the expense
ofEuropean and other articles to all who reside in the Deccan .
This road wi l l posi tively prove a creation ofrevenue.Better communication by sea was as eagerly sought dur
ing th is period as i ncreased faci li ties for travell i ng by land .
Maclean tel ls us that as early as 1 830 a project had been start
ed for regular communication w i th England by steamers navigating the Red Sea andthe Mediterranean. Sir John Malcolm w rote on Apri l 3oth , 1 830 I do hope this steam navi
gation wi ll be pushedthroug h . It wi ll make a revolution in
2 47
many th ings to great advantage . Though I cannot understand that a scheme upon the scale Mr. T - proposes wi l l answer at present, one ofa more moderate nature could not fal land I must th ink that individual enterprise wi ll do more i n such
a case than Government ever can. But shou ld the jealousy ofyour Post Office i n England regard ing the Mediterranean , or thedesire to keep the Red Sea navigation under our own control ,lay a cold hand upon the project of individuals, let us be
supported i n our efforts to maintain this intercourse in an
eflicient manner. In the closing year of this period— 1 838
- regular monthly communication between Bombay and England by the overland route was establ ished . In the A siatic
j our nal of July 1 838 we read that, “ The Governor in Counci lhas been pleased to sanction the following arrangements forthe conveyance from the Red Sea to Bombay of the English
Mails ofJune, July , August and September. The June packetwi ll be brought by the new schooner just launched . The Julypacket wi l l be brought by the Palinurus . The August packetwil l be brought by the second new schooner which is nowbeing bui lt. The Sep tember mai l may be expected to arrive
at Suez by the z udOctober ; if a steamer cannot be sent for i t,i t wi l l be brought to Bombay by the Euphrates . ” I n thefollowing month an anonymous contributor to the same journalremarks that “The intel l igence which w e have just receivedby the Atalanta is the quickest which has ever reached India.
London news to March sth reached Bombay in forty-three
days, and Calcutta i n fifty-six days . How easily might thecommunication between Calcutta and London be fixed at fiftydays !” Between Bombay and Suez , apparently, the mailswere carried by steamers of the I ndian Navy : but their further conveyance beyond Suez was often a matter of someuncertainty.
“ I n 1 838 , says Maclean ,“ the Bombay Cham
ber of Commerce recorded an explanation by Mr. W ag horn
of the cause of delay i n the transmission to Bombay of theportion of the June mail addressed to his care, andsuggested
that the commanders of the Company'
s vessels should beinstructed to wait a few hours at Suez, after the receipt ofpackets, whenever it may be ascertained that others are on
thei r way and may with in a short time be expected at that
place .
” We of th is later time can scarcely real ise the tediumof that journey by the overland mail
,the track boat on the
Nile,and the vans that crawled across the desert from Cairo
to Suez. W ag horn worked indefatigably for the amel ioration
ofthe service, urging the steam Comm i ttees ofBengal , Madrasand Bombay to subscribe money for two iron tug steamers and
accommodation boats on the Nile, so as to save three days
i n the transit through Egypt,and his labours undoubtedly
served i n the making our island more habitable,and increasing
its importance during these years .Expansion oftrade necessari ly followed the settlement of
the interior. About 1 8 2 5 the exports from Bombay became
considerable ; while from 1 832 onw ards a rise i n the price of
American cotton , which was caused by the Operations of thebankers of the United States, resulted i n i ncreased importsof Indian cotton i nto England . I ndeed
,betw een 1 835 and
1 836 , these imports expanded by the enormous total of one
mill ion bales. No better p roof ofour progress i n th is respectis forthcom i ng than the foundation i n 1 836 of the BombayChamber of Commerce , which , as Maclean remarks, ow ed i tsexistence to the increase in the numbers of the independentEuropean population subsequent to the year 1 830, and
“ whichhas si nce taken an important share i n the formation ofpubl ic
Opin ion and the direction ofaffai rs . ”
The spiri t ofprogress,by which th is period is character
ised,led to alterations and improvements with i n the l imits of
our Island, of which the most remarkable was the constructionof the Colaba Causew ay in 1 8 38 . Colaba and Old Woman ’sIsland formed, as we have seen, the on ly remain i ng vestiges
of Ptolemy ’s Heptanesia, and were the last of the seven to
be absorbed into the Island of Bombay. Since the year 1 743,
249
when Mr. Broughton rented the island for R s. 200per annum,
both Colaba andOld Woman ’s Island hadgradual ly been bui ltov er ; and i n 1 796
“enquiries were i nsti tuted as to several
houses bui lt at Colaba,and it was declared that Government
never intended that houses of permanent construction shouldbe built on the island
,which was a place for cantonment for
the tr00ps. ” At the time of which we write, the widow of
General Waddington held Colaba on a yearly tenure, thoughthe bui ldi ngs erected by her husband were considered as mil itary quarters in the possession of Government. The island
,
which contai ned no very great number of private dwel l ings“andwas occasional ly the scene of robbery and house-breaking,is described by the Abbé Cottineau de K loguen in 1 8 2 7 as
follows J ’ai été me promener avec le Pere Augusti n a l’Ilede Culaba qui n ’est séparé de celle de Bombay que dans lamarée haute, et alors on y passe en bateau : c’est sur cetteile, que l
’on appel le aussi l'
Ile de la viei l le femme, qu’
est la
tour d ’
eau ou le fanal a son extremité merid ionale ; c’est la
aussi la nouvel le église que l’on veut me donner a desservi r,et que j
’
aurais bien voulu voir mais comme il étai t trop tard,nons ne Sommes al lés que jusqu
’
auh petit hospice qu’on habiteun R elig eux de St . Aug ustin de Goa, et qui y dessert uh
oratoire pour les Portugais de Culaba. ” The church, to which
the Abbé refers,is the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph,
which was consecrated on the 2 7th January 1 8 2 8 by the Bishopof A ntiphile. Ten years later the causeway w as bui lt, and
the w elding together of the seven pristine islands was anaccomplished fact. By the close of the period Mrs . Postanswas able to remark that The island of Colabah is a pretty
retired spot,whose dullness is redeemed by the health-i nspiring
breez es, which play around i ts shores ; a good road runs toi ts extreme end on which stands the l ighthouse, and the
lunatic asylum.The Queen ’s 6th Regiment is at present
stationed there, andmany fami lies reside on the island , w ho
prefer such quiet to the gaieties of the sister land. In truth,33
2 50°
unti l late improvements were considered necessary, few resideuces could be so i nconvenien t, for any but the very quiet,
as A ng ria’
s A rocky sort of way about a mi le in
length connected this tongue of land with Bombay , which at
high tide was covered with the rol ling flood . Many have been
the luckless wights, w ho, returning from a festive meeting,
heedless of Neptune’s certain v isi t
,have found the curling
waves beating over their homeward path , compell ing themto seek again ‘ the banquet hall deserted,
’ and beg a shakedow
'
n at the quarters of their host. The more impetuous have
sought to swim their horses across th is dangerous pass, andlives have been lost i n the attempt. This inconven ience, so
severely felt, led at length to the erection of a solid and handsome vallade
,with a footpath protecting the elevated and
level road.
” The junction of Colaba and Bombay was fol
lowed almost immediately by “ commercial speculation in re
covering a certai n portion of ground for bui lding factories,w harfs
,and the greater faci l ity of mercanti le operations. ”
This scheme, says a writer i n the Monthly Miscellanyof 1 850,
“ has since proved a miserable fai lure ; but propertyi n Colaba at one time worthless now rose some five hundredper cent. i n value
,land was purchased wherever procurable,
and houses raised in every possible local i ty .
North of Colaba,also
,improvements were carried out.
We hear of the Well i ngton Pier or Apollo Bunder bei ngextended and brought into use for passenger traflic i nthe year 1 8 19.
“ The new bunder run out from the Esplanade
,
”
as i t was then termed,was probably subjected to fur
ther extension before the close ofthe period for Mrs. Postansrelates i n 1 838 that “
on landing either at the new Apolloor the Customs House bunders, hamals bearing palanquins ,rich in green pai nt andsilken curtai ns
,entreat the custom
of the new arrival. The Elphinstone H igh School and theElph instone College both had their origin i n these years ;the former was establ ished in 1 8 2 2 under i ts or iginal ti tle of
2 52
there are conti nual references i n the Government records to thebui lding ofa new Hospital, to be situated i n Hornby Row, unti lon the 2 5th January 1 8 2 5, the Directors i nformed the Bombay
Government that, “ as the majority of the members of yourGovernment were ofopin ion that a new hospi tal as described i nyour letter ofApri l 3oth, 1 8 2 5, was necessary, we shal l not
object to your resolution for erecting it . ”
Not only i n the Fort was the face of the land undergoingchange . The town was creeping gradual ly over the reclaimedhigher grounds
,westward along Back Bay
,and northw ard to
Byculla, so that by 1 835 itbecame imperative to construct new
communications . One of the first and most noteworthy was
that great main road,named after Governor Grant, and con
structed during his term ofoffice,which to this day l inks Byculla
with the palm-groves of Chowpatty. Mr . James Douglas tells
ofcountry-houses at Mazagon ; of four bungalow s at Malabar
Hill ; of the Market, Mandvi , O omerkhadi and Bhuleshvar ,provid ing homes for a constantly increasing population . A n
other wri ter, speaking of the fragile residences which peopleconstructed on the Esplanade during the fai r season
,mentions
the groups ofpakka bui lt and handsome houses,to be found
at Gi rgaum , Byculla , Chinchpoog ly and other places.” Govern
ment House, Malabar Point, the original residence ofSir JohnMalcolm , was i n use as a hot-weather residence by the close of
the period . Another wel l-known edifice was the Pinjara Poleor home for aged and diseased animals
,which was erected by
a Parbhu i n the cflice ofMessrs. Forbes and Company, who had
amassed considerable wealth with the object of devoti ng i t tocharitable purposes. ” By the close of the period there were
tw o large bazaars in the Fort— the China Bazaar and the
Thieves Bazaar, the latter being “ crowded with warehouses,whence European articles were d isposed ofat a smal l profit
and three great bazaars in the Native Town, from whichbranch i nnumerable cross roads
,each swarming with i ts busy
crowds. During the last few years, the leading roadsofthenative
I 2 53
tow n havebeen watered and even tolerably lighted . This has prov
edvery advantageous, after al l the inconven iences which attended
the oldsystem of dust and darkness ; i t is sti ll , however, only
for an hour or two after sunrise that horsemen or carriages can
pass unimpeded by stoppages of varied character. The mostprofitable trade carried on i n these bazaars is the sale of toddy ;to so considerable an extent has the general use of this intoxi
cating beverage increased, that Government have been constrained to issue an order, forbidding the existence oftoddy storeswi thin a regulated d istanceofeach other. On a moderate com
putation,however, every sixth sh0p advertises its sale .
” Thenative town may be considered to have comprised roughly a portion of the modern C. Ward , most ofB. Ward, Bycul la, Maza
gon and Kamathipura, where the K amathis had some yearsbefore made thei r first settlement, and was just commencing tocreep w estward over the modern areas ofDhobi Talao, Girgaum ,
Chowpatty and Khetwadi . Parel was fairly populated , but had
not yet been metamorphosed into the hive of industry,w h ich we
know. Sion , Sewri , and Mahim contained probably much thesame proportion ofour i nhabitants as they had in the precedingperiod . Matunga, once a pretty arti l lery station , was deserted .
Graceful boughs ofshady trees,”
remarks the author of 1 838 ,droop upon the broken roofs of crumbli ng dwell i ngs gaudy
blossoms, and the paler moonflow er peep fromamid the fallenstones andgardens, once gay in bloom and frui tage bright
are tangled and overgrown with thorns . Matunga is now
abandoned the demon ofdisease claimed for his own,and under
the insidious form of Dracunculus,’ worked havoc among the
tr00ps . The prevalence ofthis di sease caused ei ther by the badness of the water, or some less suspected cause
,formed abund
ant reason for the desertion of this lov ely spot as a mi l itary
station .
”
O f the differen t communities or castes,which tog ether
formed our total population of no distinct l ist is i n existence; thoug h, here andthere, reference is made by contem
t2 54
porary documents to disti nct classes ofthe people. The Parsisappear to have been ubiquitous ; for w e read ofthe representativeofthe W adias residing at L owjee Castle , on the road leadingfrom the main road up to Government House ”
; of “ the
Parsi gentry owning beautiful country houses,which are
scattered about the island,at various distances from the native
town and ofJehangir N assarvanji, who vends goods ofall descriptions from purple velvet to raspberry jam . The
Jews and their Rabbis are mentioned ; the Armen ians arespoken ofas wearing the Persian dress
,and dyeing thei r hair
and wh iskers with henna. “ Armenian ladies,
” adds the
writer, “ pass thei r time either engaged in the care of thei rfami lies, or i n receiving and paying visits, drinking coffee orsherbet, embroideri ng and making del icious confections of
Hulw a/z and various sweetmeats. They have very considerable
i nfluence in the ir famil ies,understand business admirably, and
are commonly entrusted with the ful l control of thei r ow n
property. Their condition is easy and agreeable, l i ttle restraint
being placed upon their conduct a sl ight degree ofpersonalseclusion being considered honorable and dignified .
”
O ur
friends, the Arabs, with thei r unmistakable head-gear, were
already in Bombay, and offering thei r excellent black coffee to
possible purchasers, whi le thei r si lken-skinned charges canteredup and dovim the yard before them . The Arab Stables,writes Mrs . Postans, which occupy a considerable space
'
in the
great bazar form a powerful attraction to the gentlemen of the
Presidency. Added to Jews,Armen ians, Arabs, Africans and
Parsis,there were Marathas , R ajputs, Mog hals, Ban ias and
H i ndus of many denominations, Portuguese , Persians and
British—forming together, perhaps, the most motley assemblage i n any quarter of th is orb. One element alone wasneeded to put a fin ishing touch to the cosmopoli tan character of
our island the white race and the dark-skinned pe0p1e were
dwell i ng side by side surely the yellow race also had contribut
edi ts quota to the population There is no reasonabledoubt
l 2 56 )
foliage of the richest hues cloth ing the sides and summ i ts ofthese toweri ng eminences, while below, the fortress intermingled wi th fine trees, and the wharfs running out i nto the sea
,
present altogether an imposing spectacle, on which the eye
delights to dwell .The island of Bombay does not exceed twenty miles
i n circumference, and communicates w i th that of Salsetteby a causeway bui lt across a channel of the sea which surrounds it. I t is composed of two unequal ranges of whinstone rock
,with an intervening valley about three mi les
i n breadth,and in remoter times was enti rely covered with
a wood of cocos. The fort is bu il t on the south-easternextremity of the island, and occupies a very considerableportion of ground, the outworks comprehending a c i rcuit of
tw o miles, being, indeed , so widely extended, as to requirea very numerous garrison . The town or city of Bombay isbui lt w i th in the fortifications, and is nearly a mile long,extending from the Apollo gate to that ofthe bazaar, its breadthi n some places bei ng a quarter of a mile ; the houses arepicturesque
,i n consequence of the quanti ty of handsomely
carved woodwork employed in the pi l lars and the verandahs ;but they are i nconveniently crowded together, and the high ,con ical roofs ofred ti les are very offensive to the eye, especially
if accustomed to the flat-turreted and balustraded palaces ofCalcutta. The Government-house, which is only employedfor the transaction of business, holding durbars—a large, con
venient, but ugly-looking build ing, somewhat in the Dutch
taste— occupies one side of an open space i n the centre ofthetown, cal led the Green . The best houses
,and a very respect
able church , are situated in this part of the town,and to the
right extends a long and crowded bazaar, amply stocked with
every kind of merchandize . Many of the rich natives havetheir habitations in th is bazaar, residing in large mansions built
after the Asiatic manner, but so huddled together as to be
exceedingly hot anddisagreeable to strangers, unaccustomedto
breathe so confined an atmosphere . One ofthe principal boastsof Bombay is its docks and dock-yards : they are capacious
,
bui lt of fine hard stone , and are the work ofParsi artisans,many of whom ,
from their talents and industry,have risen
from common labourers to be wealthy sh ip-bui lders , Manysplendid vessels, constructed of teak wood— the best materialfor building—have been launched from these docks
,which
contain commodious warehouses for naval stores,and are
furn ished w ith a r0pe-walk, which is the adm i ration ofthose
who have visi ted the finest yards in England,being second to
none, excepting that at Portsmouth .
“The island of Bombay, from an unwholesome swamp,has been converted into a very salubrious residence ; thoughenough of shade sti l l remains, the superabundant trees havebeen cut down , the marshes fil led up, and the sea-breeze,which sets in every day
,blow s with refreshing coolness
,
tempering the solar heat. The native population,which is
very large, has cumbered the ground in the neighbourhood
of the fortifications with closely-bui lt suburbs, w hich must bepassed before the visitor can reach the open country beyond , at
the further extremity ofthe island . The Black Town , as it iscalled, spreads its i nnumerable habitations, amidst a w ood of
coco-nut trees—a curious busy,bustl ing, but d i rty quarter,
swarming with men and the inferior an imals, and presentingevery variety of character that the whole ofAsia can produce .
The coco-nut gardens,beyond this populous scene, are studded
with vi l las of various descriptions, the bui ldings within the
fortifications bei ng too much crowded together to be desi rable ;those belonging to European residents are, for the most part,merely retai ned as cfl
'
ices, the fami l ies seeking a more agree
able situation ih the outski rts. Comfort , rather than elegance,has been consulted i n the construction of the major portion
of these villas ; but any defalcation i n external splendouris amply compensated by the convenience of the in teriors .at 1? 1? Those persons, who are compel led , by business
or duty, to l ive in the immediate vicini ty of Government
house, only occupy the houses inside the fortifications duringthe rai ny season ; at other periods of the year they live in
a sort of al fresco manner, pecul iar to th is part of the world.
A wide Esplanade,stretchi ng between the wal ls of the fo r t
and the sea,and of considerable length, affords the place
of retreat . At the extreme verge a fine,hard sand form s
a delightful ride or dr ive,meeti ng a strip ofg rass or meadow
land,which with the exception of a portion marked off as
the parade-ground of the troops in garrison, is covered with
temporary build ings : some of these are exceedingly fantastic .
Bungalows constructed of poles and planks,and roofed with
palm-leaves, rise in every direction , many bei ng surroundedby beautiful parterres of flow ers
,bloomi ng from innumerable
pots . Other persons pi tch tents,which are often extensiv e
and commodious, on this piece ofground, covering them overwith a chupper or thatched roof
,supported on slender
pi llars,and forming a verandah al l round .
an: at an: an:
O f the native communi ty,as i t has been already stated
,
a large majori ty are Parsis,who
,at a very remote period - the
eighth century of the Christian era—were driven by the persecution of the Mahommedan conquerors of Persia
, to takerefuge in H industan . The low er classes ofParsis are in greatrequest as domestics at Bombay ; they are far less i ntoleranti n their principles than either Mussalmans or Hindus, andwill
,therefore, perform a greater variety ofwork, andare more
agreeable to l ive with but i n personal appearance,they cannot
compete with Bengal servants, whose dress and air are
decidedly superior. The greater portion of the weal th of theplace is in the hands ofParsi merchants, who are a hospitable
race,andthough not extravagant
,l iberal i n the ir expenditure.
