Mazagaon
Encyclopedia
Mazagaon, also spelled Mazgaon and Mazagon (Portuguese rule Mazagão), and pronounced by the Catholics as 'Mazgon' or 'Maz-a-gon' and the Marathi-speakers as Mazhgav. It is one of the seven islands of Mumbai. It is part of South Mumbai
and can be reached by Byculla Station on the Central railway line and Dockyard Road Station on the Harbour Railway line. Located in Mazagaon are maritime companies like the Bombay Port Trust and Mazagaon Dock Ltd., the Mazagaon Court and Anglo-Indian
schools including St. Peters School and St. Mary's School.
The word Mazagaon has been derived from the Sanskrit Matsya Gram, meaning fishing village. The original inhabitants were speculated to be tribals of Agari (salt-workers) and Koli
(fishermen) tribes. However, folk etymology derives Mazagaon from the Marathi Maza Gaon, meaning my village. Another etymological claim suggests Portuguese origin, with the name borrowed from a city and fort of Mazagão in Morocco
(now El Jadida) established by Portuguese in the beginning of the 16th century who totally evacuated to Brazil in 1769. One of Mazagaon's oldest claims to fame was a variety of mango trees which fruited twice a year. Apparently a few such trees were extant well into the 20th century. The small island was rocky, with a hill rising at the north, and forming a cliff over the harbour. To see what Mazagaon might once have been, one has to visit any of the tiny rocky islands bearing mango trees and small villages further down the Konkan
coast.
The first Portuguese settlers were the Jesuits, who established a church in the 16th century. Notwithstanding their claim, in 1572 the King of Portugal granted the island in perpetuity to the de Souza e Lima family, from whom the D'Souzas of Mumbai
trace their descent. When the Portuguese ceded the island to the British, there was a well established population of Roman Catholics, mainly fishermen. Most were Hindu converts, although Eurasians were not uncommon. Some black African slaves brought by the Portuguese, known as Kaffirs, had also entered the ethnic mix. Some of their traditional wooden houses can still be seen, and are now protected heritage structures.
The original Gloria church, Nossa Senhora da Glória, was built in 1632 from a donation by the de Souza family. It was destroyed in 1911, being replaced two years later by a new Gothic church of the same name built a kilometer away.
Mazagaon was occupied by the Sidi of Janjira, an admiral in the Mughal navy in 1690. It is said that he was driven away a year later by the Rustomji Dorabji
, who organised the fishermen in Dongri into a fleet. Rustomji was given the title Patel
after this feat, and his descendants have remained the only Parsi family of Patels.
With the reclamation of Umarkhadi, at the end of the 17th century, Mazagaon became an outlying suburb of Bombay and a fashionable place of residence. One of the famous houses was the neo-classical Tarala, built by a member of the Wadia family in the late 18th century. Sold to the Jeejeebhoy family about a century later, it became the Sadar Adalat in 1925, when they moved out to Malabar Hill. Later still it was taken over by the army, and then donated to the J. J. Hospital in 1943 after a fire. It was used as a staff hostel for a few years before it was demolished.
Other bungalows and plantations also grew up in Mazagaon as the British and the more affluent Indians moved out of the crowded fort. When the Esplanade was cleared in the Fort area, the armoury moved from Bombay Castle to Mazagaon in 1760 and gave its name to Gunpowder Lane. In 1790 the docks at Mazagaon were completed. In 1793, after the construction of the Hornby Vellard, the Bellasis Road was built to join Mazagaon and Malabar Hill.
The next century saw a slow decline in Mazagaon's fortunes, as the neighbouring Byculla became the fashionable suburb, and people began moving out. The process accelerated after the docks were reclaimed in the last thirty years of the century on the eastern shore of Mazagaon. Mazagaon was left landlocked, and the fumes from the developing mills drove the last money out of this area.
Among others, Tipu Sultan
, the Mysore warrior's relative Nawab Ayaz Ali, migrated here after the British defeated the ruler in 1799 and was buried here.
s, Muslims (particularly Dawoodi Bohras ) are taking their place with most Catholics migrating abroad.Bohras are very rich people.Due to them large development is taking place in Mazgaon.Huge skycrappers of Bohra residents are being constructed.It has virtually become a Bohri-Muslim neighbourhood.A Catholic East Indian village can be found in the "Mathar Pakadi" area. The migrants originally from Goa
set up transit camps, which later became permanent residences. The Goan Clubs are an integral part of this part of town. Nearby lie the famous Mazagaon Docks, famed as a site of ship building since the 18th century. It still builds warships for the Indian Navy
and nearby is the Mazagaon Dock Colony which houses Angre house, Sarine house, Curry house and P & O Terrace. The Harbour Line station of Dockyard Road
is the nearest railhead. The area is peaceful and quiet, unlike other parts of the city.
