GEOGRAPHY

(The section on Geography is contributed by Prof. B. Arunachalam, Geography Department, University of Bombay, Bombay)

THE URBAN AGGLOMERATION OF GREATER BOMBAY is a unique entity in the physical and cultural setting of not only Maharashtra but also the whole of India. Located on the western sea-board, overlooking the Arabian Sea and commanding the Suez Route on the world shipping ways, and backed by a productive hinterland, linked through routeways on it through the Thai and Bhor ghats across the Sahyadri, this giant gateway to India is the economic nucleus of Maharashtra. It is a cloister of commerce and industry, business and administration.

Bombay in India and Maharashtra: Ranked eighth in the world, Greater Bombay had a population of 5.96 millions in 1971 ; the population figures hover around 8.2 millions at present (1981). As the administrative capital of the State of Maharashtra, it dominates the regional scene, accounting for 11.5 per cent of its total population, 39 per cent of its urban population, nearly 75 per cent of its industrial activity and nearly two-thirds of its industrial workers. As the leading port of the country, handling slightly less than a third of the external maritime trade of India, its port functions permeate and dominate the national economy. Easily the largest industrial node, with a concentration of textiles, engineering, chemicals and drugs industries, it contributes nearly 15 per cent of the industrial income of the nation. It is also the leading banking and financial centre of the nation and accounts for about 42 per cent of its total revenue from air-borne and sea-borne trade of India and 34 per cent of the national income, accruing through income tax revenues. The rapidly fusing amalgam of the Bombay city region has turned out to be one of the biggest urban complexes of the nation. Yet this great city of Western India has risen from humble ranks, of that of a group of fishing hamlets to that of an industrial giant over the span of a few hundred years; its history of spectacular growth is not paralleled by other cities in the country.

Location, Size and Area : Greater Bombay, the smallest of the districts of Maharashtra is entirely an urban district, that has submerged in itself the former villages in the peri-urban fringe. The district, extends between 18°53'N. and 19°20'N. and between 72°45'E. and 73°00'E. It has an easi to west extent of about 12 km. where it is broadest, and a north-south extent of about 40 km. The district covers an area of 437.71 sq. km. that constitutes 0.14 per cent of the total area of the State of Maharashtra. The importance of the district is also apparent from the fact that the district supports a population of about 8 millions, sharing 11.5 per cent of the population of the State, which is enormously out of proportion to the size of the district.

Geographically speaking, the district entirely lies outside the mainland of Konkan in Maharashtra in a group of islands separated from the mainland by the narrow Thane creek and a somewhat wider Harbour Bay. The district at present occupies the original island group of Bombay— now practically a southward protruding peninsula of the larger Salsette— and most of the island of Salsette, with the former Trombay island appended to it in its south-east. A small part in the north of the Salsette island, however, lies in Thane district. The Salsette-Bombay island complex lies off the mouth of the Ulhas river; the estuary in the Vasai creek and the Thane creek together separate it from the mainland. Thus, the district of Greater Bombay is surrounded on three sides by the seas— by the open Arabian sea to the west and the south and the Harbour Bay and the Thane creek in the east—but, in the north, the district of Thane stretches along its boundary across the northern parts of Salsette.

Administrative Evolution : Initially the district of Bombay included only the city isiand. In 1920, when the Salsette taluka was divided into North Salsette and South Salsette; South Salsette consisting of 86 villages was separated from the Tbane district, to constitute the newly created Bombay Suburban district. This district was made up of two talukas: Borivali with 33 villages, and Andheri with 53 villages. Thirty-three villages from the Bombay Suburban district were transferred to the Thane district in 1945; 14 of these 33 villages, required for the develop­ment of Aarey Milk Colony, were returned to Bombay Suburban district in 1946.

On the 15th April, 1950, the municipal limits of Bombay were extended to include the Andheri taluka of the Bombay Suburban district as suburban Bombay. The Borivali taluka, together with a village transferred from Thane district was also appended to Bombay when the municipal corporation limits were further extended on 1st February 1957. Thus, the Greater Bombay district, comprising the city proper and suburban areas came into being since 1957.

Present set-up : For administrative purposes, the district is at present divided into 15 wards. The area, population and density of population in the different wards are given below:—

Ward		Area (Sq. km.)	Population in 1971	Density per hectare
City        A		11.41	1,84,104	161
B		2.46	1,75,131	712
C		1.78	3,12,472	1,756
D		6.63	3,82,742	577
E		7.41	5,28,736	714
F		21.17	6,62,516	313
G		17.85	8,24,677	463
Total		68.71	30,70,378	447
Western                                 H		21.05	5,23,633	249
K		47.46	5,73,693	121
P		64.27	3,72,335	58
R		77.56	2,35,833	30
Eastern                   L		13.46	2,73,507	203
M		54.92	3,16,371	57
N		55.44	4,79,660	86
T		34.84	1,25,165	36
Total		369.00	29,00,197	78
Greater Bombay		437.71*	59,70,575*	137

(As per the Surveyor General of India, the area of Greater Bombay Municipal Corporation is 603 km2, comprising Bombay City 157 km2 and Suburbs 446 km2. Figures or 1981 are given in Chapter 3.)

Boundaries : The district is bounded to its north by the Thane taluka of the district of the same name. Commencing from the Arabian Seashore, to the north of Gorai, a fishing village, the boundary runs eastwards reaching Manori creek, a tidal outlet, and on crossing it the boundary runs north, along the eastern shores of the creek till almost the head of the creek where it turns in a general south-easterly direction to pass north of Culvem, and then along the northern limits of the Krishnagiri National Park over the Kanheri hills, whereafter the boundary turns further southwards keeping Tulsi, Mulund and Gavanpada to its south, till the boundary meets the tidal marshes adjoining the Thane creek.

Heptanesia (The entire description of ancient and mediaeval Bombay is based on the old Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island, Vol. I (1909) and Sir S. M. Edwardes' Rise of Bombay : A Retrospect (Bombay, 1902). : The land on which the present Greater Bombay has been built lies on what formed formerly two groups of islands, stretching southward of the Ulhas estuary. These land masses made up of a succes­sion of volcanic Java effusions, and possibly subject to local tilting of the earth crust and sea-level changes, were an archipelago of islands lust with coconut palms and other tropical green whose presence has been recorded in history almost since the beginning of the Christian era. Known to Ptolemy in A.D. 150 as Heptanesia on the Aparanta (North Konkan) coast of India, the Bombay city group originally consisted of seven separate islands, that remained practically unaltered in configuration until the eighteenth century. The northern island group—known as the Salsette group on which the present Suburban Bombay is situated—also consisted of a similar group of seven islands, the main and the largest island lending its name to the entire group. These islands remained separate till the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Seven Islands of Bombay : The cluster of Heptanesia, the configuration of which has been fairly well reproduced in an old map of 1843, had on its southern most tip a narrow tongue of rocky land, called today Lower Colaba, that extends further south in the form of a few submerged reefs beyond the Colaba Point. Northward of this island, and m close proximity to it was a small, almost triangular island, known in later Portuguese days as the Al Omanis, or in its anglicised corruption as the Old Woman's island. To the north of the Old Woman's island, and separated from it by a fairly wide strait of considerable width at high tide was the south-eastern part of the third island, which resembles to an extent the English alphabet H. This island, the largest in the group, later came to be known as Bombaim. The western part of this island was dominated by a single ridge running roughly north-south along the length of the island in its western prong and covered by rough tropical jungles. This ridge rims down to a point—the modern Malabar Point—into the sea. The central part and the eastern part consisted of a low-lying ground, bearing tamarinds and other shrubs at intervals and menaced from the north by a rocky ridge, subsequently named as the Dongri or the hill tract. To the south of this island, adjoining the lowlands was the Back-bay, a stretch of reef guarded waters. Northward again, beyond a very narrow creek lay a smaller island, part hill, part dale whereon the Cassia fistula and the brab were found to flourish. This island practically uninhabited till late in history was known as Mazagaon island.

Three islands compose the northern part of this island group. The middle one, shaped like a parallelogram was a sandy desert; it was flanked on the west by a narrow and tapering stretch of rock and on the east by a straggling island, trifurcated in its northern extremity, and possessed of a broken coast line. The last mentioned island known as Parel was mostly covered by tamarinds in the south and prickly pears in the north-west; extensive stretches of it were entirely covered by tidal marshes. It is from the northern tip of this island that voyages crossed the arm of the sea to enter Salsette. The parallelogram shaped, middle island, known initially as Baradbet (Desert island) and Nevale, and later as Mahim, was perhaps the only low, flat plain possibly an emergent sand bar on the north­western flanks, and at the entrance to a wide bay known as the Mahim Bay. This island was full of coconut groves. The seventh island lying to the south of Nevale, in between the northern prong of Bombaim and Nevale was a rocky ledge separated from Bombaim by a wide stretch of sea, that was the last to be filled up in the process of amalgamation of the seven islands into one.

In between the seven islands was a fairly wide, shallow creek, into which the seas around poured during the high tides, and flooded the low-lying stretches of all islands.

Salsette group of islands: Separating this group of island from the Salsette group was a wide bay, the Mahim Bay. Salsette, or Sashti as it is known locally in Marathi and the largest of this group, lying centrally is dominated by a central mass of hills surrounded by tidal flats. To the south-east of this island, also chaiacterissd by a central hill mass, was the Trombay island. The rest of the islands, much smaller, all lay on the western flanks of Salsette. These included Bandra, Juhu, an old linear sand bar rising just above sea level by a metre or two, Vesava, Marve, Dharavi and Rai Murdhe, all with a knoll core and fringing wave—cut platforms and sandy beaches. These islands seem to have remained separate till as late as 1808. In 1825? Col. Jervis's map shows the west coast of Salsette broken into eight large and four small islands. At the time of writing of the old Gazetteer of Thana (1882), these islands could be reached during low tides by walking across the tidal inlets in between, barring the island of Dharavi that had to be reached by a boat.

Of the fact that these two island groups were known to early coastal travellers along the western coast of India, there seems little doubt from the references in Ptolemy, Pliny and others, but it is doubtful and not clear whether any regular landing point existed on these islands, though some scholars have attempted to identify the port of Seymul or Cheul with modern Chembur, though not very convincingly. But the fact that ports like Sopara, Kalyan and Cheul around these islands were well known in those early dates makes it obvious that these island groups must have been known. A dynasty of the Satakarnis or Satavahanas seems to have ruled over the islands of Heptanesta and Sashti during the early Christian era (about A.D. 133 to A.D. 154), according to Dr. Bhandarkar. Later, the Rashtrakutas who held sway over Aparanta must have also held control of these islands.

Early Inhabitants of Bombay : When these islands were first inhabited is not clear and the facts are masked in history. Perhaps at the beginning of the Christian era, or even possibly earlier, these islands came to be occupied by a dark race of peopie, the Kolis, who journeyed from the nearby mainland mass of Aparanta. The antiquarian interprets the Kolis as the husbandmen ; some even identify them as Kulis or members of the Kul tribe. Successive waves of Koli settlers seem to have invaded and occupied the different islands of these archipelagoes, and in spite of subsequent occupation by many other settlers in later days, the Kolis have survived in these islands till today. In what localities they precisely built their scattered groups of huts is difficult to say. They undoubtedly existed in two of the southernmost islands is apparent from the fact they acquired the name of Kolabhat or Kolaba, the Koli estates. (Dr. Da Cunha : Origin of Bombay (p. 64). Immigrants of a later period gave the smaller of the two islands the name, the island of Al Omanis or deep sea fishermen. ' Koliwadi' hamlets exist in almost all of the islands of both the groups, as can be seen from Mandvi Koliwadi, Dongri Koliwadi, Sion Koliwadi, Mahim Koliwadi and Mori Koiiwadi (Worli), Kole Kalyan in Salsette and others. The situation of these hamleis today is comparatively remote from the seashore, but originally they all appear to have been close to the shores, as most Kolis in these areas were engaged in fishing. (Interesting facts of detail regarding Koli hamlets are given in Edwardes' 'Rise of Bombay. Also Sheppard, Samuel T., Bombay Place Names and Street Names, gives meaningful details.) Further evidence of their presence is afforded by the name Cavel (in the present Dhobi Talao area), which the antiquarian derives from Kol-war or Koli hamlet. Mungabhat or Mugbhat lane on the road from Cavel to Girgaum and Khotachiwadi approximately marks the sice of old Koli possessions. The Koli occupation of the fourth islet of Bombay group is witnessed by the place name Mazagaon or Machchagaon (a fishing hamlet), and the presence of a temple of Ghorupdeo or Khadakadev(Da Cunha interprets Ghorupdeo as a stone deity; Kolis are mainly Nature and tree worshippers.) where a Koliwadi even today survives.

Place Name of Bombay: The origin of place names in the Bombay -Salsette island groups is a fascinating, though speculative study. The name Bombay itself has been of much controversy. The Englishmen of the seventeen century believed it to be a corruption of the Portuguese Buon-Bahia (good bay) and to be proof of the attachment of the Portuguese to the island's excellent harbour. Fryer, for example, spoke in 1673 of the "Convincing denomination Bombaim quasi Boon Bay". Ovington remarked in 1689 that the island was originally called Boon Bay in the Portuguese, while Grose in 1750 refers to "Buon-Bahia, now commonly Bombaim" Dom Joao de Castro writing two centuries earlier in 1538 says the island was called Boa-Vida (good life), because of its beautiful groves, its game and abundance of food.

The name Bombaim is much earlier than the Portuguese period. 6 BoaVida' and 'Buon-Bahia' are merely corruptions of an earlier Hindu name Manbal Mambai or Mumbai. According co Gujarat histories, a Hindu chief held the islands of Mahim, Mambai and Thane in 1430. Manbai or Mambe is mentioned in the Mirat-i-Ahnadi under the dates A.D. 1507, 1517, 1578 and 1583. Even early Europeans like Gaspar Correa and Barbosa spoke of Bombaim (1508) and Thana—Mayambu (1516). Balti speaks of Bombaim in 1583, the Dutch traveller Baldoeus of Bombaim in 1666, andTaverniei of the famous port of Bombay in 1676.

Some have derived the name from Mubarak (lucky), an Arab origin, on the ground that the island was the first to be sighted by seamen arri­ving from Arabia and the Persian Gulf to Sopara, Cheul, Kalyan aad others. Colonel Yule believes tht name to be a corruption of Mumba, while others form the name by the juxtaposition of Munga and Ai, Munga being the Koli who built the original temple of Mumbadevi Yet others derive the name ftom Mumba rakshasa, a. corruption of the tyrant Muslim chieftain Mubarak Shah who ruled over the islands and destroyed many temples. Of these derivations, Mumba appears the most probable, and must have been borrowed from the shrine of Mumbadevi, which is known to have stood near the Phansi Talao oi Gallows Pond, a site now included in the enclosure of the Victoria Terminus station of the Central Railway and which was removed by about 1700 to its present site, in order to admit the completion of the Esplanade and the erection of fresh fortifications. Even today the shrine of Mumbadevi in the heart of the city is accorded greater reverence than any other shrine in the city island. Mumbadevi is the patron deity of the Kolis, and the name is believed to be a corruption of Maha Mai or Maha Amma.

Early Place Names in Bombay: The earliest place names in the Bombay island group appear to be of Koli origin; they were koliwadis identified in their locations by tree name or some native element, as the Kolis were essentially nature and tree worshippers. Dr. Da Cunha, reports Edwardes in his Rise of Bombay, den\es the name Parel to the existence of ' Bignonia suaveolens' or tree—trumpet flower known locally as Padel. Apollo in the third island of Mumbaim is similarly derived by him as a corruption of the name 'Pallav', the harbour of clustering shoots adjoining a rude landing place in this island, where fishermen used to land fish. Some derive it as a corruption of the padav meaning boat. More striking names occur all over Bombay. It was one of those tamarinds which used to abound in this main island, and which survived till the British days and the erection of the Cathedral of St. Thomas that gave the title of Amliagal (in front of the Tamarind) to the Elphinstone Circle, and even today a Tamarind lane survives in the Esplanade. South of Dongri, on low ground were groups of brab (tad) palms that seem to have given the names Sattad (satar) or Seven-Brab Street, Dontad or Twin-Brab Row. Here, also close to the seashore, were tamarind trees (chinch— Tamarindus indica) that gave the name Chinch Bundar in later days. To the north-west of Dongri, there existed a plantation of thespesia Populnea or bhendi, which has given its name to the Bhendi Bazar. A little westward of this location adjoining the khadi (creek) along its banks were a couple of Ficus glomerata, or umbar, that has given the name Umbarkhadi or Omarkhadi. Adjoining it was boundary hamlet, the foot-wash or Pydhonie. The comparatively narrow belt of land to the last of the hills was thickly grown with plantations of various kinds like the jack (Artocarpus integrifolia) groves or Phanaswadi, the plan­tain grove or Kelewadi, and the cluster of brabs or Tadvadi, and the bor (Zizyphus jujubd) orchard or Borbhat. Borbhat was close to the low lying fields or Khetwadi, and nearby was the shrine of the village deity (Gav-devi). Close by was Kol-war (Cavel) adjoining Phanaswadi. The probable existence of four channels of inlets of the sea near Girgaum (hill village) seems to explain Chaupatty. From the hill village, one reached the patch of the ladder or shidi which went up the hill. On the left of the ladder was a plantation of acacia arabica or babul, closeby was built later a shrine, the Babulnath shrine. To the north of it was a hill ridge covered with a grove of Kambal (or kamal or Odina wodier) which seems to have given the name Cumballa hill. At the northern end of the hill carrying the Kambal grove and adjoining the sea stood three shrines, those of Mahakali, Mahasaraswati and Mahalaxmi. The Worli creek, to the north of this island was called the Kshirasagara and the khind in the hills before it continued in the Worli island further north later got twisted as Breach Candy. There were tad palms flourishing below the hill of the Kambalas and was a special haunt of the dev ; hence the name Taddeo (Tardeo).

The name Byculla also is believed to be of early Hindu origin by some scholars. It is opined that the name Cassia fistula, i.e., Bhava or Bhaya may have combined with the word Khala or level ground to give the name Bhaykhala. An alternative derivation is from khala (threshing floor) of Bhaya. Further north, in the extreme south the Parel island was a tamarind covered valley, Chinchpokli. North of Parel lay the boat hamlet Naigaon, or Nyaya-gram (court house) of the days of Bhimadev, north of which were large banian rows, vad-ala. The Baradbet (Nevale) island carried some coconut palms in the area called Madmala (palm avenue). The name of the seventh island also seems to be derived from banian rows, Vad-ali or Varali or Worli.

Just like the Bombay island group, the Salsette islands lying in between the mainland and the Bombay group must have also been occupied by Koli fishermen and husbandmen, though possibly some of the islands on the western sea-ward front, were unoccupied. There again hamlet names like Kole Kalyan (Kalina) and Kolivari bear witness. But, between the second and sixth centuries A.D., that the main island of Salsette— a group of 66 villages as the Maratha equivalence of Sahasette, i.e. Sashti, supported a flourishing Buddhist monastery, visited by pilgrims on the mainland, and located in the neighbourhood of Kanheri is definite. Associated with them, possible groups of people other than Kolis, must have come and settled in these islands initially and later on spread to the Bombay islands as well.

Period of Hindu Colonisation : It is almost certain that during the period of the Shilaharas, viz., between ninth and eleventh centuries when Puri or Gharapuri (i.e., the Elephanta island) was the capital, a more rapid colonisation of these islands took place, and other people started settling. Shrigundi, the lucky stone at the extreme edge of the promontory of Malabar Hill, ' a fancied yoni, of not easy access in the stormy season, incessantly surf-beaten', that was later on sanctified with a shrine by the shaivaites is believed by archaeologists to belong to this period. Some years later, the original name Shrigundi got transformed as Valuka-Ishvara (the sand lord) or Walkeshwar. Agripada and Nagpada also seem to be hamlets of this period, though when the Agris came into the island exactly is not clear and some do believe that they entered these islands later than the Shilahara period. Kayastha Prabhus also seem to have colonised the islands during the period.

The next significant wave of colonisation seems to have hit the islands during the close of the Hindu period about the end of thirteenth century when the Hindu king Bhimadev or Bimb Raja moved with a large retinue from the mainland, settled in the northern sandy island of Baradbet and built a city, the city of Mahikavati, later corrupted as Mahi or Mahim. According to old Marathi and Persian records he seized North Konkan, made Mahikavati his capital and divided his country into 15 mahals comprising 1,624 villages. Baradbet—a sand desert—sparsely peopled with Koli fishermen, overgrown with babuls, a. fine temple of Valkeshwar, and a shrine of Kalikadevi was transformed into a city of temples and palaces. Brahmins, traders and others came with Bimb Raja and developed colonies in these islands. The Prabhus or the lords, a noblesse of commerce and politics built a temple for the family deity, Prabhadevi and lived closeby. Pakhikar Brahmins, Thakurs, Bhandaris (the toddy-tappers), Bhois, Agris, Vadvals or Malis and Somavanshi Kshatriyas (Pathare Prabhus) also seem to have settled in these islands during this period. The Brahman Ali or Baman Ali or Bamnoli, between Vadala and Parel, and close to Bimb Raja's wadi was a flourishing Brahmin settlement of the period. Place names like Thakurwadi, Bhoivada, Gavandi all belong to this period. The name Parel itself according to many is not a corruption of Padel, but is the site of the Brahmin settlement with a temple of Parali Vaijnath Mahadev. Parel is one of the early Brahmin settlements on these islands.
Of the other early and mediaeval place names, Mandvi appears to be the local Marathi name for a custom house. Bhuleshwar earns its name from the shrine of Shiva in his form Bhola. Sion seems to be the corruption of the Marathi seema (limit) or shiv. Dharavi seems to have got its name from its site at the doors of the island. Dadar, meaning step or bridge, however, appears to be of recent origin; its earlier name in Portuguese period appears to be Salvesong. Matunga appears to have been the elephant stable of the Mahim kings. Sewri is held to derive its name from Sivawadi.

Pratap Bimb, the son of the king Bhimadev is believed to have built another city in Salsette, at the present site of Marol, and named Pratappur. The name of this city still survives as Pardapur or Parjapur, an unhabited hamlet. Thus, towards the end of the Hindu period (i.e., thirteenth century) the island groups of the Bombay and Salsette had a sizable population of fishermen, farming and gardening communities and others living in groups of hamlets scattered all over the islands in the midst of luxuriant natural vegetal cover, groves and woods, and accompanied by shrines and temples.

Muslim Period Colonisation : The succeeding Muslim period, extending till mid-sixteenth century is practically devoid of any significant imprints on the soils of the islands. Sultan Kutb-ud-din, or Mubarak Shah I, with whose suzerainty the Muslim period commences in the area, is remembered for his tyrannical rule, and demolition of shrines and temples, and won for himself immortality as the demon Mumba Rakshasa. In a subsequent period (in A.D. 1347), the Gujarat Muslim, Malik Niku appears to have invaded these islands, destroyed the cities of Pratappur and others in Salsette and Mahikavati and fought a pitched battle at Byculla with the local chieftain Nagardev in which the invaders proved victorious.

The islands seemed to have evoked little interest among the Muslim rulers who came in successive waves from Gujarat and Deccan. The period of Muslim supremacy has left behind little by way of enduring monuments. The first home of the Muslims in the area appears to be Mahim, but they seem to have subsequently migrated to the Bombay island and founded a colony on land subsequently included under the British fort. They were mainly shipmasters, nakhodas and sailors, and rapidly became the most influential class of Muslims in Bombay. After the great fire of 1803, many of them were settled in old Nagpada and other areas to the north-west of the Crawford (Mahatma Phule) Market, and again they were shifted to new streets, north of Pydhonie in present Mandvi,  Bhendi Bazar areas,  when the   British infantry lines were constructed.

The most significant monument of the period, still surviving, is the shrine of saint Makhdum Fakih Ali Paru, to the east of the old town of Mahim. The Sat-Tar mosque in Masjid, the Zakariah mosque at Khadak near Mandvi, the Ismail Habib mosque near Pydhonie are the other significant mosques of the later Muslim period.

Portuguese Period : The Portuguese paid their first visit to the Bombay islands on 21st January 1509 when they landed at Mahim after capturing a Gujarat barge in the river of Bombay; in the next two decades they seem to have prowled near the islands often and captured Muslim vessels loaded with merchandise. It was in 1528-29 when the Portuguese Governor of Goa laid siege on Mahim, belonging to the King of Cambay, that the Portuguese realised the value of the harbouring facilities of the islands during the foul monsoon weather, and gave the name 'a ilha da boa vida ' (the island of the good life) to these islands ' as they had abundant food, refreshment and enjoyment which they needed'. In 1530-31 Nuno da Cunha, the Governor of Goa, collected a large fleet of 400 vessels, held a grand naval display in the harbour of Bombay, and a general parade of all his forces upon the plain (known later as the Esplanade, and now covered by the maidans in the Fort area). In 1532, he finally took the City of Bassein together with Thane, Bandra, Malim and Bombay. In 1534, under the treaty of Bassein, Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat be queathed to the king of Portugal,' the city of Bassein, and its territories, islands and seas with all its revenues'. This was later confirmed by a treaty of peace and commerce on 25th October 1535.

The Portuguese inherited from Sultan Bahadur Shah a feudal system of tenure, that prevailed throughout the Portuguese period. Under this system, the land of these islands was divided into manors, the land being granted to deserving persons at a nominal rent of 4 per cent to 10 per cent and the leases being renewable annually, triennially or even over a generation. For distinguished services the Jesuits (churches) were given lands in perpetuity. In return, they were called upon to render military service at hours of need.

In the general distribution of estates, that occurred after A.D. 1534, a third of Heptanesia, the island of Bombaim was let to one Mestre Diego as tenant for an annual quit-rent of 1,432 1/2 pesodos (about £ 85 sterling); similarly the kasba of Mahim, and Mandvi or custom house of Mahim, the island of Mazagaon and the four villages of Parel, Vadala, Sion and Worli were all rented. The rent value of these islands increased considerably year to year, subsequent to this acquisition by the Portuguese. Under the English in early eighteenth century, the total revenue of the seven islands of Bombay alone amounted to about 26,000 pesodos.