The houses of these persons wi ll be found fil led with European
furn iture, and they have adopted many customs and habi tswhich remain sti l l unthoug ht of by the Mussulmans and
( 2 60 1
residents of Bombay, w ho are thus enabled to extend anddiversify their drives
,by crossing over to Salsette . A great
portion of Salsette is now under cultivation, the Pars i s
and other w ealthy natives possessing large estates on theisland
The favouri te residence ofthe Governor (w ho has threeresidences upon the island) is usually a villa at Malabar Point,a particularly beautiful situation , being a w oody promontory,rising so abruptly from the sea
,that its spray dashes up
against the terraces . The pr incipal residence of the Governor
is at Parel,about six mi les from the city
,and here he gives
his publ ic entertainments. I t is a large handsome house,well constructed and appoi nted, having spacious apartments
for the reception ofCompany .
“ The large Portuguese vi l lage or tow n of Maz agong ,
which is dirty and swarming w ith pigs is, how ever, finelysituated
,occupying the shore between tw o hil ls, and is more
over celebrated as being the place at w hich the fine variety of
mango,
so much in request,was originally grown . The
parent tree, w hence all the g rafts were taken which havesuppl ied the neighbouring gardens, w as said to be in existence
a few years ago,a guard of sepoys being stationed round in
the proper season to preserve its frui t from unhallowed hands.From these groves i n the time of one of the most luxuriousMoghal Emperors, Shah Jehan , the royal tables ofDelh i werefurnished with thei r principal vegetable attraction
,couriers
being despatched to bring the far-famed mangoes to the imperialcourt. Moore has al luded to the ci rcumstance in “ LallaRookh , attributing the acerbity of the critical Fadladeen ’
s
temper to the fai lure in the supply ofmangoes . Mazagonghouse was the residence of Sterne ’s El iza ; but the interestwhich this heroine of the ultra-sentimental school formerly
excited , has become very much faded, andthere seems to besome doubt whether her existence will be remembered bythe next generation .
r
2 63h
For the sake of lucidity, i t i s desirable to sub-divide the
period under review into tw o parts, the first ofwhich will comprise the years 1 838 to 1 860, andthe second the years 1 86 1 to1 872 and deal i ng with the earl ier period fi rst
,i t remains to
decide whether there occurred therei n any events, l ike ly to ia
fluence the numerical strength of the island ’s inhabitants .T he mil itary and pol itical events of these years cannot
have exercised any very di rect effect upon the population of
Bombay City. The appointmen t of a British resident to
Savantvadi i n 1 838 , the i nclusion ofA ng ria’
s Colaba i n British
territory in 1 841 , the bombardment of Aden in 1 839, the as
sumption of the right to administer the affairs of Kolhapur in
1 842 , theiconquest of Sind i n 1 843, and the annexation of
Satara i n 1 848—these transactions doubtless enhanced the
prestige ofan island,which contained a government strong
enough to thus dictate to native pow ers, andserved to impressmore deeply upon the public mind the fact that Bombay was
the head-quarters ofthe paramount power i n Western I ndia.
But save in this respect and in so far as they extended to a
wider area the benefits of an orderly and peaceful administration
,thereby enabl i ng the people to move more freely towards
a flourish ing trade centre,these events cannot be held to have
occasioned any definite i ncrease i n the numbers of those resident in the town ofBombay.
Supremacy in mil i tary and pol i tical matters was practical lyassured to the Company by the close ofthe precedi ng period ,andafforded thei r government the opportun ity so earnestlydesi red of i n itiati ng such internal reforms, as were necessitat
ed by the heightened commercial importance of the island .
Rather to the latter causes than to fresh pol itical successesmust the immigration of fresh people duri ng these years beascribed .
Foremost among the reforms , carriedout prior to 1 86 1 ,
was the i ntroduction ofRai lway commun ica tion . I n 1 844 the
Great Indian Peninsula Railway, to which Sir Bartle Frere
afterwards offer ed the motto Primus in Indis,”
w as projected ;the first sodwas turned by Mr. Willoughby at Bombay in
1 850; and the first twenty m i les to Thana were opened in
1 853.
“The loth April exclaimed the Bombay Times
of that date, “will hereafter stand as a red-letter day on the
calendar. T he open ing of the first rai lway ever constructed in
I ndia forms one of the most important events i n the annals of
the east, since the soi l of H industan was first trodden byEuropean foot. The train that starts from beneath the walls of
Fort George this afternoon goes forth conquering and to con
quer. Even so In spite ofthe d ismal prophecies of men
w ho foretold that no native ofgood caste would ever defi le himselfby enteri ng a rai lway car riage ,
”
the progress ofthe railwayhas been steadi ly sustained, and has aided the island to drawunto herselfthe best talent from surrounding provinces anddistricts, and to wield influence i n regions far beyond her ow n
l imi ts.
Nor were improv ed communications by land the on lyfactor s in the increase of commerce. A monthly mai l ser
vice, ofwhich the inefficiency and disorganisation cal ledloudly for reform ,
”w as deemed i nadequate for the needs
of a grow ing communi ty. The old system,therefore, of
employing ships of the Indian Navy for this purpose was
discontinued i n 1 855 ; and a contract w as undertaken by the
Pen insular and Oriental Company for the carriage ofpassengers andmai ls between Bombay andAden tw ice a month
,i n
connection with their Calcutta and Mediterranean service.
T w o years later even the bi-monthly voyage was decr ied ; andan agitation was set on foot for an effective weekly mai l service.
But as the results of that ag i tation , and the determ ination to
make Bombay the port of arr ival anddeparture for all the
English Mai ls,belong to the second halfof the period under
rev iew ,i t is unnecessary at th is juncture to say more than
that communication by steamer between the two islands ofEng land andBombay, which commended itself to Sir John
Malcolm in 1 830, and was perfected during these years, con
tributed i n a superlative degree to the expansion of our commerce, and, consequently, ofour population also.
The progress of trade,for which Opportunity had been
afforded by the mi l i tary ach ievem ents of precedi ng years,i s
evidenced in various ways. The old system of houses of
agency had perforce to yield place to join t-stock banks,of
which the earliest— the Bank of Bombay—w as started i nthe year 1 840. The Times of India ofApri l 1 5th i n that year
remarked that “ the Bank of Bombay opens for busi ness thisday
,three years andnearly four months hav i ng elapsed since
the first subscription to i t, and after surm ounting a series
of such difficulties and obstacles, as we believe no similar insti
tution ever encountered before, and such as we may safely
predict no i nsti tution for the publ ic good wi l l encounter again .
The difliculties attending the openi ng of th is Bank,how ever ,
appear to have exercised no check upon the formation of similar insti tutions ; for i n 1 844 the Orien tal Banking Corporation
establ ished a branch here,and by 1 860
“ the Commercial Bank,the Chartered Mercant i le , the Agra and United Service , theChartered
,and the Central Bank of Western I ndia hadall
gained an assured position .
The commencement ofa local cotton spinning and w eaving industry dates from this period . The enormous imports
of piece-goods and yarns from Lancashi re set the merchant
commun ity wondering whether i t might not be feasible to fightManchester with her ow n w eapons, and themselves supply the
demands of the island and the districts subordinate to her. I n
1 857 the first mi ll—the All iance Spin ni ng and Weaving Com
pany’
s Mill—commenced worki ng by the year 1 860,six more
had Opened , and attracted to the island a considerable industrial population . So rapid i ndeed was the extension of thi s
and all ied i ndustries, that Journal ism was moved to remark onJuly 7th, 1 860 “Whatever may be the state of other parts
of I ndia, i t is man ifest that Bombay feels nei ther anx iety nor
apprehension regarding the future ofthe empire . Capital was
never more plentiful amongst us than at present, nor the spiritof enterprise more powerful . Money
,to the amount of nearly
a quarter ofa mill ion pounds sterli ng, has been invested duringthe last fortn ight in the establ ishment of manufactories calcu
lated to promote i ndustry and assist i n the development of
the resources of the country . Bombay has long been theLiverpool of the East, and she is now become the Manchester
also. Factory chimney-stacks already meet the eye on every
side , and when the numerous companies recently formed arein full operation
, W estern I ndia wil l have cause to be proud
of her capital . I n 1 850 we question much ifeven the model
ofa cotton mi ll had found its way to Bombay : but now the
tall ch imneys of half-a-dozen factories tower solemn and som
bre above the surrounding bui ldings. W herever commercial
enterprise can be successful ly prosecuted,the Parsis ofBombay
wi l l be found ready for the adventure . ”
Meanwhi le the i nflux of population , engendered by theabove causes, impressed upon all minds the need for introduci ng improv ements into the island itself. More space forbuildi ng, a better system ofconservancy
,and new communica
tions were some ofthe most urgently needed reforms . I n consequence
,we find the idea ofdemolish i ng the Fort walls mooted
as early as 1 84 1 , whi le reclamation had al ready been i ni tiated
i n the previous year, according to Mr. James Douglas,by
Messrs . Skinner, Brownrigg and Richmond . The maintenance of the Fort of Bombay, wrote the Times correspondent i n 1 841 ,
“ is not only useless , but has become a
downright and most serious nuisance to the i nhabitants atlarge. I t is the source of a ridiculous waste of money to
Government itself witness the erection,not yet completed
, of
a gate at the cost ofRs. to block up the way to theChurch. The Port is a costly and fi lthy nuisance . ” N otw ith
standing that the final order for the demolition of the rampartsand the fi l l i ng of the Town di tch was not g iven till later,
34
2 66
the advantage to be gained thereby was clearly foreseenby Lord Elphinstone, the pioneer of the improvement schemesprojected during these years and some effort w as made before1 860 to clear away the oldest portion ofthe defences. We readi n a journal of 1 855 that,
“ The Apollo Gate is now al l but
dismantled,the last portion of the arch tottering to its fall ;
and thus one of the oldest fragments ofthe Fort will,i n a few
days,have vanished . A large portion ofthe wall betwixt the
gate and the southern entrance to the dock has been dismantled and the only matter of regret is that the hand ofthedestroyer should not extend itselfall round .
” The Fort had
indeed become superannuated . While the small commun ity
offormer years had been liable to attack by sea, i t had gallantlyserved as a protection to the trader ; but now that B r i ti sh powerwas suprem e both by sea and land , no reason for maintain ing i tremained ; while the ground , w hich i ts destruction would layopen
,w as most urgently requi red . The delay in demol ish ing
the ramparts and the dec ision of the Fort Improvem ent Com
m ittee i n 1 848 to remove merely the ravel i ns and outworks,
was perhaps partly occasioned by the Opposition to the measure evinced by the native inhabitants , who, i n an appeal forwarded the same year, pointed out that, if fresh space wererequi red for the extension of the town , such might be found inColaba
,Girgaum
,Dhobi Talao or at Breach Candy . But it
was not only by the need offresh space for roads and bui ldi ngsthat the doom of the O ld Fort was rendered necessary.
Overcrowding had already assumed serious proportions, andheightened the chances of conflag rations, which , so long ascommunication with the Fort was confined to moat bridges and
a few gateways, were capable of very considerable damage to
house and other property .
“The fire which occurred lately,”
says a writer of 1 844, attracted me to a part of the Fort whichI never before visited , namely, a street runni ng along the ramparts between the Town Barracks and Fort George . I ts name
is Moodee Street. The first object which attracted my atten
I 2 68
great a boon to our inhabitants , was also commenced i n theseyears ; for , i n the press ofOctober rst, 1860, we read that “TheMun icipal Commissioners have , on the appl ication ofthe Colaba Land Company , allowed them to lay down tramwaysthrough the Company
’s ground and across the Causeway,conditional ly for six months
,with a view to thei r satisfying
themselves that the working of i t wil l not prove an obstrue
tion to the publ ic traflic over the Causeway .
” There was
ample need,i n truth , for i ncreasi ng faci l i ties of transit, and
opening up new thoroughfares . Previous to the time ofthe
mutiny,the most important improvements were the Bellasis
Road,with its tw ogaping black ditches on ei ther side, and the
bui lding of the Mahim Causeway,which was Opened in 1 845,
and w as described as a stupendous mound which cuts off an
arm of the sea, and promises to give to the husbandman whathas hitherto been an unproductive estuary —a bridge which
enables the traveller to pass a dangerous ferry in safety . But
after the year 1 857 the City expanded to such an extent that
apathy i n the matter of public improvements was no longer
possible. Malabar H i ll,Breach Candy and Mahalakshmi were
eagerly seized upon by the European and wel l-to-do nativepopulation the ancient oarts and g ardens were peopled by the
poorer classes, whom the prospect of lucrative employmententiced from the districts ofmain land .
“On the whole of thatdistrict,
” wrote the Times correspondent of 1 860,“ lying
betw een the sea and Girgaum Back Road,bui ld i ng operations
have been i n active progress for some years past, but have
withi n the last two years been pushed on with unprecedented
rapidi ty . Houses are r ising in al l d irections, and w hat was
some few years ago merely a cocoanut plantation,wi ll
,with in
the next half century, be as thoroughly urban as Mandvi andKhara Talao. Cavel and Sonapur are utterly destitute of
cross thoroughfares, and i llustrate what wi l l be the future
condition ofthe whole oart distr ict,if systematic proceedings
are not at once adopted .
l 2 69
As the occupied area expanded, as industrial enterprises
and schemes, such as the Elphinstone Reclamation Scheme ,were from time to time promoted , and introduced ever freshrelays of trading and i ndustrial fami l ies, i t became apparentthat some suitable system ofdrai nage w as required , to assurethe health of the City. During the early years of the period
one hears of uncovered main drains, poisoning the Byculla
district,”
of “ terrible miasmata in the Fort andEsplanade,”
ofnuisances approximating to those wh ich Coleridge d iscoveredin the holy city ofCologne and one can w el l understand the
sentiments O f rel ief,experienced by the public in 1 86 1 , on
learn i ng from the dai ly journals that the Municipal Commissioners hadprepared a new system ofdrainage for the island.
We may assume, therefore, that by the year 1 860, anincrease ofpopulation had taken place owing to the generalprogress of trade
,the foundation of local i ndustries, and the
amelioration of communications . One reads i n the BombayTimes of 1 848 , for example, that
“ our shopkeepers are nearlyall Parsis
,-soare our furn iture makers also—but the workm en
employed i n the manufacture of Bombay furn iture of suchexquisite design , and , beyond mere carving, ofsuch indifferentworkmanship, are nearly all men from Cutch and Gujarat .
O ur best shoemakers are Chinamen our stone-cutters are al lfrom the interior. O ur armourers and perfume dealers aremostly Persians ; our horse-dealers are Afghans and Baluch is.O ur potters form a regular org anised craft and pay homage toa deity, presiding over them, just as our crafts athome had thei rorganisation and patron sain ts i n days ofyore—O ur shoemakers
thei r St. Crispin, our gardeners thei r St. Andrew and our
masons the ir St . John . One reads of five Jain temples inBhendy Bazaar, one to Shantenath, two to Parasnath, and two toAdeshvarnath ; ofothers, i n the FortandLove Lane, Mazagona fact which may be taken to prove that the number ofJains inBombay by the year 1 848 was by no means inconsiderable.
By 1 847 the workmen ofthe island had attai ned such prestige
2 70
that the Maharajah of Jeypore despatched h ither five of his
subjects,
“to obtain instruction i n certai n handicrafts, and in
the manufacture and use of implements l ikely to be ofvalue in
advancing rural economy in thei r native land .
” The Portu
g uese are spoken ofby Lady Falkland in 1 848 as shar i ng theduties ofdomestic service with the Mussulman and Parsi ; andas being converted H indus of the coast, partaking ofal l the
physical peculiari ties of the present Hindu inhabi tants- sm all,black
,i ll-favoured , with an occasional infusion ofEuropean and
Negro-blood .
” According to the same writer,great num bers
of them, and ofnative Christians also, l ived near the old
Portuguese College at Mahim , which was swept away by thehand ofthe reformer i n 1 851 . For many years previous
,the
Co llege had been i n a state of rui n— “the dwell i ngs broken
and desolate of tenants, the columns and colonnades, roofs andpediments
,crumbli ng year after year to decay.
” The bat and the
owl occupied the halls w here the merriment and laughter of
youth once rang clear. A merry place,
’twas said,i n days of
yore, but something ai ls i t now—the place seems cursed and
pitying its forlorn condition , the restless improver of these
years removed the last remnants of a once famous and handsome seminary .
The years,w h ich elapsed between 1 838 and 1 860
,were
emphatically years of improvement. And yet,notw ithstanding the
Opening of new roads,the foundation oftemples and churches, the
establishment of institutions like the Grant Medical College,with
the object of“ imparting, through a scientific system, the benefi t ofmedical instruction to the natives ofWestern India, the building O f
mills, and the projection ofgreat w ater w orks, much yet remained tobe accomplished in succeeding years. T he City had still to bedecked in a fashion worthy ofits position as a Crown-possession ;the increasing numbers of residents demanded new facilities fortransit ; growth ofcommerce required yet more land. The BombayAlmanac of 1 855 speaks of the Supreme Court within the Fort,and the Court ofSmall Causes in the native town as “ having been
between K handalla and Poona ; long droves ofpack bullocks hadstill exclusive possession ofthe road , and probably more carts now
pass up anddow n the Ghat in a week than were then to be seen onit in a w hole year . But the days ofmail cart andbullock cart, aswell as the br injaree pack bullocks, are now draw ing to a close.
”
The value of the railw ay in fostering the g row th of Bombay hasbeen w ell-nigh incalculable ; saving of time andexpense w as
afforded to both European and Native traveller ; a journey of at
least twenty-four hours, costing 166 , w as exchanged, by virtue of a
Splendid feat of engineering, for one costing but a few rupees and
lasting only for some six hours ! Meanw hile Gujarat w as not
forgotten . T he fi rst section of the Bombay,Baroda andCentral
India Railway w as opened in 1 860 ; the Broach and Barodasection in 1 86 1 ; the Ahmedabad section in 1 86 3 ; and finally in
1 864“ the line, which the Company had been forced by the
Government to commence at a distance from its base of operations,
w as completed southwards as far as Bombay .
” The inhabitant of
the cotton country w as at last in touch with the merchant,w ho
exported the produce of his land across the seas ; and,remembering the tedious journey by indifferent roads which hehad perforce undergone in former years
, was quick to appreciate asystem w hich carriedhim to his destination more speedily and atlessened expense .