Up to the 1960s Mumbai had a small Chinatown
in Mazagaon. After the 1962 Sino-Indian War, most Chinese were viewed as traitors, and left the town. Currently, Mumbai has a small ethnic Chinese population of 400 families. The Chinese temple and cemetery are both located at Mazagaon.
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
and can be reached by Byculla Station on the Central railway line and Dockyard Road Station on the Harbour Railway line. Located in Mazagaon are maritime companies like the Bombay Port Trust and Mazagaon Dock Ltd., the Mazagaon Court and Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in India, now mainly historical in the latter sense. British residents in India used the term "Eurasians" for people of mixed European and Indian descent...
schools including St. Peters School and St. Mary's School.
History
KOLI
KOLI is a radio station serving Wichita Falls, Texas and Vicinity with a country music format. It operates on FM frequency 94.9 MHz and is under ownership of Cumulus Media. It is the radio flagship station for the Wichita Falls Wildcats hockey team....
(fishermen) tribes. However, folk etymology derives Mazagaon from the Marathi Maza Gaon, meaning my village. Another etymological claim suggests Portuguese origin, with the name borrowed from a city and fort of Mazagão in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
(now El Jadida) established by Portuguese in the beginning of the 16th century who totally evacuated to Brazil in 1769. One of Mazagaon's oldest claims to fame was a variety of mango trees which fruited twice a year. Apparently a few such trees were extant well into the 20th century. The small island was rocky, with a hill rising at the north, and forming a cliff over the harbour. To see what Mazagaon might once have been, one has to visit any of the tiny rocky islands bearing mango trees and small villages further down the Konkan
Konkan
The Konkan also called the Konkan Coast or Karavali is a rugged section of the western coastline of India from Raigad to Mangalore...
coast.
The first Portuguese settlers were the Jesuits, who established a church in the 16th century. Notwithstanding their claim, in 1572 the King of Portugal granted the island in perpetuity to the de Souza e Lima family, from whom the D'Souzas of Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
trace their descent. When the Portuguese ceded the island to the British, there was a well established population of Roman Catholics, mainly fishermen. Most were Hindu converts, although Eurasians were not uncommon. Some black African slaves brought by the Portuguese, known as Kaffirs, had also entered the ethnic mix. Some of their traditional wooden houses can still be seen, and are now protected heritage structures.
The original Gloria church, Nossa Senhora da Glória, was built in 1632 from a donation by the de Souza family. It was destroyed in 1911, being replaced two years later by a new Gothic church of the same name built a kilometer away.
Mazagaon was occupied by the Sidi of Janjira, an admiral in the Mughal navy in 1690. It is said that he was driven away a year later by the Rustomji Dorabji
Rustomji Dorabji Patel
Rustomji Dorabji Patel was a Parsi community leader who helped the British forces fight-off an invasion of the Mumbai islands by Siddi forces. In gratitude, the British accorded him the title of Patel....
, who organised the fishermen in Dongri into a fleet. Rustomji was given the title Patel
Patel
Patel is a surname of Indian origin, originally meaning "headman" or"village chief". Patels are socially, economically and politically the most dominant caste in Gujarat Patels are basically Kurmis or Kunbis and are found in various geographical locations. The Kunbi are an Indian subcaste...
after this feat, and his descendants have remained the only Parsi family of Patels.
With the reclamation of Umarkhadi, at the end of the 17th century, Mazagaon became an outlying suburb of Bombay and a fashionable place of residence. One of the famous houses was the neo-classical Tarala, built by a member of the Wadia family in the late 18th century. Sold to the Jeejeebhoy family about a century later, it became the Sadar Adalat in 1925, when they moved out to Malabar Hill. Later still it was taken over by the army, and then donated to the J. J. Hospital in 1943 after a fire. It was used as a staff hostel for a few years before it was demolished.
Other bungalows and plantations also grew up in Mazagaon as the British and the more affluent Indians moved out of the crowded fort. When the Esplanade was cleared in the Fort area, the armoury moved from Bombay Castle to Mazagaon in 1760 and gave its name to Gunpowder Lane. In 1790 the docks at Mazagaon were completed. In 1793, after the construction of the Hornby Vellard, the Bellasis Road was built to join Mazagaon and Malabar Hill.