According to the early accounts of the Portuguese period like those of Sir James Campbell, and Antonio Bocarro, a ' Quinta' or Manor House was built by the Portuguese sometime between A.D. 1528 and A.D. 1626 on the spot, where the arsenal used to stand (now Naval offices) behind the present Town Hall. This nucleus of Portuguese administration was set in a park with pleasure grounds, at the kasba of Bombaim, the principal seat of the island, near the little fort. In 1626, this manor house was described by a English navigator David Davies ' as a combined warehouse, priory and fort'. The islands produced a variety of tropical fruits like mango apart from cocoanuts and rice, especially in the northern island of Mahim. Mazagaon and Sion were noted for their salt-pans and the numerous Koli settlements were responsible for a large supply of fish.

During this period, Bombay was composed of several villages subordinate to two kasbas at which customs duties were levied. These villages were Mahim, Parel, Vadala and Sion under the kasba of Mahim and Mazagaon, Bombaim and Worli under the kasba of Bombaim. In addition, there were smaller settlements like Cavel, Kolbhat, Naigaon, Dongri and others. The kasba of Bombaim was not very populous, having a few Portuguese settlers, Kolis and Bhandaris and very small community of Moors who were sea traders. Some Kunbis and Agris who cultivated the fields and the Malis who tended the orchards were also living in the islands. The northern islands had more of the Prabhus, the Brahmins, the Banias and the Parsis, apart from the Kolis and Bhandaris.

This was also the period during which the religious order expanded their activities rapidly. Besides converting some ten thousands of natives in Vasai, Thane, Mandapeshwar and neighbouring localities, the Francis­cans built the well-known church of St. Michael between 1510 and 1535 at the north end of the present Lady Jamshedji Road in Mahim, adjacent to the Collector's bungalow at that time. By about 1570, the building of the church of St. Andrew at Bandora had started. Both Franciscans and Jesuits vied with each other in converting the local communities to Christianity and building churches. Thus a chapel dedicated to ' Nossa Senhora de Bom Conselho' at Sion and the church of Lady of Salvation at Dadar were built in 1596. Three chapels affiliated to the Dadar church were built at Parel, Worli and Matunga. It was the Parel chapel that later in the British days served as the old Government House, and was finally transformed into the Haffkine Institute. By 1585, the Franciscans were in charge of Mandapeshwar, Mahim, Bombay, Karanja, Mount Calvary and Agashi. The church of Our Lady of Hope was also built in the Esplanade area to serve the Cavel parishioners. These ecclesiastics earned large revenues, founded a college at Bandra and lived in great comforts. Yet, one island, Mazagaon, escaped absorption by both the Jesuits and Franciscans, being in possession of the De Souza family and its descendants by a royal patent of the king of Portugal. Apart from this island everywhere else, the landed property had fallen by the end of the sixteenth century into the hands of religious orders. The Jesuits owned the largest number of shrines and lease of land almost entirely the northern islands and as far south as Byculla. They wielded considerable influence, but their ill-advised actions not only precluded the growth of population and trade, but were a source of danger to the Portuguese. They persistently destroyed Hindu temples and Muslim mosques and were the cause of unrest and flight of people, who were thus alienated and provoked to reprisals, like the event of December, 1570 at Thane when Malabar pirates plundered the town and stole the great bell of the cathedral. The old temple of Walkeshwar had been cast down; the shrines of Mahalaxmi and her sisters had for the time being disappeared, the goddesses waiting in concealment. The Archbishop of Goa in A.D. 1629 reported to the King of Portugal that the greatest enemies to the State in India were her own people; and among the enemies of Portugal from within, none probably did greater harm to the State of India than the Jesuits. The local Jesuits had gone that far as to usurp from the state the royal jurisdiction and revenues. They openly neglected the king's mandates and thus paved the way for an advance of European rival powers. The obvious results were the declining trade, a fall in revenues and taxes; the population hovered around ten thousands at this period.

Beginning of the British Period: In spite of their poverty, the innate natural advantages of the island group aroused the interests of the British who recognised their value as a naval base, south of Surat. It was for this reason that they fought the battle of Swally in 1614-15, landed in Bombaim and burnt the Manor House in 1626. In 1652 the Surat Council urged the purchase of Bombay islands from the Portuguese. However, it was on the 23rd of June 1661, when the marriage treaty between Charles II and the Infanta Catherine of Portugal was signed that the port and island of Bombay with all the rights, profits, territories and appendages whatsoever thereunto belonging were handed over to the king of Great Britain, his heirs and successors for ever. This memorable event was the prelude to the emergence of Heptanesia from negligence and poverty to its state of opulence and splendour as the queen city of Western India. In order to take possession of the fishing villages, Charles II despatched to Bombay in 1662 a fleet of five men of war under the command of the Earl of Marlborough, but on the latter's arrival he found that the Portuguese authorities though willing to transfer the island of Bombay were by no means disposed to part with Salsette, Karanja and other dependencies. It was only on 18th February 1665 that Humphrey Cooke, the first British Governor, took actual possession of the island without any of its dependencies, that were added to the English only subsequently by the commission appointed to resolve the Anglo-Portuguese differences. However, it is worth observing that Antonio de Mello de Castro, the Viceroy of Goa, at the time did remark that in the cession of the island he foresaw 'the great troubles that from this neighbourhood will result to the Portuguese; and that India will be lost on the same day in which the English nation is settled in Bombay '. He fully recognised the possibili­ties of greatness that 'the inconsiderableness of the place of Bombaim ' offered in the days to come; his appeals to the Portuguese king were of little avail.

Bombay in 1664 : Dr. John Fryer's account of Bombay in 1664 published in 1698 at London gives a realistic account of the island during the early years of the British occupation. To quote the words of Fryer,' the chief feature of the island proper was a pretty well-seated, but ill-fortified house ', situated within the present site of the Town Hall. About the house was a delicate garden and to the south-west of the house and the garden was an open ground, the Esplanade of the later days merging into plantations of coconut trees stretching in an unbroken line upto the Malabar hills on top of which was a Parsi tomb. Scattered among the palms were the small villages of Cavel, Kalikadevi or Kalbadevi, the hill village of Girgaum, composed for the most part of tiled, palm-roofed huts, though here and there might be seen a few better class dwellings, tiled and glazed with oyster shells. Southward of the house lay the parish of Polo-Apollo of the later days, with a few huts overlooking the islet of little Colaba. To the north of the house were a few dwellings, a Mandovim or custom house (later corrupted into Mandvi), the present area to which the custom house was later shifted. Further north was Dongri, with the fishermen's hamlets adjoining the Umarkhadi.

The most important of the dependencies of the island was Mazagaon, a fishing town, that formed part of a larger and rich Manor. The Manekji Naoroji Hill of Dongri and Worli were part of this estate. The Franciscans possessed a church and a monastery here; the Portuguese also owned houses. Hamlets of Bhandaris and Kolis with the shrine Ghorupdeo (to the north of Byculla) were also seated in this island.

North of Mazagaon lay the lands and village of Parel, with a large Jesuit church, that in later days became the old Government House The island of Worli does not find much mention in Fryer's account except. for a reference to a small fort and fishing hamlets in it.

These islands supported a few Portuguese families, the ' landed gentry ' of Bombay, Indo-Portuguese, native converts to Christianity living mainly in Cavel, Mazagaon and Parel, the Brahmins of Bandra, Par sis, Kunbis and Agris of Parel and Sion, the Kolis and the Bhandaris scattered all over, and the Prabhus of Mahim.

The period till 1675 saw a rapid rise of the population of the islands as ceded to Bombay, i.e., Mahim to Colaba, from 10,000 to 60,000. After a rapid succession of three Governors between 1665 and 1668 and a heavy increase in financial burden in the administration of Bombay by Letters of Patent issued on 27th March 1668, Charles II handed over the island to the East India Company for an annual rental of £ 10 in gold, payable on 30th September of every year.

When Cooke was Governor, he had built a fort, with 100 guns mounted thereon, around the old Manor House. In 1668, the court of directors ordered that the castle be enlarged and strengthened. These defensive precautions were of great utility to the Government when a Dutch fleet arrived off Bombay in 1673 with the intention of taking it by surprise. Yet, this was a period of steady growth and increase in population, for a number of reasons; the attraction to the island of merchants, so as to be free from the harassment of the Portuguese in the adjoining Vasai; the taking over of Mahim from the Portuguese together with Sion, Dharavi and Wadala; the strengthening of the garrison; and the encouragement given to the native settlers from the mainland and the declaration by Gerald Aungier, the governor who took over in 1669, that most of the lands were the property of private -individuals and could not therefore, be considered as the property of the Crown or the Company.

Period of Gerald Aungier : It was General Aungier who took measures against the foes of his own household, established English law annulling all Portuguese rites and customs of law, created a court of judicature, marked out streets and erected buildings, warehouses, and a hospital all within the fortifications to make the island the most pleasant spot in India. He established a mint, and founded a system of caste representation by which delegates of different groups of people and interests could meet him. Thus, in less than a decade, he transformed the island of fishermen and toddy tappers into a thriving town of craftsmen, merchants and industrialists.

The islet of Colaba was annexed in Aungier's period to Bombay for reasons of security and defence, and the whole island group was divided into two precincts—Bombay and Mahim—for administration of law and justice. Arrangements were made for constant and secure supply of provisions, for strict supervision of shops and for a system of set prices. The utmost latitude of trade was permitted to weavers of cotton and silk, and freedom was granted for practice of all religions.

1675 to 1718 : The next period from 1675 to 1718 was one which saw a rapid decline in the prosperity, and the population of Bombay dwindled from 60,000 to 16,000. The death of Aungier in 1675 was the prelude to a period of gloom and depression. It was a period that witnessed ,sedition and strife, immorality, unhealthiness, and anarchy at home, and invasion, piracy and arrogance abroad. The climatic conditions of the island were so deadly that by 1689 it seemed no more than a parish graveyard. The visitations of plague between 1686 and 1696 took a heavy toll in life, Malaria was rampant, thanks to the extensive tidal marshes, that were getting rapidly silted, to the accompaniment of a putrid smell of dying fish. The careless life led by the Europeans was no mean reason to add to this situation. Luxury, immodesty and a prostitute dissolution of manners contributed to the Europeans dying like flies under the tropical humid climate'. Trade rivalries and dissensions brought considerable strife to living in the island. Added to the disorder, were external troubles due to repeated raids and acts of violence from the Siddis operating from Janjira near Murud, till they evacuated in 1690, under the promulgation of an order from Aurangzeb, the continued harassment to the island traders by the Portuguese at Thane and Karanja, piracy in the open sea by the Arabs and Malabaris and the hostility of Shivaji and his successors in the mainland. There were fresh French alarms as well.

1718 to 1744: The period 1718 to 1744 is characterised by quiet and steady progress and by the gradual restitution of the population which the troubles of preceding years had driven away from the island, Niebuhr states that the population of Bombay in 1744 numbered 70,000. This restoration took place in spite of the continued threat of external aggression by the Portuguese and the Siddis (who of course were on the decline). Angres and the Maratha power were at the very zenith. This was partly due to the policy of the East India Company during the period to hold aloof from hostilities, and to keep good terms with the Marathas on the issue of Salsette, especially after the fall of the Portuguese power from Vasai in 1739. Slowly, but surely, the company was exchanging the role of a purely mercantile communis for that of a great political power, as it directed the affairs of the warehouse and guided the path to conquest and omnipotence. The internal security was also improved. A commodious lodge was built for the troops at Sion, the fortifications were strengthened and a ditch was formed round the town wall through donations from the business community, and a powder mill was con­structed on the Old Woman's island. The dockyard was extended, and marine troops established. Internal administration too improved with the creation of a Mayor's Court, and construction of the country gaol in Dongri fort. Trade was encouraged with the establishment of a bank in 1720, and new trade contracts with China were developing on the distant horizon. Reclamation of land that indirectly caused the death of many in the immediate past, was taken up in earnest. A causeway was built from Sion to Mahim on the salt ground, and Captain Bate's scheme for stopping the Great (Mahalakshmi-Love Grove) Breach was approved and measures initiated to fill the breach as soon as possible; the work however, was stopped in 1727.
By the year 1730, the population began to outgrow the limits of the Fort, and the value of breach stopping and reclamation fully realised. The Mahim to Salsette ferry boat service was re-established in 1739 and brought in a large number of people from Salsette to settle in these islands. An important land measure was effected to stop the use of fish manure on grounds of health.

The greatly improved living conditions in the island and the vastly increased population are reflected in the following description of 1742, as reported in S. M. Edwardes' Rise of Bombay:—

To the extreme south lies the point called Koleo (Kolaba) with a few scattered houses, and next to it Old Woman's island, upon which some houses and a gunpowder mill have been erected. Across the strait, lies the old Apollo parish and the Esplanade; the latter not greatly altered save that its palms have been trimmed, the former still remarkable for its burial ground, Mendham's Point. From the burial ground, the traveller reaches the Ditch and the Appollo Gate entering the latter and plodding northward, he marks on his right hand the Royal Bastion and beyond them, the Marine yard and Docks; on his left; lies a jumbled mass of dwellings and shops, stretching from the road, westward to the Town Hall; he leaves on his right hand, the Hospital and Doctor's house, the House of the Superintendent of the Marine, the marine storehouse and the Company's warehouses, and pauses not till he stands in the midst of a large tree-dotted space, the old Bombay Green. Immediately to the westward, he sees the church, St. Thomas Cathedral, and letting the eye wander past it, catches a glimpse of the great Churchgate situated where the modern Flora Fountain (the Hutatma Chowk), stands at present and the bridge over the Town Ditch. On his right, at the most easterly point, stands the Fort proper, with its Flag Staff Bastions, Tank Bastion and the house of the Governor. Northward, he passes across the Green, leaving on his right the Mint, the Tank House, the Town Barracks, and the Custom House, the latter two buildings being directly on the water's edge, and sees directly in his path a foundry and smith's shops. These form the southern limit of the Bazar Gate Street, up which he wanders, past " Mapla Por ", past shops, godowns and the dwellings of natives, past all the cross lanes and side alleys, which intersect the native town on either side of Bazar Gate street from Town hall to Town wall, and finally arrives at the Bazar Gate, which is the most northerly entrance of the Town.

Two modern sections of Fort North and Fort South practically comprise the ground included within the old Town wall, though the  total area has been increased by reclamation on the sea-ward side. From the Castle one looked across to the Island of Patecas (the Butcher's island), also well fortified.

North of the Bazar Gate were more native houses, oarts, and the Dongri Fort, erstwhile a prison, and transformed into a fortress once again in 1739. Thence, one looked across a wide expanse of low-lying ground to Malabar Hill. On the Back Bay side of the intervening ground are the great palm groves, oarts and villages, which were noticed in earlier years; and northward of them is new land, reclaimed from the sea by the Love Grove Dam. The latter had not entirely sufficed to shut out the ocean; that benefit was effected later by the building of the Vellard, but there was a larger area available now for cultivation. The higher portions of the ground, thus reclaimed must have shown signs of habitation by the year 1744. The people were beginning to build houses in areas now comprised in Chakala, Oomarkhadi, Mandvi and Bhuleshwar sections. The works at Mahalakshmi had by 1744 left the Oomarkhadi and Pydhonie high and dry. It was not a long walk from Mazagaon to the village of Parel, with its hamlets Bhoiwada, Pomalla and Salgado, and thence one wandered to Wadala, divided into Aivadi and Govadi and formerly owned by the Jesuits of Agra. In Sewri and Wadala, there were salt pans belonging to the Company, as also at Raoli; while the village of Matunga or Matuquem was entirely devoted to rice cultivation. The Kasba of Mahim contained 70,000 cocoa palms.

To protect the island there were in existence at the end of this period the Great Fort with bastions and town wall, the Mazagaon and Dongri forts, the fort of Sewri on the shore, in front of the Salsette village of Maula, the small tower at Sion facing Kurla, the triple-bastioned fortress of Mahim on the shore in front of Bandra and the fort of Worli, on the high point, facing the Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount.

1744 to 1764 : The period 1744 to 1764 saw a further rise in population to about 80 to 85 thousands, though some estimates put it much higher. The political events of the period, the hostility of France, Holland and Spain, the insolence and final overthrow of Angria, and the close proxi­mity of the Marathas resulted directly in the strengthening of fortifications and an increase of sea-power. In 1746, the dock pier-head was enlarged. The cavalier bastion of the castle was raised 16 ft. and more guns mounted. The parapets of the face and flank towards the sea on the Flag Staff Bastion were fixed with brick and masonry. The dock walls were extended, and the Dongri fort partially dismantled on the ground that it was in dangerous proximity to the town. Additions were made to the fleet in 1752. Three new docks were completed, replacing the old mud basins.

The growing defence and security of the island, and orderly progress of affairs added an incentive to immigration, afforded by a prospect of protection to trade. Proper spaces of ground to such of the inhabitants as may be included to build in the town were allotted. In 1750, Grose refers to the houses of black merchants, situated in the town, which was about a mile in circuit. Most of these merchant's houses were ill-built, with small window-lights and ill-arranged rooms. Several of the inhabitants had made encroachments on high roads by erecting buildings and sheds without licence. In 1754, the Governing Council thought it proper to pull down all palm leafed-sheds and pent-houses, and issued directives that no houses, wall compounds, sheds be erected within the town wall without a certificate from the Council. So numerous were the houses in the native town that many of them had eventually to be removed and rebuilt outside the town walls. The Apollo Gate area was cleared and the town was slowly improved by distributing the population over a wider area, rendered habitable by reclamation. Thus, a new town was growing northwards of the town wall, flanked by the partly demolished Dongri fort and the village of Girgaum and houses set in gardens along the BackBay. New roads and burial grounds were also opened up. A road from Parel to Sion and from Churchgate to the Black Town, with a branch leading to the new burial ground for Europeans at Sonapur, set in a cocoanut garden, were built. Even Europeans started moving outside the fortified town. Mr. Whitehill had his Villa Nova in Mahim and the Governor his country house in Parel.

Even at the end of this period, Colaba and Old Woman's island remained separate. The other islands could be reached from each other during the low tides.

1765 to 1780 : The next few years saw the emergence of the Company as a political power and no more a mercantile community with limited trade ambitions. Population had further increased by 1780 to 1,13,726. At this stage Bombay Government offered to assist Raghunathrao Peshwa in securing throne provided that he would cede to the British. Broach, Jambusar and Olpad, Vasai and its dependencies, the whole island of Salsette and the island of Karanja, Khanderi, Elephanta, and Hog island. This was with the obvious intent of securing the principal trading inlet to the Maratha country for the English woollens and other commodities. When in 1774, the Portuguese intentions of recovering the dominions that they formerly possessed north of Bombay, became clear, the Company came out in the open to sign a treaty of alliance with Raghoba and commenced the first Maratha war by invading Salsette and laying siege to Thane. Thane was taken by storm, Salsette and the smaller islands were occupied. Although this treaty with Raghoba was annulled by the Governor General Warren Hastings, Salsette, Elephanta, Hog island and Karanja continued to remain British posses­sions; in fact a further treaty with Raghoba in 1778 by Bombay's Governor, Hornby, brought in further additions of Vasai, Khanderi and other islands. A little after, Salsette and some islands were lost to the Marathas but were restored to them in 1780 by the Treaty of Salbye. All this military activity brought in its wake further strengthening of the island's defences. The garrison was strengthened, a marine battalion established, and troops posted on Salsette to garrison Thane. The fort and castle were again surveyed and faces raised. The outforts at Sion and Raoli were also made impregnable. Dongri fort was finally blown up in 1769, and a new fortress, the Fort St. George, was commenced in the following year. A new dock was also built in 1769 at Mazagaon.

The new political prestige that the Company acquired helped in further promotion of trade and influx of the trade community from the Maratha land. Internal administration showed further progress. Communications were improved between Thane and Bombay by a ferry service in 1776. In 1772, an accurate survey of the whole island was initiated. The year 1770 marks also the commencement of cotton trade with China.

The aspect of the town within the Fort started undergoing a gradual alteration. As there was a great want of room within the Town walls for Europeans to build, and as the Church street was found to be the most proper, the shops to the south of Church street were removed to the Bazar and small houses between the Church and Bazar Gate demolished. A new town began to rise to the north of the Bazar Gate. The Esplanade underwent considerable alteration being levelled and cleared of all buildings. Barracks for the Europeans were built on the Old Woman's island and the old powder house on it removed and replaced by the new powder works at Mazagaon. Perhaps the most remarkable alteration in the aspect of the island was the construction of the Hornby Vellard (Vellard in Portuguese means a fence) betwen Breach Candy or the beach beside the khind or the pass and Worli.

Parsons who visited the island in 1775 speak of the town being nearly a mile in length from Apollo Gate to that of the Bazar and about a quarter of a mile broad in the broadest part from the Bundar across the Green to Churchgate. The streets were well laid out and the buildings so numerous and handsome as to make it an elegant town. The Esplanade was very extensive and as smooth and even as bowling green. Forbes in 1778 speaks of the principal town of Bombay and of a smaller town called Mahim. He remarks that " the island of Bombay should no longer be considered a settlement or a separate colony but as the metropolis surrounded indeed by a large moat of an extensive domain."

1781 to 1814 : By 1782 the outposts of Bombay had advanced as far as Thane, and the Bombay Government could claim the sovereignty of all the islands in the Ulhas estuary from Vasai to Colaba. Justice and internal administration tremendously improved and endeavour was afoot to preserve the health and growth of the town. Vaccination for the first time was introduced and was responsible for the abatement of smallpox. Regular postal communication with Madras was established by 1788.

By the turn of the century, encroachments within the walls of the town had become so numerous that the Black town was as fully congested as the native town and the streets, lanes and gullies were in a hopeless state of disrepair. The whole area was so filthy and nasty that the Government was seriously concerned and contemplated imposing penalties on the households for not keeping their street frontages clean. Expansion and improvement was a dire necessity. An opportunity of introducing wider and more regular streets and of removing congested localities presented itself almost unexpected, when a great fire broke out in the north of the town during the day on 17th February 1803. Jonathan Duncan said," So great and violent was the conflagration, that at sunset, the destruction of every house in the Fort was apprehended. The flames directed their course in a south-easterly direction from that part of the bazar opposite to the Cumberland Ravelin quite down to the King's barracks.During the whole of the day, every effort was used to oppose its progress, but the fierceness of the fire driven rapidly on by the wind baffled all attempts; nor did it visibly abate till nearly a third part of the town within the walls had been consumed." Altogether 471 houses were destroyed, 5 of Europeans, 231 of Hindus, 141 of Parsis, 83 of Muslims, and 6 places of worship and 5 barracks. Many more houses had to be dismantled, having been rendered dangerous. The real importance of the fire lay not so much in the improvement of the town within the Fort walls as in the inducement it offered to the construction of a new town outside. New sites were selected, Custom House was closed and pressure was built on the old residents of the Fort to shift to the new sites so that the accommodation within the Fort was restricted to respectable and wealthy merchants. Milburn, in his Oriental Commerce describes the old town as it appeared between 1803 and 1808 as follows:—

"Between the two marine gates is the castle called the Bombay Castle, a regular quadrangle, well built of strong hard stones. In one of the bastions is a large tank or reservoir for water. The fortifications are numerous, particularly towards the sea, and are so well constructed, the whole being encompassed by a broad and deep ditch, which can be flooded at pleasure, that it is now one of the strongest places that the Company have in India........................ In the centre of the town is a large open space, called the Green, which in the fine weather season is covered with bales of cotton and other merchandise, entirely unprotected; around the Green   are many large   well  built  and handsome houses; the Government House and the Church, which is an extremely neat, commodious and airy building, are close to each other on the left by the Church Gate. On the right of the Church Gate is the baz;ar which is very crowded and populous and where the native merchants principally reside. At its commencement stands the theatre, a neat handsome structure............................. Since the fire of 1803, this part of the town has been rebuilt and the whole much improved........................."

The construction of the Sion causeway connecting the Bombay island with Salsette was completed in 1803, and must have proved to be of incalculable benefit. In 1799, a new gaol was built at Umarkhadi and the old prison within the Fort locality in the Marine yard was shifted. Mr. Hornby's house in the Marine street used as the Admiralty House was, in 1800, reserved for the newly established Recorder's Court.

Trading communities were continuously pouring in and were settling in localities outside the fortifications and as near the docks as possible. From 1803 onwards houses, god owns, shops and markets began to rise and form the nucleus of areas now known as Mandvi, Chakla and Umarkhadi. In 1800, there were 7 to 8 families living in what we now know as the Dongri Street. In a year's time, there were fresh arrivals from Cutch who built houses in the area and laid the foundations of one of the most prosperous of our commercial classes. The Parsis followed, and were holding the frigates for the Indian Marine. The Jan-i-Bambai (i.e., the soul of Bombay) and a Persian pamphlet written in 1818 by an anonymous Moghal scribe talks of the Mentions as sellers of fuel, and the Khojas as sellers of parched rice. The Bohoras living within the Fort, and the Moors living close to the four bundars of the island—the Bori bundar, the Koli (or Gowli) bundar, the Masjid bundar and the Chinch bundar—were spreading to live in the areas now developed as Umarkhadi, Khetwadi, Tarvadi, Mahim, Bhendi Bazar  and Dongri.

It is hence not surprising that, by 1814, the population of Bombay recorded had gone up to 2,35,000 of whom 70,000 were famine refugees from the nearby Konkan. Of this population, 10,801 (i.e. 250 English, 5,464 Parsis, 4,061 Hindus, 775 Moors, 146 Portuguese, 105 Armenians), were living within the Fort, an estimated 30,000 in the Mahim area and the rest residents between the Bazar Gate in the south and Parel and Mahalakshmi in the north.

