Suburb of Mumbai, India
Suburb in Mumbai Suburban, Maharashtra, India
Bandra
(
[bæː???a]
) is a coastal suburb located in
Mumbai
, the largest city of the
Konkan division
in
Maharashtra
,
India
. The area is located to the immediate north of the
River Mithi
, which separates Bandra from the
Mumbai City district
.
[2]
It is the third-largest commercial hub in
Maharashtra
, after the Bombay city district and
Pune
, primarily aided by the
Bandra Kurla Complex
.
[3]
Before the opening of
Khar Road railway station
on 1 July 1924, Bandra was a larger area and included the present day
Khar
neighbourhood.
[4]
It was considered too large a suburb to be served by one railway station and railway station was established to give the northern part of Bandra closer access to the
Western Railway
line. This eventually led to Khar being considered a separate suburb.
[5]
However, to this day, the two adjoined
suburbs
make up one homogeneous zone. A number of prominent residents of Bandra are celebrities or VIPs who are active in
Bollywood
, media, cricket and politics.
History
[
edit
]
The name "Bandra" possibly originates from the
Persian
word for port, or "bandar."
[6]
It is described by
Duncan Forbes
's
A Dictionary, Hindustani and English
(1848) as "a city; an emporium; a port, harbor; a trading town to which numbers of foreign merchants resort".
[7]
In
Konkani
,
bandar
is a
loanword
from
Parsi
(Persian) meaning
harbour
or
port
.
[8]
[9]
The area along with much of the
Konkan region
, was ruled by the
Silhara dynasty
in the 12th century. Bandra was a tiny fishing village inhabited by
Kolis
(
fishermen
) and
salt farmers
. The area was part of
Portuguese Bombay
territory extending from
Damaon
to
Chaul
, before its acquisition by the
English East India Company
.
Indo-Portuguese era
[
edit
]
In 1534, Diego da Silveira, a
pirate
from the
Mediterranean
, entered Bandra's creek and burned the fishing town he found there. With that, Bandra came under the rule of the
Portuguese Goa
.
[10]
A period of
Christianisation
began in Bandra. Father
Conceicao Rodrigues
, a
Catholic
priest, was instrumental in increasing the Church's prominence in Bandra.
[
citation needed
]
In 1580, he baptised about 2,000 fishermen. By the time he died 11 years later, Father Gomes' "invincible strength of soul", as one historian describes it, had helped convert close to 6,000 people in the area.
[
citation needed
]
Father Gomes also established
St Andrew's Church
.
Bandra officially became a possession of the
Portuguese East Indies
, when the
Sultanate of Cambay
ceded Bandra and adjacent areas via the
Treaty of Bassein (1534)
, which was signed aboard the
brig
named
Sao Mateus
(St Matthew) at
Vasai (Bassein)
harbour, aided by Governor-General
Nuno da Cunha
and
Diego da Silveira
. The Portuguese
enfeoffed
(gave) Bandra,
Kurla
,
Mazgaon
and four other villages in 1548 to
Antonio Pessoa
; as a reward for his military services. This was confirmed by the Royal Chancellery on 2 February 1550.
[
citation needed
]
As these villages were given for a period of "two lives", they reverted to the
Portuguese Crown
after the death of
Isabel Botelha
, Pessoa's widow. In 1568, the
Jesuits
who had applied for acquisition of these villages in anticipation of Isabel's death, obtained them from the
Portuguese viceroy in Goa
, they received royal confirmation from
Lisbon
, in 1570.
[11]
In 1661, when
Charles II of England
married Catherine of Portugal, the
Seven Islands of Bombay
were given away as part of the
dowry of Catherine Braganza
.
[12]
However,
Salsette island
, on which Bandra laid, was not part of this treaty and remained with the Portuguese.
[13]
The
Portuguese Empire
built additional chapels, oratories& churches in Bandra, one of the earliest being
St Andrew's Church
in 1575. Their Jesuit missionaries, who learned
local languages and cultures
, attracted many Indian converts to
Western Christianity
(Catholicism) among the natives of the island. Their descendants continued their membership of the six Catholic
parish churches
?