The next century saw a slow decline in Mazagaon's fortunes, as the neighbouring Byculla became the fashionable suburb, and people began moving out. The process accelerated after the docks were reclaimed in the last thirty years of the century on the eastern shore of Mazagaon. Mazagaon was left landlocked, and the fumes from the developing mills drove the last money out of this area.
Among others, Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan , also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa...
, the Mysore warrior's relative Nawab Ayaz Ali, migrated here after the British defeated the ruler in 1799 and was buried here.
The area
Once very fashionable, Mazgaon lost much of its charm after the more affluent British and Parsi residents relocated to Malabar Hill. Since independence, the area is generally considered to be a Catholic enclave. However, even though Mazagaon is still home to a large population of CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
s, Muslims (particularly Dawoodi Bohras ) are taking their place with most Catholics migrating abroad.Bohras are very rich people.Due to them large development is taking place in Mazgaon.Huge skycrappers of Bohra residents are being constructed.It has virtually become a Bohri-Muslim neighbourhood.A Catholic East Indian village can be found in the "Mathar Pakadi" area. The migrants originally from Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
set up transit camps, which later became permanent residences. The Goan Clubs are an integral part of this part of town. Nearby lie the famous Mazagaon Docks, famed as a site of ship building since the 18th century. It still builds warships for the Indian Navy
Indian Navy
The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. The President of India serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff , usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the Navy...
and nearby is the Mazagaon Dock Colony which houses Angre house, Sarine house, Curry house and P & O Terrace. The Harbour Line station of Dockyard Road
Dockyard Road
Dockyard Road is a railway station on the Central Railway of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. It is the stop closest to the Mazagon Dock Limited....
is the nearest railhead. The area is peaceful and quiet, unlike other parts of the city.
Churches in Mazagaon
Mazagaon is famous for its churches. Among the more prominent are:- St. Anne's Church (Roman Catholic) (next to St. Mary's School),http://www.annesparish.com/
- Our Lady of the Rosary Church (Roman Catholic) in the East (opposite Dockyard Road Station),
- Our Lady of Glory Church (Roman Catholic) up north (in Byculla, opposite Byculla station),
- St. Joseph's Church (Roman Catholic) down south (in Umerkhadi, Dongri),
- St. Peter's Church (Protestant) (Non Functional) (near Mazagaon Hill)
- Protestant Church towards J.J. Hospital.
- Christ Church (Protestant) in the north.
- Methodist Churches near Victoria Gardens
- Methodist church opposite St. Agnes' School, Clare Road.
Important landmarks in Mazagaon (maza goan)
- St. Anne's Church http://www.annesparish.com/
- Seth Motisha Jain Temple, Love Lane
- St. Mary's School(ICSE) http://www.stmarysisc.org/
- St. Mary's High School, SSC http://www.stmarysssc.com/
- St. Peter's School, Mazagaon, ICSE
- Bombay Port Trust
- Chinese temple (the only one in the city)
- Framji Patel Parsi Agiary
- Joseph Baptista Garden and Reservoir now named Bhandar Wada Water Reservoir (built in 1880)
- Sales Tax Office
- M.D.L.(Mazagon Dock Limited )- Ship-Builders To The Nation
- Angre House (named after the MarathaMarathaThe Maratha are an Indian caste, predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. The term Marāthā has three related usages: within the Marathi speaking region it describes the dominant Maratha caste; outside Maharashtra it can refer to the entire regional population of Marathi-speaking people;...
NavyNavyA navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
Kanhoji AngreKanhoji AngreKanhoji Angre or Conajee Angria or Sarkhel Angre was the first notable chief of the Maratha Navy in 18th century India. He fought successfully all his life against the British, Dutch and Portuguese naval interests in the Indian Ocean during the 18th century, and hence was alleged by them to be a...
) - Shah Hasan Ali's Maqbara or Mausoleum (Hasanabad)
- Islamic International School , Operated by ISLAMIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION under the supervideon of Dr Zakir Naik.
Chinatown
See main article: Chinatown, MumbaiChinatown, Mumbai
Up to the 1960s Mumbai had a small Chinatown in Mazagaon. After the 1962 Sino-Indian War, most Chinese were viewed as traitors, and left the town. Currently, Mumbai has a small ethnic Chinese population of 400 families. The Chinese temple and cemetery are both located at Mazagaon....
Up to the 1960s Mumbai had a small Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
in Mazagaon. After the 1962 Sino-Indian War, most Chinese were viewed as traitors, and left the town. Currently, Mumbai has a small ethnic Chinese population of 400 families. The Chinese temple and cemetery are both located at Mazagaon.