1814 to 1838: By 1814, Bombay was set on the road to commercial prosperity. Military and political prestige had been acquired, trade was expanding, and internal security of living was tremendously improved. These, in contrast to the inherent weaknesses of the Maratha dominions on the mainland, provided the. necessary thrust for a spurt to the island's population. In 1830, Lagrange had estimated the population of Bombay islandat 2,29,000; another estimate m 1836 placed the figure at 2,36,000.

Two important events in the political history of the period are contri­butory to this growth in importance of Bombay. Piracy on the west coast of India, that was taking a heavy toll in the seas between Goa and Kathiawad, was finally and once for all brought to an extinction. The dynasty of Peshwas on the mainland, whose growing hostilities under Baji Rao Peshwa was a continuing thorn, was ultimately brought down and major portions of their dominions were annexed to the Company's territory in 1818. Free and uninterrupted flow of trade between Bombay and the mainland, that had suffered greatly in the past from the irksome restrictions of the Peshwa rule, was assured; the burden of trade taxation was made considerably lighter. With the fear of attack from the mainland by the native powers and from the seas by the pirate overlords having disappeared completely, the trade gates were literally opened wide. Mountstuart Elphinstone, a man of genius and prudent statecraft, who became the Governor in 1819 fostered vigorously the expansion of trade, moderate and uniform settlement of revenues and education of the people. A good carriage road was undertaken upto the Bhor ghat as early as 1803, but was completed and opened for traffic only by 1830. Better communication by sea was also established. By 1830, regular communication with England to carry mails was established by steamer services, navigating the Red Sea and the Mediterranean and this helped in a relatively quicker delivery of mail in about 45 days.

Expansion of trade followed the quiet and peace that ruled in the interior mainland. About 1825, exports from Bombay became considerable. From 1832, a rise in the price of American cotton resulted in increased imports of Indian cotton and these imports touched a new high mark of almost a million bales. Bombay Chamber of Commerce came into existence in 1836.

The flourishing prosperity in trade and political strength brought in its wake internal structural changes and improvements in the city island. Colaba and Old Woman's island, which till now remained separate, became one with the city island, with the construction of the Colaba Causeway. These two islands rented to one Mr. Broughton ever since 1743 for a paltry sum of Rs. 200 per annum, had several houses built on them, including the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph. These islands formed a pretty retired spot, with healthy breezes. A good road ran along their length terminating at its extreme southern end on the light house and the lunatic asylum. The Queen's 6th Regiment was also stationed here. The construction of the Colaba Causeway was followed by commercial speculation in reclaiming ground for building factories, wharfs and mercantile operations. Land costs almost shot up 500 per cent in value; land was purchased wherever procurable and houses raised in every possibly locality.

Changes were on the way in and around the Fort area as well. The Wellington Pier or the Apollo Bundar was extended and brought into use for passenger traffic in 1819. The Elphinstone High School was established in 1822 under its original name of the Native Education Society's School. The Elphinstone College came into existence few years later as the most appropriate tribute to Hon. Elphinstone who resigned the same year from the Government of Bombay. The proposal to build a Town Hall, though mooted in 1811, started taking shape in 1821, and the building itself was completed only in 1833 with the help of Government funds and two batteries raised for this specific purpose. A new mint was also created and started coin-minting in 1830. The old church in the Fort was consecrated in 1816 in honour of St. Thomas and was gazetted as the cathedral in 1838, soon after the raising of the island to the status of a bishopric. A new presbyterian church of St. Andrew was constructed in 1835. The St. Mary's Church meant for the spiritual welfare of the soldiers in Colaba was erected in 1825. The Christ Church at Byculla was built in 1835.

A new hospital in the Hornby Row was also built in 1825. The town was gradually creeping over the reclaimed higher grounds, westward along the Back Bay and northward to Byculla. It became absolutely necessary to build new roads, especially in the newly built up areas. The first and the most noteworthy of these roads, named after Governor Grant and constructed during his term of office, runs west to east from the head of the Chaupaty Bay to Byculla. Many old roads were improved, watered and lighted.

Of the striking additions of built up areas outside the Fort, mention may be made of the country houses at Mazagaon, four bungalows at Malabar Hill, newer housing structures at Market, Mandvi, Umarkhadi and Bhuleshwar, some new handsome houses built at Girgaum, Byculla, Chinchpokli, the Panjrapol for the aged and diseased animals and the hot weather residence of the Governor at Malabar Hill. There were two large bazars in the Fort; the China Bazar, and the Chor Bazar, crowded with warehouses. There were three bazars in the native town, the most profitable trade in them being the sale of toddy.

The native town at the period roughly comprised a part of the present 'C' ward, most of the ' B 'ward, Byculla, Mazagaon and Kamathipura. Kamathipura was initially settled by the Kamathis who progressively started settling westward into the adjoining Dhobi Talao, Girgaum, Chaupaty and Khetwadi, Parel was still a semi-isolated suburb, though fairly populated. Sion and Sewri and Mahim continued as in the earlier years as fishing and farming villages, and Mahim maintained its status as a town. Matunga, once a pretty artillery station, was almost deserted, and was in a state of ruins due to the ravage of diseases.

An anonymous account of Bombay published in the Asiatic Journal of May-August 1838 describes the island thus—

"The island of Bombay does not exceed twenty miles in circum­ference and communicates with that of Salsette by a causeway built across a channel of the sea which surrounds it. It is composed of two unequal ranges of whinstone rock, with an intervening valley about three miles in breadth, and in remoter times was entirely covered with a wood of cocos. The Fort is built on the south—eastern extremity of the island and occupies a very considerable portion of the ground, the outworks comprehending a circuit of two miles, being, indeed, so widely extended as to require a very numerous garrison. The town or city of Bombay is built within the fortifications and is nearly a mile long extending from the Apollo Gate to that of the bazar, its breadth in places being a quarter of a mile; the houses are picturesque, in consequence of the quantity of handsomely carved woodwork employed in the pillars and the verandahs; but they are inconveniently crowded together, and the high conical roofs of red tiles are very offensive to the eye, especially if accustomed to the flat turreted and balustraded palaces of Calcutta. The Government House, which is only employed for the transaction of business, holding durbars—a large, convenient, but ugly looking building, somewhat in the Dutch taste—occupies one side of an open space in the centre of the town, called the Green. The best houses, and a very respectable church are situated in this part of the town, and to the right stands a long and crowded bazar, amply stocked with every kind of merchandise. Many of the rich natives have their habitations in this bazar, residing in large mansions built after the Asiatic manner, but so huddled together as to be exceedingly hot and disagreeable to strangers unaccustomed to breathe so confined an atmosphere. One of the principal boasts of Bombay is its docks and dockyards; they are capacious, built of fine hard stone, and are the work of Parsi artisans, many of whom, from their talents and industry, have risen from common labourers to wealthy ship-builders."

"The island of Bombay, from an unwholesome swamp has been converted into a very salubrious residence; though enough of shade still remains, the super abundant trees have been cut down, the marshes filled up, and the sea-breeze, which sets in everyday, blows with refreshing coolness, tempering the solar heat. The native population, which is very large, has cumbered the ground in the neighbourhood of the fortifications with closely built suburbs, which must be passed before the visitor can reach the open country beyond, at the further extremity of the island. The Black Town, as it is called, spreads its innumerable habitations, amidst a wood of cocoanut trees—a curious busy, bustling but dirty quarter, swarming with men and the inferior animals, and presenting every variety of character that the whole of Asia can produce. The cocoanut gardens, beyond this populous scene, are studded with villas of various descriptions, the buildings within the fortifications being too much crowded together to be desirable; those belonging to European residents are, for the most part, merely retained as offices, the families seeking a more agreeable situation in the outskirts. Comfort, rather than elegance, has been consulted in the construction of the major portion of these villas ......... Those persons, who are compelled, by business or duty, to live in the immediate vicinity of Government House, only occupy the houses inside the fortifications during the rainy season; at the other periods of the year they live ina sort of al fresco manner peculiar to this part of the world. A wide Esplanade, stretching between the walls of the fort and the sea, and of considerable length affords the place of retreat. At the extreme verge a fine, hard sand forms a delightful ride or drive, meeting a strip of grass or meadow land, which with the exception of a portion marked off as the parade ground of the troops in garrison, is covered with temporary buildings : some of these are exceedingly fantastic. Bungalows, constructed of poles and planks, and roofed with palm leaves, rise in every direction, many being surrounded by beautiful parterres of flowers, blooming from innumerable pots   "

" The greater portion of the wealth of the place is in the hands of Parsi merchants .....          . The houses of these persons will be found filled with European furniture, and they have adopted many customs and habits which remain still unthought of by the Musalmans and Hindus .......... The Jews are numerous and of a higher degree of respectability in Bombay than in any other part of India: they make good soldiers .............. The Portuguese inhabitants rear large quantities of poultry; but game is not plentiful on the island, in consequence of its limited extent     Great quantities of the productions (of fruits and vegetables) sold in the markets are brought from the neighbouring island of Salsette, which is united to that of Bombay by a causeway ..This communication, which has a drawbridge in the centre, is a convenience both to the cultivators and to the residents of Bombay, who are thus enabled to extend and diversify their drives, by crossing over to Salsette. A great portion of  Salsette is now under cultivation, the Parsis and other wealthy natives possessing large estates on the island.... ..."

"The large Portuguese village or town of Mazagaon which is dirty and swarming, with pigs is however finely situated occupying the shore, between two hills, and is moreover celebrated as being the place at which, the fine variety of mango was originally grown’’

"A great number of the poor inhabitants of Salsette, Elephanta and other islands of Bombay subsist by fishing : cultivation is, however, extending in the interior...... .... "

1838 to 1872 : The period 1838 to 1872 is perhaps the most important epoch in the history of the island of Bombay, since during these years the old commercial town was transformed into a royal city set on the path of industrialisation. By 1872, the population figure recorded by Dr. Hewlett was 644,405. The appointment of a British resident at Sawantwadi in 1838, the inclusion of Angria's Kolaba in British territory in 1841, the bombardment of Aden in 1839, the assumption of the right to administer the affairs of Kolhapur in 1842, the conquest of Sind in 1843, and the annexation of Satara in 1848 all served to emphasise the importance of Bombay as the headquarters of the paramount power in Western India. In 1844, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, the primus in India was projected; the first twenty miles of rail track to Thane were opened in 1853. " The 16th April 1853 " declared the Bombay Times, " will here­ after stand as a red-letter day on the calendar....................... The train that starts from beneath the walls of Fort St. George this afternoon goes forth conquering and to conquer.". The progress of the railway was steadily sustained in the years to follow and Bombay started wielding direct influence in regions far beyond her own limits. In 1855, a contract was undertaken by the Peninsular and Oriental Company for the carriage of passengers and mails between Bombay and Aden thrice in a month, and two years later, it was converted into a weekly mail service. The first joint-stock bank, the Bank of Bombay, was started in 1840, and by 1860 a few more, the Oriental Banking Corporation, the Commercial Bank of India, the Chartered Mercantile, the Agra and United Service, the Chartered and the Central Bank of Western India had come into being and had gained an assured status. In 1854, the first cotton mill, the Bombay Spinning and Weaving Company's Mill, commenced working, and by 1860, six more had opened, attracting in the consequence a considerable industrial working population. Capital was plentiful in availability, and the spirit of enterprise even stronger. Almost overnight, Bombay was realising of being the Liverpool and Manchester of the East, rolled into one. The tall chimneys of half a dozen factories rising above the surrounding buildings, started marking a change in the skyline of Bombay.

The influx of population on one hand, and the changing character of the city functions on the other brought in further improvements in the island. The idea of demolishing the fort walls was mooted as early as 1841 and reclamation of areas from under sea was also on the way. The maintenance of the Fort of Bombay was not only considered a costly, useless waste of public money, but it had become a downright filthy nuisance in the inhabitants. By 1855, "the Apollo Gate is now all but dismantled, the last portion of the arch tottering to its fall...... A large portion of the wall betwixt the gate and the southern entrance to the dock has been dismantled. The Fort had indeed become superannuated. Over­crowding had assumed serious proportions and heightened the chances of conflagrations within the fort, entry and exit to which was being regulated through a few gates. 'The fire which occurred lately ', says a writer of 1844' attracted me to a part of the town which I never before visited, namely, a street running along the ramparts between the town barracks and Fort St. George. Its name is Mody Street. The first object which attracted my attention was a vast building in which were built enormous fires for cooking for some six to eight hundred natives. The ghee or oil employed in cooking, occasionally falls into the fire and causes the flame, to mount to rafters. The danger is very great and is by no means lessened by the situation, exactly in the rear, of the Powder Magazine. The building is, as I stated before, large, but not sufficient to enable from six to eight hundred persons to sit down to dinner, and the consequence is that they sit in the street to their meal and completely block up the thoroughfare. The warehouse, as I found on enquiry, is employed for housing cotton during the rains.' ".

Sanitary conditions within and outside the Fort were also awfully poor. " The roads are macadamised with rotten fish and the dead carcases of household vermin." The first step towards adequate supervision of the town was taken up in 1858. It was about this time that the Vihar water works was undertaken under the administration of Lord Elphinstone to provide the city with the supply of sufficient good water. Tramways in the Colaba causeway were laid in 1860. Slightly before, the Bellasis Road in the north of the City, and the Mahim causeway (1845), providing a second link between the city island and Salsette were built. After 1857, the city expanded so fast, that further improvements became a dire necessity. Malabar Hill, Breach Candy and Mahalakshmi were eagerly invaded by the Europeans and well-to-do natives for dwellings. Between the sea and the Girgaum Back Road, building operations were in continuous active progress, houses rising in all directions. In fact, Cavel and Sonapur became so overcrowded with houses, that practically there were no thoroughfares in them. As the occupied area expanded with the coming of industrial enterprises, new schemes, such as Elphinstone Reclamation Scheme, were provided in the central parts of ths island to house the industrial families, but drainage remained awfully poor. As late as 1850, uncovered, open drains poisoned the health in Byculla, Fort and Esplanade.

In 1861, the Municipal authorities prepared the plans for a new system of drainage. Though between  1838 and 1860, many new roads were opened, temples and churches built, the Grant Medical College founded, mills and water-works developed, yet a lot remained to be accomplished to improve the living. In 1860, the Bombay Times warned the public against the rapid erection of new cotton mills. In the years that followed, Sir Bartle Frere set his heart on improving the city to make it worthy of living.

The most remarkable of these improvements was the excellent linkage by railways of Bombay with the interior. On 22nd April 1863, the Bhor Ghat incline was opened for traffic. The first section of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway was opened in 1860; the Broach and Baroda sections in 1861; and the Ahmedabad section in 1863. The cotton country developed a direct access to the merchants of Bombay, who exported the produce across the seas. In 1866, the Government made arrangements with the Bombay Coast and River Steam Navigation Company for running steam ferries between Bombay and Mandva, Karanja, Rewas, Dharamtar and Uran. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 effected a complete revolution in the trade of Bombay as it speeded up transport by reduction of the distance to England to almost half. A direct submarine cable was laid down from Suez to Bombay, a year later, in connection with the cable from Falmouth to Gibraltar. Truly, Bombay gained the status and proud position as the Gateway of Western India.

The improvement in the trade channels of Bombay led to an enormous increase in cotton trade and subsequent share mania. The outbreak of the civil war in America gave the necessary impetus for the unprecedented increase in cotton exports. So sudden was the demand, so high the range of price, so vast the profit that an economic disturbance set in. Dealers were indifferent to the quality, in spite of repeated warnings by the Press. Bombay fell a victim to speculation, and financial associations of dubious character sprang up like mushrooms. By 1864, the whole community, right from the English official down to the native broker became completely demoralised and were dependent on the fortunes of the stock exchange. New projects, not well thought out were put up, such as the Back Bay Scheme and the shares were sold by public auction. The value of land quadrupled; population was going up day by day. By the end of 1864, there were as many as 31 banks, 16 financial associations, 8 land companies, 16 press companies and 20 insurance companies, as against 10 in all in 1855. By 1865, the American Civil War ended, American cotton entered the English markets, the price of Bombay cotton fell fast and Bombay was in a state of economic ruin. Came the crash of the commercial bank, the Agra and Masterman's Bank and the Bank of Bombay. Influential cotton exporters were being declared insolvent. By 1868, the panic subsided, and a new Bank of Bombay was floated to form an impregenable centre of commercial stability'.Out of these adversities, came the blessings of Bombay.

The gold that poured into Bombay during the heydays in the sixties brought wholesome improvements in the city. By 1862, the final order for the demolition of the Fort walls was given and reclamations were afoot on a large scale. About 6 millions pounds sterling were utilised in regulating and advancing into the sea below low water marks the whole of the island foreshore. Handsome works were effected on either side of the Apollo Bundar, extending south to Colaba Church and stretching from the Custom House to Sewri along the Mody Bay, Elphinstone, Mazagaon, Tank Bundar and Frere Reclamations. On the other side of the island was initiated, in spite of considerable opposition the Back Bay Reclama­tion from Colaba to the foot of the Malabar Hill to fill up the filthy tidal flats that were a foul pestilential swamp. According to Dr. Hewlett's report, by 1872, nearly 898.5 acres of land had been reclaimed and the area of the island had gone up from 18.62 sq.m. to 22.24 sq.m.

Many new roads were built. The Colaba causeway was widened and rebuilt in 1862-63. The Esplanade main road, Rampart Row, Hornby Row, Bori Bundar Road, Market Road and the road from Church Gate street to the Esplanade main road were all completed in the next 15 years. Cruick Shank road and the Esplanade cross road were widened in 1865-66. The Nowroji Hill Road was built in 1865. Bellasis, Clare, Falkland, Foras and Grant roads were completed by 1872. The Carnac, Masjid and Elphinstone overbridges were built by 1867, jointly by the municipality and the G. I. P. railway. Rampart Row east was built, connecting the Mint to Fort George Gate.

This was also the period when many new buildings started adorning the city. Mr. Premchand Raichand donated four lakhs of rupees for an university library building and a tower to be named after his mother, the Rajabai Tower. The J. J. School of Arts and 40 drinking fountains in different parts of the island, donated by Cawasji Jehangir, the Opthalmic Hospital, the Parsi Hospital at Colaba, the Hospital for incurables at Byculla, the Sassoon Mechanics Institute, and the Victoria Museum were the enduring creations of this period. New rail workshops were laid at Parel, and the Bombay Gas Company was also set up. The first street lights were put up in the Bhendi Bazar area and gas lighting on the streets was initiated by 1866. Work at the dockyard at Mazagaon was started in 1863. The Elphinstone circle at the site of the Old Bombay Green was also laid out in 1862.

The Government too joined in the game and brought in new archi­tectural styles to add to the splendour of Bombay. The Government Secretariat, the University Library, the Convocation Hall, the High Court, the Telegraph Department and the Port offices were all built in one grand Hnefacirigthe area along the Esplanade; other buildings in a similar style were built elsewhere. They included the Elphinstone College, the Victoria Museum, the Elphinstone High School; the School of Arts, and the Gokuldas Hospital. New police courts in Byculla and Fort, new light houses on Kennery and the Prongs Islands, more harbour defences and batteries at Oyster Rock, Gross island and Middle ground were also set up.

The municipal government of the city also undertook many civic services that included the city water supply, the efficient drainage of the city island and the reclamation of the tidal flats. An efficient health department was also organised, new cemeteries and burial grounds were opened at Sewri and Dharavi, and the old ones at Church Street, Maza-gaon, Lima Street, Mangalwadi, Girgaum, Grant Road and Mahim were all closed. The indigo dyers of Suparibagh and salt fish store dealers of Mandvi-Koliwadi were removed. Tanners were all shifted to Mahim and Bandra in Salsette to the east of the railway. By 1870, sewage works of Kamathipura, Fort and Portuguese Church street were completed. New markets were opened by the Bombay Municipality. The Bull Bazar market and the Bandra slaughter house were erected in 1867, and a year later other public and private markets came up at Sheikh Ali Janjikar Street, Rampart Row and Tank Bundar. The Crawford Market was built in 1869, and by the end of that year 9 public and 17 private markets started serving the public needs.

Water supply at Vihar was further improved, and the Tulsi works were begun. The Oval and the Rotten Row Playgrounds were laid out. During these years, a considerable growth of handicrafts also took place. There were silk looms near Babula Tank and in Jail road, a copper bazar oppo­site the Mumbadevi Tank; ivory and sandal wood carving, reed-matting and jewellery works around Bhuleshwar and Kalbadevi.

By 1864, according to the Times of India^ the Governor prescribed the limits of Bombay to be ' the island of Bombay and Colaba and Old Woman's island,' sub-divided into the areas of Colaba, Fort, Mandvi and Bundars, Bhuleshwar, Breach Candy, Malabar Hill, Kamathipura, Mazagaon Mount, Chinchpokli, Worli and Mahim Woods and Matunga areas. A year later, the city was formed into 10 wards: (1) The Colaba ward, comprising upper, middle and lower Colaba; (2) Fort ward embracing the Fort, Esplanade and Dliobi Talao; (3) Mandvi including Chakla and the Market; (4) Bhuleshwar including Phanaswadi; (5) Umarkhadi and Dongri; (6) Girgaum including Chaupaty and Khetwadi; (7) Kamathi­pura including Kumbharwada, Khara Talao and parts of Byculla; (8) Malabar Hill including Walkeshwar, Mahalakshmi; (9) Mazagaon including Tadwadi; and (10) Mahim and Parel extending upto and including Sewri, Sion and Worli.

By 1872, a further redistribution of wards became necessary, following the rapid changes and newly built-up areas. With a changed nomenclature the city was split into 6 divisions : A—Colaba, Fort and Esplanade; B—Market, Mandvi, Chakla, Umarkhadi and Dongri; C—Dhobi Talao, Phanaswadi, Bhuleshwar, Khara Talao, Kumbharwada, Girgaum and Khetwadi; D- Chaupaty, Walkeshwar and Mahalakshmi; E—Mazagaon, Tadwadi, Kamathipura, Parel and Sewri; and F—Sion, Mahim and Worli.

By 1872, the influx of population into the city was so great, attracted by prospect of employment in the public works that housing became one of the major problems. Overcrowding and unhygienic living cast dark shadows on the otherwise pleasant appearance of the city. As a Municipal health report of the year says that there was ' a thickly crowded and insanitary village of Hamalwadi in Lower Colaba'. Death-rate was high in the Market section, arising from the condition of the individual houses in the locality. Land in Mandvi was so valuable that the streets were narrow and the people overcrowded and the imperfect drains of the area were often choked. Chakla was no better and was full of ill-ventilated milch-cattle stables. In the heart of Dhobi Talao was the dirty irregular, labyrinth of Cavel, in which vehicles could not even pass through. Fanas-wadi was honeycombed with sewers. Bhuleshwar was an indescribably filthy quarter of milk sellers. Khetwadi, once a large field, during the monsoons became a large pool collecting the monsoon rains. Chaupaty and Girgaum were full of cess-pools. Tardeo with its mills, became a place of mill employees. The villages of Sindulpada; Agripada and Julaipada as well as Parel with open drains was almost impossible to traverse through. Sewri was somewhat better off, mainly due to the Frere reclamation improvements. Mahim was still a huge coconut plantation.

1872 to 1881: The population of the city had shot up to 6,44,405 in 1872 with an abnormal sex ratio of 612 females to a thousand males, residing in about 30,000 dwellings. By 1891, this population had increased to 8,21,764 due to a steady growth in trade, public works and a growing attention being paid to the general convenience and comforts of the people. Communications were tremendously improved, both in terms of linkage with the interior and more regular and frequent sea voyages. The mill industry also expanded. By about 1880 there were 32 mills employing over 30,000 workers.

Building activity and reclamations made further progress. New markets were built at Mazagaon; the dhobi lines on the Esplanade were acquired for building railway quarters; many old damp buildings in Kamathipura were replaced by well-built chawls. Police stations, churches, temples and mosques sprang into existence in quite a number. The Tulsi works were completed in 1881. The Prince's Dock, designed by Thomas Ormiston as part of a scheme, to improve the whole foreshore of the harbour was opened in 1880 and soon after, a harbour trust was established. The earth excavated from the docks over an area of 12 hectares was used for further reclamation of the Mody Bay area. Elsewhere land reclamation of about 50 acres of land in Sion and Kurla and of the mud flats near Tardeo and area near Arthur Road were effected.

The Bombay tramways commenced working about 1874 from Colaba area and the line was extended upto Byculla bridge by 1875; in 1876 they crept from the Wellington Fountain to the Bazar Gate street and a year later to the Sassoon Dock. Two years later, the trams travelled up the Girgaum road from the Esplanade to the Portuguese Church street, and also a line was laid from Pydhonie to the Grant Road bridge.

Quite a few roads were widened and new roads in the Cumbala-Malabar hills, Wodehouse and Mayo roads, Hope street, Masjid Bundar road, Napier road, Kazi Syed street, Chinch bunder 2nd road and the Prabhadevi road were built and opened for traffic.

The year 1876 saw the outbreak of small-pox in the city and a huge influx of 36,000 famine refugees pouring in from the stricken areas of the province and gravitating into unhealthy localities that gave rise to rapid spread of the epidemic in 1881. This was a blessing in disguise. A great advance in sanitary administration took place; many cattle stables from Bhuleshwar were removed and, for the rest, regular supervision was introduced with penalties for infringement of sanitary needs. In 1878 Municipality resolved to sanction a new main sewer from Carnac Bundar to Love Grove and a pumping station at Love Grove.

Other measures of improvement included street lighting and maintenance of public gardens like the Victoria gardens (1873), the Elphinstone circle garden and the Northbrook garden near Grant Road.

1881-1891: The next decade witnessed the municipality being engaged in rendering the city island better suited to its growing population. Ground was purchased from time to time to widen roads; further road building was continued all over. The Fergusson road, the Ripon road, part of the Charni road, the Jacob Circle and Sankli street were all built. Kamathipura congested with industrial labour, was literally given a face-lift. Further drainage improvements were carried out in Queen's Road, Crawford Market, Mint and Agripada area. The whole Fort area by 1889 had a complete drainage system.

Water supply to the city was further improved; the Bhandarwada water works and the Malabar Hills filter beds were completed in 1884. The Pawai works were commenced in 1889 and the Tansa works were opened in 1892.