Further encouragement to trade, and therefore also to thegrowth of our population , w as afforded by sea-commun icationwith the main land, and by the Opening of the Suez Canal .I n 1 866 , as we learn from the T imes of March 3oth i n thatyear
,arrangements w ere made by Government with the Bom
bay Coast and River Steam Navigation Company for running
steam ferries between Bombay and Mandva,Karanja, Revas
and Dharam tar, Uran andUlw a. With the rai lw ay on onehand and the steam-boat on the other, the island of Bombaycould no longer be a term incog nita to the dweller i n the
Konkan . The Opening of the Suez Canal i n 1 869effected a
complete revolution in the carrying trade of Bombay, which
hadup to that date been conveyed in sh ips round the Cape ;andlarg ely assisted Bombay to become the imperial port of
India. Ear ly in the previous year, the weekly mail service
had been i nsti tuted i n response to the agitation , which wenoted in 1 857, and our Island had become the port ofarrivaland departure for all the Engl ish Mai ls . “ T he claims of
Bombay,
” writes Maclean in 1 875, had by that time becometoo strong to be disregarded for the sake of local i nterests ;andnow w e have not only the P. and O . Steamers runn inghere, but the transports conveying the annual reliefs to I ndia,anda number of i ndependent l ines of passenger steamers,including the Austrian Lloyd ’s
,the R ubattino and the Anchor
Li ne. The Br i tish India Company,too, have a contract with
the Indian Government for car ryi ng mai ls from Bombay to
all the other large ports of I nd ia. Final ly,to complete our
record of w hat has been done to improve communicationbetween Bombay and the rest ofthe world, we should mentionthat a di rect submarine cable was laid down from Suez to
Bombay in 1 870, i n connection with the cable from Falmouth
to Gibraltar. A cable had been previously laid down in 1 860,
but it became useless after one or two messages had been
transmitted through it. Telegraphic communication betweenKarachi andEngland by a Persian Gulfcable had, however,been successfully establ ished in 1865. The Opening of thecanal was, perhaps, more i nstrumental than any other event
i n raisi ng our island to “ the proud position ofthe gateway ofWestern India. ”
T he third most patent reason for the growth of the cityand the rise of population was the enormous i ncrease of the
cotton trade,andsubsequent Share Mania
, ofthe years 1 86 165. T he outbreak of the Civi l War in Amer ica, which at
once cut off the supply of American staples, is calculated byMaclean to have given to Bombay roughly 8 1 millions sterl i ngin five years
,over and above what she had in former years
considered a fai r price for her cotton . Al lowing,”
says he,35
V
2 74 1
a liberal margin for errors ofvaluation at the Custom House,w e may compute the clear addition to thewealth ofBombayat 70 to 75 millions sterling—a tolerably substantial foundation for speculators to build upon .
” An unexampled exportation of cotton continued so long as the war was carr ied on.
The produce of all the great cbtton fields of India, Nagpur,Berar, Gujarat, and the Southern Maratha Country, wri tes
Sir Richard Temple, “found its way to Bombay in order tobe exported to England, with all possible despatch , while thehigh prices ruled and the blockade of the South American
ports lasted . So sudden was the demand, so h igh the rangeof price , so vast the profits, that an economic disturbance set
i n . Money seemed to lose i ts purchasing power,the prices
of almost al l articles rose simultaneously and the wages of
labour were enhanced i n proportion .
” Dealers were absolutely i ndifferent to qual ity, so long as they could hurry on thestaple to the market, and gai n the fortune, spread before thei reyes. The Press voiced the forebodings of the wiser portion
of the publ ic ; but was not heeded. The termination ofthe
American War,” said the Times ofMarch 1 86 2 , wil l leave
England inundated with inferior Surats ; and the article w i l lstink in the nostrils of English manufacturers . L et thosewhom it concerns look to i t ; for there is danger i n the presentaspect of trade . ” But no warning could stem the insatiate
greed for riches, which were saved andaccumulated far too
rapidly to allow of thei r bei ng sunk i n sound i nvestments .
The economic history of most commercial countries, as Sir
Richard Temple remarks, has shewn that when money in vast
quantities seeks for, and fai ls to find sound investments, it
will be wasted .
“The wastage takes the form of unw ise
or i nsane speculation . It was to such speculation that Bombayfel l a victim at th is time . Financial associations, formed for
various purposes, sprang up l ike mushrooms ; companies
expanded with an inflation as that of bubbles ; projects
blossomed only to decay.
”
By the endof 1864 the whole
2 76
of the share market is now pursued. Three hundred andfor tyseven Acts were once passed at the cost of Such
was 1 846 in England ! L et us all take care of 1 865 in India I”
But the malady was too virulent and too wide-spread to be checkedby reproof could only be healed by the universal humiliation anddistress of a mercantile community. The conduct of some of thebanking institutions of these years was without precedent, andundoubtedly fostered the grow th of disaster. To understandwhat their conduct has been, remarked a contemw rary,
“ it isnecessary to go much further back than 1 864 5, and even than theoutbreak of the American War itself. The truth is that the maniaof 1 864-65 supervened upon a community in which the seeds ofruin were already sown broadcast by the demoralization of the
personnel of its banking institutions. From the foundation ofthe
Mercantile Bank of I ndia in this city in 1 852 , down to this day,there has hardly been a Bank Manag er
'
w ho has not had interes tedrelations w ith one or other of the brokers. Such relations couldnot but be dangerous. In other words, the command of nea r lyall Banks has been in the hands of men engaged in speculativeoperations of the most formidable kind, and in secret partnershipwith the brokers . It cannot be too distinctly impres sed uponthe public mind that the recent share mania was possible
,only
because an utterly demoralized executive hadthe command ofall thebanking resources in the place ; and w ith the vast means behind
them w ere in all but open partnership with the brokers, as leadersof or participators in the great gambling operations of the time.
The Back Bay scheme 15 said to have been the cause ofthe mania ;but this is incorrect. I t was the demoralization of the banking
executive,at the time the scheme was launched upon the market,
that ruined us.I n the spring of 1 865 the long protracted resistance of the
Southern states collapsed, Lee’s army surrendered, the blockade
ended,and a mass ofAmerican cotton entered the English markets.
The price of Bombay cotton fell fast ; the prices of all securitiesdeclined in sympathy with it ; property in producees timated atmany
2 77
millions ster ling declinedin a few weeks to less than halfits value.“ Every one,
” wr ites Maclean,
“ soon discovered that the nominalcapital of the numerous companies in ex istence only repres entedso much paper money ; that a few shrewd men hadfirst started
banks and run up the shares to a premium, and then obliginglystarted Financials to lend money to other people to buy thes eshares from them . When the crash came, there w as nothing to
meet it but paper,andthe whole elaborate edifice of Speculation
toppled down like a house of cards. With the dow nfall of
the Commercial Bank, the m isfortunes of_
Bombay reached aclimax ; then the Agra andMasterman ’
s Bank broke, andin midSeptember Mess rs. Premchand R oychandandR . Jamsetji Jeejee.
bhoy,the two most influential exporters of cotton, were declared
insolvent. Returning to I ndia in the autumn of w ritesSir Richard Temple, I again pass ed through Bombay, and foundthe City in the very throes of her trouble
,her leading merchants
ruined,many of her old-es tablished firms in peril, her banking
corporhtions in liquidation, her enterprises suspended. Never hadIw itness ed in any place a m in so widely distributed
,nor such distres s
follow ing so quickly on the heels of such prosperity. The native
merchants were as important as, andmuch more numerous than, theEuropeans ; andupon both alikehadswift retr ibution des cended. As
is usual in disastrous times, recrimination andmutual reproach wererife
,andaccusations of mercantile misconduct were bandied about .
Happily the instances ofmisbehaviour on the part of Europeans, or
on the part of natives ofrank and status, were rare. But manynatives ofless er education and position were drawn into the vor tex of
the speculation which verges upon gambling, and leads to paths
hes pedwith temptations to questionable actions . Soon the courtsofjustice became over loaded w ith cases in w hich misguided nativeswere figuring as defendants. Amid the crash ofcompanies
,firms
and individuals, all ruined,the failure of the Bank ofBombay was
announced. The Government heldshares in this Bank andhaddirectors sitting at the Board of Manag ement ; there also the publicfunds needed for current expenses weredeposited. The rule in this
t 2 78 )
Bank,as in the other banks in India w ithwhich the Government w as
connected,hadbeen that advances should not be made on any
secur ities except those ofGov ernment. But unfortunately by some
recent legislation on a renewal ofthe Bank’s charter,some prov isions
hadbeen inser ted whereby the Bank w as empow ered to make
advances on certain kinds of secur ities other than those of Government. I n virtue of this power
,the Bank had made advances to
companies during the time of prosperity,on the security of their
shares , to such an extent that when the companies became insolventamidst the general ruin
,the Bank also failed . This failure w as
noticed w ith sharp animadversion by the public,and especially by
those who hadbecome shareholders in the Bank, on the faith of its
being supervised by the Government. I ndignation rose high againstthe Government Director
, w ho as financial adviser in this matter,
w as specially bound to see that the Bank steered clear ofthe threaten .
ing shoals. The disasters that befell the surface of society formedbut a fraction of the misery occasioned by the failure ofthe leadingmerchants and firms . The impossibility ofrealising land assets forcash anddistributing them gave r ise to a wide-spreadundercurrent ofdistres s
,blighting careers once prom ising
,and condemning many
lives to a hopeless and degrading bondag e. The value of the
lands and houses that have to be sold,” wrote the Times ofAugust
1 866 , must be es timated at four crores of rupees ; and this sum is
owed five times over by the community at large.
”
T w o LandCompanies only lived through the day ofreckoning, the Colaba andElphinstone Companies . The latter haddone good work andpossessed a valuable property ; and was able to keep on its way for
some years, till a sympathetic Government relieved it ofanxiety bybuying all its shares at par . By the close ofthe year 1 867, the
panic hadsubsided and commercial affairs, w hich fortunately suffer
ed no permanent injury from the wild exces ses of thes e five years,commenced to regain a normal aspect. Moreover the future finan
cial independence and success of Bombay was placed in its ow n
keeping, by the opening in 1 868 ofa new Bank of Bombay , w hich
was to form an inipregnable centre of commercial stability .
”
2 80
mouths discharged deep black stres ms across your path, to be
impeded as you neared Chowpatty by boats andnets andstacks of
firewood,and to be choked by the fumes from the open burning
ghat,and many an ancient andfish-like smell. To travel by rail
from Bor i Bunder to Byculla, or to go into Mody Bay, was to see
in the foreshore the latrine ofthe whole population ofthe NativeTown. O f the wealth which found its way into Bombay subse
quent to the year 1 860, some six million pounds sterling was utilisedin regulating and advancing into the sea below low water mark the
whole of the island s foreshore. Handsome works were effectedoneither side ofthe Apollo Bunder , extending south-westward almost
to Colaba Church,andstretching from the Custom House to Sew ri
along the Mody Bay,Elphinstone
, Mazagon, Tank Bunder andFrere Reclamations, a distance ofat least five miles. O n the otherside of the island was the great Back Bay reclamation
,from Colaba
to the foot ofMalabar Hill, whereon was constructed a good roadand bridle path . Considering what the effect of thes e works has beenupon the sanitary condition ofthe city
,and the great convenience
and comfort which they have afforded to the masses , the speculationandmania of the years 1 86 1 -65 appear rightly to have been a
blessing in disg uise. According to Dr. Hewlett’s report of 1 8 72 , the
area reclaimed amounted to square yards, w hich is equivalent to acres ; and by the year 1 872 the area of the wholeisland hadrisen from 1 86 2 square miles to 2 2 square miles
, 149
acres and square yards.
Not upon reclamation alone was the public wealth expendedduring thes e years. New roads were made ; oldtracks improved.
The Colaba Causeway was widened and rebuilt in 1 86 1 -63 ; the
Esplanade Main Road, Rampart R ow and Hornby R ow , Bori
Bunder Road, Market Road past the Markets, a road from ChurchGate Street to Esplanade Main Road, thejunctions ofApollo Bunderwith Marine Street andRampart R ow ,
were all commencedandcompleted within fifteen years after the opening of this period.Cruikshank R oadandthe Esplanade Cros R oadwere widenedbyGovernment in 1 865and1 866 ; the Now rojiHill R oadfrom Dong ri
Streetwas constructedin 1 865 ; the Carnac, MaSJldand Elphinstoneoverbridgeswere built by 1 86 7 at thejoint expense ofthe Municipality
andG. I . P . Railway ; Rampart Row East from the Mint to Fort
George Gate was constructed by Government on the site of the
R ampart andpartofthe Mody Bay reclamation .
But important as these reclamations and communications were,
they are less likely to strike the mind of the casual traveller thanthe great buildings andadornments of the city
,which were es ta
blishedin these years . The embellishment of Bombay may be
said to have been conducted by tw o parties, working separately,but both actuated by the spirit of the age, w hich demanded thatsome part of the newly-acquired wealth should be spent to thepermanent advantage of the city and island. On the one side
were private citizens,who sought to les ve to the island some Out
ward memento of their succe ss in speculation or,as the ease
might be,in sound commercial transactions. “ I t should never
be forgotten,
” writes Macles n, that the splendour of the publicbuildings and useful and benevolent institutions of new Bombayis due to the munificence of the speculators of 186 1 -65. Onethinks at once of the 4 lakhs g iven by Mr. PremchandR oychand,the uncrowned king of Bombay in those days
,for an Univer
siry Library Building anda tower, to be named after his mother“The R ajabaiTower Ofthe Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy School ofA rt ;of the liberality ofCow asjiJehangir, Esq. , w ho will very shortly
1 864) prov ide Bombay with no less than forty drinking fountains,
to be placed in various parts ofthe island ofParsi benevolent institutions such as the Opthalmic Hospital comfletedin 1 866
,the Parsi
Hospital at Colaba,andthe Hospital for Incurables at Byculla ; of
subscriptions to a Victor ia Museum ; and of the Sassoon Mechanics’
Institute. Public companies helpedalso in the task of improvement.One resds of new Railway workshops at Patel ; of a site being
secured for a Gas Company in 1 86 2 , and oftheir commencing work
in October 1 865.
“ The first lamps to be lighted,
” says theBombay Builder of that date, are the new ones along the BhendyBazaar ; these by-the-way reflectfar more credit upon the Municipal
35
2 8 2
Engineer than the miserable specimens along the E splanade. Aportion of the town was for the firsttime lig hted with gas on Saturday,October 7th, 1 866 ; and as the lamp-lighters went from lamp to
lamp they were followed,we are told
,by crow ds of inquisitive
natives,who gaz ed in mute astonishment at the new wes tern
wonder that hadappeared in their mi The Peninsular andOriental Company were at work in 1 863 upon their great Dockyardat Mazagon. Very few persons, wrote a correspondent of theTimes, have any idea ofthe magnitude of the new establishm entj ust rising into existence within a stone ’s throw ofthe old docks at
Mazagon . About three years ago the Company obtainedfrom Government
,for a very low sum
,the oldMazagon dock w ith
permission to reclaim the foreshore to low w ater mark. The w orkscompleted or in progress comprise the largest and most perfect timberslip in Bombay. Lastly one may mention in this connection theE lphinstone Circle
,the erection of which was sanctioned by Sir
George Clerk, and completed during his successor’s tenure ofoffice.
The site ofthis imposing collection of buildings—the oldBombayGreen—was bought by the Municipality and res old by them at alarge profit i n building lots to English mercantile firms, w ho
gradually transformed the dusty open space, inhabited for the most
part by crowds of pigeons,into an imposing examfle of street
architecture. The suggestion that the circle should bear the name of
Lord Elphinstone emanated from the firms concerned in the
building thereof,who held a public meeting at the oflice of Mess rs.
Ritchie Steuart 81. Co. in the year 1 86 2 . The proposal, testifying to
the support which Lord E lphinstone hadaccorded to the scheme inits infancy
,was approved by Government ; and under the title ofthe
Elphinstone Circle,one more striking improvement was added to
the list ofthose conceived and executed during this period.
On the one hand,therefore
,were private individuals and public
firms,working during these years with one fixed idea ofimproving and
enlarging the city,to which their several destinies haddriven them .
O n the other hand were Sir Bartle Frere and his Government,actuated no less keenly by the same wish . As lands for building
project. It would be a mistake to attribute too much to indiv idualGovernors ; for when w ork is demanded by the spirit of the ag e it
will be done in some shape or other, w hoever may be in power. But
in justice it must be said,that Frere deserves the lion’s share in the
credit of this undertaking,and that w ithout him the work w ould
never have reached that magnitude which is now beheld by all
English spectators w ith a feeling ofnational pride. ” I n addition to
the great buildings mentioned by Sir Richard Temple,we read of
improvements to the Cathedral, new Police Courts in Byculla andthe Fort, the expenditure necessary for which was sanctioned by
Government in 1 866 of new light-houses on Kennery and the
Prongs ; of Harbour defences,batteries at Oyster Rock
, C ross
Island ‘and middle ground ; ofa Wellington Memorial Fountain
and ofan European General Hospital ; and many other works of
utility and adornment. Upwards ofa m illion sterling, says the
Bombay Builder of 1 866 - 6 7, has aheady been expended upon thevarious works which have been undertaken by this Government inBombay ; and about a m illion and a quarter is the es timated cost of
completing works already in progress. T wo millions more w ill be
required for projected works including themilitary cantonment atColaba.
More has been done for the advancement of important worksduring the present than during any previous administration. The
w orks of progress that remain are blessings to Bombay those thathave miscarried are landmarks to guide the coming administrationand those that are retarded belong more to the financial policyof the Government of India than to the policy of Sir Bartle
Frere.”
No retrospect of this important period would be completewithout a reference to the change andgrowth ofMunicipal Government
,w hich while necessitated in the first instance by the increase of
the city and of its population,has undoubtedly contributed in no
small degree to a further r ise in the numbers ofresidents, by render
ing the island habitable alike by the rich andpoor. Sir Bartle Frerein a speech delivered at the laying of the foundation-stone of
the Elphinstone Circle in October 1 864, remarkedthat “ the three
l 2 85
great objects, which Lord Elphinstone hadever kept in view, werefirstly the water-supply Ofthe city secondly
,the eflicient drainage
of the whole Town andIsland ; andlastly, the Reclamation of theFlats.
”
The first object had already been brought-to apractiml iss ueby the construction oftheVehar Lake ; but by the time Sir BartleFrere took up the reins ofGovernment
,the triumvirate ofMunicipal
Commissioners, whom we have seen appointed by an A ct of 1 858 ,hadeffected little or nothing towards the consummation ofthe tw o
latter des iderata. Moreover , the administration of 1 858 hadnot
met with the favour ofthe public, and was not so constituted as to be
able to cfl’ect the radios ] improvements in conservancy andcommunications which were demanded by the spirit of those years. The
great difliculty,”
remarks the Bombay Builder of July 1 865,
against w hich the oldrégime hadto contend,was the constant
changes which took place in the Board. We shouldnot like to sayhow many individuals
,consisting ofprivate tutors, Lieutenants ofthe
Navy, disappoinmdQuarter Masters, Assistant Dock Masters, &c.,
have held oflice as Commiss ioners during the last ten years. How
such men—doubtles s most able men in their own particular departmea be expected tounders tand andsuperintend the conservancyof a city such as Bombay, is to us a mystery. Therefore, w e saythat we heartily welcome anything which is likely to prove a changefor the better
,although at the same time it is by no mes hs certain
that the new Act w ill be found complete in every point. ” One ofthemost notable fes tures
,therefore
,of Sir Bartle’s administration was
the abolition of the oldtriumvirate,and the passing ofAct II of
1 865, w hereby the Justices for the Town and Island of Bombay
were creamd a body corporate,and entire executive power
and res ponsibil ity was ves ted in a Commissioner,appointed
by Government for a term ofthree yes rs. A contemporary writer,in
reviewing the events connected with the name of Sir Bartle Frere,
remarked that This Act at first sight appears quite unconnectedwith the building or improvement question, with which we now have
todes l. But when it is remembered that the large revenues of the
Municipality will come in part to be expendedon w orks ofpublic
( 2 86’
4
utility in coming years, and that theMunicipal credit will be pledgedfor carrying out vast and costly undertakings, our readers will confesthat in the passing of the Municipal A ct a rich vein ofprog res s anddevelopment has been struck, w hich will yet in point of magnitude
of operation and succes s distance even the efforts ofGovernment and
ofpublic companies . We hes r the first notes of action in the tw o
appeals w hich are now before Government : one for a concess ion of
the waste land,known as The Flats
,
” intended for house accom
modation for the city ; the other for the Mody Bay site,intended
for the construction of docks. There may be delay in sanctioningthes e measures, but the former must be sanctioned ; and the latter
may be,although we must question its necessity. The flats lie un
occupied, because Government are unable to utilize them, w hile
Bombay calls aloud for house-room. SO far, therefore, the Muni
cipal Act will g iye a stimulus,if not to enterprise in a speculative
sense, at least to true progress ; andfor this we owe our gratitudeto Sir Bartle Frere. Had the Municipal pow er been organised andbrought into play
,before Bombay wasted her money in bubble com
panies, many of the concessions of Government would have beenturned away from greedy promoters. Sir Bartle Frere w as able todistinguish the true policy of progress in works of utility ; but his
Excellency ’s perceptions came too late to be ofany use to Bombayduring a severe monetary crisis.
