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Goddess Island

Goddess Island

Author: Sharada Dwivedi
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: June 6, 2005

Introduction: Who gave Mumbai the name it has today'? The legends speak of a goddess with a nose stud and a mighty giant who roamed the islands

The Mumbadevi temple is historically the most important heritage land­mark (II-B) in the Kalbadevi area. The original temple stood at the Phansi Talao (Gibbet Tank) on the Esplanade, on a spot within the current limits of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, and gave the main island its name-Mumbai.

This temple miraculously escaped destruction during Muslim and Portuguese rules.

But in the mid-18th century, the British authorities demol­ished the original temple to provide additional space for the fortifications. A goldsmith named Pandurang Shivaji Sonar financed the construction of the present temple and the Mumbadevi tank was built some decades later, in 1830, with funds provided by a Vani lady named Putalibai.

According to Marathi writers, Acharya and Shingne, however, the old temple was demolished only in 1803 and the tank was built by Sheth Nagardas Navlakhya, a Kapol Vani.

The temple contains a stone image of the goddess dressed in a robe and bodice with a silver crown, a nose stud and golden necklaces, seated under a canopy of wood covered with silver plates.

On the left is a stone figure of Annapurna, who is worshipped with Mumbadevi and on special days sits on a stone peacock. In front of the shrine is a brass tiger, the vahan or carrier of the goddess, which was presented by a pearl merchant in 1890.

Other shrines within the Mumbadevi complex are dedi­cated to Ganesh, Maruti, Mahadev, Indrayani, Murlidhar, Jagannath, Narsoba and Balaji.

How did the name Mumbadevi originate? Acharya and Shingne state that there was a general belief that the goddess was installed some time around the late 14th century by a Koli.

Mumbadevi was the kulade­vata of the Kolis. Names such as Munga, Shimgi, Mauna and Mongu are popular among Koli women. It seems likely that a Koli woman established the original temple and named it after herself. In time, Munga may have become Mumba and the name came into popular use.

K Raghunathji, a scholar and city historian of the late 19th century, wrote of the Mumbadevi Puran in Sanskrit, in Hindu Temples of Bombay, 1900:

"It is stated therein that in times of yore, there lived in this island a very powerful and mighty giant bearing the name of Mumbarak, and the island had derived its name from him.

"By means of austerities he pleased Brahmadev and prayed to him to be favoured with a blessing that he would be inca­pable of meeting with death at anybody's hands, and that he would ever prove successful.

"Having once secured the blessing, he set out to harass both people and the Gods on earth. All the Gods therefore proceeded en masse to Vishnu to seek his protection and prayed to him to destroy their foe.

"Upon this, Vishnu and Shiv extracted a portion of lustre, each from his own body, and made of it a goddess or Devi for the giant. The goddess then beat Mumdarak almost to death and threw him down on the ground and told him to ask for a blessing. He entreated her to join his own name with her's and to perpetu­ate that name on earth.

"The goddess accordingly granted his prayer and named herself Mumbadevi. The giant may perhaps be Mumbarak (Mubarak) the first, and the Mumbadevi Puran may have been composed in this way.

"It can also be supposed that the Emperor Mumbarak may have given this island his own name and called it Mumbapur."

There was a time, not so long ago, when this unique, cosmo­politan city, formerly the capital of Bombay Presidency and Bombay state, functioned per­fectly with the names Mumbai­Bambai-Bombay-depending on the language of communication.

In 1960, the city became the capital of the newly created state of Maharashtra and on May 4, 1995, the state government renamed the city Mumbai.
 


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