The Making of Mumbai

Fr Benny Aguiar tells the story of Mumbai as no one has told it before. Indeed, here you have a fascinating story told in all its details across the centuries. Books about Mumbai are many, but few people know that the flint stones found in Backbay attest to the presence of early man in the seven islands which the ancient historian, Ptolemy called "Heptanesia" (Seven Islands) or that the caves of Kanheri and Elephanta are witnesses to the ancient Aryan and Buddhist civilizations that flourished here or in nearby Sopara, Kalyan and Thane? True, many people are aware that it was the British colonizers that transformed Bombay into the Cosmopolitan, industrial and commercial capital of the country. But how many people know that Shivaji and his Maratha Successors mightily ruled over Bassein and Salsette for nearly sixty years? Today's 12 million Mumbaikars enjoy the legacy left behind by the early traders and rulers and should therefore strive to preserve what was best in that legacy. For Catholics especially the history of Mumbai is of special importance as it was from the Portuguese missionaries that they acquired their religion and partly their culture, but also because the transition from one period of history to another led to a decline and then to a revival and formation of the vibrant Catholic Community that has made such a vital contribution in the educational and other fields in the city of Mumbai