In the field of education, too, came further improvements during the decade. Primary education all over the city was taken over by the Municipality from the hands of private management; a deaf and mute school and the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute came into being.

The services of the tramways were further extended; a smallpox hospital was built along the Arthur Road. A hospital for women and children as an extension of the J. J. Hospital was donated by Sir Dinshaw Petit. The Cama and Albless Hospital and an animal hospital at Parel were among the munificent donations to the city from citizens.

Among the landmarks that came into being during this period, the most significant are the Victoria Terminus building of the G.I.P. railway, situated on the original site of the Mumbadevi temple near the Phansi talao or Gibbet pond, the European St. George's hospital on the ruins of the Fort St. George, the new building of the Elphinstone college (to which it was shifted, in the year 1889), the Municipal offices, and the Wilson college. The Prince's Docks were supplemented by the addition of the Victoria Docks and a new light house was erected at the entrance to the harbour.

Trade was having a boom, and the prosperity of Bombay ' is one of the most remarkable events of the Victorian reign '. Its internal appearance was rapidly undergoing a change. Numerous new buildings were erected in outlying localities like Tardeo, Byculla and Parel. In the older areas of Umarkhadi, Dongri, Chakla, DhobiTalao and similar sections, where every available inch of land was in use, piling of storeys upon old houses steadily continued, followed by house collapses during heavy monsoons. The Jains, a merchant community, who had expanded enormously in order to get as near to the business centre as possible settled in the ill-built old houses of these overcrowded sections. In fact, most of the city proper by the close of this period was in a position to become the plague centre, being choked with population living under insanitary conditions.

The mill industry which had further expanded to a status of 83 mills by 1890 was mainly responsible for further colonisation of the areas north of the city. Complaints of smoke nuisance were first heard of in the municipal reports in 1885. A marked change came over the localities such as Byculla, Parel, Tardeo, Tarwadi and Sewri. Innumerable chawls sprang up north of the Bellasis road housing the immigrant mill-labour from Ratnagiri, Kolaba and Satara districts. All the open land in Tardeo was built up; Nagpada was densely peopled. By 1890, Tardeo, Pare], Byculla, Tarwadi, Nagpada and Chinchpokali had expanded into one vast industrial labour dwelling quarters. Sir Edwin Arnold, in 1886, wrote : " Bombay of today is hardly recognisable to one who knew the place in the time of the Mutiny and in those years which followed it. Augustus said of Rome, " I found it mud; I leave it marble "; and the visitor to India after so long an absence as mine might justly exclaim, ' I left Bombay a town of warehouses and offices ; I find here a city of parks and palaces.'".

Social affinities of the immigrants were strongly present in the resident patterns in the city: "...................... the Parsi mostly sought the home of his ancestors in the North Fort or Dhobi Talao;................................... the Goanese were never absent from Cavel; ...........................   the Julhai, the silk weaver, sought Madanpura; the grain merchants were a power in Mandvi; the Bene-Israel owned their Samuel street and Israel mohalla; the dancing girls drifted to Khetwadi and the 'scarlet woman' to Kamathipura; in the Null Bazar lived the Sidis; in Parel, Nagpada and Byculla, were millhands from the Konkan and labourers from the Deccan; many a Koliwadi from Colaba to Sion sheltered the descendants of the aboriginal fishing tribes of Bombay; Musalman was a power in Mandvi, Chakla and Umarkhadi; the Arab haunted Byculla and, in Girgaum, the Brahman made his home."

1891-1901 : The decade at the close of the nineteenth century saw a marked fall in population of the City by 45,758 mainly due to the presence in the city for 5 years an extraordinary, virulent disease. Bubonic plague made its appearance in the city in 1896 in a part of the Port Trust estate and iiterally ravaged the city for quite some time.People died like sheep; a large exodus of population that could not be checked followed. In one single week, in 1897, as many as 10,000 people fled from the city. Business was paralysed and trade disorganised. The mill industry suffered severely both from plague and bad management; yet the number of mills increased to 136 by 1898. In 1899, the position of the industry was most critical; by the end of the year, all mills closed for three days in a week and some were wholly idle. The year 1898 also witnessed plague riots and a strike of dock and railway workers as well as cartmen. The nineteenth century ended on a note of gloom and depression for the city.

1909 : A vivid description of Bombay as it appeared in Gazetteer of Bombay City, Vol. I, 1909, pp. 14-19, is given below :—

The north and north-east of the city island was still an area of rice and salt lands strewn with palm groves and fishing villages; most of the fiat land was still waste except for the land used for factories. To the west, the Worli-Malabar ridge was the home of the rich, while the extreme south in the promontory of Colaba was set apart for the military use. The city area both in the Fort and the native city to its north was packed with near about 10 lakh residents of the island.

" The high flat ledge to the east of the reservoir plateau on Bhandar-wada hill commands one of the most complete and central views of Bombay and its surroundings. Beyond the Tank Bundar foreshore and the busy portions of Frere Bundar stand the quarried face of one of the smaller eminences fringing the eastern side of the island and several mills clustered at the foot of the woody slopes of Golangi hill. To the right the bare sides of Rauli and Antop look out over the fishing village, the gunpowder magazine and the ruined fort of Sewri. In the distance behind Sewri hill looms the dim table-land of Tungar. Closer at hand and stretching eastward are the jungle-covered slopes and waving outline of Salsette, its central hills gathering in three main points above Vehar, Tulsi and Yeur. Further east across the north bay and mud flats of the harbour, behind the green swamps and gray salt lands of Mahul or north-west Trombay, rise the knolls of Parshik; and over them, thirty miles inland, seen only in the clearest air, the lofty deep-cleft crest of Mahuli, the guardian of the Tansa lake. At the east foot of Bhandarwada hill, the half mile belt which stretehes eastward to the harbour with fair wealth of plantains, coco-palms, tamarinds, mangoes and pipals is thick with russet-roofed yellow faced dwellings from which stand out the picturesque pale gray facades of two Portuguese churches. Fringing the foreshore are the Peninsular and Oriental Company's Dockyard, the Mazagaon landing pier, the Clerk and Frere basins, the Malet basin and the British India Company's dockyard. Further south, close to the hill foot are the net work of siding and the long lines of low gray sheds that form the Wadi Bundar terminus. On the left out of acres of shed roofs rises the Port Trust clock-tower, beyond which the bulk oil installations stand out like fortresses dominating the foreshore; and between the tower and the harbour are the rectangular pit of the Merewether dry dock, the broad basins of the Prince's and Victoria wet docks and the un­finished out-line of the Alexandra and Hughes docks. South, over the Wadi Bundar sheds and sidings' for more than two miles stretch in weird chaotic confusion piles of many storeyed dwellings, their white and yellow walls and facades crowned with peaked gables and brown-tiled hummocky roofs, surmounted here and there by a flat view terrace.

" Beyond these miles of densely crowded dwellings, on the left at the edge of the harbour, stand the tower of the Port Trust Offices (Mody Bay), the Ballard Pier, the Mint, the Town Hall, the ancient Arsenal and the Custom House, Southward again, the spire of the Scotch church leaps skyward, and beyond it are dim outlines of the Sailors' Home, and the vast mass of four and five storeyed buildings, over­shadowed by the dome of the Taj Mahal Hotel, which have sprung up of late years on the Apollo reclamation to meet the increased demand for European accommodation. To the right, there rises from the rough sea of roofs a notable cluster of public buildings—the light pinnacles of the Cathedral, the lofty crocket-ribbed dome of the Victoria Terminus, the peak-roofed finials of the Elphinstone College and Secretariat, the rounded summit and tiny minarets of the huge Municipal buildings, the tall square shaft, statued drum and plumed pinnacle of the Rajabai Clock tower (280') overtopping a welter of lofty roofs, the steep rail-tipped roof of the short High Court tower (180'), the domes of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway Offices and the turrets of the Public Works Secretariat, the General Post Office and the Telegraph Office which gaze down upon the handsome buildings of the Chartered Bank of India and of the Bombay City Improvement Trust. South of the Rajabai tower appears the line of lofty dwellings which occupy a portion of the old Cooperage and end in the new Admiralty House; while to the right out of the distant low green line of Colaba rise the spire of the Afghan Memorial Church and the far-seen column of the Prongs Lighthouse. In the middle distance to the right of the High Court the high pitched roof of the Esplanade Police Court, the clock tower of the Crawford Market, the finial of the Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital and the lantern of St. Xavier's College show like islands in the sea of roofs and tree tops. To the west, close at hand, are the reservoir, filter-beds and gardens of the lower western top of Bhandarwada hill.

“Beyond Bhandarwada hill to the south-west, behind the line of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, stretches the scarped cliff of Naoroji hill (192'), its top and western slopes thick with houses. Further west, from the broken congeries of roofs that spread to the palms of Girgaum, stand out the wide enclosure and the lofty turrets and pinnacles of the J. J. and Motlibai hospitals. Still more to the right, among the brown roofs that lead to the factories of Tardeo and the foot of the Cumballa Hill, rise the cupola of the Synagogue, the obelisk of Byculla Church, and the twin slender spires of St. Mary's Church. To the north-west between the Bhandarwada reservoir and the gray of the flats, the crowd of brown roofs is partly hidden by the gardens and mango orchards of Mazagaon, while over all gleam the white golden-spiked dome and minarets of His Highness the Aga Khan's tomb and the peak-roofed tower of the Technical Institute. Further to the right across the middle distance, as far as the green belt of the Mahim palm-groves, stretch the flats bristling with many a lofty chimney-stack and dark with masses of huge steam-factories, the most distant being the Kohinoor mill at Dadar and the Jacob mill, and northward of these lie the lately built villas of Matunga and the sinuous line of the new Port Trust Railway.

"Round this great city, to the north-east, east and south, stretch the broad waters of the harbour. . . Among the shipping opposite the Carnac Bundar lies the bare rocky mound of Cross island, and about two miles south off the Apollo Bundar the small flat circle of the Middle Ground Shoal. Across the harbour the north ekst is filled by the long brown back of Trombay, sloping south to the point of Pir Pav. In the east rises the low greenery of Hog island. In mid water lies the flat rocky line of Butcher's island and behind it the woody hills of Elephanta, and to the south-east the separate sharp-cut crests of Little and of Great Karanja."

" From the palm groves of Alibag, past the low line of Underi and the rocky knoll of Khanderi the sea spreads round the points and reefs of Colaba and so across the tree-fringed curve of Back Bay, until it is hidden by the woody bluff of Malabar Point which rises gently northwards to the houses and palmyra-crowned crest of the Malabar (280') and Cumballa (250') ridges. North-west, across the palm-dotted curve of the great Vellard, spreads second vision of open sail-brightened ocean, broken for a space by the woody hillock of Love Grove and again opening on either side of the rock of the Martand, till it is once more lost behind the bushy crest of Varli. The broken line of the latter section leads northward till the circle is completed in the palm-groves of Mahim and the leafy gardens and rice lands of Parel and Matunga, overtopped by the casuarinas of Bandora hill, and the long ridge of the Pali."

The Inter-War Years : The first three to four decades of the current century witnessed a further growth in population, expansion of the built-up-areas, civic improvements and a slow but definite trend of diversifica­tion of city functions, but at the same time the pangs of further growth started telling upon the living conditions in the urbs prima in Indis. The population of the city island had increased by over 50 per cent from 7.7 lakhs in 1901 to 11.6 lakhs in 1931, and had further shot up to about 15 lakhs in 1941. The growth rate of population that was about 22 per cent in the first decade had sharply fallen to about 2 per cent in 1921-31 mainly on account of epidemic ravages and outflows, but in the succeeding decade once again picked up a vigorous growth as the market conditions started reviving after the depression of the early thirties.

In 1895, there were 69 cotton mills working in the city. The outbreak of plague and its persistence during the following decade, at the turn of the current century, combined with severe financial depression retarded further progress. Japan, that had started building its own mills began competing with Indian yarn in the Chinese Markets. In spite, by 1915, there were 85 mills in the city, many of them having completely switched over to weaving from spinning and most becoming mixed spinning and weaving units. To quote Mr. Rutnagur from his book Bombay Industries: The Cotton Mills, "the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, and the stoppage of machinery shipments from Lancashire to India brought on a complete cessation in mill building in Bombay for several years, and even after peace was declared the heavy increase in the cost of land and building prevented the erection of new factories.". Only one new mill was added between 1915 and 1925, although many of them were expanded. The Japanese competition made the Bombay mill owners look out for new markets, improve their products through finer counts, diversification of woven products and better bleaching, dyeing and finishing. The Mill-owners' Association that had come into existence a few years back fought for the promotion and protection of trade, commerce and manufactures of India in general and of the cotton trade in particular, and got through its persistent efforts the cotton excise duty suspended by the Viceroy in 1925, and later abolished. It took another six years to obtain protection to the industry from the Japanese competition.

Being literally the Gateway of India, Bombay's trade had acquired great significance. The crisis in cotton trade in the early years was successfully beaten by the city's mill industry, but had its impacts on the growth of the city. In the early days of trade, cotton brought into Bombay was stored and dealt with on the 'Cotton Green' in the Fort, in the area now forming the Horniman Circle. The heavy congestion caused within the narrow limits of the Fort necessitated shifting of the Cotton Green to a new site in Colaba in 1844, where all the cotton from upcountry could be landed and loaded in boats. With the coming in of railways, the building of docks at a distance from the Cotton Green and the multi­plication of mills in the north and centre of the city island, the carting of cotton from Colaba right across the city created unprecedented congestion of the bullock cart traffic in the main roads and a change of locality was necessary in the interest of the cotton trade as well as of the city itself. This change was finally effected in 1923, having been made possible by the Sewri and Mazagaon reclamations by the Port Trust authorities. The subsequent removal of the Colaba terminus of the B. B. and C. I. (now Western) Railway and the creation of the long distance terminal at Bombay Central in 1930, made it possible for a large area in the south of the city in Colaba available for residential quarters.

Apart from the shift of the Cotton Green and cotton godowns to the Sewri reclamations, the eastern water front started undergoing remarkable changes. The large areas of Port Trust reclamations were followed by the construction of the Port Trust railway in 1915, which over a length of about 12 kms from Wadala junction to Ballard Pier had a total length of about 175 kms of main lines and sidings. This railway brought over­night a transformation of methods of handling cotton. Huge cotton depots covering nearly 50 hectares of land were erected; to the east of the cotton depots were the grain depots, and farther north the manganese ore and coal depots. Together with the depots large areas were allotted to new industries like Chemical and Dyestuff Corporations, and the Imperial Chemical Industries and the Havero Trading Company.

Bulk oil installations were also set up in the new Port Trust reclamations in three groups; the liquid fuel and lubricating oil depots at Malet Bundar, north of the docks; the kerosene oil installations at Sewri, and the petrol installations farther north at Wadala, all of them connected by pipelines with discharge berths on the harbour walls and at Pir Pav. This establishment encouraged a tremendous growth of oil trade of Bombay and Western India, which over a decade shot up from a mere half a million gallons to 19 million gallons.

The face of the city island had a further face-lift with the introduction of the Tata hydro power schemes in the ghats and the construction of overhead transmission lines from them, and a receiving station in 1915. The impure water supply from wells and ponds in insanitary surroundings was effectively stemmed by closing most of the wells and ponds, although with considerable resistence from the resident population. In an effort to improve the health of the people, the Government House at Parel was converted into the Haffkine Institute, and on its park grounds were erected the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and adjacent to it the Seth Gordhandas Sundardas Medical College. Later additions in the same area included the Naoroji Wadia Maternity Hospital and the Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children.

A blessing in disguise following the plague ravage in the city was the coming into being of the City Improvement Trust entrusted with the work of making new streets, opening over-crowded localities, doing away with some of its worst slums of unspeakable squalor, reclamation of the land from the sea and constructing sanitary dwellings for the poor and for the police. The early schemes undertaken in this regard were the Nagpada improvement scheme, the construction of Princess street through a veiy overcrowded and ill-ventilated district, the construction of Sandhurst Road, right across the width of the island from Chaupaty to the Elphinstone bridge near the docks, and the opening of Gamdevi.

En bloc clearance was effected at Nagpada, Mandvi, Koliwada, Naoroji Hill, Kolbhatwadi and Bhatwadi, while other congested localities like the Guzari bazar, Memonwada, Tulsirampada, Anantwadi, Pathakwadi and Vithalwadi were improved by providing wide thorough­fares through them, like the Mohamad Ali road, Princess street and others. A broad road extending from Carnac road to Sewri was also constructed. Hughes Road was cut through the Malabar Hill, and areas lying between Malabar Hill and Gowalia Tank Road were made suitable for residential development, and also served as a western artery connecting Peddar road. The old Chunam Kiln lane was widened into the present Lamington Road.

The Trust also conceived the reclamation of low lying northern areas for accommodating poorer sections, and thereby decongesting the central parts of the city. This scheme, however, did not achieve its main purpose, as the costs of reclamation placed the value of the plots of land beyond the reach of the poor. However, it enabled the coming into being of the new residential areas on a more neatly laid out design of wide streets set in a geometrical pattern, with provisions for not only residential blocks but also adequate space for parks and recreation grounds that were badly missing in the older parts. These lay-outs included the areas in Dadar, Matunga, Sewri, Wadala, Sion and Agripada. These schemes initiated in the twenties and thirties, due to financial difficulties, progressed slowly, and barring Dadar, Agripada and to an extent Matunga did not find full expression till much later, almost the sixties.

Single room tenements—chawls—to accommodate the displaced per­sons and the police staff were built at a number of places in the city like Agripada, Princess Street, Chandanwadi, Mandvi, Koliwada and others. Textile workers' tenements were also constructed by the mills on the Trust reclaimed lands in their respective neighbourhoods, as for example the chawls of Kohinoor mills at Naigaum and the Century mills at Worli.

During the thirties, development activity declined, partly due to the failure of the Back Bay Reclamation schemes, and partly due to the trade depression. The only activity of the decade was the execution of the Mackinson Plan of Mahim development scheme. Under the scheme, the Mahim Station Road, the Nardulla Tank Road, the extension of the DeLisle Road to meet Lady Jamshedji Road as the Gokhale Road, the extension of Mahim Bazar cross road to meet Tulsi Pipe Road, and the road between Dadar and Matunga road stations were all completed. In 1929, the municipality laid out the Shivaji Park.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Bombay Back Bay Reclamation scheme had reclaimed strips of land, to the west of the present Queen's Road, and the Cufie Parade foreshore. In 1905, the Bombay Public Works Department considered the possibility of reclaiming the Back Bay and prepared four alternative schemes. After considerable delay due to the tossing forth of the proposals between the provincial and India Government, the scheme was initiated in the early twenties and was confined to the reclamation of two blocks (Nos.1 and 2) in the northern end of the areas and blocks 7 and 8 in the southern Colaba end.

On the eastern harbour front, the war years saw a tremendous strain on the existing harbour facilities, when a large number of troops had to be handled in the quays. In order to provide greatly increased facilities for embarkation, the Alexandra docks were constructed and opened in 1914. The G.I.P. railway management was taken over by the government in 1925, and the same year witnessed the conversion of the entire suburban service to a more efficient and quicker electric traction, and this event was followed shortly by the hauling of goods and passenger traffic by electric locomotives over the main line track upto Igatpuri and Pune. Inland communications were considerably improved through telegraph and telephone linkages of the main cities of the sub-continent with Bombay. The Bombay Telephone Company switched over in 1924 from the manual exchange to the automatic system, and by 1935 had as many as 12,000 exchange lines serving Bombay and its suburbs. In 1933, a direct radio-telephone service was opened to London. Although Bombay's airport at Juhu was opened for inland traffic in 1932, it had connecting services with Karachi, the international airport, to provide links for European air traffic. The first Indian air-mail line was inaugurated in 1932 at Bombay, and shortly after, a weekly combined mail and passenger service came into being connecting Bombay with Goa and Trivandrum. The Bombay roads which hitherto were crowded with the horse-drawn victories, bullock carts and hand carts had the first electric trams by 1907, and two years later came the first taxi service in the city. Electric lighting in the streets were put up in 1918 in the southern parts of the city.

The systematic development of the Bombay suburbs in the Salsette island, to the north of the Mahim and Sion causeways dates from shortly after the First World War, when the Government of Bombay established a Development department for the purpose. The immediate practical results were the drawing up of numerous town planning and suburban development schemes. These schemes conceived an aesthetic lay-out of the most suitable areas to the north of the Mahim Bay, and had provisions for large open spaces, residential and shopping areas and a limited industrial development in selected localities. The provincial government inaugurated a State-aided co-operative building scheme to help people with small means to own their houses in these newly developing suburbs. Controlled and regulated by the Collector of the Bombay Suburban District in his capacity as the Salsette Development Officer, these buildings had surrounding open spaces within compound walls. Also, unsuitable and unsightly erections of all kinds were prohibited. Khar-Bandra development scheme was pushed ahead as a model suburban development scheme, and was followed by others in Vile Parle, Santacruz, Andheri, Ghatkopar and Chembur. These presented to the European visitor reminiscences of western suburbs of London, with rows of their neat and tidy buildings set on well-laid out roads, lit by electricity and served by a suburban electric train system.

The suburban district as a whole developed rapidly into the playground of Bombay, with a large number of clubs and recreation grounds to provide sports and social amenities. Juhu, Versova, Marve-Manori started attracting holiday crowds and picnikers through their attraction of swimming and bathing beaches, set in a string of coconut groves. Local administration in the suburbs was originally in the hands of a  number of local authorities, but in order to promote an orderly development of the suburbs, they were merged to form two major municipalities of Bandra and Vile Parle.

The industrial and commercial prosperity of the city in the second half of the nineteenth century and in the beginning of the current century turned Bombay from the colonial architectural style to a style of its own. Although the stiuctures like the nave of the Cathedral, the Town Hall, the Byculla club, and others of this style were subsequently invaded by the Gothic style in mid fifties and later of the nineteenth century, adding to the not unpleasant medley of collection of period specimens. Of later years, the government had become moie aesthetic, and fine edifices have sprung up in the Gothic, Italian and Saracenic styles. Sir Edwin Arnold thought it a happy inspiration to blend Gothic and Indian schools of architecture, and wrote of the Secretariat, the High Court and other buildings as being very remarkable structures, upon which he looked ' with admiring eyes '.

G. W. Stevens, the great journalist, thought Bombay had the richest and stateliest buildings in India, ' challenging comparison with almost any city in the world .'

Yet, the mixture of styles in the public buildings did not go without some unfavourable remarks from a few. Sir Sydney Low felt that the public buildings were 'designed with a fine official disregard for all local associations '. Samuel Butler talked of ' the present aesthetic reign of terror', and Aldous Huxley condemned the city architecturally as “one of the most appalling cities, of either hemisphere ", but he argues that "it had the misfortune to develop during what was perhaps the darkest period of all architectural history ", namely the later half of the nineteenth century. Spate sees in the grandiose architecture of the Fort buildings " an Arabian nightmarish medley of styles ".

The advent of the professional architect in the earlier decades of the century helped in removing some of the more common grounds of criticism. The Gateway of India erected in memory of the King's visit in 1911, the Museum, additions to the University buildings, the Ballard Estate buildings, all much simpler in style but more utilitarian and in better harmony with the tropical climate, are the creations of this period.

The first cinema appeared in Bombay in 1908 in a tin shed near the municipal offices and in one or two tents in the maidan. A number of theatres, drama houses, musical clubs, symphony orchestras, and learned societies started adorning the city adding a colourful variety to the social ambitions of the people.

Years before Independence : The clouds that hung over the world during the late thirties and early forties when the European powers were plunged in a ghastly war had its impacts on the Indian soils and the social life in the city. The city functions and activities were geared up to meet the war needs, and the port was congested with the troops on the move. The financial stringency of the period did not favour much improvement in the city. By 1933, the City Improvement Trust had been merged with the municipal corporation. The new reclamation area along the Back Bay, hitherto open, was allotted for residential sites, and the Marine Drive from Churchgate Reclamations to Chaupaty started taking shape flanked by uniformly rising, similar looking five storeyed buildings, housing residential flats criticised by some for the monotony of the' pile of matchbox' style. The Back Bay provided a welcome and new relief to the upper strata of the white collared gentry working in the city and government offices, by providing accommodation close to the workspot. Looking backward, the Marine Drive, forming the Queen's Necklace, has added grandeur to the Back Bay face of the city, and presents a memorable spectable when viewed from the crest of the Malabar Hills.

During the Second World War, the Municipal Corporation funds were depleted, and the Government, through the Municipal Act of 1944, empowered the Corporation to postpone the execution of works till after the war. Thus the funds of the Corporation were diverted to other pressing needs.

Fifties to the Seventies : The years immediately after the war brought a tremendous and explosive growth of the city and its suburbs that aggravated the urban problems and necessitated immediate remedial measures. The factors responsible were numerous. The country attained its Independence from the Biitish yoke in August 1947, and as far as Bombay was concerned, this fact alone resulted in a new vigour of growth impetus. With the loss of Karachi as the leading international airport of the sub-continent, Bombay took its place overnight, and this resulted in the feverish activity in the early years of Independence in building a new airport at Santacruz, and equipping it to international standards to permit landing of the larger planes. A considerable volume of port traffic too was added to the already congested harbour area, with the diversion of hitherto Karachi-bound freight to Bombay. The early Five-Year Plans, taking advantage of the already existing well developed urban and commercial infrastructure of Bombay, promoted deliberately the growth of a wide range of industries, especially engineering, chemicals and pharmaceuticals in and around Bombay. The attraction of ready employment opportunities to the skilled as well as the unskilled, and better wages in the existing as well as the developing industries brought a continuous stream of immigrant working population not only from the different parts of the State but all over the country. This migrant stream has been growing in numbers over the years, and is continuing still unabated, resulting in an enormous growth of its population, beyond all expected estimates. Immediately following the declaration of Independence, large influx of refugee population from Sind and Punjab poured into the city, and created an unprecedented problem of rehabilitating the refugees on one hand, and finding quick measuies of decongestion of the city's poorer areas on the other.