Ere we proceed to details of the improvements effected by theMunicipality of 1 865, it should be noted that the new system w as
marred by one flaw, which eventually ledin the closing year of the
period under rev iew, to its discontinuation, and to the passing ofa
new Municipal Bill. Municipal Adm inistration,as has been re
marked,was conducted by a Commissioner andthe Bench of Jus
tices but the powers of the Commissioner were so extensive that
he w as practically irres ponsible ; and, in an age so fertile ofg reatand costly works, he was open to a temptation to spend the moneyof the ratepayers in a far too lavish manner. Had there only existedsome constitutional check upon his powers and inclinations,the Municipal system of 1 865 might have lastedbeyond 1 872 .
2 88
Hindus was Opened at the junction ofthe Haines and Worli Roads.
The closure ofmost ofthese grounds was nece ssitated by the exossive overcrowding, w hich had taken place in them. Regardingthose trades, which caused danger or offence to the public, he w ho
desires information may well consult the Municipal Health Reports
of 1 866 and 1 86 7 ; whence it will appear that all tanners were re
moved in those year s from the precincts of the native tow n,
andsettled to a large extent in Bandora or Mahim that mtgut-makers
w ere driven toWorli, fat-boilers to Naigaum andthe Sewri C ross
R oad ; that the indigo-dyers of Suparibagh in Pare] w ere removed,as also salt-fish-store dealers from Mandvi Kolivadi to the villag e of
Sewri .
The drainage ques tion had for many years troubled the m inds
of those responsible for the welfare ofthe island. As early as 1 8 6 3 ,
journalism broke into a paean of praise over the prospect ofsuch a
reform,declaring that Bombay is to be drained at last that the
Municipal Commissioners have taken steps for breaking groundat
once in the Fort ; andin a fortnight or so, we may expect to see the
beginning ofthe g reatest sanitary reform, that can possibly be intro.
duced,applied to Bombay.
” The unfortunate tr iumvirate was un
equal to the task. Though the work was commenced in 1 864, the
feebleness ofthe oldCommission militated ag ainst a satisfactory issuethereof; and in the meantime, the public haddiscovered that themost vital point connected with thorough drainag e—namely, the
location ofthe sewage outfall— was still undecided. The importan ce
ofdeciding this question was put forward in 1 865 by a spec ial
comm ittee, appointed to deal with the drainag e of the flats. After
the Municipality of 1 865 had been constituted, distinct improvement
was made ; so that by 1 870the Municipal Commissioner could truth
fully record that the new sewer in Portuguese Church Street has
reformed a most horrible neighbourhood, andenabled us to drain an
oartn A nant R ooshia’
s cart—long a disgrace to Bombay ; andthat the sewering ofKamathipuraandpartofthe Fort was completed.
Closely connected with the question ofpublic health was the condition
of the public markets andslaughter-houses ; andit was not long
I 2 89 )
before the Municipal Commissioner turnedhis mindtow ards their
improvement. I n 1 86 7 the Null Bazaar Market and the BandoraSlaughter-houses w ere opened ; in 1 868 a new market was built at
Bhuleshwar,andprivate markets were Opened in Sheik Ali janjikar
Street,R ampartRow
,andTank Bunder
,the total number of public
markets in that year being 8 , andof private markets 1 7, exclusive
of those under construction. Finally in 1 869, were completed the Arthur Crawford Markets
,
“ the noblest and most use
ful of all the public improvements executedin Bombay,w hich
form a grand monument to the energy and administrative capacityof the gentleman whose name they bear
,and who was Muni
cipal Commissioner of Bombay from j uly 1 865 till November1 87 1 .
I t were tedious to recount at length all the measures taken bythe Municipality to render the city habitable ; how cattle-pounds andstables of approved pattern were built ; how the w ater-supply of
Vehar was increased,and the Tulsi w ater-works were begun ; how
our present Oval and Rotten Row,the playing-grounds ofthe city
,
were laid out. But we cannot pass onw ard w ithout recalling the factthat the Reclamation ofthe Flats with town-sweepings was first suggested during these years
,and that supreme activity was displayed
in improving communications w ithin the island. The proposal tofill up the flats in the manner abovementionedmet with considerableopposition ; andas late as 1 8 75 Maclean described the w ork, then
begun,as a measure of doubtful sanitary advantage. But
,in the
words of the Health Officer of 1 8 74,“ it must be always remem.
bered that prior to the deposit of tow n-sweepings on the flats,the
locality was a foul pes tilential swamp ; and before the garden plotswere cultivated
,there was
,as there is still
,the filthy drain which gave
them their sewage. When to windward ofa town there is a putr idsalt marsh
,undrained
,uncared-for—floodedperiodically with sewage,
—a charnel-house,a common necessary—a depository for dead
animals—horribly offensive, unutterably foul ; when from north tosouth this area is bisected by thefilthy drain, already described ; whenfrom ea st to west there runs another only less objectionable, because
37
smaller ; and w hen all these conditions have remained unabatedfor thirty years
,it is straining at the gnat andsw allow ing the camel to
speak ofdanger, because with tow n-sw eepings it is proposed to con
vert a very limited portion of this w aste into a garden for orna
ment anduse, or because sew age w as here raised from an existingdrain and utilised.
” Foresight eventually triumphed over obstrqc
tion ; andthe measure, w hich hadoriginated betw een the years1 865-70, w as being vigourously carried out some years after
a new and more representative Municipality had come intoexistence.
Improved communications w ere no less ardently des ired andconstructed than new markets or new drains. The Bori BunderRoad w as widened in 1 865 ; the Queen
’s Road along Back Bayw as constructed in 1 8 70on the occasion ofthe Duke ofEdinburg h
’
s
visit the N O W l‘OJl Hill Road from Dongr i Koli Street to Mazag onw as ready in 1 865 the Breach Candy, Mahalakshm i andTardeoRoads w ere widened and improved in 186 7 Grant Road w as com
pletedin 1 8 72 Bellasis, Clare, Falkland and Kamathipura ForasRoads all sprang into existence betw een 1 86 6 and 1 868 . Finally
,
the g reat Foras Roads across the Flats— the Arthur, Clerk andDeL isle Roads— w hich hadbeen commenced in 1 86 2
,w ere com
pletedby the Municipality in 1 86 7 and 1 868 .The Carnac
,Musj id
and Elphinstone overbridges w ere in use at the close of 1 867, the
Kennedy Bridge w as completed in 1 869.
“ The w idening ofthe
Bellasis Road,”
w rote the editor ofthe Bombay Builder in 1 86 8 ,
is progres sing w ell,and the Grant andnew Foras Roads are
shortly to be similarly treated. The latter road w ill be diverted tothe foot ofFrere B ridge
,so soon as the Gilder Road is finished.
Nepean Sea and Wilderness Roads have also been much improvedby w idening. All these improvements are very desirable indeed, andthe public duly appreciate them ; but w e w ould much prefer to see
the money spent on all the street-widening that is possible in theNative Tow n. Mr . Crawford w ill be conferring an incalculableboon on a large section of the Christian community, if he wouldeffect a wholesale widening of streets and lanes about Sonapur .
292
rule of the so-called Sanitary Department and its ScavengingContractor.
The birth of Bombay,as a royal
,a populous anda beautiful °
city, is ascribable,as w e have attempted to show
,to the joint
labours ofGovernment,the Municipality
,private firms andindiv idual
citizens,all of w hom strove in their several Spheres to render a once
inconsiderable island ”
w orthy b0th of posterity and of the Im
perial Monarch,to w hose liberal sway she w as now proud to owe
her allegiance. Ere the numbers ofthe population claim our atten
tion, let us glance briefly at the outw ard features of the island . as
described in the press or offi cial records ofthe day. The T z'
mes of
1 864 contains a paragraph stating that in that years H .E .the
Governor in Council prescr ibed the limits ofBombay to be TheIsland ofBombay
,andColaba and Old Woman ’s Island
,andsub
divided them into the follow ing areas
Colaba. I K amathipura.
Fort. Mazagon Mount.
Mandv i andBunders. Chinchpokli.Bhuleshw ar . W or li.B reach Candy. Mahim W oods andMatung a.
Malabar H il l .
I n the year 1 865 the new Municipality had,for the purposes of
assessment,to formulate a scheme ofw ards, w hich are show n in a map
accompanying the Commissioner’s report for that year . A t the
extreme south lies the Colaba Ward, comprising Upper,Middle
andSmall Colaba north ofit is the Fort Ward No. 2 ) embrac
ing the Fort proper,the Esplanade
,and Dhobi Talao. Northward
ag ain are the Mandv i (No. 3) and Bhuleshwar (N0, 4) Wards.The former includes all that area now know n as Chakla andtheMarket ; the latter embraces a modern Phanaswadi, andBhulesh
w ar proper. Beyond Mandvi lies the O omerkhadiWard ( No.
comprising the modern Dong r i and O omerkhadi proper. GirgaumWard (N0, 6 ) andKamathipuraWard (No. 7) adjoin Bhuleshw ar ,andinclude, the former Chowpatty and Khetw adi, the latter Kamathipura
,K umbharwada and Khara Talao ; though these modern
293 I
sectional names do not figure in the map. Portions ofour moder n
Byculla district are also included in K amathipura Ward . MalabarH ill Ward (No. 8 ) is composed of the modern W alkeshwar andMahalakshm i sections ; Mazag on Ward (No. on the other side
ofthe island, embraces Mazagon proper and Tarwadi , The tenthand last Ward is ca lled Mahim and Pare]
,and comprises
Mahim,Parel
,Sewn
'
,Sion and Worli or rather the area w hich
thes e modern sections now occupy. By 1 872 , a further re-distribution ofareas had been found necessary ; and we find an A Division
made up of Colaba,the Fort and Esplanade ; B Division com
prising Market,Mandvi, Chakla, O omerkhadi and Dongri ; C
Division including Dhobi Talao,Phanaswadi, Bhuleshwar , Khara
Talao,K umbharwada, Girgaum andKhetwadi D Division made
up of Chowpatty, W alkeshwar, and Mahalakshmi ; E Div ision
comprising Mazagon , Tarwadi, Kamathipura, Parel andSewri ;and lastly an F Div ision composed of Sion
,Mahim and Worli .
These changes in the nomenclature of localities tes tify as strongly as
other facts to the great expansion of the town and the large areabuilt over during thes e years. The journals published betw een 1 86 1
and 1 872 from time to time refer to the w ant ofa Building Act,to
the necessity o regulating the construction ofthe numerous housesconstan tly springing up in andabout the City . So immense wasthe influx ofpeople, attracted hither by the prospect of employmenton great public w orks or by the hope of gain
,that house-room
could not be prov ided suffi ciently quickly for all classes. The
B ombay B uilder of September 1 866 speaks of coolies and otherworkmen finding the greatest difficulty in housing themselves evenin the most miserable and unwholesome lodging s. Let anyone
,adds the paper
,visit the purlieus of the Byculla Tanks
,
andexam ine for himself the wretched row s of cadjan huts occupiedby human beings, but only raised by a few inches above the fetidmud ofthe flats ; and he will no longer be astonished to hear that
tw o out of three coolies that come to Bombay for employment donot return to their homes, but are carried off by fever or otherdiseases . W hen the R ailways are open through to Calcutta and
Madras,Bombay will become in a grea t measure the port of
I ndia,commercial transactions w ill greatly extend
,and more
room for dw ellings will be imperatively required. I n 1 8 72 ,
the need of new house- accommodation was still of the hig hesturgency.
“ I w ish to bring to notice,” wrote the Health Offi cer
to the Municipal Comm issioner, “the desirability oferecting artisans ’
and labourers’ dw ellings. I t is extrem ely difficult for European
mechanics and others to get res pectable lodgings at a reasonable
rate ; and the filthy dens in which the labouring classes of thecity live are among the chiefcauses ofthe very high death-rate.
"
The island was, in truth,
w holly unprepared for the suddenincrease of population, occasioned by the stirring circumstances of
1 86 1 to 1 8 72 ; as much room as possible was prov ided by
the building of new houses, and by the erection of freshstoreys upon old building s, w hich w ere totally unfit to bear their
w eight ; but by so doing, those conditions of life in the city w ereintroduced, w hich have remained an unsolved problem to the pres entday. Great as w ere the benefits w hich the period under rev iew
introduced, one can never forget that therein were sow n the seeds
of ill-health and overcrow ding, which have obtruded themselves so
persistently upon later Governments andMunicipalities. Macleangives a general andvery pleasant sketch of the island
,as it appeared
about the year 1 8 72 . He Speaks of the splendid buildings, the
streets full of shops, “the pretty mosque in Pare] Road,
”
the
cloth-market,the Marwadis ’
bazaar w ith its handsomer style of
houses, the accumulated riches of Kalbadevi Road and SheikhMemon Street, the pillars and quaint over-hanging verandahs of
the lofty houses near the Mumbadevi Tank,the w arrens ofDhobi
Talao,the coach- building factories of the Maratha quarter, the
numerous andcomfortable dw ellings on Malabar Hill,and the
“glorious panorama of w ater,w ood
,hills
,shipping
,and the stately
edifices of a great city, which strike the eye from the summit of theRidge. Andit was undoubtedly the truth that he spoke ; for the
city hadbecome in his day both beautiful and rich . But a clearer
idea of the conditions of that periodw ill be gained by observ ing
1
296
possessed many houses in which it was essential to carry a light byday ; “ the villag es of Sindulpada. Ag ripada andJulaipada w ere
w ell nigh untraversable, ow ing to the presence of an open drain the
thickly populated villages and ham lets ofParel w ere wholly undrained.
The condition of Mazagon and Sewri w as more satisfactory. The
former,however
,yet lacked a road across the waste ground rec laim
ed by the Elphinstone Company, w hich separated it from the Forton one side andthe native tow n on another. The foreshore ofSewrihad been vastly improvedby the Frere reclamation
,but the section
handicapped from a sanitary point of view by the detachedham lets of Ghorupdev andJackeria Bunder, in which dw elt thelabourers and quarry-men of that epoch. Mahim was
,as it still is
,
covered withsthick m nut plantations,andformed an ag reeable
resort during the morning or evening hours.
Such were the conditions of our city,as disclosed by the
deeper enquiries of a department of public health. Beautifulwere her public buildings, great was the increase of her commerce
,
huge was her population, by the year 1 8 72 ; and yet she w as
suffering from ev ils, ofw hich, as Dr. Leith wrote, the most prom in
ent and at the same time the most Open to immediate remedy
w as great filthiness. While, therefore, w e justly attribute to thisperiod the genesis of a prosperous and royal city, w e should not
forget that it also is responsible for the birth of those troubles,w hich
have exercisedthe mind of the public for so many years,and have
finally necessitated the creation in our ow n day of a special Board,charged with the relief of overcrowding and the sanitary regeneration
of the island.
We pass on to the details of the population during the years
1 838 to 1 8 7 2 . At the close of the previous period, the inhabitants
of the island, as w e have seen, numbered 2 or probablya little more. Ten years later the benefits of peace, the growth
of commerce, andimprovement of comm unications hadraised the
total to Such is the figure recorded against that year inMurray ’s Handbook ofIndia
,Part I I
,which distributes the total
as follow s among the var ious communities resident within the
island
Jains, L ingayats or BuddhistsBrahm ins
Hindus O fother castesMahommedansParsis (ov er-rated)Jew s
Native Christianslndo—B r itonsIndoPure Europeans (inc luding soldiers)Sidi, Neg ro-A fr icansO ther castes
Total
Sir Bartle Frere,who recognised that no attempt at sanitary
improvement could be in itiated,w i thout first obtaining some toler
ably accurate estimate ofpopulation, decided to have acensus taken
in the year 1 864. The Opposition to the measure, manifested bythe Home Government, has become a matter of h istory ; but theGovernor w as persuaded of i ts uti l i ty ; andentrusted the task to thethen Heal th Offi cer, Dr . Leith. As w as only natural , a very considerable increase ofpopulation w as recorded for swarms of adventurers from all parts of India and from abroad had been attractedto the ci ty by the speculative enterprise w hich marked the seasonof unexampled prosperi ty enjoyed by Bombay dur ing the Amer icanWar ; and “vast numbers of labourers and artisans hadflocked fromthe mofuss i l in consequence of the demand for
,andthe high prices
of, labour.
” The figure recordedw as out of whichrepresented the city population
,and 32 ,58 2 the “ harbour
population. No scheme,
”
remarked Dr . Hew lett in his reportof 1 8 72 , was too grand for the promoters of Companies in thosedays
,andlabour ofal l k inds was in great reques t . The city was
l i teral ly crammed with men,w omen andchi ldren
,for whom there
was not suffi cient house-accommodation ; andthe consequent over.
298
crowding ofa great part O f the people w as excessive. The totalnumber ofoccupied houses was stated to be 2 for the wholeisland ; and in the Market, Dongr i , Dhobi Talao and Gi rgaumsect ions, the number of fami l ies to a two-storeyed house, averag edfrom 37 1 to w hi le the number of persons to each houserang ed from 39 to 83. The fol lowing instance of overcrow dingwas witnessed by Dr . Lei th, at the time the census was takenIn a lane
, 9feet w ide, the houses on each side were of two or
of three floors, andthe various rooms w ere densely peopled, andthefloors of the verandahs were ful ly occupied ; whi le to eke out theaccommodation in some of the verandahs there w ere charpoys or cotsslung up and screened with old matt ing
,to form a second tier of
sleeping-places for labourers,w ho w ere employed in the day-tim e at
the Railw ay Terminus and elsewhere. ” Such w as 1 864 in the
ci ty . But fortunately for the wel l-being of the community, thes e
condi t ions did not last. After the financial crash occurred,and
company after company collapsed,
“the labourers who hadbeen en
gaged in reclamation and other w orks w ere discharged,and finding no
further employment in Bombay returned to their vi l lages in the in.
terior .” By the year 1 8 72 , it hadbecome evident to al l
,as the
census offi cer of that date remarked, but especial ly to those w hoseavocations cal led them into the labour quarters of the tow n
,that a
decrease in population hadtaken place,and that the figures
, as
shown in the Census Report of 1 864, no longer gave a trustw orthyapproximation to the numbers of the inhabitants.
” In consequence
the census of 1 8 72 was undertaken, at the instance and under the
g uidance of the Municipal Commissioner, and resulted in the
enumeration ofa population O f Maclean, comment ingupon the result
,remarks that “ the disproportion betw een the sexes
is extraordinary, there being 399, 7 1 6 males to females andit is partly attributed, with good reason, to the fact that the census
w as taken in the w i nter months of the year, w hen the fixedpopulation is annual ly much augmented by an influx ofmen, w hocome from their vi l lages for the purposes of trade andin search of
service,and who do not bring their wives andfamil ies wi th them .