Mount Carmel
, St. Peter's, St Andrew's, St Theresa's, St Anne's and St Francis d'Assisi; that lie within an area of four square kilometres.
[14]
British Bandra
[
edit
]
Bandra became part of English territory with the signing of the
Treaty of Surat
in 1775, but was retroceded to the
Marathas
in 1779 during the
First Anglo-Maratha War
. In 1802,
Baji Rao II
signed the
Treaty of Bassein
with the English, surrendering sovereignty and again ceding Bandra, and it remained under British control until 14 August 1947.
Arrival of Railways and development
: On 12 April 1867, the first railway service was inaugurated, with one train per day between
Virar
and Bombay, as part of the then private rail company,
BB&CI
which was the earlier form of
Western Railway
. A grand railway station building for Bandra was inaugurated in 1869. The innovative aspects used in the design of this structure are visible to this day.
[
citation needed
]
On closer scrutiny, it is evident how railway tracks bunched together make up each of the iron pillars, that hold up the roof over the platforms. In 1873, with growing demands, the frequency of trains available was increased to 24 each day. In the early 1900s, the affluent
Pathare Prabhu
community lived in
South Mumbai
, and used their quaint
bungalows
in the Khar part of Bandra as weekend dwellings.
Khar Danda
was one of the original villages of the erstwhile larger Bandra. Back then, the local
Bandra railway station
was felt considerably far to alight from trains and hire 'tangas' (horse carriages) to get to their bungalows by these Bandra residents. Keeping these factors and Bandra's growing population in mind, a new railway station named 'Khar Road' was introduced adjoining
Bandra Railway station
on 1 July 1924. This development is the primary reason that the Khar part of Bandra started being referred to as a suburb by itself.
[15]
As late as the 1930s, Bandra had only one bus service from
Pali Naka
,
Hill Road
to the Railway station. Other people just walked to the nearest railway station. After
World War II
, the building boom began with an aim to accommodate immigrants. As of 2018, 940 trains stop daily at
Bandra railway station
.
[
citation needed
]
Bandra was raised to the status of a
municipality
in 1876 and was then expanded.
[
citation needed
]
In 1950, following independence, it was merged into the Bombay Municipal Corporation to form the
Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay
. Bandra consisted of many villages, among them Sherly, Malla, Rajan, Kantwady, Waroda, Ranwar, Boran, Khar Danda, Pali, and Chuim. These have almost been lost to urban development of the island.
[
citation needed
]
Mount Mary's Church
[
edit
]
The
Bandra Fair
is held during the eight days of the Octave of the Nativity of Our Lady, beginning 8 September, when people throng the church.
[16]
[17]
Educational institutions
[
edit
]
The first school founded in Bandra after Bombay passed on to the English was St Andrew's Parish School, started by Fr.
Francisco de Melo
in 1780 to teach catechism to the children of the parish. This later became
St. Andrew's High School
.
[18]
The school is located in Bandra West.
St. Theresa's High School
grew out of St. Andrew's Indian Christians' School, housed in a very dilapidated building situated in Old Khar. This school was founded in 1918. It was taken over by the Society of Divine Word (S.V.D). in 1952. It is counted among the best schools in
Mumbai
.
[19]
St. Stanislaus High School
was founded in 1863 by the
Society of Jesus
. It started as a Native Boy's orphanage. It became a high school in 1923 and was the first English medium school in the suburbs. Later, it grew to be a full-fledged educational institution for day-scholars as well as boarders. Cardinal Gracias High School is a
convent school
located in Bandra East. St. Joseph's Convent High School for girls is run by the nuns of the congregation of the Daughters of the Cross in Bandra West. It was built in 1865 (Bandra was then known as Bandora)
[20]
and boasts a chapel. The school has produced illustrious alumni over the years.
