MUMBAI - Capital
of
Maharastra
 Mumbai
(formerly
known as
Bombay)
Political
capital of
Maharashtra,
and
commercial
capital of
India,
Mumbai is
many cities
in one. As
the world's
largest
textiles
market, a
major
industrial
centre and
the
country's
busiest port
handling
over 40
percent of
India's
maritime
trade, it
contributes
around 50
percent of
the national
exchequer.
The city
hums with
activity,
and its more
than eight
million
residents
and three
million
commuters
seem to be
constantly
on the move.
Natural
increase and
steady rural
migration
have
quadrupled
Bombay's
population
over the
last 40
years. The
original
island of
Bombay
consolidating
a number of
earlier
islands-is
only 24
kilometres
(15 miles)
long and
some four
kilometres
(2.5 miles)
wide at its
broadest
point, and
has a
population
density of
over 43,000
persons per
square
kilometre
(100,000 per
square
mile),
amongst the
highest in
the world.
Pavement
dwellers and
slums
coexist with
modem
skyscrapers
and gracious
colonial
buildings,
obsolete
textile
mills with
impressive
modem
factories,
Christian
churches
with Hindu
temples in a
medley of
contradictions
that makes
Mumbai a
product of
the Indian
past that
holds the
key to the
present and
the future.
Perhaps the
appropriate
place to
begin
exploring
Bombay's
colonial
legacy is
the
Gateway of
India.
Built to
commemorate
the royal
visit of
George V and
Queen Mary
in 1911 but
only
completed in
1924, the
gateway is a
combination
of European
and Indian
ceremonial
architecture.
The last
British
troops
marched out
through this
gate when
India became
independent
in 1947.
Today it is
a favourite
haunt of
tourists.
Excursions :
Elephanta,
Kanheri and
Bassein
While
Mumbai's
comparatively
recent
history
means that
there are no
ancient or
even
medieval
monuments
here, three
excursions
out of the
city are
steeped in
history.
About an
hour's ride
away by
motorboat
from the
basalt
facade of
the Gateway
lies
Elephanta,
a
cave-temple
shrine hewn
out of solid
rock some
time in the
eighth
century A.D.
by the
Rashtrakuta
dynasty who
ruled the
Deccan from
757 A.D. to
973 A.D.
Probably
intended as
a private
place of
worship for
the ruling
family, the
exact date
of its
construction
will never
be known.
The island
was
plundered by
the
Portuguese
in the
sixteenth
century;
they
destroyed
the plaque
that bore
details of
its history.
It was the
Portuguese
who named
the island
after the
large stone
elephant
that guarded
it; the
original
name is
Gharapuri,
the fortress
city. The
elephant has
since been
shifted and
reassembled
in the
compound of
the Bombay
Zoo, as
guides are
quick to
point out.
The caves
represent
what is
probably the
last
examples of
the golden
age of art
that
flourished
in the Gupta
period, even
though it
dates from
after that
time. Though
not as
impressive
in scale as
Ellora,
the
Elephanta
caves are
unsurpassed
in terms of
beauty and
eloquence.
The Siva
Temple
originally
had three
entrances,
giving it a
cruciform
shape; the
play of
light is
constant.
The inner
sanctuary,
beyond the
realm of
images, has
a plain and
unadomed
yonilingam,
the symbol
of strength
and
creativity.
Amidst
irregular
pillars in
the
Dravidian
style, a
celestial
drama
unfolds, the
most
dramatic of
which are
Ravana
shaking
Mount
Kailasa and
the marriage
of Siva and
Parvati. The
Triurti of
Siva is the
focal point.
At
Kanheri,
42 km from
Mumbai, are
109 Buddhist
caves dating
from around
the second
to the ninth
centuries
A.D. Cave
3 is
worth a
visit, with
its grand
chaitya
(prayer
hall) and a
long
colonnade of
pillars.
Bassein,
on the coast
north of
Bombay, was
once a
splendid
Portuguese
stronghold.
Its
magnificent
fort, where
only the
Hidalgos
(aristocracy)
lived, is
now in
ruins,
though
vestiges of
Portuguese
glory still
remain.
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A
Victoria'
ride along
the
seafront;
a unique
ride in a
horse-drawn
buggy
along the
sea front
form the
Gateway of
India to
Nariman
Point.