This motley of tr ibes,eastes andraces was housedin
dwel l ings. Notw i thstanding the fact that the number ofhouses in
the island had increased since 1 864 by and that thepopulat ion had decreased by overcrowding was sti l l
excessive,andmoved Dr. Hewlett to remark that w hat has been
said ofScotland may with equal truth be appl ied to Bombay,that
fami l ies instead of l iv ing on the earth in the pure air w i th the sky
over their dw el l ings,in many instances prefer lying stratum over
stratum in flats Opening into a common staircase, a continuationof the street
,
’
as i t has been ca l led,w hich receives the organ ic
emanations of the fami l ies on each floor. ”
It is not a pleasant picture, this, of the condit ions of l ife in theci ty of 1 872 but
,fortunately
,the evi ls which resulted from the
frenzied progress of the period w ere counterbalanced by the goodwhich accrued therefrom and in the years that fol low ed
,increased
science in sani tation,combined with a keen desire for the comm on
good,assisted in minimising the dang ers w hich attended the
elevat ion ofBombay to that pinnacle ofgreatness, upon which she
is now proudly seated.
In taking leave of this most important portion ofBombay
history,we w ould touch upon three facts ofgeneral interest, w h ich
test ify,each in i ts ow n way
,to the change which came over the
island during these years. Firstly,w e note a considerable grow th
ofhandicrafts : there are si lk-looms near the Babula Tank, and in theJai l Road
,which produce many a Sar i, c/zolz
'
,pag aa'z'
or waistcoat ;gold and si lver thread is manufactured and used for embroidery in
two or three local i t ies a poor qual i ty of packing paper is prepared
from fibres ; while very good boots and shoes,saddles
,bag s, & c . ,
are made in the European fashion by native workmen underEuropean superintendence.
” The prec ious metals are fused andbeaten into ornaments by over goldsm iths, w ho find
constant and lucrative employment ; 300jewel lers cater to the publicdemand for pear ls
,diamonds and emeralds carved blackw ood
furniture has become celebrated Madras workmen have journeyedhi ther, and supply
“ a most attractive reed-matting ,” which seem s
l ikely to supersede the China matt ing , hitherto in vogue ; copper
cooking pots andother u tensi ls ofuniversal use are suppliedbyhundreds in the Copper Bazaar
,opposite the Mumbadev i Tank,
“ the busiest and noisiest st reet in the nat ive town . The supply
ofcarriages ,inferior in elegance, indeed, to the best vehicles from
Long Acre,but of substantial and good w orkmanship ” keeps
many a man employed ; the Bycu l la andParel Rai lway w orkshopsmanufacture al l kinds of rol ling stock
,except engines ; great
progress has been made in the iron industry, so that, “ with theimportant exception ofmachinery, there is hardly any descr iption
of iron work which cannot be manufactured in Bom bay. Even
ivory and sandalwood carv ing, and the manufacture oftortoise shel l
armlets for women, can be seen in process ofcompletion am id the
dark by-w ays and crosslanes of the nat ive town . The industrialimportance of the island had fully kept pace w i th architectural
embel l ishment and with its physical expansion .
Secondly,one notes a grow ing tendency to travel on the part
of the native population, a tendency which arose, perhaps naturally,from improvement ofcommunieations betw een England
,India and
China. There was the edi tor of the H indu Har bz'
ug er’ who
sai led for England in 1 854 ; a Nagar Brahmin in 1 860, who desi red
to study the Eng l ish educational system ; andtwo gentlemen of theBania community, who left India in 1 866 to found a firm in
England . T0China there sai led members of the Khoja,Marwadi
,
and Borah comm uni ties, w hose names it is perhaps unneces sary torepeat . In most cases these adventurous spiri ts returned after ashort time but the fact that they essayed the dangers of the deep
,
with the ful l convict ion, in some cases, that they would be outcasted
by their spiri tual leaders or g ur us, seems to us proof of the fact
that the wealthier port ion of the native community was becomingimbued w i th the spi ri t of progress, w hich animated its Engl ish
ru lers.Thirdly
,we remark in the year 1 86 2
,an event
,which the
contemporary press character ised as a Triumph over Publ ic
Immoral i ty —the Maharaja Libel Case. Into the history ofthe
302
Vallabacharyas, into the tale ofcredul i ty and corruption,l icense
and degradat ion,el icited by cross-examination
,i t is not our
purpose to enter ; nor is there occasion to trace the gradualconversion ofthe high-toned mysticism ofthe early Hindu rel ig ioninto a debasing and anthropomorphic supersti t ion . The realimportance of the case is shadowed forth in the concluding portion
ofthe judgment del ivered by Si r Joseph Arnould . This trial,
remarked the learned judge,has been spoken ofas having involv ed
a great waste of the public time. I cannot qu ite agree with that
Opinion . No doubt much time has been spent i n hearing th i s
cause,but I w ould fain hope it has not been al l t ime wasted.
It seems impossible that this matter should have been discussedthus Openly before a population so intel l igent as that of
the natives of Western India, w i thout produci ng i ts results.
It has probably taught some to think it must have led many
to enquire. I t is not a question O f theology that has been beforeus it is a quest ion ofmorali ty. The principle for which the defendant and his witnesses have been contending is simply this—that
w hat is moral ly w rong cannot be theological ly right—that w henpractices which sap the very foundations ofmorali ty, w hich involve aviolation ofthe eternal and immutable law s ofRight—areestabl ishedin the name and under the sanction ofReligion, they ought, for the
common w elfare ofsociety, and in the interest ofhumani ty itself, tobe publ icly denounced and exposed. They have denounced— theyhave exposedthem. At a risk andat a cost w hich we eannot ade
quately measure, thes e men have w ag eddeterminedbattle ag ainst a
foul and powerful delusion . They have dared to look custom anderror boldly in the face, andproclaim before the world of theirvotaries that their evi l is not good
,that their l ie is not the truth. In
thus doing,they have done bravely and well . I t may beal lowable
to express a hope that what they have done wi ll not have been invain
,that the seed they have sown wil l bear its frui t, that thei r
courag e and consistency wi ll be rewardedby a steady increase in thenumber ofthose, w hom their w ords and their example have quicken
edinto thought , and animated to resistance, whose homes they have
influx ofp0pulation,such as rendered a previous periodremarkablebut rather a gradual growth in the number of i nhabi tants
,occa
sionedby advance of trade, g tt ofpubl ic works
,and the unre
mitting attention paid to the general convenience and comfort ofthe communi ty.
Before al luding to the improvements carried out in theseyears,one notew orthy change in the status ofour ci ty and island des erv esmention . In 1 8 77 her late Majesty the Queen ofGreat Bri ta inand Ireland w as declared Empress ofIndia and Bombay, w hich i n
1 858 had become a Royal City, ranked from that day forth as anImperial possession .
Mahommedan rulers ofGujarat had yieldedher to the Portuguese in 1 534 ; the latter had been succeeded by therepresentati ves ofthe Brit ish Crow n in 1 66 1 and seven years later
the merchants ofLondon had gained her as their ow n. But dest inyw i l led that her status should increase
,even as her w ealth andp0pula
tion expanded that to her social and commercial importance shou ld
be added the prestige,w hich inclusion in a w orld-w ide empire can
alone afford. Long may she hold her proud posi tion, mindful ever
of the duties w hich her imperial character imposes !The increase ofpopulation
,recorded in 1 88 2
,w as part ial ly
assuredby the cont inued improvement of comm unications, T he
Great Indian Peninsula andthe Bombay,Baroda Central Ind ia
Rai lways threw out fresh l ines,l inked themselves w i th other and
more remote rai l-roads,unti l the island became thecentral term inus
O fa series ofarterial railw ays,radiat ing in var ious directions across
the continent O f India . Communication by sea became yet morereg ular ; i ts advantages acquired more celebri ty among the dwel ler sin the coast-hamlets : new s oftheci ty
,and of themeansofl i vel ihood
which it afforded,w as thereby spread further afield . O ne of the
most curious features ofthe census of 1 88 1 w as the rapid rise of thefemale population of the ci ty. The immig ration , to w hich a tota li ncrease of w as chiefly due
,w as
“not solely an adult m ale
imm igration .
” The w omen had been tempted by easy and rapidcommunicat ions
,both by land andsea
, to accompany their menk ind,from the plains oftheDeccan
,from Cutch and from the vi l lages that
lay along the coast. I n previous years, the men had sal l ied forth
alone, had dared not risk the peace, perhaps the l ives ,ofthei r wives
and children in a journey to the unknown ci ty but by 1 88 1,the
steam-boat and “ the fire-carriage had done their work ; andthewomenoftheDeccan, Konkan andGujarat had come to share theirmasters ’ for tunes in the factory and the docks.Trade increased steadi ly during thes e years. For the three
years, 1 870 to 1 8 72 , Bombay exports averaged 2 4 crores, her
imports 1 2 crores ; beween 1 880and 1 88 2 they respectively averaged2 7 crores and1 7 crores. Her exports of wheat rose from a
tr iennial averageof 150tons in 1 870-72 to tons in 1 880-8 2 ;of l inseed from tons to tons ; ofrapeseed from
tons to tons ; andofgingel ly from 685 tons to tons.And ever as her trade increased
,therewere new demands for labour,
new opportuni ties for the up-country v i l lager to earn a l ivel ihood.Hence arose the spectacle of a Maratha population enormously
expanded since 1 872 , and forming 2 2 8 6 per cent. of the totalpopulation ; for whether in the prolonged labour ofthe factory
,or
in the severe toi l oftheclock,the frugal and brave-hearted Maratha
is the chief toi ler. ” To the increase ofcommerce the Municipal
Corporation alluded withjust pride in an address pres ented to H isMajes ty tlie King-Emperor
,on the occasion ofhis v isi t to the ci ty
in November 1 877. Bombay,said the ci ty fathers, may lay
cla im to the dist inct ion of being a Royal Ci ty ; for this island first
became an appanageof the Crown of England, through formingpart ofthe dowry of Charles the Second ’s Portugues e bride ; andduring thetwo centuries that hav e elapsed since then, Bombay hashad every reason to be grateful for this fortunate change in herdes
tiny. From a barren rock,whoseonly w ealth consisted in cocoanuts
and dried fish, whosescanty population of souls paid a total
rev enue to the State ofnot more than a year, whose trade
was of less value than that of Thana and Bassein, and whose
cl imate was so deadly to Europeans that two monsoons were saidto be the age ofa man, she has blossomed into a fair and wholesome city, with apopulation which makes her rank next to London
39
f
among the ci ties ofthe Brit ish Empire, with a municipal rev enueamounting to a year, andwith a foreign commerce w orthforty-five mill ions and yielding in customs duties to the Imper ial
Treasury three mill ions a year,
The mi l l-industry also increased apaceduring thes eyears. In
1 86 1 there were some spindles and looms at w ork
in 1 875 the number ofspindles was computed at andof
looms at The number ofcotton-mills in 1 8 72 was 1 2,by
1 875 they had increased to 1 7, and by 1 879to 30; andin additionto them
,were several minor factor ies ,
ofwhich deta i led information
no longer exists. The foundation ofeach new mi ll or new press ,the
opening ofeach new spinn ing or weaving depar tment, augmentedthe numbers ofthe operative populat ion; SO that, by 1 88 2 ,
persons,or 8 4 per cent. ofthe total industr ial community were
returned as mi l l-workers.But the growth of trade and cotton-spinning andweav ing
industries did not alone contribute to swel l the total of the island’
s
inhabi tants. Bui lding andreclamation were steadi ly proceeding .
We read ofnew markets bui lt at Mazagon in 1 875 oftheDhobi’sl ines on the Esplanade being acquired for new rai lway bu i ldings ; ofhouse-bu i lding which
,
“ though progress ing at the rate ofabout 300new houses a year, does not seem to be checked by
,andperhaps
tends to produce a fall in rents; ofnumerous i l l-l ighted anddampdwell ings
,notably in the Kamathipura district, being removedto
make way for wel l-bu i lt chaw ls andsubstantial houses. New pol icestations were erected at Pydhow niandBazar Gate during thes eyears ;churches, temples and mosques sprang into existence ; andthe construction ofnew water works aided the expansion of the labouringclass es . The Vehar Lake
,
”
wr i tes Sir Richard Temple,
found insufficient for the growing commun i ty,andthe formation of
an additional lake was undertaken in the time ofmy predecess ors the
work w as completed in my time, and water was conducted to the ci tyat a higher level than before. ” The Tulsi water works were
completed in 1 8 79; the construction ofits fi lter beds was sti l l proceeding in 1 88 1 . Another great work was the constructipn of the
a former period but a properly organised system was not projectedti l l the date ofSir Phi l ip Wodehouse ’s adm in istration. By 1 8 75
the Company had extended their l ine as far as the Bycul la Bridg ei n 1 8 76 they crept from the Well ington Fountain to Bazar GateStreet in the fol lowing year a l ine was laid dow n from their stables
to the Sassoon Dock in 1 8 78 they travel led up the GirgaumRoad from the Esplanade to Portuguese Church Street andin the last year of this period a l ine was laid from the old “foot
wash.Pydhow ni, via Bapu Khote Street to the Grant R oad
Bridge. The demand for labour was further enhanced by the open
ing ofnew roads under theauspices ofthe Municipal i ty. Camballa
Hil l,two or three roads on Malabar Hi l l
,the Ful ler
,Wodehouse
andMayo Roads, Hope Street, Musj id Bunder Station Road, andcommunications betw een the Bandstand andColaba Overbridgewere opened to the publ ic in 1 8 74. Streets were widened in 58 loss
lities,footpaths were constructed in the Grant andFalkland Roads
in the following year Beach Road, Magdala Road, Napier Road,Kazi Syed Street
,Chinch Bunder z udRoad
,Shaikh Al i Jenjikar
Street were ready by 1 8 75 Annes ley Road, Kamathipura 1 5th
Street,Trimbak Parasharam Street, and Memonwada Road hadall
become busy thoroughfares by 1 876 . In 1 878 theArthur Roadhadbeen improved Mahim was benefited by the opening ofthe Prabhadevi Road a thoroughfare guided the travel ler to the Old Wor l i
Fort. One reads ofnew communication between Mazagon, FrereRoad, and Lawrence de Lima Street ofthe opening ofGibbs R oad
in connection w i th the Malabar H i l l Reservoir in 1 879; of exten
sions to Mathew and Frere roads in 1 88 1 Even the oldpathw ay
of the pilgrims, the Siri or Ladder,was taken in hand
,and
converted into a satisfactory thoroughfare for foot-passengers. Yet,
this activ i ty notwithstanding, the task was incomplete ; for
the provision O f adequate trade routes in connection with the
rapidly increasing busines s of the docks is now one of the most
important wants of the ci ty, especial ly in the Mandvi quarter, w here
the old and narrow streets are choked with traflic, struggling to and
from the warehouses and quays. SO wrote the Commiss ioner
in 1 88 1. T he labourer was sure of employment for many yearsto come.
The progress ofhouse-bui lding, the execution ofpublic works,the erect ion ofnew m i l ls, dur ing this period, left their mark upon the
population of the island . Not only did special classes,such as the
wood andtimber merchants and wood-sel lers,receive additions to
their numerieal strength, but of the whole population of the island,2 7 per cent . only were returned in 1 88 1 as hav ing been born in Bombay. Great hadbeen the immigration of the industr ial classes
, 1 6
per cent. ofthewhole population hai l ing from Ratnagiri , 8 per cent.from Poona
, 5 per cent . from Satara and 5 per cent. from Cutch.New mosques and new temples tes tified to the pres ence of new
comers ; for the seventy-Six mosques of 1 872 had increased in 1 88 2
to ninety- three,the Hindu temples from 1 76 to 209.
Another noteworthy resul t of thes e years’ administration was
a very large increase ofthe infant population , which one would as
cribe in some measure to the labours ofthe Heal th Department andto the promotion ofthe general 00m of the inhabitants of theisland. Chi ldren under one year O fage had increased by 96 percent. in 1 88 2 those between 6 and 1 2 years by 6 2 per cent . and
those between 1 2 and20 by 40per cent. A ndthis hadhappenedin spite ofa terrible outbreak ofsmal l-pox in 1 8 76 , ofthe immigration of very large bodies of famine refugees in 1 8 77, thirty-sixthousand ofwhom entered the city in a desti tute andd iseasedcondition between August 1 5th andSeptember 3oth in that year.The L ancetofthat year remarked that, as a consequence of the
wide-spread scarci ty, ifnot famine, which as a res ult of the fai lureofthemonsoon ra ins oflast year is now causing so much anxiety tothe Governments of Bombay and Madras
,large numbers of
poverty-stricken people have flocked to the already overcrow dedcity ofBombay and gravi tating into the worst andmost unhealthylocal i ties,have, by increasing largely the popu lation per square m i le,set up those condi tions which in every part ofthe wor ld
, under l ikecircumstances
,give rise to epidemic disease. ” Phthisis also claimed
many v ictims in Khara TalaoEandother sections : a severe cholera
epidemic swept through the city in 1 88 1 . But the Department of
Publ ic Heal th was at work, combating disease and doing all in
i ts power to render the ci ty more sani tary andto pres erve infant l ife.Regular conservancy was in force oldcemeteries
,such as that O f
the Chinese in Suklaj i Street, were closed new Si tes for burial
grounds,such as those near DeL isle Road for Musu lm an
andHindu, were set apart beyond the crowded lanes of the
ci ty. The mortal i ty at Mahim andParel was less ened by the
removal ofthe baneful Dadur disti l lery ; ‘a great advance in san itary
administration took place in the matter ofcattle-stables,” which
,by
re ason of neglect or perfunctory supervision only, hadt i l l 1 8 79
poisoned the air ofmany a crowded street. By the year follow i ng.seventeen of the worst hadbeen removed from the ground floor of
human habitat ions in Bhuleshvar ; regular supervision of al l such
bu ildings hadbeen insti tuted and a l ist ofpenalties for all infr ingements of requirements hadbeen brought into force. Systematicdrainageofthe island was also attempted. Much had already beendone
,
” wr i tes Sir Richard Temple,at great cost and labour for the
drainag e of the city ; sti l l a mass ofsewag e entered the harbour to the
g reat detriment ofal l concerned. So additional drainage works w ere
undertaken for diverting the sewage to a quarter where it would notbe hurtful. In his administration reports for 1 8 75 and 1 8 76 the
Health Offi cer hadvigorouslyadvocated the drainage scheme preparedby Mr. Pedder and MajorTulloch, “andhad never ceased to proclaimin the ears of the ci tizens the dangers of further delay. ’ The
Town Counci l and the Corporation were as eag er for improvementas the Heal th O flicer. Final ly, as we learn from Mr. Acworth
’smonograph upon this subject Sir Richard Temple
’s Government
addressed the Munic ipal i ty,drawing their immediate attention to the
necessi ty for the provision ofadditional drainage for the ci ty, andadding that there seemed to be a consensus of opinion as to the
urgency ofcertain evi ls, and the mode ofremedying them.
” Aspecial commission was appointed i ts report was received in the
early portion of 1 8 78 the Municipal ity at once resolved to sanct ion
the immediate commencement and vigorous prosecution of the
Class.
Broug ht
Lingayat
Bhattia
Hindus ofother castesHindu, low castes
MusulmanNeg ro-African
Parsi o n so.