To plan the post-war development, the Government appointed a committee headed by the Adviser to the Governor, and this committee stressed the need* for including a large area within the urban limits of Bombay for providing space for expansion and dispersal of Bombay, and also recommended the need for a Master Plan for a controlled development of urban functions. It also suggested ways and means in which the town and the suburbs should be planned on healthy lines. Accordingly, the Albert Meyer-Modak ' Outline of the Master Plan' for Bombay was prepared in 1948. Though not a complete master plan in itself, it provided useful guidelines for detailed planning of areas earmarked for different purposes. It indicated lines along which the further growth of the city was to be regulated, and the suburbs and satellite towns beyond to be planned.

The dock explosions of 1944 destroyed the areas surrounding Mandvi, and made possible the application of the Town Planning Act to the area, from 1957, in spite of opposition from local residents. Likewise, the town planning scheme was brought to action to clear the Mahim Woods, and so too the Sion hill and marshes. The refugee population was accommodated in improvised structures in recently reclaimed areas in a number of localities, but mainly at Chembur (now known as Chembur Sindhi colony), the Antop hill, Chunabhatti, and Koliwada areas, while the better-off refugees started settling in Sion, Mahim, Bandra, Marine Lines and elsewhere. The influx of refugees was far in excess of the possibilities of rehabilitation within the city, and ultimately the Government in the early fifties set up a large refugee colony in a cleared area near Kalyan, which over the years has grown into a flourishing township, almost a city, with a population of over a lakh, and spreading over Ulhasnagar and Vitthalwadi areas.

The increase in population from about 15 lakhs in 1941 to nearly 24 lakhs in 1951 within the city limits not only created intolerable densities of population in many localities, but also the city was getting rapidly saturated with built up areas. The last left over marshes and salt pans in Sion, Wadala were also invaded by residential areas in the fifties. Open space in the city amounting to a meagre 140 hectares, proved utterly inadequate. The urgency of the situation forced the Government to expand the municipal jurisdiction beyond the Mahim Bay into southern Salsette. Accordingly, in 1950, the Municipal Corporation limits were extended upto Jogeshwari along the Western Railway and upto Bhandup along the Central Railway. This limit was further extended in February 1957 upto Dahisar along the Western Railway and Mulund on the Central Railway. The jurisdictions of the Commissioner of Police, Bombay, and the Collector, Bombay Suburban District were made now coterminous with the extended 'jurisdiction of the Bombay Municipal Corporation. The area of suburban Bombay to the north of the Mahim creek thus amounts to about 446 sq.km.

Meanwhile, the outline of a Master Plan for Greater Bombay, lacking legal validity had gone out of date, and the Bombay Town Planning Act, 1954, needed fuller details than provided in the Master Plan. The Corpo­ration, therefore, declared its intention to prepare a fresh development plan through a series of government notifications between 1958 and 1964, when the report of the development plan became ready. In between, the State Government appointed a study group headed by late Shri S. G. Barve and consisting of five panels to probe into the extent of the existing urban problems of housing, building materials, open space and other community needs, industrial siting and traffic. This group recommended a planned development of the suburbs, planned use of land foi different urban uses, the immediate construction of the two express ways recommended by the earlier Master Plan, apart from feeder routes in the suburbs, creation of satellite townships in the adjoining districts, and a planned programme of public housing.

The 1964 Master Plan had as its main objectives the protection of the existing character of Bombay and reorganisation of its structure gradually by promoting development of its areas on neighbourhood basis with an internal self-sufficiency and a sense of healthy interdependence; the establishment of suitable zones in residential aieas with gross densities of population ranging between 625 and 1,500 per hectare in the city and 375 to 625 in the suburbs; the gradual dispersal of the city population to the suburban areas; the decentralisation of commerce and industry from the city through reservation of areas in the suburbs for industrial and commercial uses; a comprehensive programme of slum clearance and provision of low and middle income housing; adequate provision of sites for schools, recreation, hospitals, markets etc., a regulated and co­ordinated comprehensive road development; and a phased programme of reclaiming areas with a view to making them available for development.

The fifties onwards witnessed a spectacular development of residential area all over the city and the suburbs. The marshes and salt pans of Sion, Sewri-Wadala were fully cleared, wide roads laid out according to preplanned schemes, and middle income people's apartments in three to five storeyed structures raised on them, with adequate provisions for open space and parks, educational facilities, medical facilities and retail shopping. Chembur-Deonar, hitherto a wilderness, too developed fast as a residential area with a well developed shopping complex; these areas, by their planned neat lay-out and better looking structures present a sharp contrast to the older parts of the city with a haphazard and tardy growth.

Residential development in the suburbs commenced somewhat earlier along the Western Railway; the first development was mostly on the Western side, along the railway and the Ghodbundar (now Swami Vivekanand) road, the extension further west into the reclaimed marshes being much later in the sixties and seventies. The rail-heads with the converging commuting traffic provided invariably the necessary impetus for the shopping along the station roads. The development of the areas east of the railway line, however, was delayed till recently, and the coming into existence of the Western Express Highway. While Bandra-Khar were the earliest planned suburbs to be developed, rapid infilling took place in the sixties mostly in Santacruz, Vile Parle and Andheri, and the wave of feverish building activity continued unabated in the seventies in the outer western suburbs beyond Andheri on one hand, and the shoreside settlements like Juhu, Versova, and Marve on the other.

Along the Central Railway, Kurla is an old industrial and low income workers' area. Ghatkopar to Mulund, on both sides of the railway, but more to the east, is shaping into numerous nagars of low income housing colonies, housing mostly industrial workers, unlike the western suburbs that house service-seekers.

Planning of land use and zoning areas prior to development has facilitated industrial development in the suburbs in a somewhat more healthy manner, permitting segregation of industrial land use from others invariably. During the late fifties and sixties, the lake area around Powai, lying at accessible distances from both the railways and in between, flowered into a large industrial complex housing engineering and chemical units; while the old Kurla neighbourhood developed into an automobile industrial zone, with the erection of the Premier Automobiles in this area. All along the Central Railway between the Agra Road (now Lai Bahadur Shastri Marg) and the Railway, there developed in a ribbon-like fashion, numerous small and medium industries, mostly pharmaceuticals and light engineering goods. Chembur-Trombay has the concentration of refineries, petrochemicals and a fertiliser unit. The latest area to develop is along the western outer suburbs, beyond Jogeshwari, and along the Western Express Highway; here many industrial estates and large expan­sion units of the older city units, like Mahindra's jeep unit are fast changing the landscape.

Together with these industries, slums have been developing fast in the suburbs. Road-work, quarrying on ihe hill sides, and building activity in the suburbs have all promoted the slum development, almost spontaneous and mushroom-like, such spots creating an unhealthy atmosphere in an otherwise pleasant, greener-looking suburban environment.

Individual suburbs, in comparison to the city wards, have more open spaces and playgrounds for children. In addition the lay-out of a large Dairy colony 'in Aarey at the foothills, with neatly and hygienically laid cattle stables, and a Dairy Technology Institute provides a pleasant picnic spot for the weary, week-end holiday seekers. The conversion of a large part of the neglected Kanheri jungles into a beautified National Park with a zoo and a deer park and lion safari is another measure that provides for a large open space and recreation ground for the suburbanite, although its location in the extreme north of the Corporation limits is a limitation which inhibits a fuller use of this facility by the urban people.

While these changes have been gradually creeping over the suburban areas, the older parts of the city also slowly started undergoing internal morphological changes. With the closure of the tramwaysn in 1964, many of the main roads were widened and improved to make way for a more efficient road traffic. Commercial land use steadily started usurping the main roads in the older residential zones like Fort, Princess Street, Dhobi Talao, Girgaum, Bhendi Bazar and others, pushing the older residents out into the suburbs. Many old residential structures, dilapidated and collapsing during the heavy monsoons, were pulled down and replaced by more modern, sophisticated multi-storeyed skyscrapers, particularly along the main roads. These buildings especially in the Fort, Walkeshwar-Cumballa Hills, Peddar Road, and the main roads of Girgaum and Opera House are fast changing the skyline and making the hitherto significant landmarks look almost dwarfs. This urban renewal, a feature of the seventies, has facilitated on one hand a heavier concentration of com­mercial, administrative and business functions in the old core and a steady push-out and decongestion of residential population in them. Another area, presenting an almost fairy-land appearance along the shores of the Back Bay is the new skyscraper area that extends south of the Marine Drive upto Colaba along the Foreshore Road and the Cuffe Parade. This area has two skyscraper complexes : a northern administrative-cum-business set-up housing the Mantralaya with its State administration, many government and semi-government administrative buildings like those of Air India, Life Insurance Corporation, Shipping Corporation and State Bank, business houses like Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Express Newspaper group and the like and large five-star hotels like the Oberoi Sheraton. The second one further south houses mainly upper class residential population, like the ministers, business elite, and officers in government services.

A welcome change noticed in the development pattern of Bombay in the last thirty years is that of a slow but gradual dispersal of a number of social and other amenities from the south northwards. Hitherto, the Fort area and its neighbourhood not only concentrated administra­tion, commercial and business functions but also had all the concentration of higher education, better and larger hospitals, cinema houses, clubs and the like. All these facilities have now spread all over the city and the suburbs, so much so that commuting in one way by all the people is getting steadily replaced by a wider dispersed flow of people in all directions, but mainly north-south on account of the topographical lineation of the city and its suburbs as well as the orientation of the main traffic corridors.

With a steady dispersal of development, the population of the urban complex has not only grown to over 82 lakhs (in 1981), but has also spread into the suburbs; in fact, it is the suburbs that are growing faster than the city, and account for almost half the population, although spread over a much wider area than the city.

The city's communications and traffic channels too have substantially increased. About 2,325 BEST buses, private cars and taxis ply in them, the buses accounting for about 40 per cent of the commuting traffic. The railways have expanded their suburban commuting facilities enormously. The six traffic corridors of the suburban railways are working to their saturation capacity limits. Four track facilities on the Western Railway now exist between Churchgate and Borivli. In both reailways, the suburban trains carry now nine coaches, and the platforms have been extended.

The port functions too have been further extended. Apart from improving the Butcher island oil terminal, providing for a large repair work for ships and ship-building yard at Mazagaon, the harbour front along the Alexandra docks (now Indira docks) and Apollo Pier is being expanded considerably to provide new berthing facilities.

The international airport at Santacruz, a creation of the last about 35 years, was continuously expanding and getting improved to cope up with a growing international traffic. A separate international air terminal at Sahar is now established to segregate domestic traffic and to avoid air traffic congestion.

The telephone facility inside the city has been improved through the establishment of numerous exchanges all over, and the introduction of a cross-bar system. Today, the city is connected with the large cities of the country by a direct subscribers trunk dialing system. A television network serving Western India, too, has come into existence.

Thus, the present metropolis of Bombay has grown out of humble origins of a group of fishermen's villages in a short span of three hundred years, and is still growing with considerable vigour.

RELIEF OF BOMBAY

Any one who sees the present day topography of Bombay will hardly be able to visualise the original relief of the area, much less imagine the extent to which the topography and configuration of the area on which Greater Bombay stands has been shaped by human interference and action. A substantial area—possibly a half of the city area, and about a fifth to fourth of the suburban area—has been reclaimed from below sea-level by infilling, and pushing the sea outward through dyke-walls like those of the Back Bay reclamation. Many low hills have been quarried for road and plinth material, subsequently levelled and built up. Thus, most of the low hills around Sion, Raoli, Sewri, and Dongri-Mazagaon in the city, and around Kurla-Ghatkopar, Andheri-Jogeshwaii, and Marol have been reduced to ground level. Much of the initial surface drainage and streams, especially in the suburban Salsette have been so completely modified that there is practically no natural drainage in the area. The original Mahim river draining into the Mahim Bay has been dammed in its upper reaches, while the building of the Airport at Santacruz has blocked it in its mid stretches. The lower stretches, close to the Mahim Bay, have become a stinking, fastly silting up, gutter carrying polluted waters, and industrial wastes, only removed during the flush of the high tides and floods of the monsoon. So also, the westward flowing Dahisar nadi draining the slopes of the Kanheri hills is no more a flowing stream; it is dammed at its upper reaches, while below in the flat terrain, it consists of local pits and depressions, holding pockets of polluted drainage. In fact due to the continuous increase in built up areas, and asphalted and macadamised road surfaces, natural drainage during the heavy monsoon rains has been so adversely affected that vast areas, and local depressions get readily flooded even with moderately heavy rains. Added to this, is the fact that most of Bombay and its suburbs is low-lying reclaimed land, barely a metre or two above sea-level, and during high tides, when the sea does not receive the sewage from the city drains, most of Bombay floats in flood-waters, often contaminated with sewerage, and hence carrying risks to health.

This brief review readily highlights the fact that much of the topography and its configuration is man-made; the rapidity with which man can bring about changes explains the quick changes in the configuration and surface appearance of the land of Greater Bombay.

The present day Bombay, built on the original cluster of seven islets, is not only a single land mass, but it is not even an island, with the effective filling in of the breach of the Mahim Bay between Sion and Kurla aiid the construction of the Mahim Causeway. Bombay city is situated on a peninsula, protruding south of Salsette. So too, Trombay, originally an island, to the north-east of Bombay island, along the head of the Harbour Bay today, forms a land mass, in continuation with Salsette, as the tidal creek and marshes in between have been reclaimed. Salsette, in which the suburban areas are located is, however, a large island lying off the Konkan mainland, being separated from it by the Vasai creek and the Ulhas estuary in the north and north-east and the wider Thane creek to its east.

The original cluster of seven islands of Bombay, barring Mahim (Baradbet), was built around hill cores. Only Mahim was an old sand bar, on the protected, innerside of the Mahim Bay, behind the Worli head-lands.

With the silting of the lagoons in between, filling of the breaches between the islands, and gradual reclamation of the tidal flats, salt marshes and salt pan areas, present day Bombay consists of a low-lying plain about 40 km. long north to south, and 5 to 7 km. broad east to west, flanked by two parellel ridges of low hills running along the two shores. The eastern ridge, more discontinuous, and levelled in many parts continues below high-water level beyond Colaba, forming the dangerous reef marked by the Prongs Lighthouse. Point Colaba, the headland formed by the longer of these ridges, protects the harbour, lying on its eastern side and measuring 10 km. in width, from the force of the open sea. The other ridge terminates in Malabar Hill; and between the two lies the shallow expanse of Back Bay. This false harbour is one of the several beautiful bays, accessible only to fishing boats, which indent the western shore for a distance of 13 km from Colaba to Mahim. The western ridgs is of a slightly higher elevation, but both the hills have steeper slopes on the eastern face. The western ridge invariably descends to the open sea, and ends with a foot-hill wave abraded platform, clearly visible during the low tide.

The Bombay peninsula is in the shape of a trapezoid, and is popularly likened to a hand-laid palm upwards, with the fingers stretching south­wards into the sea and the thumb representing Malabar Hill, with Back Bay between the thumb and the forefinger. Others discover in it some similarity to a withered leg with a very high heel (Malabar Hill) and pointed toe (Colaba). On a slightly raised strip of land between the head of the Back Bay and the harbour is situated the original site of the Fort, the nucleus of the modern city now chiefly occupied by stately public buildings and mercantile offices; and from this point the land slopes westward to the central plain, which befoie the constiuction of the embankment, known as the Hornby Vellard, was liable to be submerged at high tide. In the north and east, large schemes of reclamation have similarly shut out the sea and partly redeemed the foreshore for commercial uses.

The eastern water-front, facing the protected waters of the harbour bay is the harbour area, with numerous docks, quays and berths. The dock walls lie adjoining deep waters of the harbour bay, with many navigable channels maintained through the Bay. The western water-front on the other hand is a series of alternating headlands and bays, the largest of them being in the southern and northern extremes, namely the Back Bay and the Mahim Bay. It is in these bays that limited stretches of sandy beaches have been formed, the only other beach being that of Dadar, behind the Worli headlands in the Worli Bay.

The city area has no natural drainage outlet. The central area forming a depression, flanked by hills, and being on reclaimed grounds barely two to three metres above sea level is liable to flooding during the monsoons. Central Bombay extending from Dadar to Grant Road-Byculla, the great heavy rains forms a continuous sheet of water, posing one of the great problems for the city traffic and a major health hazard.

Suburban Bombay is located on Salsette. As late as 1808, Salsette included seven islands, namely Salsette proper, the main and largest of the islands, Trombay in the south-east, also large with a central hilly core, Juhu, Varsova, and Marve, that are sand bars pushed inland by the sea, and resting on knolls, Dharavi and Rai Murdhe. Today they form together a single land mass, off the Ulhas mouth.

In the north centre of the island lies a hill complex that rises to eleva­tions of 467 m. in the conical peak of Kanheri, 463 m. in Shendur, and 417 m. in Avagadh. Two spurs of ridges shoot off southwards from this hill complex from near Kanheri and Avagadh peaks, enclosing in between a horse shoe shaped valley, that opens out southward and slopes in the same direction. The western ridge, of a higher elevation, runs over a distance of about 10 km. and ends near Marol. The eastern spur, though lower, is longer, and gradually descends to the level of the plains around Ghatkopar-Kurla. Further north of Kanheri, this topo­graphy forms a tangle of jungle clad hill mass, that at many places practically descends to the level of the Ulhas estuary and is skirted by the Borivli-Ghodbundar-Thane road.

The central horse shoe valley in the hills used to be drained south by the Mahim river in the past. This river has been dammed in its upper reaches, so mruch so this valley today accommodates three small fresh water lakes, the Tulsi, the Vihar and the Powai, one below the other, that supply the city with 3 per cent of its domestic and other needs of water supply. Below Powai, the river today is mostly a storm drain and a gutter of sewerage, blocked off by the construction of the Santacruz airpoit at its Kurla end. The lower reaches is a shallow, fastly silting up drain of industrial wastes emptying into the Mahim Bay.

The Kanheri hill complex has a radial drainage system, with numerous rain torrents washing down its slopes in all directions. The largest of them is the Dahisar river that rises on the southern flanks of the Kanheri hills, and drains west to join the Marve creek; this river, however, has been blocked to form the Dahisar project, to augment the water supply to the city to a small extent.

Surrounding the central hilly region, are extensive lowlying plains, that are reclaimed tidal marshes and flats just above tidal levels. They are widest to the west and south of the central hilly region, and narrowest to the north. In the east, along the Thane creek, sizable stretches of tidal swaps and salt pan areas, especially around Bhandup, still survive.

Traversing these low tidal flats, and occasionally rising to higher elevations are protrusions and outcrops of acidic and basic lava flows that in places form low hills, while in others form low dyke ridges like ribs. The low hill ridge of Kalina, the knolls of Marol, the vertically well jointed columnar basalts of Andheri (Gilbert Hill), Ambivli and others further north, are of this category. However, close to the coast on the western side, there runs a chain of low hills, broken and discontinuous, and a continuation of the western hill ridge of the Bombay peninsula that runs from Malabar Hill through Worli northwards. This ridge forms headlands at a number of places like Bandra, Danda, Madh, Manori and Uttan, Dongri, and where breached by the tidal creeks in between forms extensive tidal marshes. It is on this residual hill remnant that sand bars and spits of wave deposition like Juhu and Versova have been transfixed.

Small depressions, forming ponds of fresh water used to dot the low flats especially to the west of the main hill range in the past : as for example, the Padam Talao to the north of the Military Camp Hill, which used to exist within the present airport area. These depressions have been mostly filled up for hygienic reasons and have become built up in most cases.

As in Bombay proper, so too in the suburbs, natural drainage has been visibly affected by urban building activity. All along the shore fringes, extensive areas are flooded during high tides, and during the heavy monsoon rains, many low-lying areas are flooded and do not get readily drained.

To the east of Salsette lies the Thane creek opening into the northern part of the Harbour Bay. It runs for 16 km. north to south from near Thane to Trombay village; it is very narrow, barely 200 m. wide, at its northern, Thane end, and gradually opens out to over 2 km at its southern end, where it is bridged to carry over it a road from Bombay to Panvel. The Panvel creek debouches into it at its southern end, immediately north of the Hog island.

The Harbour Bay is studded from south to north with many islands. The Kansa or Gull islet, lies at the entrance of the Dharamtar creek to its east. The Karanja island, which consists of two hills rising to nearly 300 m, and 200 m. height and an intervening valley; the Cross or Gibbet island, 20 m. high, which is situated nearly opposite the Victoria Dock, on the eastern side of a reef of rocks, with shoals extending north and south of it; the Butcher island, also 20 m. high and a km. long and a km. wide, which is situated 5 km. north-east of Cross island and contains an oil terminal; the Elephanta island, which lies 1.5 km. east of Butcher island and consists of two hills (the eastern 180 m. and the western 100 m. high); and Hog island which lies a km. east of Elephanta, on the south side of the entrance to the Panvel river, are the other islands in the harbour end. The northern end of the harbour bay is filled by Trombay with the small mosque of Pir Pav on its southern extremity, from which the land rises into a hill 300 m. in height. Outside the harbour, but within port limits, lie the islands of Henery and Kenery.

Among the reefs of the harbour may be noted: the Karanja reef which extends 3 km. west of Karanja island; the Colaba reef, opposite the Victoria bundar; the Cross island reef, which lies immediately north of the south channel beacon, nearly opposite the Victoria Terminus; and the Butcher Big reef which is separated from Butcher island by a narrow channel. The chief shoals are: the Colaba shoal, extending from opposite the Prongs reef for 5 km. along the east side of Colaba; the middle ground shoal, which lies north-east of the Dolphin Rock and 3 km. from the Sunk Rock, and has near its centre a rocky islet, about 10 m. high, surmounted by a battery; the Flag Staff shoal which lies nearly opposite the Custom House and north-west of the middle ground shoal; and the Elephanta spit, a shoal of the mud running in a north easterly direction from the north end of Elephanta island.

The chief rocks are :the Sunk rock on which a lighthouse stands, situated a little to the south-east of Colaba point and divided by a narrow channel from the Colaba shoal; Oyster rock, a flat rock about 23 m. high, surmounted by a battery, lying nearly opposite to Pilot Bundar about a km. from the shore; Nigger's head rock, lying south-west of Oyster rock; the Dolphin rock, a small rocky shoal carrying a lighthouse, partly visible at low water and lying 2 km. north-east of the Sunk rock; the Apollo spit or Falkland rock, situated a km. north-west of the middle ground shoal; the North Patch, lying nearly 1.5 km north-west of the middle ground shoal; the Elephanta rock, lying just off the southern extremity of that island ; the Barnacle rock, which lies on the west side of the channel dividing Elephanta and Hog islands and is marked by a black pillar 10 m. high; and the Malet Shelf, a rocky patch close to the foreshore on the north of Prince's Dock.

To the west of Salsette, there are no islets at present. The Varsova creek, the Manori-Malad creek and the Gorai creek tidal islets, flush in and out during the tides, and they separate an arm of the mainland in which are located Madh, Manori and Gorai, presenting a false appearance of insularity.

WARDS AND SECTIONS

The modern administrative divisions of Bombay are to a large extent based upon the physical divisions of the earlier days, The municipal wards now number 7 in the city and 8 in the suburbs, sub-divided into 88 sections, and 140 electoral wards. The police divisions almost correspond to the municipal wards.

A Ward : The municipal A ward includes the Colaba, Fort and Back Bay Reclamation areas.

Upper and Lower Colaba : Colaba that extends from Colaba Point in the extreme southern tip or Land's end, northwards upto the Indira Docks and Museum, is divided into an upper and a lower section. Upper Colaba mostly comprises the Defence area and hence the restricted deve­lopment of residential and other urban uses. It, however, contains the Meteorological and seismic observatories of the Indian Meteorological Department, close to the Land's end, the premier research organisation namely, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and two churches, the R. C. and Afghan Church, whose spires are significant landmarks observable for a distance from the sea. Lower Colaba is a fairly densely peopled residential quarter, where sizable number of dock workers live along the eastern water front. Lower Colaba is a narrow elongated strip, not much wide east to west, connecting Upper Colaba with the Fort area. The main road, Shahid Bhagatsing Marg (formerly Colaba Causeway), running along the length, has a fashionable retail shopping front often visited by foreigners. East of the road, at its southern end, are the Sassoon docks, with its fish-landing bundar, while northwards along the harbour wall, are a number of high class hotels and clubs, of which the Taj Mahal Hotel with its magnificent dome, and the more modern Taj Intercontinental reign supreme. West of the Shahid Bhagatsing Road, running sub-parallel to it are the N. P. Parekh (Wodehouse) Road, and the Cuffe Parade along the foreshore. The Cuffe Parade skirts the new Back Bay Reclamation and has at its two ends two skyscraper complexes. The southern one adjoining Colaba is residential with Embassy and State Government officer's residences, and the northern one a business-cum-administrative complex housing the offices of a large number of Airlines, Shipping Corporation, State Bank and newspaper houses, Life Insurance Corporation, and the prestigious State Government office, the Mantralaya, and New Vidhan Bhavan in an imposing complex.

South Fort: The South Fort section bordered on the north by the Veer Nariman Road (the former Church Gate Street) and the Elphinstone Circle, is a part of the original European town of Bombay founded by the genius of Gerald Aungier and his successors. It has two parts: an eastern section that was part of the original fortifications, and a narrow reclaimed area to its west, the two being roughly separated along the Mayo Road, and the Oval maidan. The eastern part has two main thorough­fares running north-south : one of them, the Mahatma Gandhi Road from the Prince of Wales Museum in the south to the Hutatma Chowk (Flora Fountain) follows the line of the old Fort walls behind the Apollo Bunder and Church Gate, and the other the Shahid Bhagatsingh Road(Chhatrapati Shivaji), that is the land boundary of the docks area. Its principal objects of interest are: the Indira Docks, Gateway of India, the old Yacht Club adjacent to the docks, the Prince of Wales Museum at the south end of the Fort, that houses a marvellous collection of Natural History, the old Legislative Assembly Hall overlooking the Museum, close to the old Apollo Gate of the Fort, the Town Hall, that houses the Central Library and the old Royal Asiatic Society facing the Elphinstone or Horniman Circle, laid on the site of the original Cotton Green, the St. Thomas Cathedral, an old landmark facing the circle, and lying adjoining the old Church Gate of the Fort. This area constituted the European business quarter of the colonial days, and today houses the Stock Exchange-the Dalai Street is to Bombay the Wall Street of New York and the Fleet Street of London, and a number of business houses. Along the Mahatma Gandhi Road, are from south to north, the prestigious Institute of Science, an institution of scholarship in Science disciplines, the Elphinstone College, the mother of the Bombay University, and the Government Archives, the old Secretariat buildings, the administrative offices of the University of Bombay, and its library in the Rajabai Tower buildings, and the High Court, apart from the head offices of the Bank of India.

