01Mumba Aai of the Kolis
Long before the Portuguese and the English, the seven islands belonged to Koli fishing villages, and their guardian was Mumba Aai, Mother Mumba. Her name gave the islands theirs: Mumbai. Her shrine stood near the landing place at Bori Bunder, roughly where the great railway terminus stands now. In the 18th century, as the English fort and its grounds spread, the temple was taken down and the Devi was re-housed at Bhuleshwar, in the heart of the old native town, beside a tank. The usual date given is 1737, though some accounts place the move later in the century.
02In the bazaar
The temple stands today among the jewellers and cloth merchants of Zaveri Bazaar and Bhuleshwar, and the murti is an orange face without a mouth, crowned in silver, in the old local style. Beside her sit Annapurna on a peacock and Jagadamba. Each day of the week she is dressed and seated on a different vahana, a tiger on one day, an elephant on another. Fisherfolk still bring her the first catch, and newly married couples of the old Mumbai families come to her first.
The life of this place
- 18th century (often given as 1737)The shrine near Bori Bunder is removed and the Devi installed at Bhuleshwar.
A short walk from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus through Kalbadevi and Zaveri Bazaar; the lanes are crowded, so go early.