Jew 000 s o . 000 000
Native Christian andGoaneseEurasian
EuropeanBuddhist
1oo'
oo
Further statist ics need find no placehere for they are avai lable
in Colonel Weir’s report to such as des ire to delve deeper into the
circumstances of the population during these years. But one fact,to which contemporary reports frequently refer
,was the great
poverty of the bulk of the population. Marathas, Musalmans,Native Christians
,Kol is
,Bhandaris and Mahars are characterised
as the poores t classes in a ci ty, wherein the pov erty ofthe g reatmasses is incredible wherei n also
,the bulk ofthe people l ives
upon a starv ation diet wherein,a dozen fami l ies herd together
in houses ,only large enough to contain one. Now roji Hill, for
example,should have been one of the healthies t spots in Bombay ;
yet i ts denizens, poor and i l l-fed, were almost~choking one another
in thei r miserable abodes. The Colaba Bazar was fi l led w i th
a motley and improvident population .
” The squalor ofKam a
thipura and Khara Talao increased the difliculties of Municipal
Officers in fighting phthisis and fevers. Houseand street-ventilation
were almost unknown in the northern port ions ofthe Fort Chakla,
Bhuleshwar and O omerkhary were replete with il l-condit ioned and
reeking dwel l ings, uponwhich the reformer ofthes eyearswould have
3 1 3
instant ly painted the damnatory letters “U . H . H . The Munici
pality strove hard during these years to minimiseinoneway or anotherthedangers to which such condit ions gave rise ; promulgated orders,confining the storage ofhides and sharkfins to Dharav i and Sewr iBunder insisted upon pigs being kept in properly-adaptedplaces apart fi'
om dwel l ings and, as we have before remarked,purged many a loca l i ty ofpes ti lence-breeding cat tle-stables . Consider.
ing the epidemics,which occurredduring the period
,we must admit
that their campaign met with tolerable succes s. They could sm rcely
be expected within the space of 9years to obviate al l the dangersanddisabi l i t ies , which hadarisen from a very sudden colonisation ofthe ci ty on a large sca le, and which were intensified by constant
immigration subsequent to that event . Much improvement yetremained to be effected in succeeding years.The genera l prosperity ofthe island continued unabated ; andSir
RichardTemple thus sums up its condition during the year s ofhisGovernorship. The city ofBombay itselfwith its vast andvariedinterests
,andi ts fast growing importance
,claimed constant attention.
The pol ice,under the able manag ement ofSir Frank Souter, was a
rea l ly eflicient body andpopular withal . The publ ic structures,
begun or designed under Sir Bartle Frere’s administration
,were
advanced towards completion andalthough these show ed a goodlyarray
,sti l l not a year passed without several new buildings being
undertaken,as the demands ofan advancing community in a great
seapor t are incessant. The stream ofnativemunificencecontinued to
flow ,though somewhat diminished in comparison with former times
by reason ofagricul tural andcommercial depression consequent on thefamine. A marble statue oftheQueen hadbeen erected by the Nativecommunity on the Esplanade. Sir Albert Sassoon pres ented to the
ci ty a bronze equestrian statue of the Prince ofWales, in memory of
the v isi t of His Royal H ighness. The New Sailors’
Home,bui lt partly through the munificence of Khande R ao, Gaekw ar
of Baroda,in honour of the visi t of His Royal Highness the
Duke of Edinburgh,had become a noble insti tution. The
new wet dock,accommodating the larges t ships, was named
40
( 3 14 i
the Prince’s Dock,
’ because the first stone of i t was laid by thePrince ofWales. ”
The elect ive principle had been introducedinto theMunici
pality ofBombay by Sir Seymour FitzGeraldand es tabl ished bySir Phi l ip Wodehouse ; and I found it to Operate advantageously.
The citizens and ratepayers exercised their franchise judiciously,electing good and able men
,Europeans andNatives
,to serve on the
Municipal Corporation.
”
The res ources ofBombay were tested w hen in 1 8 78 an ex
peditionary force was despatchedto Malta. Within fourteen days
after the receipt oforders from theGovernor-General in Counci l (LordLytton) , the Bombay Government (ofw hich Sir Charles Staveley,then Commander-in-Chief, was a member) engaged tons of
merchant shipping,then in the harbour
,despatched 6
,000men and
horses,w i th tw o months’ suppl ies ofprovisions and six weeks
’
supply ofwater. They al l arr ived at their dest ination in goodcondit ion
,and after some months returned equally wel l sti l l , the risks
attending the navigation oftheRed Sea,w i th sai l ing ships towed by
steamers,caused us anxiety.
” The Marine Department has ever
maintained a high reputation for celeri ty in the despatch ofexpeditions
or reinforcements. We heard ofthem in 1 801,w hen Sir David Baird
started for Egypt, Sir RichardTemple compl imented them upon the
signal serv ice rendered on the occasion oftheMalta expedition ; and yet
more modern residents ofBombay have viewed w ith something of
surprise andcertainly with pride,the dexterity and spwdwith which
men, horses and stores , were Sent forth from this port,to save a
serious s ituation in South Africa.
PERIOD THE TENTH.- 1 88 1 T O 1 891 .
The decade preceding the census of 1 891 , during which the
population of the island rose from to was mainlyremarkable for an increase of the trade of the port
,andfor the
foundation ofeducational and other institutions by private l iberality.
Municipal Government,also
, was subjected to improvements
calculated to render it more capable and more representative ofan
( 31 6 )
formerly known as theCentral Station, but henceforward to be called
jacob’s C i rcle,
” in memory ofGeneral Le Grand jacob , andto
be adorned with an ornamental fountain,provided by public
subscr iption. Sankl i Street was opened in 1 88 7 ; new communi
cations were constructed betw een Sewri Cemetery and the j ackeriaBunder thoroughfare
,between Lady jamsetji Road and Matunga,
between the Elphinstone Bridg e and Dongri Street v z’
é‘
Now roj iH ill.
Seventy-three thousand rupees were disbursed in the year 1 8 89-90
alone,for the sole purpose ofstreet- improvement, and are ev idence
of a protracted endeavour to benefit the local ities,which had
expanded by the constant influx of an industrial population . The
Kamathipura region would suffice as an instance of what was
effected by Municipal Government during this and the previousdecade ; and was pointed to with pride i n 1 88 1 as a locality vastlyimproved by the provision of numerous roads and streets
,andof
The subject of drai nage was as keenly followed as i n the
preceding period. In 1 88 1 the Commissioner laid before the
Corporation prOposals for an expend iture O f33 lakhs for sewerage,of 9 lakhs for surface drainage, and of I O& lakhs for houseconnections. Queen ’s Road was suppl iedwith a great sewer,which the Executive Engineer, working w ith extraordinaryenergy and favoured by a late monsoon,
” was able to complete in
1 884 ; extensions were laid down from the Crawford Markets to theMint
,along the Ripon Road, andacross the A g ripada district ; the
Fort,i n which drainage arrangements hadbecome either obsolete
or ruinous,was
,i n spite ofd iffi culties with contractors, completely
provided for by the year 1 889; Khetwadi , Gilder Street, the
DeL isle and Arthur Roads, the Marine Lines and other local ities
were subjected to simi lar improvements ; w h i le on the loth
February 1 88 2 , the. Corporation sanctioned an expenditure of
Rs. upon a comprehensive scheme for the disposal of
storm-water and for surface drainage. The Commissioner,wr i ting in 1 886 , speaks O f the storm-water works as practicallycomplete, and adds that the beneficial res ult of these works and
of raising the Khetwadi andKamathipura roads is incontestable,and has been amply proved in the except ional ly heavy rai ns of themonsoon, which is now terminating. Places
,which formerly were
knee-deep in water for many hours after a comparatively moderatefal l ofrain, are now dry in a very short space O f t ime ; and the
nuisance, which has always existed on the Flats dur ing certainmonths
,has now been much reduced by the new arrangements. ”
At the outset of this per iod, the water-supply of the city sti l l
fel l short ofperfection. In consequence, we readoftheBhandarwadawater-works and of filter-beds at Malabar Hi l l being completed
in 1 884, of Mr. Tomlinson’s scheme for w orks in the PawaiVal ley being put into execution in the year 1 889-90. But thes eimprovements were of minor importance in comparison with the
Great Tansa Water-works, which were commenced about the middle
of the decade. Sir Wi l l iam Hunter , character ising the project asthe most important under taking O f the years 1 885 to 1 890,
Observes that : “The ci ty was and is,for the pres ent
,suppl ied
with water from the Vehar and Tulsi Lakes. But the growth
ofthe population has been so rapid that the suppl ies from thes esources, thoug h comparatively recently provided, soon proved inadequate. The Municipal i ty, therefore, decided on the 19th November
1 885, to adopt a magnificent project that wi l l provide the city wi than inexhaustible water-supply. The scheme, when m rriedout
,wi l l
afford another splendid proof of the publ ic spiri t of the ci tizens
ofBombay,and the ski l l ofEngl ish Engineers. The Tansa works
were final ly Opened in the year 1 891 -92 by the Marquis of Lans
dow ne,who
,referring to the magnitude and benefits of the achieve
ment, congratulated Bombay upon the true measure ofMunicipal
Self-Government,which she hadbeen the first among al l cit ies in
India to introduce.O f other matters, connected wi th the welfare O f the people,
in which the Municipal i ty played a prominent part, we may note
the extension O f education andthe provision ofan Asylum for thehomeless leper population. In 1 8 72 the contributions by theCorpor
ation towards primary education amounted only to R s. 8 ,500: in
1 88 2 they hadrisen to Rs. in 1 886-8 7 to Rs.and during the closing year of the decade they had been againincreased to Rs. Contemporaneous wi th the pass i ng of
the new Municipal Act was the inst i tution of the Joint Schools
Committee for the manag ement of primary education in the ci ty,which contained 32 Marathi and 30Gujarathi schools in the ycar
1 890. We hear of grants made to schools for deaf-mutes ; ofa
sum of Rs. sanctioned in aid ofthe Victoria Jubilee T echni
m l Institute, which was founded by Lord R eay’
s Government for
practical instruction in the mechanical industries,and was destined
to be the normal school for teachers of technical education through
out the Presidency. The period w as indeed one of progress, in
most matters connected with Municipal Administration . Tramwaycommunications were greatly extended ; fresh roads were l ighted
every year ; contracts were sanctioned for l ighting the Craw ford
Markets and the Prince’s Dock by Electricity ; spec ial sums w ere
set apart for the disposal of the dead bodies ofHindu paupers,and
for the erection ofspec ial and temporary cholera hospitals in 1 883
a small-pox hospital was bui lt in 1 88 7, and rupees w ere
voted for the erection of a similar building in the Arthur Road.Fire brigade stations were constructed ; taps and fountains were
gradually substituted for the oldand insanitary dipping wells ; and
over rupees were spent in one year ( 1 890-91 ) upon the
improvement of various publ ic gardens,Her late Majes ty the
Queen-Empress, in a reply to the address ofcongratulation forw arded by the Mun icipal ity on the occas ion O fher first Jubilee, describedwith what pleasure she had w atched “ the progress of the greatCity of Bombay, andi ts advance not only in material prosper ity,but also in education andin matters tending to the improved healthand comfort O f the people.”
The treatment ofvagrant lepers had long been a vexed question
between Government and the Municipal ity ; and was not finallysettled ti l l the year 1 890, w hen Mr . Acworth, the Municipal
Commissioner,vigorously set about the col lection of funds for
a leper asylum . The publ ic, following the lead of the late Sir
College at Parel , and Rs. towards the erection ofaGym nastic
Institution in Bombay. Coming to other benefactors, Bai Motlibai,
widow of Mr. Now r0j 1 Wadia, gave a lakh and-a-half of rupees
and a valuable site of square yards,adjoining the Jam setji
Jejeebhoy Hospital, , for the building of an obstetric hospital. Mr .
Harkissondass Narottamdas gave a lakh of rupees for a c l i n icalhospital for women and chi ldren ; but the conditions m ade byGovernment w ere not acceptable to the donor
,and the am ount
was therefore refunded. Mr. Framji Dinshaw Petit gav e R s.
for the erection ofa Laboratory, fitted w ith the most m odern
appl iances,in connection with the Grant Medical College at Bom
bay.The A llbless fami ly, namely, the trustees ofthe late Bomanji
Edulj r A llbless, the widow ofMr. Edulji Framji A llbless ,andthe
sons of Mr. Dorabji Edulji A llbless, presented amongst them Rs.
for the es tablishment of an Obstetr ic Hospital on land
adjoining the Cama Hospital, and O f a mortuary for Parsis in
connection with it,and also (with the assistance of Rs. from
the Countes s of Dufferin’
s Fund) for the bui lding of quarters for
the lady doctors of the Cama and A llbless Hospitals. Mr. Sorabji
Cowasji Powalla gave Rs. for a gratuitous charitabledispensary in the Fort ; Sir M . M . Bhownagg ree, Rs.for a Home for Pupi l Nurses, i n connection with the Jamsetjee
Jejeebhoy Hospital ; Mr. Pestonj r Hormasj i Cama, Rs. 1
for nurses’ quarters at the Cama '
. Hospital ; and Mr. Dwarkadas
L allubhai, Rs . for a cholera ward at theJamsetjee JejeebhoyHospital
,which was uti l ised i nstead for the establ ishment of an
out-door dispensary for women and chi ldren. Lastly,mention
must be made of the gift of the Parsi Panchayat Fund ofR s.
for the erection ofa separate mortuary for Parsis,in connection w ith
the hospital , which bear s the name of the best known member
of their body.” A hospital for animals at Parel was founded by
Bai Sakarbai and opened by the Ear l Of Dufferin in 1 884 ; Mr.Byramji Jijibhoy, gave a handsome donation i n 1 890
towards the establ ishment of an Anglo-Vernacular School for poorParsis ; and to this per iod also belong the handsome fountain
andclock erected in Bazar Gate Street to the memory of Bomanj rHormasjiWadia. Among other landmarks ofthe island
,complet
ed during these years,and which do not owe their existence to private
benevolence and phi lanthropy,one may remark in part icular the
Victoria Terminus ofthe G. I . P. Rai lway,si tuated on the original
si te O fthe old Mumbadev i temple,near thePhansi Talao or Gibbet
Pond. The O ldtemple was removed by Government in 1 766 , in
order to al low spacefor fresh fortificat ions,a new shrine being erected
by a Sonar,Pandurang Shivaji, on the pres ent site near Paidhoni.
The O ldgibbet,however, was permitted to remain t i l l 1 805, when it
was re-erected close to theUmarkhadiJai l . Government andthe PortTrust were not behindhand in the work of improvement . The European Hospital for the use of poor Europeans resident in the City
and of sai lors from ships in the port,and of rai lway officials and
their fami l ies,had long proved insufficient ; andi t was therefore
res olved by Government to erect a new European Hospital at acost O fRs. on the ru ins of the old Fort George, to which
Lord Reay,on laying the foundat ion stone in February 1 889,
gave the name O f St. George ’s Hospital . The GovernmentCentral Press
,the new home of the E lphinstone College, and the
Pol ice Mag istrates’ Court were also commenced or completed during
these years. The defences of the Harbour received attention . As
the Press pointed out in 1 884, they were in so unsat isfactory astate as to be pract ical ly useless ; Colaba battery was untenable,the turret ships were not in working order
,the M iddle Island and
Cross Batteries were ineflicient,whi le the Malabar H i l l and Breach
Candy batteries were powerless to prevent the destruct ion of theplace by any hosti le squadron. But in the following year a new
scheme of defence was sanctioned by the Government of India andcarried into execution by the close of the period.
The Port Trust,which in spite ofyearly reduct ions of dues ,
showed a steady surplus of revenue over expenditure between 1 880
and 1 889, was responsible for the construct ion andopening in1 884 of a new Light-house at the entrance of the harbour andof the Victoria Dock
.The Prince’s Dock indeed proved too small
41
for all demands,andwas
,therefore
,supplemented by the V ictoria
Dock O fnearly the same size,and giving sti l l greater fac i l i t ies for
shipping, the first slu ice of which was Opened by Lady Reay on thez rst February 1 888 . Some idea O fthe magni tude ofthe interests
involved in the management O f the Bombay Port Trust may beformed from the statements, that its capi tal expenditure up to the
close of the year 1 889-90, deducting sales of land,etc.
,amounted
to Rs. that -i ts revenue for 1 889-90was Rs. 746
and i ts expendi ture including interes t on mpitalRs , 2 8 2 , and
that 645 vessels entered the two docks during that year. I n 1 891
yet another extension— the Merewether Graving Dock— was Openedby H . E . the Governor.Other w el l-known bu i ldings are the Municipal O flioes ,
the
foundation-stone of which was laid by Lord Ripon in December
1 884; the Wi lson Col lege at Chowpatty, of which Sir James Fer
gusson laid the foundation in 1 885; and the Jafar Sul iman Char i table
Dispensary,which was Opened in March 1 886 .
The activi ty in bui lding towhich private phi lanthropy or the
progressive atti tude ofGovernment and public bodies gav e rise,may be considered to have indirectly affected the numbers ofthe
population,by creating a demand for the labour of the poorer
classes ; but its influence in this respect was not so superficiallyapparent as the effect of increas ing trade and O f the growth ofthe
cotton spinning andw eaving industry. With the exception, perhaps,ofthe year 1 889-90, the commercial prosperity of the island may be
held to have steadi ly increased year by year. Taking a year lyaverage ofthree years
,andexcluding Government stores andtreasure
,
the value ofexports rose from 2 7 crores in 1 880-8 2 to 33 crores in
1 885-8 7, and again to 39 crores i n 1 890-92 ; andthe value cf
imports from 1 7 crores to 2 2 crores andagain to 2 7 crores duringthe same periods. The exports O f wheat
,l inseed
,rapes eed and
gingel ly also rose by an extraordinary figure ; in 1 88 1 -8 2 alone,the revenue of the Port Trust showed an increase of 10% lakis
above the estimated value,owing mainly to increased exports of
g rain and seeds the value of all imports of cotton during
no ingress or egress existed, save, perhaps, through the ground
floor of some more recent dw el l ing. Successive Health Officers
have cried woe Over thes e pesti lence-breeding regions ; but their
voices have been as the voices of those crying in the w i lderness ;the old tortuous paths are not yet made straight ; the population
sti l l huddles round the poisonous tracks,sleeps amid the foulness
ofsewage,breathes the miasmata that no breeze ever comes to
disperse. The density of population in the B Ward andsomeportions ofadjoining wards was far greater in 1 887 than in 1 88 1.
There is room,
” wrote the Health O flicer of that date, for our
whole population and for the greater city ofthe future,ifon ly the
doors ofcommunication are opened. The real ity to be understoodis that 37 per cent. of our population l ive on 3% per cent. ofthe
surface ofthe Island,that in 1 2 sections the lowes t number of
persons to an acre is 2 54, and that in 5 sections covering more
than halfof the Island there are only 8 persons to an acre. O ne
community of merchants, the Jains, had expandedenormously by1 891 but was notor ious for a very high death-rate
,due mainly
to the fact that,in order to get as near to the business centre as
possible, each fresh relay of immigrants settled in i l l-bui lt houseS,already conta ining a ful l complement of residents
,and the ground
floors O fwhich were in perennial obscurity and w ere bui lt Over old and
dangerous drains. Mandvi,and indeed themajor portion of the city
proper,was by the close of th is per iod pre-eminently in a position to
become theplague-centre O fthe Island ; i t was choked with popu lation;i t was notorious for its insanitary condition . From the year 1 803,when the Company moved the old Mandvi or Custom House further
north,this eastern portion of the city had gradually expanded till
about 1 865, when its dimensions began to increase w ith amaz ing
rapidity. Houses sprang up storey upon storey, stretched towards the
docks,cl imbed tier by tier up the old portion of the Dongr i Kolis,
closed round the pristi ne settlements of fisher-folk in impenetrable
array,spread aw ay to Dhobi Talao, Bhuleshvar, Khara Talao, and
northward,ti l l they faced thenew bui ldings, w hich agrowing m i ll-in
dustryhadbrought and was bringing during thisperiodintoexistence.