The old Mayo Road marks the limits of the old seashore of the Back Bay front. The Oval and the Cooperage maidans to the west of the Mayo Road are the only vast open spaces and playgrounds in the south Fort area. Skirting the Oval on the western side is the Maharshi Karve Marg (formerly Queen's Road) with a neat row of five storeyed residential houses, and further beyond structures housing offices of business houses, colleges, and few hotels on the newer reclamations. The old railway line of the B. B. and C. I. from Colaba used to run along the western edge of the Oval, and the ruins of the Colaba station close to the Cooperage are still preserved. South fort is the main administrative core of Bombay.

North Fort: Like Fort South, Fort North also comprises two parts: an eastern part, to the east of Dadabhai Naoroji Road (formerly Hornby Road) which is a part of the old fortified town, and a western section that includes all the area to the west of, Dadabhai Naoroji Road upto the Cross and Azad maidans, the Maharshi Karve Marg, and Church Gate Reclamations to the south of the Marine Lines station. The Victoria Terminus of the Central Railway lies at the north end of the Fort area.

The North Fort proper, bounded by the Dadabhai Naoroji Road on the west, by the Shahid Bhagatsingh Marg on the east, the Nagar Chowk near Victoria Terminus in the north, and the Veer Nariman Road in the South is traversed north to south by two main roads, the Bohra Bazar street and the Bazar Gate street. These two roads are old thoroughfares on the line of the original streets of the Fort intersecting the town on a steel grid pattern. This is the section in which during the Company days the Parsi and other native communities settled down within the Fort walls and carried on commerce. The area is the only zone of sizable residential population in the ' city-centre', and is marked by narrow streets and by-lanes, old residential buildings, interspersed with modern structures in place of fallen buildings, an old Parsi Fire temple, and other places of worship. The area is undergoing much renovation; the main streets are widened and straightened, and house an old shopping core. The Pheroze-shah Mehta Road, close to the southern boundary and parallel to the VeerNariman Road is a 'banking' street housing the head offices of the leading banks of the country and many financial institutions. At its eastern extremity, adjoining the Town Hall are the Mint buildings in the site of the old Gastle and the Reserve Bank of India.

Further east, beyond the Shahid Bhagatsingh Marg is the Port Trust area on harbour reclamations. Known as the Ballard Estate, it is a neatly laid area on reclaimed ground that houses the offices of the Customs, and numerous business houses, shipping companies and foreign consuls. Here, business is transacted on a bulk handling basis, round the clock. It lies in the core of the central business district of Bombay.

Along the north end of the Fort section are the Central Railway offices and rail terminal at Victoria Terminus, the General Post Office buildings, the Government Dental College and St. George's Hospital in the ruins of original Fort St. George.

The Esplanade area approximates in location to the present day Cross and Azad maidans, which, according to Fryer, was the grazing ground for buffaloes and cows and later was reserved as an open space in front of the Fort walls along the maidans, and is today an administrative-cum-recreation zone with so many offices, cinema houses, and a couple of schools and colleges.

Facing the Victoria Terminus across the Dadabhai Naoroji Road (north) is the Municipal Corporation building. Further north along the road are the ' Times of India' building and the Sir J. J. School of Art and College of Architecture, and the office of the Police Commissioner. In the northern extreme, along the Lokmanya Tilak Road (Carnac Road) are the Mahatma Phule (Crawford) fruit and flower market, the Shivaji Mandai and the Mohatta, Manish cloth markets. On the Mahapalika Marg, connecting the Nagar Chowk with the Dhobi Talao area are the courts  of the Presidency Magistrate,  Cama  and Albless Hospitals, the State Institute of Educational Training, and the Ranga Bhavan.

To the west of the maidans, is the M. Karve Marg with its S.N.D.T. Women's University, the Western Railway building and the Government of India offices; parallel to it is the Western Railway suburban rail track, terminating in the imposing Churchgate building complex. Further west are the Churchgate reclamations, mostly of the thirties and forties, with a rectangular pattern of streets terminating in the promenade of the Marine Drive. This section of the reclamations houses many star hotels, colleges, the Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums and playgrounds, while further north the area becomes more residential in character, nearer Marine Lines.

B Ward : The B Ward lies to the east of Abdul Rehman street and Ibrahim Rahimtulla Road right upto the harbour front, and extends from the Lokmanya Tilak Road (Carnac Road) in the south to the J. J. Hospitals and Ramchandra Bhat Marg (old Babula Tank Road) in the north. It comprises Mandvi, Chakala, Dongri and Umarkhadi areas. The area as a whole has a concentration of Muslim population and is the commercial coie of the city, with both wholesaling and retailing functions.

Mandvi: Mandvi lies to the north of Tilak Road and comprises the area around Masjid railway station on the Central Railway. The western half of the area, to the west of the rail track, is intersected by narrow and irregular streets and constitutes a part of the old town outside the Fort walls which developed around a Koliwadi as the nucleus. In spite of considerable improvement and clearance of the area by the City Improvement Trust in the early decades of the century, the area still presents a crowded appearance. The eastern part, to the east of railway, is comparatively modern, being built up on reclaimed land, and contains a regular line of streets, ending on the Victoria docks.

Mandvi as a whole is a mercantile section with the docks on one side and godowns and shops of local merchants on the other. Along the P. DeMello Road (formerly Frere Road) are thegreat warehouses and granaries of the city, while along the Arayal road and the streets taking off from it are the iron (Lohar) bazar of the city. Western Mandvi is the seat of the wholesale grains, dry fruits market, and offices of numerous inter-state road transport carriers.

Chakla : Chakla to the west of Mandvi, but to the east of Abdul Rehman Street is also devoted to commerce. Bisected by the Nagdevi Street, which owes its name to the old shrine of Nagdev (serpent god), the nearly rectangular section ends up at its northern end at the Pydhonie Police station, located approximately on the site of the old ' Foot-wash \ Abdul Rehman Street is commercially the most important street of the locality, housing mainly stationery dealers, watch dealers and leather shops. Historically, the most important part of the section is Pydhonie that roughly marks the boundary between the Muslim quarters to it seast and south, and the Hindu residential areas to its west. The Minarmosque, close to the Pydhonie Police station is a two centuries old place of worship.

Umarkhadi : To the north of Mandvi is Umarkhadi, bounded on its west by the Bhendi Bazar along the Ibrahim Rahimtulla Road, and on its east by the Jail Road East. The southern part is a medley of irregular streets and by-lanes, and is occupied by a large number of low-class tenement buildings or chawls, housing Muslims. To the north of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Road that splits the area into two, right in the heart of the area is the Muslim cemetery, and to its north-east, the old Jail built in 1804 by the Governor Duncan and now housing a children's home. This is an area where even today the horse drawn victorias can be seen, though declining, and a number of saddlers' shops along the main roads. The shopping front has a large number of Urdu bookstalls.

Dongri : To the east of Umarkhadi is Dongri, that contains an old residential quarter and a more recent harbour front housing the Clerk basin, the Frere basin and the Malet basin, the two parts being separated by the Wadi Bundar goods yard of the Central Railway and the Naoroji hill, adjoining it. This hill is the original Dongri hill, on which a fortlet was built in the early British colonial period, and was subject to attack by the Siddis. Dongri has an old settlement nucleus in its Koliwada. Dongri is a highly congested area with insanitary surroundings.

C Ward : The C ward to the north of Esplanade, and west of the Muslim quarters is the old Hindu core of the native town of Bombay. Though small in area, it is the densest populated area of the city, with areas having densities of 1,500 to 2,000 per hectare. It comprises the areas of Khar a Talao, Kumbharwada, Bhuleshwar, Market, Dhobi Talao and Fanaswadi.

Market area : The Market section derives its name from the great cloth markets (Mulji Jetha and Mangaldas markets) that fringe the Shaikh Memon Street, its main and central thoroughfare. The Kalbadevi road which earns its name from a shrine of Kali or Kalikadevi, that was once located in Mahim but later shifted to this locality during the Muslim period, is its northern and western limits. Apart from the fact that this section has an old settlement in the present locations of Kantilal Sharma Marg (Lohar Chawl) and Vithalwadi, the section contains the Jama Masjid (1802), the temple and tank of Mumbadevi (1766), the patron deity of the islands. The Shaikh Memon Street is reputed as one of the richest streets of Bombay. The southern half of the street is the business quaitei of rich cloth merchants, while the northern part is the Sona-Chandi (gold-silver) bazar and the bullion market. About halfway up the Kalbadevi road, stands the temple of Laxminaiayan, built in 1875 by Mulji Jetha. The Kalbadevi road has the main copper, aluminium and stainless steel vessels market (Tamba bazar) and the Cotton Exchange, apart from a few Jain temples close to the Pydhonie end. The Samaldas Gandhi Marg (formerly Princess Street), at the south end of the area built on cleared land in 1905, has a wholesale umbrella market at its last end. Tilak road along the southern boundary is a fashionable retail shopping area for a wide range of consumer goods, toys and sports goods.

Dhobi Talao : To the south of Kalbadevi Road is the Dhobi Talao area, bordering the old Esplanade in its north. The section owes its name to an old tank used by washermen. Its north-eastern part lying between Kalbadevi and Jagannath Shankarsheth (old Girgaum) roads is the old Cavel, one of the original Koli settlements of fishermen converted to Christianity by the Portuguese. Cavel is still the lane of a large number of Christians. Across the Shankarshet Road, in the north of the section, is another old area, Sonapur, that lies adjoining the Marine Lines Station. This area contains the old burial and burning grounds of the Hindus and Muslims and has the Chandanwadi crematorium. The wide area now . occupied by the Maharshi Karve Marg, the rail tracks and the Parsi, Hindu and Islam gymkhana clubs is entirely on reclaimed ground of the current century. A newly constructed fly-over leading to Samaldas Gandhi Marg connects the Marine Drive with this area.

The area as a whole has a sizable Parsi population, and Parsi fire temples.

Fanaswadi : Immediately north of the Dhobi Talao lies the Fanaswadi, originally an orchard of jack trees. Outwardly, it resembles Dhobi Talao, and has been transformed over the years from a collection of garden estates to a densely built locality. Though the area is small, it has a comparatively large number of temples, of which the best known is the Vyankatesh Shrine (called Fanaswadi temple).

With its numerous wadis a group of buildings built within walled enclosures in by-lanes, and opening out into the main street through a narrow entrance, that can be shut off at will, the area is predominantly Hindu in composition, with clear caste and sub-caste differentiation of early migrants from Konkan.

Bhuleshwar : Bhuleshwar, to the north of Kalbadevi and Pydhonie is very different in appearance from the surrounding areas. It is so called from the great temple and tank of Bhuleshwar in the south of the area. This is an area predominantly occupied by the Gujarati Jains and the Hindus and has a disproportionately large number of temples. It has a very large number of irregular, narrow and confined streets; at its north-western end is the panjarpol or the home of the diseased and aged animals. To the east of the Kika Street, the area turns steadily Muslim. Over the last two decades, the area is being improved and slowly decongested.

Kumbharwada-Khara Talao : To the north of Bhuleshwar are the Kumbharwada and Khara Talao areas, separated from each other by the Maulana Azad Road. Kumbharwada is occupied largely by the poor people. In the north of the area, adjoining the Maulana Shaukat Ali Road is the Northbrook Garden and the former site of Two Tanks. The Khara Talao area is essentially Muslim quarters and contains nine mosques. In its southern parts between the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Road and the Erskine Road is the Null Bazar opened in 1867 and so called from the fact that the main drain of the city flowed past this place on its way to the Worli sluices in the past.

D. Ward : The D ward lies to the west of C and E wards and covers the western prongs of a ridge that juts into the Back Bay as the Malabar Hill. It comprises the Khetwadi, Girgaum, Chaupaty areas lying at low level at the head of the Back Bay and the Walkeshwar-Malabar Hill and Cumballa Hill and Mahalakshmi. It consists of an upper class residential area in the hill slopes and the western shores, facing the open sea and the middle income, old residential areas on lower ground to the east of the hills.

Khetwadi and Chaupaty : These areas constitute essentially a residential Maharashtrian Hindu locality. About 1838, the area commenced to attract population and developed rapidly, after the construction of the Falkland and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Roads, and the reclamation at Churchgate. The Chaupaty section contains remnants of the oarts that once covered the whole locality, while the sea-face occupies the site of the old Lakdi Bundar. The Wilson College and the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and the old Portuguese Church are the most noteworthy buildings in the area. The Chaupaty section, apart from its attraction to the people of south Bombay through its sandy beach, also is a centre of entertainment, with a large number of cinema houses, around the Opera House area. It has the main automobiles accessories and electrical and electronic goods markets, and is an area crowded by practising medical specialists.

Girgaum : The Girgaum area to the south-east of Chaupaty and south of Khetwadi has developed on old settlement sites : Borbhat, Mugbhat, and the Girgaum village (Khotachi Wadi) are its original nuclei. Along the main road, over the decades, has developed a retail shopping front, like the Chira Bazar.

Walkeshwar-Malabar Hills : To the west of Chaupaty and south of the August Kranti Marg (Gowalia Tank Road) are the areas of Walkeshwar-Malabar Hill. It has long been famous for the village and temple of Walkeshwar and the Governor's residence at the south end, adjoining the Malabar Point. Towards the north end of the hill are situated the Malabar Hill reservoir and the Hanging Gardens over it, the Kamala Nehru Park and the Parsi Tower of Silence. Standing here, one gets a splendid pano­rama of the Chaupaty beach at its foot, the ' Queen's Necklace ' formed by the Marine Drive, and the distant sky-scrapers and spiraling landmarks in the south of the city, as well as a picture mosaic of the nearby Hindu township, the farther harbour bay and the docks. Looking northwards, the towering chimneys over the roofs of buildings bear witness to the industrial character of the central parts of the city.

There were houses on the Malabar Hill occupied by the Englishmen as early as 1788, but its growth as an upper class residential zone dates from the time the Governor shifted his residence from Parel to the Malabar Hill. The occupants are mostly businessmen, and government officials. The Laxmibai Jagmohandas Marg (formerly Nepean Sea Road) to the west of the hill and at its foot, facing the open Arabian Sea, is a still developing posh residential area in this section.

Mahalakshmi : The Mahalakshmi section, to the north of Walkeshwar and west of the Western Railway track comprises the Cumballa Hill area, the foreshore adjoining it to the west, and the Tardeo area on lower ground. It has the double character of a upper class residential and a middle class quarter, the former occpuying the summit and slopes of the Cumballa Hill and the Foreshore, namely the Bhulabhai Desai Road, and the latter the level ground to the east of the hill. The area had a few old mills, but some of them have been replaced by modern shopping complexes. Places of interest in the section include the Mahalakshmi temple at Breach Candy, that occupies the site of the three old temples destroyed by the Muslims, the Haji Ali Tomb in the sea, reached only during low tide, the Mafatlal Park and Breach Candy swimming pool and the Willingdon Sports Club. The area has quite a few hospitals, and specialist clinics around the Kemp's Corner fly-over and many quiet but posh residential localities. The population of the area is quite mixed in character, though predominantly Maharashtrian. The biggest cluster of Parsi population in the city lies in this section.

E Ward : The E ward is south-central Bombay bounded by the Western Railway between Grant Road and Mahalakshmi stations in the west, the Sane Guruji Marg and the Dattaram Lad Marg in the north, the Reay Road and the Mazagaon docks in the east and the Maulana Shaukat Ali Road and Ramchandra Bhat Marg in the south. Most of the E ward excluding Mazagaon, an original island on a low hill, is on reclaimed ground from below sea level in the central lagoons of the original island cluster. The area being barely a metre or two above sea level and sloping westwards to the Hornby Vellard and Love Grove sewerage pumping station is liable to inundations during the heavy monsoon downpours. The area is part of the early reclamations of the eighteenth century and the site of the early mill industry. Even today the area is essentially characterised by the presence of numerous mill blocks and the mill workers' tenement colonies nearby. The sections contained in the ward include Tardeo, Kamathipura, first and second Nagpada, Ghodapdeo, Mazagaon and Byculla.

Mazagaon-Tarwadi: The Mazagaon section extending between Wadi Bundar and Clerk basin in the south, the Kala Chowkie Road and the cotton godowns in the north, and lying east of Shivadas Chapsi (old Mazagaon Road) Marg and Rambhau Bhogale Marg (old Ghodapdeo Road) upto the water front, is in its present form largely the outcome of the extensive harbour reclamations. Around the Bhandarwada hill water reservoir in the south-west still cluster remnants of the original village, which formed a part of the manor of the Tavoras in the seventeenth century. The original Portuguese village in this section was beautifully situated on the slope between two hills, on one of which was the Mazagaon house, a landing mark in the harbour. It had an excellent dock for ships and was adorned with two handsome churches, and the village itself was noted for its quality mango orchard. The remnant of the hill top, lying to the west of the Dockyard Road Station is at present occupied by the Baptista Gardens.

The northern half of the section is cut diagonally by the Reay Road. To the east of it, much of the land belongs to the Port Trust, with its, ship repairs and building yards of the Mazagaon docks, the Port Trust offices, and a number of industrial units like the Mahindra and Mahindra, Pfizer (Dumex), and others. The extreme north of this section, to the east of the harbour railway is occupied by the cotton godowns and grain depots of the Port Trust.

The Tarwadi section that lies to the west of the Reay Road and east of Babasaheb Ambedkar Road is partly an industrial area and partly low income residential quarter. It is full of cotton spinning and weaving mills, specially north of Sant Savta Marg (old Connaught Road). The Veer-mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan (former Victoria Garden) with its zoo and museum in this area is an important attraction to the tourists. South of the garden, around the Gloria Church is a Christian locality, with pockets of Parsi estates. The area has a few old bungalows within wide compounds, a left over of the bygone colonial days.

First and Second Nagpada Areas : The first and second Nagpada sections are divided by the Jamshetji Jijibhai Road from each other, but are really one area bounded on the south by the Maulana Shaukat Ali and Ramchandra Bhat Margs, on the west by the Maulana Azad Marg, on the north by the Sheppard Road and on the east by the Mazagaon Road. The whole locality approximately represents the limit reached by the inflowing tides before the Hornby Vellard was built and was one of the most insanitary areas of the island until the City Improvement Trust developed it. Even today, during heavy rains, the area is liable to extensive inundations. The First Nagpada section to the east of Jamshetji Jijibhai Road is essentially a complex of the Sir J. J. Group of Hospitals and the Grant Medical College, besides housing the Richardson Cruddas of India Ltd., a structural engineering factory unit.

The Second Nagpada section is mainly residential with a number of industrial tenements, built along straight running roads by the City Improvement Trust in the earlier decades of this century.

Kamathipura : The Kamathipura section forms an almost perfect rectangle, bounded by the Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, the Maulana Azad Road, Jehangir Boman Behram Marg and the Suklalji Street. Until 1800, the area was liable to periodic tidal flooding by the sea water, and in spite of considerable artificial raising of the ground level by the munici­pal authorities, is still somewhat low-lying and an endemic area for water-borne diseases. The section earns its name from its being the original settlement of the Kamathis, a labour community who had settled in the area after migrating from the Telangana districts about the end of the eighteenth century. It is a crowded area, occupied mostly by low income group of residential population in old chawls. In its southern part, the area has a few mosques.
Tardeo : The Tardeo section lying between the Western Railway tracks, Suklalji Street, Maulana Shaukat Ali Road and Boman Behram Marg is almost a rhombus cut diagonally by the Falkland Road and the R. S. Nimkar Marg (old Foras Road). It is mostly reclaimed land forming a part of the original Byculla flats much of which were let at a low rental by the Government in earlier times on condition that the lessees reclaimed and improved the ground. The section used to be full of stables and was the former house of the Arab horse dealers. Today, it is essentially a mixed residential area, with Parsi apartments around the Guilder Lane and Boman Behram Marg, industrial chawls and tenements to the east of Bhadkamkar (Lamington) Marg and north of Nimkar Marg. Along the main roads, especially the widened and straightened Bhadkamkar Marg and to a lesser extent the Maulana Shaukat Ali and Boman Behram Marg, considerable urban renewal is taking place, with the older, dilapidated two storeyed structures being replaced by the more modern, multi-storeyed R. C. C. structures. These main roads, over the years, have developed a mixed retail shopping front, catering to the needs of the local resident population.

Byculla : The Byculla section between the two suburban rail tracks, and to the north of Tardeo extends upto Kala Chowkie in the north. As in Tardeo, the original level of the land has been artificially raised, and the disadvantages arising from natural circumstances and from a huge lower class population are minimised by the six thoroughfares cutting through the section and emerging at the Gadge Maharaj Chowk, formerly known as the Jacob's Circle, and known prior to 1880 as the central station. This is essentially a mill area, with a concentration of spinning and weaving mills, and other factories and associated industrial workers' tenements. In the south, there used to be a number of stables in the past. The original Byculla Club was in the south-west of the area in front of the original race course. This area, especially around the Bombay Central Station and the Boman Behram Marg has been undergoing a face lift in the recent years. The Nair Group of Hospitals, the State Transport bus terminal and a number of private clinics and a cinema house are located in the area, part of which was in the past occupied by the Byculla Club. Further north, along the Sane Guruji Path aie located, across the road, the City Jail and the Kasturba Memorial Isolation Hospital.

F Ward : The F ward is a large ward that lies to the east of the Central Railway track, from Chinchpokli Station northwards. It covers the whole of the north-eastern quarter of the city peninsula. It comprises the Parel, Sewri, Naigaum, Matunga and Sion sections. While the southern parts of the ward are older residential area, the northern parts have been occupied only in the recent decades. There is also a more basic distinction between the north and the south of the ward. The southern part is mill area, with low income industrial chawls abounding, and is predominantly Maharashtrian. The north is middle income apartments area.

Parel : The Parel section is bounded by the Central Railway track between Chinchpokli and Parel stations in the west, the Jagannathrao Bhatankar (Elphinstone) Marg and Jerbai Wadia (formerly Bhoiwada) Road in the north, G. D. Ambekar Marg (formerly Parel Tank Road) in the east and the Dattaram Lad Marg in the south. The original nucleus was a small village that still exists in the north-east of the section. The village, an old shrine or two and areas like Bhoiwada are the only legacies still remaining of the time when Parel was first chosen as a settlement by the followers of Raja Bhimadev. Parel village was the original Brahmin settlement of the mediaeval period. In the early British colonial period, this part of Bombay served as an area of country villas and residences. The old Government House, the Governor's summer resort, now houses the Haffkine Institute, a leading bacteriological research laboratory of the country. Today, Parel is a huge industrial quarter, having the heaviest concentration of the cotton textile mills, apart from the Central Railway workshop.The residential population is mainly mill-workers, housed in mill-owned or City Improvement Trust built industrial one-room tenements, with wooden balustrades overlooking the main street. Most of these two-storeyed buildings are a century old and are in a state of hopeless disrepair.

The Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marg (formerly Vincent Road) running north-south splits the area into two, the western half being essentially industrial. The area to the east of the road is more open, with a number of parks and playgrounds, and further in the quiet interior, houses a huge complex of general hospitals, like the King Edward Memorial Hospital, the Tata Cancer Hospital, the Veterinary Hospital, and the associated medical and veterinary colleges. Notwithstanding modern industrial progress, this area still presents a country aspect.

Sewri : The Sewri section lies adjoining Parel to the east, and extends upto the harbour front. Till recently, most of it was unreclaimed, marsh and salt pan area. Much reclamation has been done since the thirties of the present century in the area, and is mostly built up today. The section falls into two parts, divided roughly by the harbour branch of the Central Railway. To the west of it, the southern part is an old mill area with its attendant chawls. Abhyudayanagar is a recent development block of an old slum area. Further north is the Sewri cemetery, once the garden of the Bombay Agri-horticultural Society.

To the east of the railway, much land is reclaimed and owned by the Port Trust. Immediately adjoining the railway to its east, are the Port Trust railway sidings and yard, the cotton and grain depots. Further east along the shore, are a number of factories like the Tata Oil Mills, motor tyre works, Hindustan Lever factories and the Nautical College. Further northwards, close to the Sewri station is the old Sewri village, and nearby the ruins of the Sewri fortlet on a low quarried hill. Adjoining are the timber pounds, a cement factory, the Port Trust offices, and the Shaparia dock and steel company. Nearby are the last leftover vestiges of salt pans, that are fast disappearing all around Bombay.

Naigaum : The Naigaum area lying roughly between Parel and Dadar stations on the Central Railway side is an old residential area and is at present the home of a number of cotton mills and B. D. D. chawls of mill workers. Infact, Naigaum is practically the northern limit of the mill area on the eastern side. In the east, around the old village of Wadala, are the newer developments of residential flats and the Government grain depots.

Matunga : The Matunga section extends between the Dadar Khodadad Circle in the south and King's Circle station and adjoining railway over-bridge in the north. Matunga, till the beginning of this century, was a wilderness, and is believed to have been the site of the elephant stables of King Bhimadev in the mediaeval period. At the turn of this century, this was a pleasant area with a few country villas and residences set in green surroundings. In the twenties, the Parsi colony and the Five Gardens area were laid out, and shortly after, the Hindu colony adjoining it. The rest of Matunga area was developed mostly in the forties. The relatively recent period of development of this area is reflected in the wider main roads, neatly laid out streets, buildings erected within compound walls, and the lay-out of a number of gardens. Matunga at present has a cluster of educational institutions like the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute, the University Departments of Chemical and Textile Technology, arts, science and commerce colleges.