[21]
R.D. National College
was originally set up in 1922 in
Hyderabad, Pakistan
under the guidance of
Annie Besant
. In the run-up to the
Partition of India
, it was relocated to its present site in 1949 in Bandra. The
Thadomal Shahani Engineering College
was established in 1983 by the
Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Board
.
The
Rizvi Education Complex
, located off
Carter Road
, comprises the
Rizvi College of Arts
, Science and Commerce (established in 1985); Rizvi High School (established in 1985);
Rizvi College of Engineering
(established in 1998); Rizvi College of Architecture; Rizvi College of Hotel Management & Catering Technology;
Rizvi Law College
; Rizvi College of Education and the Rizvi College of Fashion Designing & Creative Arts
[22]
All are managed by the Rizvi Education Society, and may have the status of
Muslim
religious minority institution.
St. Andrew's College of Arts, Science and Commerce
is another famous college located in the heart of Bandra, just a few hundred metres away from St. Stanislaus High School. St. Andrews boasts of one of the best auditoriums in the city.
[23]
IES's Management College an Research Centre is also located at Bandra Reclamation. It offers PGDM programs related to Management and Pharma.
[24]
Bandra Lake
[
edit
]
Bandra Lake
, also called Bandra Talao or Motha Reservoir was constructed by a rich
Konkani
Muslim of
Navapada
(also spelt Naupada or Naopara), an adjoining village.
[25]
The lake was later acquired by the
Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai
. It was officially renamed
Swami Vivekanand
Sarovar. Paddle boating facilities and
pisciculture
(fish farming) activities were operational in this lake during the 1990s but have since stopped. This lake is now a heritage structure of "Heritage II" status.
[25]
[26]
[27]
The Portuguese also pronounced Bandra As Bandora.
Development of Bandra as a Commercial Hub
[
edit
]
As traffic in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region worsened, especially in
South Mumbai
, there was increased demand to construct a business district outside of Mumbai, in the suburbs. In the mid-2000s, the city of Bandra started an audacious task to reclaim lands on the
Mithi River
in the eastern portion of the city, near the
Kurla
border. The newly formed
Bandra Kurla Complex
(BKC) has attracted several equity and technology firms, such as Blackstone,
Google
, and
Amazon
, who chose Bandra instead of Mumbai City for its location, lower-cost of land, and new development.
As the last suburb before entering
Mumbai City
, Bandra has for a while been strained with traffic, particularly around the railway station and S.V. Road. The development of a business centre has only exacerbated the traffic problems, as unlike other commercial hubs, Bandra's BKC is located between
Bandra
and
Kurla
stations and requires approximately 10-15 minute vehicular commute from either of the stations. Nearly 300,000 office-goers alight daily at Bandra Railway Station and take a taxi or bus to BKC. This has made
Bandra
among the busiest stations in India, surpassing
Andheri
and
Bombay Central
, and the second-busiest station in Maharashtra's Western Railway after
Churchgate railway station
.
Terror attacks
[
edit
]
In 1993, a group of terrorists attacked a hotel in Bandra in addition to other sites in the city.
[28]
Urban art
[
edit
]
Bandra has a large collection of street art or graffiti. The paintings on walls are principally located in the vicinity of Chapel Road and Veronica Street, but prominent works are also visible near Bandstand and
Mount Mary Church
.
[29]
[30]
They consist of various types of graffiti, including pieces, stencils, tags, etc. Globally renowned artists such as Gomez have created works on these walls.
St+art Mumbai,
Bollywood Art Project
[31]
and Dharavi Art Room are some of the organizations that conduct various programs to encourage the artists. The programs have support from the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC).
[32]
Bandra was also home to the 37X46 metre (120X150 foot) portrait of
Dadasaheb Phalke
on the
MTNL
building at Bandra Reclamation. It was created by Ranjit Dahiya (from the Bollywood Art Project) and other artists including
Yantr
, Munir Bukhari and Nilesh Kharade as part of the St+art Mumbai festival in 2014. The mural was unveiled officially by
Amitabh Bachchan
and
Piyush Pandey
, but the building has been re-painted.