Thegrowth ofthe mi l l-industry during the decade under reviewresponsible for the further colonisation O f the areas north of
the city. Notonly in cotton-spinning establ ishments was an advance
made,but miscel laneous factories
,such as flour-mil ls and w orkshops
,
sprang into existence and helped to provide for the industrialp0pulation
,which flocked from the Deccm and Konkan. In 1 88 1
the total number of factories in the Island was 53 ; in 1 886,i t
had increased to 66 , andin 1 890 to 83. Complaints in regardto the smoke-nuisance are first brought forward during thes e years,andare ment ioned in the Municipal reports of 1 884
-85 theM illow ners’ Association are reported in the Press of 1 883 tobe about to despatch travel l ing ag ents to various trade centres
in Europe and Africa, for the purpose of opening new markets
for the piece-goods O f Bombay by 1 890 we are presentedwith the spectacle ofa Factory Commission, assembled in Bombay
,which in December of that year publ ishes proposals for
the regu lation of female andchi ld-labour. As the steam industries increased, a marked change came Over local i t ies such as
Bycul la,Parel
,Tardeo
,Tarwadi and even remote Sewri . In
numerable chals sprang up north of the Bellasis Road, countlesshabitations for the immigrants from Ratnagiri , Poona, or Satara.“ There is growing up in our populat ion
,
” wrote the Heal th Officerin 1 88 7, a class which can be dist inguished from their ow n race
,
engaged in other work, andfrom every other class, by a pal l id look,which may be cal led a factory countenance. ” All the open land inTardeo w as being gradual ly bu i lt over during these years ; and as
fast as the houses were bui lt, there appeared a population to inhabit
them. Nagpada was densely peopled, with an average of 6 7
persons to each house : five new mi l ls were being constructed inSewri in 1 889, and were res ponsible in great measure for the increased population of that section in 1 891 . Bycu l la, Tarwadi andMazagon, and al l the districts north of them werefar more populous
at the close of the decade than in 1 88 1 . Mr. Drew in his Census
Report of 1 891 notices the fol lowing curious phenomenon In
some of the most densely crowded parts of the Native Town
32 6
Umarkhadi, Dhobi Talao, Phanaswadiand Khara Talao—the totalfemale population has decreased, whi le the number of those born in
Bombay has increased .This may easi ly be explained
,as the
immigrant women are chiefly employed now i n the parts of Bombaynorth ofthe Bellasis Road; and with the extension ofhouse-bu i ldingthere
,they have moved nearer thei r work, leaving more room for
their Bombay-bred sisters in themore centra l portions O fthe island. ”
The Pres s O f 1 890 records a strike O ffemale Operatives belonging to
the Jubilee M i l l ; anda monster-meeting ofmi l l- hands at Patel toprotest against the closing ofmil ls for eight days in every m onth.By the close of the decade
,the Tardeo
,Parel
,Bycu l la
,Tarwadi
,
Nagpada, and Chinchpooghly quarters hadexpanded through theforward march of industrial enterprise into the populous dwell ingplaces O fan immigrant labour-population -a character which they
possess at the opening of this twentieth century.
The causes which led by the year 1 891 toan increase ofwere expansion O f trade and of local steam industries
,and to a
m inor extent, the general measures taken for the publ ic benefit, asexempl ified in an increase O fhospital accommodation
,the i n i tiation
of technical education, the Tansa water supply scheme,and the
completion O f the defences of the harbour. Further,the period was
character isedby no unusual wave O fsickness,by no extraordinary
form O fdisease. I n some local ities, i t is true, the ordinary death-rate
was high ; but th is was rendered inevitable firstly by the physicalcharacteristi cs ofthe island, secondly by an unparal leled grow th ofpopulation within a very short period ; for within a space of roughlyfifty years only, the number of inhabitants had risen byThe population of 1 891 w as O fliciallydeclared to number
the total being distributed as fol lows among different rel igions
HinduMusalman x
Chr istianJam
,02 1
O ther s52 2 7
Total
descendants ofearl iest settlers the Musulman was a pow er i n BWard, the Arab haunted Bycul la and i n Girgaum the Brahminhad made his home.
The above-mentionedcommunities formed but a fractional
portion of the w hole medley of tr ibes, castes, or races, w hich dwelt
i n contented al legiance to a Crow n , enshr i ned i n another Island,washed by the grey north-seas. The w ords spoken by Lord Reayi n reference to the British Empire on the occasion O fthe Jubi lee Of
1 88 7 w ere emi nently appl icable to that small portion thereof, w hich
men proudly acknowledged to be the capital ofWestern I ndia.
This great Empire,” said His Excellency, w as never more unit
ed than it is at this Jubi lee, but the maintenance ofthat union w ill
require a conti nuous and~unitedefl'
ort. It.is a noble i nheritance, and
the utmost sagacityand w isdom w i l l be required to keep itun impaired.With God
’s blessi ng vouchsafed as i n thepast it is possible. In
an epoch w hen those who are least able to answer the question,ask m i 60720at every turn , it was reserved to the Queen-Empress tomake ofthe Throne the institution, w hich forms the chiefl i nk be
tw een England and the Colon ies and I nd ia, where O fal l our institutions it is the one most revered andmost loved by the mass of thepeople. I nstitutions lose v ital ity or gain it, not so much by their
i ntr i nsic merits or demerits,as by thecharacter ofthepersons w howorkthem . The Queen not on ly leaves to her descendants a greatEmpire
,but the i nvaluable example of the means by which the
Throne can be endeared to subjects, among whom we count everyvariety ofcreed and race.
PERIOD THE ELEVENTH.—1 891 T O 1901 .
The discussion of the causes w hich have effected a reduction
of in the population ofthe Island during the final period,w ith w hich this survey deals, rightly belongs to the Census Report
proper of Itw i l l suflice, therefore, to remark that the decrease
is in general due to the presence in the city for five years of an
extraordinary and v ery v i rulent disease, which has so far defied
all attempts to hold it in control . Any inducements to immigration
disease up to the 1 8th August 1 899, totalled to 38 ,6 1 ,ooo rupees !
Turn ing to the subject of trade, one discovers the average triennial
v alue of exports and imports together fal len from 66 crores in
1 890-
92 to 63 crores in 1 895-97 the exports ofwheat fal len from
tons in 1 890-92 to tons in 1 895-97, and by 1900
to 30 tons, the latter decl i ne being due i n great measure to the
prevalence of famine. The exports of other kinds of grain also
show a considerable decrease.
The mil l-i ndustry has suffered severely,both from plague and
from improvident management. The year 1 897 witness ed an uni
versal fl ight of mill-O peratives from the Island, open bidding forlabour at the street-corners, and the shatteri ng ofthe tie h itherto
b ind ing the employer and employed ; and no sooner hadthis troublebeen minimised by thegrowing confidence ofan industr ial p0pulat ion, w hich felt that the chance O f dying of plague i n the city,whi le i n receipt of a fair wage, was preferable to the prospect of
starvation i n up-country homes, than the agents of our local
industry had to face the inevitable consequences ofOver-production.
Between 1 891 and 1 898 the total number offactor ies in the islandrose from 89to 1 36 , the increase being mainlydue to the construction and openi ng of new mi lls ; and this had taken place despitethe bel ief that a fal l i n si lver hadexercisedan adverse influence
upon the trade, des pite the fact that the China market—thetrue outlet for Bombay ’s production—w as being rapidly glutted.In 1 899the position ofthe industry was, in the words ofSir George
Cotton, “most critical by the end ofthat year near ly al l m i l ls
were closed for three days in theweek and some were wholly idle.
I n 1901 the position ofmany a mil l is precarious. and the salvation O fthe industry is sti l l unconfirmed.
The year 1 897 w as one ofsorrow, not for Bombay alone, butfor the whole conti nent ; and Sir Allan Arthur, speaki ng at Calcuttaof the plague, famine, earthquake, cyclone, rioting, sedition andfrontier warfare, which had darkened the pol itical and financial
horizon, characterised that year as the blackest i n the whole historyof I ndia. In one week only ofthat year persons fledfrom
33 1
the island of Bombay ; and the condition of the city seemedtoapproximate to that of Constantinople i n the sixth century, when ,according to Procopius, thousands of persons died within threemonths at the seat ofGovernment. I n 1 898 occurred plague-riots
and a strike of Dock and Rai lway labourers and cartrnen, whichproduced a week ’s paralysis of trade. The early months of 1 899
were marked by a fres h exodus of i nhabitants ; the death-rateof later months was augmented by an i nflux O ffamine-str icken
and diseased paupers. Matters improved not a whit in 1900,
and in the pres ent Year ofGr ace; for with the passi ng ofthe wintermonths, the epidemic agai n sw ept through the city, and the peoplefled from the unseen death. On the rst March 1901 , the censuswas taken of a population, thinned by five years ’ disease, andaconsiderable por tion of which was scattered over districts remote
That our population has not decreased to a larger extent,consideri ng the anxieties and ravages which it has suffered, must
str ike every mind as aston ishi ng. The result is, perhaps, due tothe recuperative powers, which Bombay as a young city posses ses,and to the extraordi nary prestige and i nfluence which she exercisesover both the western pres idency and other regions beyond her ownsphere O f admin istration . She is to I ndia, as Dr. Gerson da
Cunha has remarked, what Paris is to la belle patn'
e, whatAlexandria is to Egypt ! Apart from those hopes for the future,which arebased solely upon her geographical position or commercial
relations, her past history bids us take heart, andi nduce s a beliefthat the c hastisement of thes e years may yet prove a bless i ng in
disguise.
There is some soul ofg oodness in thing s evilWouldmen observing ly distil it out.
”
Once before,during the period of British occupation
,the
population of the Island was seriously diminished. The closi ngyears of the seventeenth century wereas disastrous as the closi ng
years of the n ineteenth ; the publ ic health has i n our day been asseriously underm i ned as i n the days when Ovington buried his
332
shipmates, and Sir Nicholas Waite appealed to the Company for
succour. The Island was visited i n 1 896 by a storm ,w hich did
considerable damage to house-property, and bri ngs to m ind the
hurricane ofthat early period ofdecl i ne, which des troyed not only
the grow ing crops, but also w recked a large portion of the local
mari ne. ” As the people of those days succumbed to putr idand
mal ignant fevers or “ the Chinese death,” so the native popu lation
ofthese latter years has succumbed to a pes ti lence, as griev ous as
that which swept through Florence in 1 348 or through oldL ondon
i n the time ofDefoe. And yet, as we have prev iously had occasion
to remark,the troubles O f the years prior to 1 7 1 8 producedno
lasting effect upon the Island or upon the size of its popu lation
for by the year 1 744, Bombay had advancedi n mater ial prosperity,and the number of her i nhabitants had swelled to May
w e not hope that history wi l l repeat itself, that the plague w ill he
stayed, and that our population w i l l not only reg ain lost ground,but rise to a higher figure than has yet been recorded ? Mean
whi le,we should bear in mi nd that the city cannot afford dwel ling
room for many more than crowd together at present i n her tene
ments, and that i nducement should therefore be Offered towardsthe colonisation of the northern reg ions ofthe Island. The people
are in no wise unwi l l ing to go further afield the tendency to settle
in local i ties l ike Mahim and Sion has of late years become more
apparent. Could one only be sure that improved commun ications,that electric traction through Sewri, Pare ] , Sion, Mahim andMatunga, would be carr ied i nto sw ift execution, then might one
prophecy with greater determination regarding the gr eat city ofthe
future, and an i ncreased population, worthy of the capital of
Western India. Steady adherence to the doctri ne of Deeds, not
wor wi l l effect much, wi l l help towards the further colonisation
of those portions of the isl and, w hich are by nature fitted to form
part of the city, towards the w ider and more wholesome distr ibution
of a commercial and industr ial commun ity.
That the plague may i n after time prove to have been an
i ndirect source of benefit to the publ ic ofBombay, we deem in
there stood ready to support the Census Department a bandof
ci tiz ens, i ntimately acquai nted with the dark corners of the c i ty, and
eager to work as heralds, as advisers, as mediators between the
census staffand the populace. The spectacle of good c i tiz enshipand self-abnegation , which the census w eek presented, w i ll not
l ightly be forgotten by him who witnessed it—the spectac le ofmen,
who might so easi ly have decl ined an arduous undertak ing on theplea ofcommercial, profes sional, Or private business, toi l ing through
the worst portions ofthe city, cajol i ng and exhorti ng the people,uti l isi ng their private dependents upon government work, keepingOpen house for the census staff, i n order to l ig hten the i r laboursand providing them with rooms for the revision oftheir schedules,guarding the threatened health of i ndividual members of the stafl
by prescription and g ratui tous supply ofmedicine, relegating, ina
word, thei r personal convenience and private wishes wholly and
entrrely to the background So long as Bombay can count amongher numbers men whomaintain so w orthy and so practical an idea
ofthei r duty towards her, she cannot, i n spite ofher adversities, be
consideredunfortunateAnd so here has the time come for us to close the tale. The
Silahara chieftain, Old Bimb Raja of Devg iri, the Mussulman,the Portugal,
” Gerald A ung ier , Mountstuart Elphinstone,Bartle Frere
,these andmany another
,ere passing out by
“the
cou l isses oftime,
” left their mark upon the land,and contr ibuted,
in greater or les s degree, to the fame and beauty of a city, which
justly claims to be cal led a precious stone set in the si lver sea.
"
There is hope that she wi ll grow more beautifu l that the shadows
which now brood i n the background wi l l van ish andthat,as the
years pass, the Island of Bombay w i l l be l inked by sti l l closer
bonds O faffection andobedience to that parent land, which, like
herself, is encompassed by the Ocean i nviolate.
“9th: n ude sin ew fl k év h as : c zgixm claim .
”
APPENDIX .
Besides Sir James Campbell’s sug g estion that the Tarias w ere
Fer rymen,”
there are tw o alternative explanations of their identity.
A cor respondent of the Times of India thinks they may be the same as
the Tais or Musalman Silk-w eavers from Gujarat w hile another
authority connects the name w ith the w ord Tad or Tar sig nifying
a Brab-tree.
” “ In thedetails ofpopulation,”he remarks, as furnished
by the vereadores to the Grain Committee, w efindthatthe w eavers aredistinctly mentionedas numbering 151 males and 1 72 females andthereappears to be therefore no validg roundfor mentioning them ag ain underthe heading ofTarias. Moreover , the vereadores w eremen w ell acquaintedw ith the names andprofessions, etc . , ofthedifferent castes andcommunities ofthe Island andit can scarcely be believedthat they m ispronouncedthe w ordTais as Tarins. The Pinjaris or carders of cotton in Bombay aresometimes calledTarw alas andoccasional ly Taryns, andpossibly the
T arias are identical w ith our Pinjaris. But there is another andmore
plausible explanation. O ne of the nursery-rhymes sung by Parsi and
Gujarat Hindu g ir ls in Bombay commences as follow sEtla etla TariaTar parchadiaDhanji sathe ladiaDhanjimari lath
Jaipadia Gujréth.
This, being interpreted. meansLittle, little TatiasClimbedthe Tar , andFought w ith DhanjiDhanji gave them all a smack (or kick)Anddow n they fell in Gujarat.
Cannot the Tarias then be the palm-tappers or draw ers oftoddyThe original toddy draw ers of Bombay w ere the Bhandaris : but by
1780many ofthem hadg iven uptheir hereditary occupation of palm tap
ping in favour ofother means of livelihood, notably military andpoliceduties . It is therefore quite possible that the number of toddy-draw ers,pure andsimple, may have been augmentedby the immig ration ofmen
from Gujarat, to w hom , as they w ere not Bhandaris, the name “Tarias
or Men of the Toddy-palm ,
”wouldhave been g iven.
t 338 )
INDEX—4 0ntz'
nued.
n oes races
Bhandi Bazar 38 , 6 2 (note) , 2 8 1 Castro, Antoniode Mellode 91 ,
Bhimdev (Bhima Raja) 2 2 , 2 3, 93, 103
2 4, 2 5, 2 6 , 2 7, 2 8 , 29, 3 1 , 34, 35,2 48 , 2 50, 2 59, 268,
54: 731 1°° r 3342 8°
Bhimdev ’s Vadr 33 Cavel 9, 1 2 , 39, 7 2 , 77 , 83, 93,
Bhiundi R ai 97, 2 68 ,
Bhois 34, 44, 46 , 2 29 Chalukyas 1 2 , 14
Bhoiv adi 33 Chamber of Commerce 248
Bhong les ChandDanda 14
52 » 54, 100 Chaul 5, 15, 2 1 , 35, 64, 65, 66,
Bhor Ghat 197 , 2 45, 2 46 , 2 7 1 , 77 (note) , 79, 1 14, 1 38 , 1 50, 159,
2 7 2 1 64 197
Bocarro Chembur 70
Bombay, O rig in of 1 , 2 , 3 Child. Sir J . 1 2 2 , 1 3 1 , 139
the name 41 , 43 Chimnaji Appa 133, 147 , 150, 152
ear liest appearance of. 3, 4 Chinese 16 , 2 01 , 2 54» 2 55
cession of 63, 68 Chinese Death 1 2 2 , 332
Buddhist connection Chinchbunder 38 , 2 37
w ith 4, 5 (minchpooghlyu u 44, 2 52 , 326
Boone, CharleS -u 14
Borahs so. 194, 2 37 , 301 Chowpatty 39, 207 , 2 52 , 2 53, 2 80,
Borbhat so. s e e c o . c o . a s . 39 292 , 293, 295
Breach Candy 40, 94, 1 2 4, 1 57 : Churches, 75, 76 , 77
305, 2 2 6 : 2 56 , 290, 292 (andnote) , 84, 93, 94, 191
1 14, 1 84 Chur ches 1 39, 206 , 2 55 2 30
3 1303011 49, 1 13, l9si 2 16 . 2 19 Chur ch O fSt. Thomas: 1 39, 166,
Building 1 19, 1 36 , 138 , 1 39, 191 , 2 3 1 , 2 51 . 2 34
152 , 153, 1 57, 1 60, 167 , 183, 188 , .Clarendon, Lord 90
190, 202 , 203, 2 2 7 , 2 2 8 , 2 29, Clive, Lord 1 77 , 194, 197
2 30, 2 50, 2 51 , 2 52 , 2 68 , 2 8 1 , 2 82 , Coar is 74a98
2 83 : 3 84, 294: 330, 32 1 : C O ins 7 " 5, 1 1 , 1 2 9 69’ H 3’ 152
32 4 3, 8 , 17 , 36 , 72 , -32 , 93 , 93,
Burial Grounds 165, 169, 190, 1 10, 1 1 1 , 1 19, 1 53, 165, 191 , 2 131
I91 1 2031 2 37 3 2 87 ! m » 310 332 9 349’ 2 51 , fi ’ 267’
Byculla (note) , 44 2 79, 2 80, 2 8 1 , 2 87 , 292 , 293, 2951
78 , 940 204. 2 33» 2 53, 2 53. 2 69. 2 80. 307 . 3 1 2 » 327
2 8 1 , 2 84, 301, 308 , 32 3 , 32 5, 1 14, 133,
32 6 ! 32 7 : 329 158 1 1 851 19°r 3a ) : ” Sr 345: 246!