Sion : The Sion section includes all the area that lies north of the King's Circle railway station, and east of the main suburban rail track of Central Railway as well as a narrow strip of land on the side of the harbour branch of railway, south of King's Circle upto Wadala station. It includes the present day Sion, Koliwada, Matunga-Wadala estate and the Antop Hill area. The whole of this area in the earlier part of this century was a desolate waste of salt pans guarded by the bare hills of Antop, Raoli and Sion. The original settlement of the Kolis was close to the Sion hill, which carries the ruins of an old fort even now. Barring the Leper Asylum in green surrounding in the south of the area, and the military barracks built during the Second World War, the area had practically no habita­tions. The City Improvement Trust could plan on a clean slate the development of this area, under planned development schemes, by reclaiming land under salt pans, levelling the rock outcrops and quarrying the hill slopes, and by lay-out of wide main roads and straight streets taking off from them. Though the development was initiated in the forties the pace of growth was rapid mainly in the fifties and sixties, with the aid of Sindhi builders, who had made a large influx in these years. The area is a middle income residential zone with apartments housed in three to four-storeyed buildings. The King's Circle-Sion road culmination at the Rani Laxmibai chowk at its north end splits Sion into a western and an eastern counterpart, the western part housing the Lokmanya Tilak Hospital complex and a few educational institutions. Close to the King's Circle Station is a huge auditorium, the Shanmukhananda Hall.

G Ward : The G ward, to the west of the F ward covers the north of the city peninsula to the west of the Central railway main line. It comprises six sections—Mahim, Prabhadevi, Dadar, Worli, Chinchpokli and Love Grove.The ward is partly mill area, and partly residential,but predominantly Maharashtrian. It is an old settled area, developed over the original islands of Baradbet (Mahim) and Worli, and the reclamations adjoining.

Mahim : The present day Mahim section extends as a narrow ribbon along the Mahim Bay, and includes all areas to the west of the Lady Jamshedji Road from the Mahim Causeway and the N. C. Kelkar Road. It lies on the original island of Mahim, that is an old stabilised sand bar, and was the location of the mediaeval Hindu township of Mahikavati of King Bhimadev. Apart from the ruins of an old fort at the northern tip, overlooking Bandra in Salsette, an old Muslim mosque dating to pre-Portuguese days and a Koli hamlet, the area, till the thirties of this century, was an extensive coconut grove, with a few country villas set in them. The area had quite a few tanks. Development by the City Improvement Trust was in two phases : the layout of the Shivaji Park scheme of 1929 and the Mahim town planning scheme of 1950. The area is essentially occupied by lower middle income residential popula­tion. The north, on either side of the Veer Savarkar (old Cadell Road) Marg is quite congested, but the area is more open around the Shivaji Park, which is the main 'meeting' ground of North Bombay for public functions. The swimming pool nearby, and the Mahim beach are the main attractions of the area.

Dadar : The Dadar section, to the east of the Mahim section, and north of Dadar railway station includes all the area lying between the Central and Western rail tracks as well as the area to the east of the Lady Jamshedji Road. Apart from the ruins of the Kala Killa (Rewah fort) on the Mahim creek area, it was originally an extensive low-lying marsh. Between two railway tracks is the Central Railway wagon workshop, while further north is the Matunga labour colony, and Dharavi slum adjoining the Mahim creek. The whole area is undergoing a face-lift in the present times with slum clearance schemes, and a main road traversing the area east-west connecting Mahim and Sion through two overbridges. The area to the west of the Western Railway track developed in the sixties is essentially lower middle income residential, though two mills are found in the area.

Prabhadevi : The Prabhadevi section lying to the west of the rail tracks but east of Veer Savarkar Marg is an old congested area densely populated. It is the site of an old settlement of the Prabhus, who settled during the days of the King Bhimadev, and built a shrine for their patron-deity, Prabhadevi, in whose name the area is still so called. The Gokhale Road (south) splits the area into a western and an eastern half, the western part having a few mills and chemical industries, and residential area. The Ravindra Natya Mandir is located here. The eastern part holds the main middle income retail shopping area, close to the Dadar station, which attracts people from all over North Bombay and the suburbs. This part has been cleared and developed mainly in the fifties and sixties and houses a few industrial estates.

Worli : The Worli section includes an old Koli hamlet, and the fort nearby on a headland jutting into the Mahim Bay. The old Worlihill has been mostly quarried and levelled, and has become built up with a huge Housing Board building complex of the middle income population. The Dr. Annie Besant road splits the area into a residential western half and a huge cotton mill area and a large complex of B.D.D. chawls and Television Centre. A number of pharmaceutical industries are located along the Dr. Annie Besant Road, apart from the Century Bazar at its north end.

Chinchpokli : This section bounded by the Ganpatrao Kadam (old Fergusson Road) Marg in the north, the Dr. E. Moses Road in the west, and the Sane Guruji Path (Arthur Road) in the east is roughly triangular area, that is low-lying and liable to monsoon flooding every year. The central part is railway land, housing the Western Railway wagon and carriage workshop. The rest of the area is a factory zone, and the accompanying lower income tenements in chawls. The area has an old Jewish cemetery, and a municipal Dhobikhana adjoining the Gadge Maharaj Chowk (Jacob Circle),

Love Grove : The Love Grove section extends from the Haji Ali in the south to the Acharya Atre Chowk at the junction of the Annie Besant Road with E. Moses Road. The area in the south is very low-lying and marks the last breach to be filled up in the amalgamation of the original seven islands with the construction of the Hornby Vellard, now known as the Lala Lajpatrai Road. The Bombay Race Course occupies an extensive area in the keel of this depression. Closeby are the Patel Stadium, the National Sports Club of India, and the newly erected Nehru Planetarium. Further north, over the old Worli hill area, now quarried and levelled is sited the Worli milk dairy. The south end of this hillock projecting into the small Worli Bay, and housing old bungalows, has been converted in recent years into the Shivsagar estate, a huge complex of multi-storeyed structures housing commercial firms and banks. Along the sea front has developed the Worli Sea face, an upper class apartment area, somewhat similar to the older Peddar Road complex.

Love Grove section is a curious mixture of residential zone, of the rich and the poor, with a huge slum area around the Love Grove sewerage pumping station right in front of the Worli seaface upper class apartments.

The suburban divisions include 8 municipal wards, namely H, K, P and R on the western side, and L, M, N and T along the eastern. These wards are relatively larger in size compared to the city wards, though they vary in population considerably.

H Ward : The H ward area, itself divided into a western and an eastern part roughly along the Western Railway track, comprises areas lying north of the Mahim Bay and creek, to the west of the Kurla-Mahim creek and south of the city airport and flying club. The built-up area is developed over the old island core of Bandra lying at the head of the Mahim Bay. It comprises low hills in the west, jutting south into the Bay, and low-lying tidal marshes in the east along the creekside, that have been progressively reclaimed in the last few decades.

The original settlement nuclei consist of a few fishing hamlets like Bandra, Chimbai, Danda and Kole-Kalyan as well as others like Pali, Mala, Sharli, Chui and Vakola. Most of these were Koli settlements. These settlements came under the influence of the Portuguese early in the sixteenth century. The Portuguese made Bandra, the headquarters of a Thanedar, who was in charge of 65 villages, they also established a Jesuit college and a couple of churches. The St. Andrew's Church (the present one is built on the same site as the old one) was the earliest to be built in 1575 close to the seashore and was followed by the Church of St. Anne about 1620 on the site of the present Bus Depot. This latter church was built close to the landing point of the Bombay-Mahim ferry. The chapel of Nossa Senhora de Monte, or the Church of Mount Mary, as it is more popularly known, was built on the crest of the Bandra Hill around 1640 for the use of the garrison of the Agoada or blockhouse. It was rebuilt in 1761 after its destruction a few years earlier by the Marathas. Around 1750 was built the Church of Our Lady of Egypt in Kole-Kalyan mainly to cater to the local Christian population.

During the early days of the East India Company, the Bandra Jesuits could not see eye to eye with the Company, and repeatedly conflicts arose between them and the Company authorities as well as the Siddis of the mainland. This resulted in the Bandra settlements being subjected to invasions and the churches to plundering. The Church of St. Anne was completely destroyed. Finally, in 1774, Bandra came into British possession. The St. Joseph's convent and orphanage as well as the St. Peter's Church and its St. Stanislaus orphanage were added during the British period in the nineteenth century.

The opening of the Lady Jamshedji causeway in 1845 across the Mahim Bay brought Bandra much closer to Bombay, and the opening of the Western Railway track and Bandra station in 1864 gave further impetus to the growth of Bandra. A small township slowly emerged during the second half of the nineteeth century at the head of the causeway. With two main roads, one skirting the shores east to west, and another running northwards to the east of the settlement, the township had a municipal market, fishing hamlet and landing point along the shores, and storeyed houses of the native Christians away from the shores and up the slopes. The Bombay municipal slaughter house was built in 1867 on the low ground adjoining the site of the landing place of Bombay ferry, where the chapel of St. Anne stood. A number of tanneries had shifted earlier from the city fringes to the marsh-side to the east of the railway tracks, as the city started spreading north.

The present day H ward comprises the areas of Bandra, Khar-Pali, Danda, Santacruz, Vakola, Kalina and the newer Bandra reclamations on which are built the M.I.G. housing colony and Kalanagar. Bandra still retains much of its original character. The slaughter house has been recently shifted to Deonar and modernised. Khar was developed as a quite cosmopolitan 'model' suburb during the late forties and fifties of the present century under the town planning schemes, and is a cosmopolitan middle income residential area of the commuting salaried blue and white collar workers. Danda continues to be a fishing hamlet, while the heights of the Khar-Pali hill complex is undergoing rapid urban renewal and replacement of the single storeyed and tiled structures as well as villas by the multi-storeyed sky-scrapers housing the city elite like artists and businessmen. Santacruz is essentially a middle class suburb of commuters, while Kalina owes its present day fillip in growth to the location of the airport functions inclusive of its workshops in the area, the housing colonies of the airport workers, and the location of the Bombay University Campus, apart from a limited mixed industrial development along the Vidyanagari Marg.

K Ward : The relatively large K ward extends from the airport area northwards upto the Malad creek and the Oshivare nala. The Aarey Milk Colony partly forms its northern limits. The built-up area has developed over the south-western lowlands of the original Salsette island, the sandy shore islands of Juhu and Versova and the tidal marshes in between, that have been subsequently reclaimed. Madh across the Versova creek is also included in this ward.

A number of old fishing hamlets like Tara, Juhu, Veisova and Madh as well as agricultural villages like Irla, Parle, Bamanwada, Sahar, Marol, Chakala, Oshivare, and Ambivli were the original settlement nuclei around which the present day suburban townships have grown. The present day sections of the ward include Juhu, Vile Parle, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Versova, Madh and Marol. Vile Parle, like Santacruz, is a middle income housing area. Some industrial activity is noticeable along its fringes, like the Parle Products Ltd. and the Golden Tobacco Company. Andheri is more mixed in character. East Andheri, Sahar, Chakala, and Marol are part of the newer industrial areas of Greater Bombay, developed since the fifties. A heavy clustering of small and medium sized engineering units, chemical factories, film studios and consumables production units has taken place along the Andheri-Kurla link road. The erection of the Santacruz Electronic Exports Promotion Zone (SEEPZ), and the Marol industrial estate area, both in Marol, have added considerably to the industrial importance of the area. Andheri West mainly comprises a number of Housing Board and private co­operative middle income housing colonies that are steadily pushing into the marshland. Juhu is the holiday-cum-picnic resort of Bombay with bathing beaches, holiday homes of the elites with private swimming pools set in the midst of cocoanut groves, and better class hotels. Closeby is emerging a posh, sophisticated upper class residential area of the villa type as a planned development over the Juhu reclamations. Jogeshwari is essentially a mixed residential area. A huge squatter's colony has developed on its eastern section in the foothills, nearby the archaeological ruins of Jogeshwari cave. Versova and Madh still retain their fishing hamlet function, though holiday crowds visit these areas in large number.

The ward as a whole is residential, though industrial function is being added to it, especially on the eastern side.

P Ward : The P ward lies north of K ward extending upto the western seashores right from the central hill ridge o f Salsette. Like the K ward, it includes the western lowlands and foothills (in the central parts) of Salsette, the old shore islands of Malawani, Madh and Gorai-Uttan, the latter two in parts. The present day sections include Goregaon, Malad, Aarey and Marve-Manori. A large number of the old settlements have now become submerged in the suburban townships of Goregaon and Malad, but their original sites can be readily identified by the quaint appearance of the built-up area. Manori, Erangal, Marve, Daroli and Akse among them were fishing hamlets, and still partly retain this character. Malawani, Valnai, Chincholi, Charkop, Pakhadi, Dindoshi, Maroshi, Aarey and Kurar have become completely urbanised. The eastern parts of the ward lying in the foothills have been transformed into a protected green under the Aarey milk colony, and houses the dairy plant of the city, the Dairy Technology Institute, the Government owned bakery, a cattle-feed processing plant and recreation grounds. On either side of the Western Railway track, and closeby to it have developed a number of middle and low income housing colonies, forming a number of nagars : the newer ones are further away from the rail head invariably on low, reclaimed ground. The coastal fishing hamlets maintain a semi-rural character. Though the ward as a whole is residential, a slow invasion by industries is taking place along the Western Express Highway, during the present times.

R Ward : The R ward lies along the northern limits of the Corporation area, to the west of the hills. It includes the modern Kandivli, Borivli and Dahisar areas, apart from the coastal villages of Gorai and Kulvem. The old settlement core still survives, though submerged in the townships, in Kanheri, Magthan, Akurli, Poisar, Shimpoli and Mandapeshwar. The National Park, a green belt on the fringes of the Corporation area, and the archaeological remains of the Buddhist caves on the slopes of the Kanheri hills, attracting large holiday crowds, lie in the east of the ward. The rest is residential in character, although still large open spaces are available for urban building. Along the Express Highway, a number of industries and industrial estates are springing up at the present times.

L Ward : The L ward is a long, narrow strip of an area, elongated north-south, extending from the Mahim creek to Powai lake. It includes Kurla, Chunabhatti, Saki, Chandivli and Asalpe areas. It is a mixed industrial-cum-low income residential area. Two old textile mills in the south of the area, the Premier Automobiles and Kamani Engineering Works in the middle, the Larsen and Toubro Engineering plants near Powai and a large number of small and large sized engineering units, inclusive of automobile accessories, silk mills and glassworks contribute to the industrial importance of the ward.

M Ward : The M ward covers more or less the area of the original Trombay island, now a protruding peninsula 6f Salsette through reclamation of the intervening tidal marshes. The area has a hill core and a number of foot-hill villages like Chembur, Mahul, Anik, Maroli, Deonar, Trombay, Nanole, the population of which in the past used to earn their living through fishing, salt making and paddy farming. The southern and eastern parts lying south of the hill complex forms a protected and restricted area housing the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, oil refineries, petro-chemicals, fertiliser plant, thermal power plant and associated industrial assemblage. Chembur in the last three decades has developed fast to emerge as a large and thriving middle income residential area of service seeking commuters, with its own shopping complex and social amenities. Chembur is growing mainly eastwards along the Trombay road to engulf Deonar, Govandi and Mankhurd into the township. Close to Mankhurd station, at the foot of the Trombay hills, on its northern flanks is developing a neighbourhood colony of Anushaktinagar, housing the staff of the BARC. Chembur-Deonar residential area is the home of prestigious institutions like the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and the International Institute of Population Studies. The modern abattoir, replacing the old Bandra slaughter house is located near Govandi station.

N Ward : The N ward lies north of M ward and east of L ward, and extends from the central hill ridge eastwards upto the Thane creek. The old village cores are Kirol, Powai, Kanjur, Bhandup and Haryali. Bhandup finds reference as an important settlement during the mediaeval Hindu period. The present day sections included in the ward are Ghatkopar-Rajawadi, Vikhroli and Bhandup. The Central Railway runs along the length of the ward, splitting into a western and an eastern part. The Lai Bahadur Shastri Marg, running parallel to the railway and to the west of it; and the Eastern Express Highway, recently constructed on reclaimed ground to the east of it, more or less demarcate the limits of built up area. To the east of the Eastern Express Highway, it is still tidal marshes mostly, and the last vestiges of the Bhandup salt pans are more or less on the way out. The area to the east of the railway is more resi­dential while a few large factories have come up; here have spring up in the last decade numerous middle and low income housing colonies and nagars on low, reclaimed ground. Of them, Ghatkopar-Rajawadi is better class, while Vikhroli and Bhandup have low income housing and squatter colonies, constituting large slums.

The area lying between the railway and Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg has developed into a ribbon of industrial area, mainly of light engineering, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and associated low income housing colonies. Heavy congestion of the truck traffic on the main roads, and overcrowded living mark the area.

T Ward : The T Ward lies along the northern fringe of the Corporation area. The western half is mostly in the wooded hills that carry the Tulsi and Vihar lakes. Barring a few villages like Tulsi, Vihar, Sai and Gundgaon, the area is the last left-over of the wilderness not yet ravaged by the urbanite. Along the railway has developed the township of Mulund, on either side of the tracks, and owes its growth partly to its proximity to the adjoining Thane industrial belt.

URBAN MORPHOLOGY AND LAND USE

Certain salient elements stand out in the urban morphology and land use of Greater Bombay. The old pre-British, pre-industrial core area stretches over Girgaum, Khetwadi, Bhuleshwar, Thakurdwar, Umarkhadi, Mandvi and Mazagaon. Morphologically, these areas are characterised by narrow main streets, widened to an extent in the recent past, crooked gullies and lanes, interwinning, old buildings with wooden balustrades overlooking the streets, high ceilings, and groupings into wadis and localities enclosed within a compound of high wall with a single entrance. The wadis are socially homogenous. The built-up areas practically consume the whole area, and there is little space devoted to open grounds, parks and recreation centres.

The city centre located in the Fort area is essentially a zone of administration, business, finance and wholesale trade. Recreation, higher education and hotels also find a strong localisation in this zone. The Fort houses most of the State and Central Government offices, offices of the railways, banks and business houses as well as those of airways, inland and overseas communications. The streets are relatively broad and straight and reveal a grid pattern within the old Fort areas. A small residential core of retail shopkeepers still persists as a pocket within this region, to the south of the railway terminal at Victoria Terminus. The eastern sections of the Fort, adjoining the water front has a cluster of business houses and offices handling port functions, and is skirted by streets dominated by banking. On the western side of the Fort, on newly reclaimed ground, are the only vast open grounds of South Bombay, the Azad, Cross and Oval lined on their edges by administrative offices.

To the south of the Fort, the retail shopping-cum-residential ribbon extends south along the Colaba causeway and ends rather abruptly in the low density residential zone, occupied by the Defence services in South Colaba.

The zone of contact that lies between the Fort, Girgaum, and Mandvi, namely the Dhobi Talao, Princess Street, Market areas, has retained its historical tradition of being the main area of wholesale and retail commerce. This shopping function extends in ribbon like extensions into the old core along the main roads. Street and road-wise differentia­tion and specialisation in shopping patterns is discernible e.g., hardware in Lohar Chawl, stationery in Abdul Rehman street, jewellery in Zaveri Bazar, leather work around the Phule Market, etc.

The elevations of Malabar, Walkeshwar and Cumballa hills house the upper class residential buildings in rows along different levels. The airy, western aspect with abundant sea breeze, proximity to the city centre and yet an aloofness from the congested old core have been res­ponsible for attracting the upper echelon of society like businessmen, financiers and top level administrators to the area. Much urban renewal in the area is evident; villas set in the midst of a rich green are being fast replaced by skyscraper buildings housing flats. Along the Back Bay, this upper class residential zone descends to a promenade of monotonously uniform multi storeyed apartment structures—the Marine Drive housing upper middle society. The south end of Marine Drive, close to the admini­strative area, houses the diplomatic enclaves of Cuffe Parade, and further beyond along the Foreshore road adjoining the newer reclamations of Back Bay is another zone of skyscrapers, just emerging and fast changing the skyline. This again is mainly upper class residential. The upper class residential zone of Cumballa Hill descends in the north to the Hornby Vellard and extends beyond along the Worli seaface in a residential zone very similar to the Marine Drive.

The eastern, water-front extending from the Fort, northwards right upto Sewri-Wadala hums with port functions. Docks and wharves, warehouses and godowns and associated auxiliary functions characterise the area. Here, life runs on a clockwork and bulk-handling basis. The roads are congested with a heavy truck traffic.

To the north of the old residential core is a bowl of depression, on ground reclaimed early in the phases of development of Bombay. The lowest levels of this depression adjoining the Hornby Vellard has been converted into the Race-course. Elsewhere, this area extending as far north as the other old nuclei of North Bombay—Dadar, Naigaum is the zone of the textile industry. The skyline is dotted with the smoking chimneys of factories all over. While large areas are enclosed within the compound walls of textile mills, this zone records fairly high population densities, because of the presence of a large number of industrial workers' tenements, ehawls, many of which are housed in dingy old dilapidated structures with limited amenities. This is par excellence the labour area of Bombay.

The northern sections of the city island extending from Prabhadevi in the west to Wadala in the east,Dadar to Mahim and Sion is a middle class residential area, developed during the forties and later, submerging the old village course. The roads are better aligned and wider and the houses are generally three-storeyed. Unlike the older residential zones of South Bombay, North Bombay can boast of more open space, parks and greens.

Beyond the Mahim Creek, along the "Western Railway and the Swami Vivekanand Road lie a succession of residential suburbs that have received and housed the population of middle income, service seekers. In the setting of these residential suburbs, some differentiation is noticeable, better suburbs on high grounds like Bandra, Pali Hill and Khar are the recipients of an upper strata of society, and such areas reveal considerable urban renewal in the suburbs and fast changing skylines. Middle and lower income housing colonies are strung all along the railways and on newly reclaimed grounds. Depressions, low-lying areas and creeksides house hutment dwellers. Though principally residen­tial, these suburbs have been invaded at several points like the CST Road, Kalina, outskirts of Parle and other areas by new industry.

Along the Central Railway, between Kurla and Mulund, new industrial units have developed during the last 30 years. Kurla, however, is an old textile industrial core, an outlier to the main cotton mill zone. North Kurla-Ghatkopar-Vikhroli is an automobile and light engineering zone. Further beyond, upto the municipal limits along the Shastri Marg is a zone of chemicals and drug industries, paints and inks. In these suburban areas one notes some semblance to order of the land use and attempts to segregate types of land use. Thus, in the Central Railway suburbs, lower class hutments lie mostly to the east on reclaimed land.

Between the two railways, along the link roads between the western and eastern suburbs an industrial zone has developed during the fifties and sixties. Unlike the old industrial core, the industries here are mostly small and medium in size and are housed in industrial estates like those of Powai, Marol, Saki and others. It is mainly a light engineering area, though film industry and chemicals are also present.

To the east of Kurla is a fast growing residential suburb of Chembur-Govandi-Deonar. The building of the new bridge across Thane creek to the mainland along this section is leading to a ribbon-like residential area development extending eastwards upto Mankhurd.

Trombay is a ' restricted' industrial area with a cluster of two oil refineries, a petro-chemical complex, a fertiliser plant, a thermal power unit, and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

A green belt is present in the north centre, clothing the hills of the central area. Substantial part of it, in Borivli, is devoted to the National Park, and south of it is a large reserve developed by the government owned Aarey Milk Colony. Where not under such reserves, the hillsides are under demolition by the quarrying industry. Such quarry sides have extensive development of hutments.

From the foregoing review, it is apparent that the suburban electrified railway service, the new highways, alternate arteries and trunk roads, act as powerful factors contributing to the new urban sprawl expansion. The post-war explosion of the metropolis is well reflected in the changing skylines of the city's landscape. A strong residential renewal is evident in the newer reclamations of the Foreshore zone, as well as in old core areas of urban decay.

Bombay Suburbs : Essentially a creation of the post-war explosive growth of population, sequential to the industrial and commercial expansion, the suburbs of Bombay reveal a still continuing urban sprawl in two ribbons northwards along the two railways. The suburban form broadly reveals the following elements and areal patterns : the original nucleus is a detached social pada, that has retained in most cases its anomalous co-existence with modern structures, that .submerge the nucleus. The initial development is somewhat planned, but has often subsequent unrelated, unplanned extensions. Retail shopping and hawking cluster around the railway station, the entry points on which converge the entire commuting population daily. Industrial extensions are peripheral, in open sites, but with the expansion of the suburbs get engulfed. Slums and hutments mark their limits along the low ground^ By and large, the suburban development is lop-sided, lacking in social and civic amenities.

Industrial Landscape : The unchecked and piecemeal growth of the city over last few decades to meet the growing needs of industries, commerce and port functions, and the growing population have resulted in a ' snow-balling' effect of its functions, though some functional zoning is visible. Industries have spread all over the city island, and have penetrated deep into the suburban zone.

The textile mill industry, with a bias towards weaving, has found a suitable localisation in the Parel-Mahalaxmi-Naigaum zone. The old core of oil mills and engineering units including machine building survives along the eastern outer front, particularly between Sewri and Mazagaon-Dongri. Industrial congestion and acute shortage of space have led to the recent expansion of the industrial landscape in ribbons along the main arteries and link roads of the suburban zone. Ready access to the rail yards, a relatively greater freedom of movement in the main roads, cheaper availability of land and nearness to the water and power mains have aided the rapid expansion of the industries in the suburbs. These newer industrial areas show a greater degree of differentiation according to types and their associations of auxiliary industries. North of the old textile core of Kurla, and adjoining the Kurla rail yard, automobile engineering and electrical engineering industries have found a localisation. A zone of light engineering extends further along the Central Railway and Agra road upto Vikhroli, while beyond Vikhroli, right upto the municipal limits in Mulund is an area of light chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals and associated industries like cosmetics. Large power and water absorbing industries, mostly medium sized engineering units like machine tools have developed along the Andheri-Kurla link road and Powai lake area, particularly in Marol, Saki and Powai. Film industry has a localisation along the fringe of this zone. Western suburbs, essen­tially residential, have so far withstood the penetration of industries in them barring a limited development of food processing industries, such as soft drinks and confectionery. It is only during the last decade that some industrial expansion, once again of engineering industries, is taking place along the Western Express Highway, to the east of residential zone of the western outer suburbs. Most of Trombay, away from the railway, is a zone of restricted industries, such as oil refineries, petro-chemicals, fertiliser and thermal power plant. These are industries that mostly need isolation.