[33]
It is reportedly Asia's largest mural.
[34]
In literature
[
edit
]
Many of the characters in the book Bloodline Bandra
[35]
by Godfrey Joseph Pereira
[36]
(2014), are East Indian, including the protagonist, journalist, David Cabral, who reside in a village (hamlet) called Pali in Bandra. The book itself is set in the 1950s with the first half of the book having most of the action in
Pali Village
, a predominantly
East Indian
populace at the time.
Geography
[
edit
]
Bandra is split by the local railway-line into West Bandra (Postal Code 400050) and East Bandra (Postal Code 400051). The part of Bandra located on the western side of the railway line developed into a fashionable suburb by the middle of the 20th century. Film director
Mehboob Khan
established the
Mehboob Studios
here in 1954. Soon the area became a center for the Indian movie industry,
Bollywood
. A recording studio was set up in the 1970s.
[37]
[38]
In the mid-to-late 1990s, the eastern part emerged as a commercial and administrative hub. It houses the Family Court,
Bandra Kurla Commercial Complex
, the office of the state housing development authority (
MHADA
) and the office of the
District Collector
. The residential quarters of the employees of the Maharashtra State Government are also located here.
Most roads and places in Bandra were given English names during
British rule
. They have been renamed over time but many are still popularly known by their old names.
- Neighbouring suburbs:
Dharavi
,
Khar
,
Kurla
,
Mahim
,
Santa Cruz
- Arterial roads:
Swami Vivekanand Road
(S.V Road),
Linking Road
, Turner Road (Guru Nanak Marg),
Hill Road
(renamed Ramdas Nayak Marg),
Carter Road
(renamed Naushad Ali Marg), Navpada Road (Balsamant),
Western Express Highway
. The
Bandra?Worli Sea Link
connects the western part of Bandra to
Worli
by the sea route, thus diverting a lot of road traffic.
Transport
[
edit
]
Bandra railway station
is connected with the
Western Railway
and the
Harbour Line
, which is an offshoot of the suburban
Central Railway
. It also has a newly built terminus called
Bandra Terminus
in Bandra (E) from where trains bound for northern and western India are scheduled regularly. The important trains include the Bandra-
New Delhi
Rajdhani Express, Bandra-
Indore
Express, Bandra-
Patna
Express, Bandra-
Jaipur
Express, Bandra-
Jodhpur
Express and the Bandra-
Amritsar
Express
Public transport also includes
BEST
buses, auto rickshaws and taxis, which are abundant. Bandra is the last southern point from Mumbai where auto rickshaws ply. Beyond Bandra, entering
Mahim
, only taxis are allowed to ply.
The
Bandra?Worli Sea Link
bridge connects Bandra West with
Worli
, located in central Mumbai. Due to Bandra's central location, most parts of the city are easily accessible.
Places of interest
[
edit
]
Notable residents
[
edit
]
- Farhan Akhtar
, film actor
- Shah Rukh Khan
, film actor
- Salman Khan
, film actor
- Sanjay Dutt
, film actor
- Reema Kagti
, film director
- Lieutenant-General
Francis Dias
,
PVSM
,
AVSM
,
VrC
- Zoya Akhtar
, film director
- Mithila Palkar
, film actor
- Karan Johar
, film director
- Flt Lt
Lawrence Pereira
,
VrC
- Nicholas Kharkongor
, film director
- Rekha
, film actor
- Bala Sawant
, politician and former
Shiv Sena
MLA
- Ashish Shelar
, President of
BJP
Mumbai
- Sachin Tendulkar
, cricketer
See also
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Bandra
.
References
[
edit
]
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.
www.demographia.com
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10 October
2015
- ^
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"Everything you need to know about the commercial hub- Bandra East"
.
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2023
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- ^
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- ^
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A Dictionary, Hindustani and English: To which is Added a Reversed Part, English and Hindustani
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