247 , 248 , 2 52 , 2 63, 2 68 , 2 72 , 2 73.
2 80’ 2 8 1 1 390, 308 1 316:
Cu ber-e, Thomas 33:
( 339 )
pac es
Company, East India 8 1 , 8 2 , 85,
87 , 90, 106 , 107 , 108 , 109 to 1 1 1 ,
1 1 5 to 1 1 7, 1 20, 1 2 3, 1 2 6 to 1 30,
1 35 to 137 , 141 to 148 , 154 to 1 56 ,
1 64. 1 70 to 1 77. 193, 195. 197 to
2001 2 2 1 3 2 38 1 2 391 303
Converts, 75, 77, 79, 84, 97 ,
98 , 101 , 3 1 2
Convention, Aung ier’
s 109, 1 10
Cooke 91 , 92 , 94, 96 ,
100,101 , 102 , 103, 104, 108 , 1 20
Cooperage, The 1 20, 2 33
Cor rea, Gaspar 64, 66
Cotton 1 39
Industry 2 64, 2 65, 2 73,
2 74. 2 76 . 306 . 33 2 , 32 3 , 32 5, 32 6 ,
33°
Craw fordMarkets .2 89
Cultivation 10, 29, 38 , 39, 41 » 44,
73, 941 108 ) 1 351 157, 167 ,
191 , 201 , 205, 26 1 , 2 89
Cultivators 7, 8 , 46 1 73, 94» 99:
100, 1 37. 158 , 159, 1 60
DABI-IO L 58 , 63, 64Dakhmas (m
'
de Towers of Silence)99, 1 1 8 , 207
Daryasthan
Dav ies, David 7 1
Deccan , Annexation of 2 43, 244
1 20
D’Estrado, M . R odig o 148
Devg iri 2 2 , 2 3, 24, 2 5, 2 7, 3 1 ,
46 1 5°
Dharav i -92 , 168 , 2 01 ,
2 87. we
74, 99, 209
1 79, 198 , 200,
B ontar
Dorabji, RustomDuncan, Jonathan
Dutch,T he
00.
Fire,‘
The
Flats, The
2 30, 2 65, 291 Foras Tendre
PAGES
551 591 63; 641 6sr 66 1 67 3
68 , 85 (note)Docks, 153, 1 6 2 , 1 63, 166 ,
18 1 , 191 , 198 , 2 2 2 , 2 57 , 2 8 2 , 307 ,
3 1 3, 32 1 , 32 2 , 331
Dominicans 76 , 78
Dong ri 9, 10, 37, 38 , 6 2 (note) ,
72 : 84» 93! 94» 155» ‘56 1 I67 » 1 691
180, 189, 190, 191 , 198 , 202 , 2 36 ,
2 8 1 1 2 901 292 9 393 1 32 3
38 . 2 37
16 2
2 19, 2 2 8 ,
'
80, 8 2 , 172 , 173
Enucn'
r rou 2 51 , 2 59. 3 1 5. 3 17 ,
3 1 8 , 32 6 , 32 7, 329
E lephanta Island (m'
de Purl) 195,197, 2 16
E lphinstone, Mountstuart 245,
346 » 351 9 334
Elphinstone High 2 50, 2 51
Eng lish in India 80, 8 1 to 87,
89to 334
Esplanade 3. 37. 67. 77 . 83. 93.
97 , 153, 1 65, 191 , 202 , 203, 205,
3 52 . 4 58. 392 . 293
Expeditions, .Early 54, 58 , 63,
64, 65, 66 , 67, 80, 8 1 , 8 2 , 85, 86,
87 1 1 75) 1 76 , 1937 30‘
I59, 2 34» 2 35» 309» 33°
95. 153. 156 . 1 89
138 , 158 , 200,
2 3 1 , 27 2
2 2 8 , 2 29, 2 30
94, 205, 2 85, 2 86 ,
3891 29°
95. 96
t 340
INDEX—continued.
m oss paces
201 , 2 05, 2 19 HANUMAN 37 , 42 (note)
Fort andFortifications 64, 66 ,Harpaldev 35, 50
7 1 , 8 2 , 91 , 92 , 108 , 1 1 3, 1 14, 1 19, Heitor da Silveira 66 , 1 24
1 20, I 3 I 1 1 32 3 I 3S1 1 391 152 1 I S31Hill, N ow roji“ 94, l 63’ 2 90, 295131 2
1 66 , 1 69, 1 7 1 , 1 78 , 1 79, 1 80, 191 ,Hog 197 , 2 16
193, 205, 2 65, 2 66 , 2 792 19, 2 42
1 20, 1 35, 1 70, 17 1 , 1 72 ,Hornby, 194. ‘95: I97»
1 78 , 192 , 193205, 2 14, 2 1 5, 2 24, 2 32
Franciscans 74, 75, 76 , 77 , 84Hospitals 1 14, 1 2 2 , 1 66 , 201 .
(note) , 94206 , 2 52 , 3 19, 320, 3 2 1 , 326
House, 203,
Admiralty 2 03 , 2 2 4, 2 32F rancisco 63
F rere, Sir 2 7 1 , 2 8 2 , 2 83 ,
2 84, 2 85, 2 86 , 297 , 307 , 3 1 3 , 334ly , 205,
F ryer , Dr . 76 , 90, 92 , 94, 97, 99,,
2 24 , 260
1 13Duke ofW ellrng ton 2 33
of 1 86 , 203
MarkHyder A li 2 1 5, 2 1 6 , 2 19
QGrm m wr 39, 2 07
Ganj i-Shahidan S6 IMPR O VEMENT
Gardens 7 1 : 83 , 3 l l Indo-PortugueseGarciad’O rta 1 3. 58 : 70: 7 1 : 73 :
74. 76 . 98 . 99. 101 . 105
.Gary, Henry 104, 105, 106 , 107
Gaol 1 1 2 , 155, 156 , 2 32 , 32 1
Gas , Introduction 2 8 2 , 303,
Geolog ical Remains 2 Inter lopersG horupdev 10, 1 1 , 94
Girg aum 9. 10, 39, 93, 191 ,
2 52 , 2 53, 2 66 , 2 68 , 292 . 293. 295.
298 ,
57 , 59, 63, 66 , 67 , 72 , 76 ,
791 80) I96 , 2 2 1
Godolphin, Ear l of 1 29
Goldsm iths 1 6 1 , 1 87
GoodLife, Island 66 , 67 , 1 2 4
Gotam iputra 5
Grain, Scarcity of 1 15, 159, 1 84
Grant Road 2 87, 290, 308
Medical College 2 70
Institutions, Public , etc I r 1 , 1 1 2 .
138 , 1 39, 1 55, 1 56 , 166 , 191 , 201 .
203, 2 3 1 to 2 33, 2 51 , 2 75, 2 77 , 2 8 1 ,
2 8 2 , 2 83, 2 84, 2 89, 307, 3 1 3, 3 17.
3 1 8 . 3 19. 320. 32 1 . 32 2
1 2 6 , 1 27
Jams 2 36 , 2 69, 297 , 299, 3 1 2 , 334:
3 2 6 1 327
Jambusar 195
Janjira 1 30, 171
Jan-i-Bambai 60, 2 36
Jesuits 76 , 77, 78 , 79, 80, 84, 85.
94a 105: 1 14. 19°
1 1 2 , 2 24
INDEX—c ontinued.
PAGES
Mania, the Share 2 73 , 2 74, 2 75,
2 76 1 2 77 1 2 78 1 2 791 297 1 298
Mankeshvar 34
Mapla Por 1 1 2 , 1 1 3, 1 39, 166
Marathas, 101 , 1 30, 1 33, 1 35,
137, 140, 141 , 142 , 144, 145, 146 ,
147 , 148 , 149, 150, 1 51 , 152 , 158 ,
1 73 1 I741 I 7S1 I 76 1 I 77 1 I 7S1 I9Z 1
I93 1 1941 1951 196 1 1971 1991 2001
2 14, 2 1 5, 2 1 6 , 2 1 7, 2 1 8 , 2 19, 2 20,
2 40, 241 , 2 42 , 2 43, 2 44, 2 6 1 , 299
305, 3 1 2
Marco 1 6
Marine, Bombay 154, 1 63,
175, 1 76 , 1 8 1 , 198 , 199, 2 00,
2 2 1 , 2 63, 3 14
Battalion 197
Markets 1 38 , 157, 200, 2 80, 2 89,
306 1 3 1 6
Mar riag e 89, 91 , 132
Matung a 76 , 168 , 2 53, 292
Mauryas 1 2 , 1 3, 14
Mazag on 10, 43, 70, 72 , 84 andnote, 92 , 94, 97 , 100, 108 ,
1 1 1 , 1 2 4, 1 30, 1 3 1 , 1 6 1 , 1 67,
1 68 , 169, 191 , 208 , 2 52 , 2 53,
2 60, 2 80, 2 8 2 , 290, 2 96 , 306 ,
308
78 , 84, 85,
92 1 941 204
Memons (note) , 2 36 , 329Mendham ’
s Point 1 20, 1 65, 190
Mestre Diog o 69, 70
Military Forces 102 , 108 ,
1 1 3, 1 2 1 , 1 3 1 , 1 35, 1 38 , 144, 1 52 ,
1 6 1 , 1 69, 1 70, 1 7 1 , 1 80, 1 87 , 197 ,
198 . 208 , 2 19, 2 20, 2 2 1
1 1 3, 1 35, 1 86 , 201 , 209
Ming ut 44
Mint 1 1 3, 1 14, 1 38 , 1 66 , 191 ,
2 51 , 2 8 1
PAGES
Miranda, Donna I 85, 91 , 95
Moguls 50, 59, 6 1 , 68 , 8 1 , 8 2 , 86,
87 , 104, 1 1 3, 1 19, 130, 1 3 1 , 132 ,
Monroyo, D . JoaodeMoors (or Mahomedans) 7 2 , 73.
791 801 841 101 1 1 2 8 1 I 331 1 351 136!
1 37 1 I 7 1 1 I S71 I 891 1901 2 02 1 2061
207 , 209, 2 2 8 , 2 37, 2 38 , 2 70, 297,
Moodys, The
MoreMosques 6 2 (note) , 75, 76 , 189,
Mubarak l
1 341 I 3S1 254
65
299, 3 2 6 , 328
1 16 , 158
1 2
207 , 294
41 1 42 1 47 1 51 1 52
Mumbadev i 42 , 43, 51 , 92 , 1 1 1
Mun-malaMunicipal Government
29
2 2 5, 2 67,
2 68 , 2 84, 2 85, 2 86 , 2 87 , 2 8 8 , 2 89,
2901 293 1 2941
308 , 309, 3 10, 3 1 1 , 3 1 2 , 3 1 3 , 3 14,
3 151 3 16 1 3 1 71 3 18 1 3 2 7 1 339
N AGA R DEV 35, 36 (note) , 52 , 53N agpada 19, 20, 2 1 , 41 , 6 1 , 325,
3351 337
Naig aum 1 1 , 33, 44, 95, 1 68 , 201
Nana Fadnav is
Napoleon BuonaparteNavag aum
193, 2 17
6 1
00. 2 !
Navaits O f Naitias 000 50, 73,
Navig ation
Nunoda Cunha
IO !
8 1 , 86 , 1 56 , 20!
35 (note) , 50, 54Nayak, Mahapradhana A 2 2 , 25
Niku or Nikka Malik 36 (note),
52 1 S3
67 ,
0”
on e . 00.
PAL L AV (m’
de Apol lo Bunder) 83,
93, 1 10
Palshikar Brahmins 2 8 , 30, 32 ,
441 451 47 1 2 10, 2 1 2
291 301 3 1 1 331 341
47 , 1 87 , 2 10, 2 1 2 , 2 1 3
Parakh, Nima 1 17
Parel 34, 351 441 701 7 2 1 742
76 , 78 , 84, 92 , 94, 1 1 1 , 1 24, 132 ,
168 , 190, 191 , 201 , 2 10, 2 1 2 , 2 53,
2 60, 2 8 1 , 2 88 , 293, 296 . 301 1 3 101
320, 32 3, 32 5. 32 6 1 33 71 332
Parjapur 35
Parsis , The 2 1 , 74, 98 , 99, 1 1 8 ,
1 6 2 , 1 63, 1 86 , 1 87, 207, 209, 2 10,
2 2 8 , 2 38 , 2 54, 2 58 , 265, 2 8 1 , 297,
299. 3 1 2 . 3 19. 320. 32 6 .
Patel, Cow asji 1 6 2
Peace, Justices ofthe 2 24, 2 2 5,
2 67. 2 8 5. 2 87 . 333
Pepys 91
Persia 86 , 90, 193, 2 58
Peshva, The 1 72 , 1 74, 1 78 , 195,
200, 2 16 , 2 1 7 , 2 1 8 , 2 2 1 , 2 2 2 , 240,
2 41 . 2 42 . 246
39, 292 , 293, 32 3, 32 6
Phansi Talao 32 1
Pharas Khan 1 78
Pirates, The 16 , 1 7 , 79, 133, 134,
1 75, 1 76 , 1 77, 199, 2 20, 2 2 1 , 240,
2 41 1 2 79
2 52
1 2 2 , 32 8 , 329, 330, 33 1 ,
333 1 333
Panchkalshis
000 000 000 000
1 3, 14, 15, 1 7, 1 8 ,
0 00 000 t4, ls
6 1 , 94, 1 67 , 306
Queen VICT O R IA . . 304, 3 13, 3 1 8 , 32 8
Quinta, The 83, 92
PAGES
Plag ue H03pital andLaboratory. .76 ,
84
Police 741 201 , 3 1 3
Poona 1 84, 192 , 195, 200,
2 17 , 2 1 8 , 2 41 , 2 42 , 246 , 2 7 1 , 2 72
Population ofBombay 84, 85, 90,
95, 102 , 106 , 1 19, 1 20, 1 2 1 , 1 35,
140, 1 64, 1 69, 170, 1 87 , 1 88 , 192 ,
2 10, 2 1 1 , 2 1 2 , 2 1 3, 2 14, 2 35, 2 36 ,
2 38 , 2 40, 2 53, 2 55, 2 6 1 , 2 69, 296 ,
297 1 298 1 2991 3 141
32 8 . 330. 33 1 . 332
Portug uese in Bombay 58 , 63 ,
87 , 91 , 92 , 94, 102 , 104, 107 ,
1 19, 1 32 , 1 33, 1 35, 140, 141 , 145,
146 , 147 , 148 , 149, 1 51 , 159, 186 ,
196 , 197 , 2 2 6 , 2 39, 2 60, 2 70
Port 307 , 32 1 , 32 2 , 329
Post O flice 1 39, 1 66 , 2 2 5, 2 26 ,
347 1 383
Potters 1 86 , 2 1 1
Powder Mill 153, 2 03
Prabhus, Kayasth 1 6 , 2 1
Pathare 2 8 , 30, 3 1 , 33,
341 441 47 1 741 841 100,
101 , 147, 2 10, 2 1 2 , 2 52
Prabhadew 2 8 , 33, 47 , 207
Pratapdev 35
Products of Island 72 , 84, 85,
93, 94, 106 , 201
3 141 33 1 1 32 3
31 4
u ses
R Al AYs 2 6 2 , 263,
32 1
Rajguru Kav le 2 6 , 2 7
Rajputs 1 38 , 2 54
Rama Kamath1 139, 1 54, 155
R amdev ofDevg iri 2 2 , 2 5, 2 6 ,
2 7 1 5°
R ashtrakutas 1 2
Reay, 3 1 8 , 32 1 , 32 3, 32 8
Rec lamation 1 2 5, 1 57, 1 67 ,
1 89, 191 , 2 65, 2 69, 2 7 1 , 2 75, 2 79,
2 80, 2 85, 2 89, 290, 306 , 307
Revenues 70, 80, 84, 97 , 105,
106 , 157 , 1 60, 1 67 , 1 68 , 169, 201 ,
2041 1 2 451 32 3
Roads (m'
de Communications) .
SA L BYE , TR EATY or 197, 2 1 6
Saldanha, Antonio 67Salivahanas 6
Sanitation and 100, 1 85,
200, 2 65, 2 67 , 2 69, 2 85, 2 87, 2 88 ,
2 891 2901 291 1 3 1 1 1
3 151 3 1 6 1 3 1 7 1 329
Satara 2 6 2 , 309, 32 5
Satar Street 38
Savantvadi 2 20, 2 2 1 , ,2 43, 2 6 2
Schools, Charity. . 1 86 , 191 , 206 , 2 51
Servants, Native 200, 208 , 209, 299
Sew ri 44, 45, 95, 1 69, 2 1 2 , 2 37 ,
2 531 2 791 2 80, 2 871 2 88 1 2931 296 1
3 1 I 1 3 131 3 1 6 1 32 51 332
Shaik A liParu 53, 6 1
Shanker 2 2 , 50
Shatakarnis
Shenvis 84, 107 , 1 50, 1 54,
155, 2 10, 2 1 2
1 34, 1 37 , 142
1 84, 1 87, 2 1 1 , 2 1 3
1 8 , 19
Sw ally
Sw iss
SuleimanSyer , Sir W.
Symulla (wide Chaul) .
TADVADI 39, 43
41 , 94, 295, 3 15, 32 3, 325.
326
2 1 1 , andappendix.
n ess
Sidis, The 74, 1 30, 1 3 1 , 1 32 , 134,
I 3S' 1371 I4O 1 I41 1 I42 1 ‘431
153, 1 6 2 , 1 7 1 , 17 2 , 1 73 , 1 74, 175,
1 77. 1 80. 1 85. 209. 299. 31 2
Silabaras, The I4 to 2 2 1 334
Simao Botelho 1 3 , 69, 70, 92
Sindia 2 1 6 , 2 1 7 , 2 1 8 , 2 19, 242
Sind 2 2 1 , 262
Sion 1 1 , 45, 70, 7 2 , 73 , 84.92 .
99, 104, 105, 1 1 1 , 1 19, 1 33, 136,
190. 191 . .91,
201 2 10. 2 531 293 1 32 71 332
S1r 1 Road 19, 39, 308
Slaves 67 , 1 36 , 1 6 1 , 1 6 2 , 186.
1 87, 208
Sonapur 1 8 (note) , 190, 191
Souza, Martin A . de 68 , 70
Spain 170, 17 1 , 1 72 , 178
Stephens, Thomas 80
Sultan Ahmed 54, 55, 56
Bahadur 56 , 59, 63, 68
Sultans, Delhi 47, 50, 51 , 52
50, 54, 56 , 57, 58
1 1 Deccan 541 551 571 58
Supara 5
Surat 67 , 8 1 , 8 2 , 85, 86 , 102 ,
106 , 107, 108 , 1 1 3, 1 14, 1 16 , 1 17,
1 2 2 , 1 2 3, 1 24, 1 2 8 , 1 3 1 , 1 34, 156,
159, 1 60,16 1 , 16 2 , 1 63, 1 70, 1 73,
1 74, 184, 192 , 199, 206 , 2 1 8 , 2 2 1 ,
2 351 2 39
8 2 , 85 andnote, 86 87187