Two facts of significance are noteworthy in the suburban industrial development. Quite a few of the suburban industries are post-war expansions of the industrial units already existing in the city island, and their business offices are still in the city centre. Many of these industries are small and medium scale and are housed in State aided and private industrial estates. Auxiliary and associated industries develop together under the same roof in such estates.

Greater Bombay, as a whole, has about 6,048 factories, engaging 6.4 lakh workers. The textile units are the main employers of the industrial labour accounting for 41 per cent, followed by transport equipment industries (9.6 per cent), chemicals (6.6 per cent) and printing (3.5per cent).

Port Functions and Commerce of Bombay:That the growth of Bombay into metropolis is primarily due to its commercial function needs hardly any emphasis. Though the rise of Bombay during the Portuguese and East India Company days was due to its maritime trade function, its commer­cial prosperity commenced with the opening of the Suez Canal route, its linkage with the agriculturally productive interior by railways and the growth of the cotton mill industry. The growth of port functions is intimately linked with its growth of commerce.

The port area of Bombay extends all along the eastern water front, ad­joining the harbour bay, from Pilot Bundar in the south to Wadala in the north. The port area covers about 761 hectares of land, out of which 283 hectares are the docks. The docks mostly built since mid-18th century comprise at present those of wet type—Prince's, Alexandra and Victoria with 51 berths, 3 of the deep water type—Ballard Pier, Bulk Oil and Butcher island with 6 berths, and two of the dry type—Merewether and Hughes, apart from a repair yard at Mazagaon. The port authorities maintain their own railway and road interconnecting the docks to handle cargo.

Though the hinterland of Bombay extends from Kashmir in the north, middle U. P. in the east and Karnatak in the south, deep inroads have been made into hinterland by other fast developing ports, Kandla in the north and Goa in the south. The present territory of Maharashtra will in any case remain its natural and basic hinterland. With the rapid expansion of the agricultural and industrial potentialities of Maharashtra, any dimunition of port traffic resulting from a loss in area of hinterland has been more than compensated, and the port trade in the last few decades has increased enormously. The establishment of the two oil refineries in Trombay has in no mean measure compensated, and the port trade in the last few decades has increased enormously. In 1937-38, the total weight of cargo handled at the Bombay docks amounted to 5.5 lakh tonnes, while in 1958-59, it was 11.8 lakh tonnes, and in 1971-72, it had expanded to 16.1 lakh tonnes. In the last mentioned year, the port receipts amounted to 304 million rupees and expenditure to 252 million rupees. In that year, 5.25 lakh passengers embarked or disembarked. The main items of imports into the port include petroleum, oil and lubricants, grains, cement and bricks, machinery and machine parts and naval and military stores. The exports comprise petroleum, oil and lubricants, oil-cakes, coal, manganese and other ores, hides and skins and spices. Imports far exceed exports. The total trade that passes through Bombay Port constitutes 43 per cent of the maritime trade of the country.

Apart from its port functions, the city's commerce derives its strength of vigour from being the biggest financial centre in the country. It is the seat of the main offices of many Indian banks and the chief centre in India for many scheduled foreign banks, apart from its holding the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India, the central banking and currency authority. As much as 19 per cent of the bank deposits of the nation, amounting to about Rs. 1,500 crores, are mobilised in this city. The Life Insurance Corpoiation, the stock exchange, the bullion and cotton markets all have their original and national economic circulation emanating from this city centre.

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GEOLOGY

(The section on Geology has been contributed by the Geological Survey of India, Pune.)

Greater Bombay comprises the Bombay, South Salsette and Trombay Islands, bounded by 18° 53' and 19° 20' North Latitude and 72° 45' and 73° 00' East Longitude. The area is a-small archipelago scattered along the west coast of India. The three major islands, Bombay, Trombay and Salsette are separated by tidal flats and creeks.

Many geologists studied the geology of Bombay. Thompson published the earliest geologic sketch of Bombay Island in 1836. A more detailed description was furnished subsequently by Buist in 1851 and by Carter in 1852 which was followed by that of Wynne of the Geological Survey of India in 1866. Hallowes prepared the first geological map of Bombay Island in 1922. In the later part of the first half of this century a host of other workers carried out geological studies on different aspects of the Bombay geology. Prominent among these are Krishnan (1930), Naidu (1932), Kalapesi and Contractor (1935, 1936), Kalapesi and Dalai (1942), L. P. Mathur (1932, 1934) and Sukheswala and Poldervaart (1958).

General: The entire Greater Bombay area is occupied by Deccan basalt flows and their acid and basic varients, poured out between the late Cretaceous and early Eocene times. The basaltic flows are hori­zontally bedded and are more or less uniform in character over wide areas. Certain extrusive and intrusive mafic types are associated with basalts and are found in the Bombay Islands and it's vicinity. This is in contrast to the monotonous uniformity displayed by the Deccan basalts in general. Furthermore, some fossiliferous sediments, mainly of tufaceous origin and partly of fresh water origin, rich in fauna, are also found in Bombay area.
The stratigraphic succession of rocks in Bombay area is given below :—

Recent	Alluvium, Sand and recent Conglomerate
Cretaceous to Eocene	Laterite
	Trap dykes
	Volcanic agglomerate and breccia Basalt flows with interbedded ash beds and fossiliferous fresh water shakes.

The Deccan traps belong to the plateau basalt and are so designated on account of their step-like or terraced appearance and their extensive distribution is up to South India (Deccan). They occupy about 5,18,000 sq. km. in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and parts of the Deccan, and form the most extensive geological formation of the Peninsular India, with the exception of the metamorphic and igneous complex of Archaean age.

The traps in general may be divided into three groups, viz., upper, middle and lower as indicated below :—

Upper Traps (457 m. thick)	Bombay and Kathiawar, with numerous intertrappean beds and layers of volcanic ash.
Middle Traps (1,220 m.thick)	Madhya Pradesh and Malwa, with numerous ash beds in the upper portions.
Lower Traps (152 m. thick)	Madhya Pradesh and eastern area, intertrappean beds, but rare ash beds.

The trap country is generally characterised by flat-topped hills and step-like terraces. In the amygdular flows, the top is usually highly vesicular and the middle faiily compact, while the lower portion often shows cylindrical pipes filled with secondary minerals. Vesicular and non­vesicular flows alternate with each other, or the flows may be separated by thin beds of volcanic ash or scoria or by lacustrine sediments known as the " Intertrappean " Beds. The traps attain their maximum thickness of over 2,133 metres near the Bombay coast. As many as 48 flows have been recognised in Western India from borehole data, the individual flows varying in thickness from a few metres to 40 metres (West, 1958).

Besides the common dolerite and basalt, the Deccan traps comprise other types like lamprophyre, limburgite, monchiquite, poiphyrite, andesite, monzonite, nepheline syenite, granophyre, rhyolite, obsidian and pitchstone. Felsitic differentiates such as the andesite, rhyolite, rhyodacite and pitchstone also occur in the Bombay area. Mafic types such as oceanite, ankaramite and monchiquite are also met within this area. Flows of picrite basalt, olivine basalt and oligoclase andesite occur in Deccan basalt terrain, but are not found in the Bombay area.((These uncommon types are so far reported at Pavagad hill (Gujarat State) about 375 km. NNE of Bombay. )

A typical Deccan trap is essentially composed of plagioclase felspar (An 50-70), augite and interstitial glass. The amount of pyroxene decreases with increase in proportion of interstitial glass. Both pyroxene and plagioclase occur as phenocrysts. Pigeonite has been reported to occur in the ground mass and as phenocrysts in some basalts. The glassy ground mass sometimes alters to palagonite, chlorophaeite, celadonite and delessite. Olivine, when present, is usually altered to iddingsite, delessite and.serpentine. Magnetite and ilmenite are found in all types.

Some secondary minerals are often developed in the basalts either as infillings in the amygdular cavities or as products of alteration and replacement. The minerals of late hydrothermal activity are zeolites, calcite, chalcedony etc,

Bombay Islands : Bombay Island has ridges along its western and eastern sides. The city of Bombay is built on the central low-lying part of the island. The western ridge comprises stratified ash beds overlain by hard, massive andesitic lava flows, both formations showing gentle tilt towards the west. The stratified ashes which display variegated colours and variable textures attain a total thickness of about 45 m. The varieties are, from bottom to top : (i) coarse grained acid fuffs of variegated colouis noticed to the east of Worli fort, (ii) Yellowish brown ash exposed near Chowpatty beachy along the embankment of Walkeshwar road, Malabar-Cumballa ridge, Haji Ali tomb and the Worli and Worli fort hills. The exposures at Worli contain fossil tortoise and frogs (Rana Pussilla) and  (iii) coarse  grained   carbonaceous ash   covered  by yellowish brown tuffaceous ash devoid of fossils.

The ash beds are capped by massive lava flows which attain a thickness of about 16 m. The rocks are aphanitic, have a conchoidal fracture and exhibit conspicuous hexagonal columnar jointing. They are exposed on the Malabar, Cumballa, Worli hills and extend on to the Salsette island. Dark coloured fossiliferous shales attaining a thickness of about 2 m. are exposed at the foot of the Worli hills. Being deposited during a period of quiescence and overlain by a later flow, these beds are known as ' Intertrappean Beds'. They are very significant as the fossils in them are helpful in fixing the possible age of the associated lava flows.

The eastern ridge represents a different suite of rocks. They are, from bottom to top : (i) basalt, greenish amygdaloidal basalt exposed at Bhoiwada, Mazagaon and Koliwada hills, (ii) red ash breccia noticed in the exposures at Sion, (iii) highly chilled basic lavas of Sewri fort and Antop hills, described as Melaphyre in the older literature, (iv) stratified ashes of Sewri and Cotton Green; the exposures described by earlier students of the geology of Bombay are now covered by buildings, but are exposed in some road cuttings.

The geology of the intervening low lands is more or less obscured by the development of the city of Bombay, but some of the recent excavations near Flora Fountain, Old Custom House and Dadar have revealed the presence of either the greenish-grey basalt or the yellowish brown ash.

Salsette Island : The central portions of Salsette island comprise a range of hills trending north-south merging into the tidal swamps towards the east; while towards the west these hills pass into wide plains with a few isolated hillocks. Basalt is the major rock unit constituting the main ridge extending from Ghatkopar, Vikhroli, east of Jogeshwari, Aarey Milk Colony to Kanberi and beyond. At places, there are ash beds intervening between successive flows; these may be seen in the cuttings of the Western Express Highway passing through Jogeshwari. The isolated hills near Andheri, Jogeshwari railway station, Chincholi and Mandapeshwar are also largely composed of basaltic types. Acid to sub-acid types are associated with the basalts atDongri, Manori, Madh, Karodiwadi, Malad and Kurla. The basalts in the quarries at Gilbert hill, Andheri, exhibit perfect columnar jointing with spectacular pentagonal columns, over 40 m. in height.

Another interesting geological feature is the occurrence of a vast thick­ness of volcanic agglomerate near Tulsi lake and Kanheri caves, indicating a possible volcanie focus from which much of the pyroclastic rocks in the Bombay and Salsette islands may have extruded. These agglomerates are largely made up of elongated sub-angular vesicular bombs, blocks of brown chert, trachyte, volcanic ejectment and small pieces of yellow to reddish brown limonitic matter, varying in size from a few centimetres to as much as one metre, set in a matrix of dense, dull light grey amorphous material. At places this matrix resembles bauxite. Some of these agglomerates show fine banding and layers with alternate siliceous and tuffaceous matter, at places with beautiful and intricate plications and contortions. Some of the horizons of the agglomerates and breccias, particularly those which are bauxitised, are quite soft. Differential weather­ing has resulted in the siliceous bands which stand out as fine minute ribs in some places, simulating fossil wood. This feature, may be observed in caves No. 84, 85, 86 and 87 at Kanheri.

The basalts are intersected by sills and dykes of olivine do leiite, tachylyte, etc. The dykes have a general north-south trend and appear to be limited to the eastern margin of the main ridge from west of Mulund, and the eastern banks of the Vihar lake to Vikhroli. Some of these dykes extend further south towards Mankhurd, Chembur and Nanole in the Trombay Island.

Volcanic breccias and ashes interbedded with basalts are noticed at several places near Ghod Bundar, around Tulsi and Vihar lakes, Santacruz, Kurla and Sion. The plains to the west of the main ridge extending from north of Bandra to Borivli and beyond are clothed by marine alluvium represented by saline marine muds, recent shell-limestones, calcareous sand stones, etc. A fair stretch of shore sands with occasional duns extends from Juhu in the south to Varsova, Marve and Manori in the north.

Trombay Island : This island is separated from Bombay and Salsette by extensive tidal flats with a series of low hills extending north-south in the centre. Facies of amygdaloidal olivine basalt dipping gently towards west, with ramified layers and dykes of rock types described variously as oceanite, ankaramite and monchiquite etc., are prevalent in this area.

Laterite : Small plateaus east of Kanheri caves and south-west of Tulsi lake are covered by laterite with bauxite pockets at 500 m. elevation above sea level.

Structure :

Faults : A well marked fault is seen near Antop hill. Sukheswala (1958) has given evidence for two north-south running faults in Bombay island, one to the east of western ridge and other running along the western ridge. The faults extend into Salsette island and have maximum throw of 75' and 40', respectively.

Submergence of land in Bombay : Wynne reported in 1860 that the blue clay of the flats containing mangrove roots is said to have been found near Sion and in other parts of the island, undisturbed at places, now beyond the reach of the sea. Above this, at an elevation of 10 feet above sea level, are sea shells, gravel and sand, loose or cemented into a variety of open shell limestone having 8 to 10 ft. thickness. This indicates that the clay containing the roots of mangroves, which grow only within the tide marks, must have been depressed in order to allow the stratified deposit of sea. Shells and gravel are believed to have accumulated, and afterwards both must have been elevated to the height at which they are found now Ormiston (1878, 1881) had discovered a submerged forest during the Prince's Dock excavations. This indicates submergence of at least 30 ft.

Economic Geology : No minerals of economic importance are found in the Bombay area except pockets of bauxite in the laterite plateau, east of Kanheri caves. However, large quantities of building stones required for construction work in Greater Bombay area are mainly supplied from the quarries in the vicinity. The main rock types quarried are basalt, andesite and granophyric trachyte, basalt being the most abundant of all. The famous Gateway of India at Bombay is built out of granophyric trachyte.

Groundwater Conditions : The area coming under Greater Bombay limits is covered by Deccan lava flows, with intertrappean beds occurring at a few places. The yield for well in basaltic terrain depends on the thick­ness of the weathered zone of the basaltic flows, and the presence of joints and fissures, whereas the yield for well in intertrappean beds is dependent on their lighologic character. The sandy and calcareous intertrappean beds yield a copious supply of water, whereas the beach sands and clayey sands which overlie the basaltic flows along the coast, carry lenses of fresh water supported by a zone of brackish water which has hydraulic contact with the sea. Heavy drawal of water here upsets the equilibrium between the fresh and brackish water interface. The groundwater available to the wells in Greater Bombay region, however is mostly from these formations.

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CLIMATE

(The section on  climate' is contributed by the Meteorological Department  of the Government of India, Pune.)

The climate of Greater Bombay is characterised by an oppressive summer, dampness in the atmosphere nearly throughout the year, and heavy south-west monsoon rainfall. The cold season from December to February is followed by the summer season from March to June. The period from June to about the end of September constitutes the south-west monsoon season, and October and November form the post-monsoon season.

Rainfall: The records of rainfall in Bombay are available for two stations, Kuria and Colaba for 72 and 88 years, respectively. Records of rainfall at a few other locations in Greater Bombay are available for a few years. The details of the rainfall are given in table Nos. 1 and 2. The average annual rainfall is 1917.3 mm (75.48"). Considering the rainy season as a whole, vaiiation in the rainfall from place to place in Greater Bombay is hot much. But on individual days the rainfall pattern is by no means uniform and the rainfall at some places is very heavy compared to other places. The variation in the rainfall from year to year is quite appre­ciable. In the 50-year period from 1901 to 1950 the highest annual rainfall amounting to 167 per cent of the annual normal occurred in 1917. The lowest annual rainfall, which was only 51 per cent of the normal, occurred in 1905. In this 50-year period the annual rainfall in Greater Bombay was less than 80 percent of the normal in 10 years, two consecutive years of such low rainfall occurring twice. About 94 per cent of the annual rainfall in Greater Bombay is received during the south-west monsoon months of June to September. July is the rainiest month when about one-third of the annual rainfall is received. Some rainfall mostly as thundershowers is also received during the month of May and the post-monsoon months. During the period December to April there is very little rainfall. It will be seen from table No. 2 that the annual rainfall in Greater Bombay was between 1,700 and 2,300 mm (68" and 92") in 26 years out of 50.

On an average there are 73 rainy days (i.e. days with rainfall of 2.5 mn-, pr more) in a year at Colaba and 80 at Kurla. The heaviest rainfall in 24 hours recorded in Greater Bombay was 548.1 mm (21 . 58") at Colaba on 10th September 1930. This record was however exceeded to over 22" on 4th July 1974 at Colaba. The unprecedented rainfall was ascribed to a cyclone.

Temperature: There are meteorological observatories at Colaba and Santacruz. In general Santacruz is slightly warmer during day, colder during night than Colaba, especially in the cold season. After February there is steady increase of temperature till May which is generally the hottest month.

The mean daily maximum temperature in May is 32.9°C (91'2°F) at Colaba and 33.3°C (91.9°F) at Santacruz. The mean daily minimum temperature in May is 26.5°C (79.7°F) at Colaba and nearly the same at Santacruz. Due to prevailing high humidities the weather during the summer is very oppressive. On some days the maximum temperature goes above 40°C (104.0°F). The afternoon sea breezes bring some welcome relief from the heat. After the onset of the monsoon by about the beginning of June, the weather becomes progressively cooler. But, towards the end of the south-west monsoon season, day temperatures begin to increase and a secondaiy maximum in day temperature is reached in October. The October heat is veiy oppressive in some years. Nights, however, become progressively cooler after the withdrawal of the monsoon.   After November the day temperatures  also begin to decrease. January is generally the coldest month with the mean daily maximum temperature at 28.5°C (83.3°F) at Colaba and 30.6°C (87.1°F) at Santacruz. The mean daily minimum temperature is 19.3°C (66.7°F) at Colaba and 17.1 °C (62.8°F) at Santacruz. In the cold season, in association with passing western disturbances across north India, the minimum temperature occasionally drops down to about 10°C. (50'0°F).

The highest maximum temperature recorded at Colaba was 40.6°C (105- 1°F) on April 19,1955 and that at Santacruz was 42-2°C (1080°F) on April 14, 1952. The lowest minimum was 11.7°C (53.1°F) at Colaba on January 15,1935 and February 1,1929 and that at Santacruz was 10'0°C (50-0°F) on January 17, 953 and February 10, 1950.

Humidity : In general Colaba is slightly more humid than Santacruz. Usually mornings are more humid than the afternoons over Greater Bombay. In the period from June to October the relative humidity is above 75 per cent. The driest part of the year is the afternoons during the period from November to February with relative humidity between 50 and 65 per cent.

Cloudiness : During the south-west monsoon months the skies are generally heavily clouded or overcast. Cloudiness decreases after the withdrawal of the south-west monsoon towards the end of September. During the period December to March clear or lightly clouded skies prevail generally. Later cloudiness increases with the progress of the season.

Winds : Winds are generally moderate, but they greatly increase in force during the monsoon months. Winds during May and the south­west monsoon season are mainly from directions between south-west and north-west. In the rest of the year winds blow from directions between north and east in the mornings and between west and north in the afternoons.

Special Weather Phenomena : During the later part of the summer and post-monsoon months some of the storms and depressions from the Arabian sea affect the weather, causing widespread heavy rain and gusty winds. Thunderstorms occur during the later part of the summer and in the months of September and October. Rain in the monsoon season is often associated with thunder.

Table Nos. 3, 4 and 5 give the temperature and humidity, mean wind speed and special weather phenomena, respectively for Colaba, and table Nos. 3(a), 4(aT and 5(a) give similar data for the Santacruz station.

Table No.1

NORMALS AND EXTREMES OF RAINFALL IN GREATER BOMBAY

Station	No. of years of data	Jan.	Feb	Mar.	Apr.	May	June	July	Aug.	Sept.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual	Highest annual rainfall as%of normal and year	Lowest annual rainfall as % of normal and year ( Years given in brackets)	Heviest  rainfall in 24 hours ( Based on all available data up to 1959)
																	Amount (mm)	Date
Kurla	50         a	3.1	1.3	0.8	2.5	17.3	476.0	725.9	414.8	295.7	75.7	15.7	0.8	2029.6	191 (1917)	54    (1941)	354.3	1915 Jun. 2
	b	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.1	0.8	14.7	24.5	21.5	14.4	3.0	0.7	0.2	80.3
Colaba	50         a	4.1	2.0	1.5	1.5	18.3	464.8	613.4	328.9	286.0	64.5	17.5	2.3	1804.8	153 (1949)	47    (1904)	548.1	1930 Sept. 10
	b	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.8	14.2	22.2	18.2	12.6	3.0	0.8	0.3	72.7
Greater Bombay (District).	a	3.6	1.7	1.1	2.0	17.8	470.4	669.7	371.9	290.9	70.1	16.6	1.5	1917.3	167 (1917)	51 (1905)
	b	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.8	14.5	23.3	19.9	13.5	3.0	0.7	0.3	76.6

1. Normal rainfall in mm.
2. Average number of rainy days (days with rain of 2.5 mm or more).

 

TABLE No. 2

Frequency of Annual Rainfall in the Greater Bombay District
(Data 1901-1950)

Range in mm	No. of years	Range in mm	No. of years
901—1100	3	2101—2300	5
1101—1300	2	2301-2500	4
1301—1500	3	2501—2700	4
1501—1700	7	2701—2900	0
1701—1900	6	2901—3100	0
1901—2100	15	3101—3300	1

 

TABLE No. 3
NORMALS OF TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY (COLABA)

Month	Mean Daily Maximum Temperature	Mean Daily Minimum Temperature	Highest Maximum ever recorded		Lowest Minimum ever recorded		Relative Humidity
							0830	1730*
	°C	°C	°C	Date	°C	Date	Per cent	Per cent
January	28.5	19.3	35.0	1961, January 17	11.7	1935, January 15	70	64
February	28. 6	19.8	38.3	1949, February 28	11.7	1929, February 1	71	62
March	30.3	22.2	39.7	1958, March 8	16.7	1905, March 2	73	64
April	31.8	24.6	40.6	1955, April 19	20.0	1905, April 1	75	67
May	32.9	26.5	36.2	1959, May 1	22.8	1951, May 25	73	69
June	31.5	26.0	37.2	1901, June 10	21.1	1936, June 28	79	78
July	29.7	24.9	35.6	1902, July 11	21.7	1945, July 7	84	85
August	29.5	24.6	32.2	1948, August 28	21.7	1943, August 10	83	83
September	29.8	24 .3	35.0	1929, September 26	20.0	1947, September 29	85	81
October	31.6	24.3	35.7	1957, October 29	20.6	1954, October 29	81	74
November	31.9	22.6	36.1	1957, November 21	17.8	1881, November 20	72	67
December	30.4	20.5	35.1	1959, December 3	12.8	1929, December 21	70	63
Annual	30.5	23.3					76	71

*Hours I.S.T.

TABLE No. 3(a)
NORMALS OF TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY (SANTACRUZ)

Month	Mean Daily Maximum Temperature	Mean Daily Minimum Temperature		Highest Maximum ever recorded		Lowest Minimum ever recorded		Relative Humidity
								0830	1730*
	°C	°C		°C	Date	°C	Date	Per cent	Per cent
January	30.6		17.1	36.2	1961, January 17	10.0	1953, January 17	63	48
February	31.6		17.2	39.4	1953, February 27	10.0	1950, February 10	61	46
March	32.8		20.2	41.7	1956, March 28	15.0	1952, March 4	65	50
April	33.4		23.5	42.2	1952, April 14	18.3	1951, April 3	67	57
May	33.3		26.4	38.8	1959, May 1	20.6	1951, May 25	69	65
June	31.7		25.9	36.7	1951, June 11	22.2	1954, June 19	80	74
July	29.6		24.8	34.8	1960, July 22	22.2	1959, July 1	86	82
August	29.0		24.4	31.1	1954, August 31	19.4	1950, August 1	87	82
September	29.7		23.8	35.6	1951, September 30	21.7	1953, September 27	86	75
October	32.4		22.6	36.8	1960, October 22	16.7	1952, October 30	75	65
November	33.0		19.6	36.1	1951, November 2	13.3	1950, November 19	61	53
December	32.1		17.9	35.2	1958, December 2	10.6	1949, December 23	62	51
Annual	31.6		22.0					72	62

*Hours I.S.T.

TABLE No. 4

MEAN WIND SPEED IN KM/HR
(COLABA)

January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	Annual
10.5	11.1	11.4	11.3	10.6	14.8	18.0	15.4	10.9	9.7	10.0	10.1	12.0

TABLE No. 4 (a)

MEAN WIND SPEED IN KM/HR
(SANTACRUZ)

January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	Annual
8.3	9.2	10.4	11.6	12.8	15.1	19.0	16.1	10.8	7.6	7.1	7.6	11.3

TABLE No. 5

SPECIAL WEATHER PHENOMENA
(COLABA)

Mean No. of days with	Jan.	Feb.	Mar.	Apr.	May	June	July	Aug.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Thunder	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.5	1.1	4.5	0.7	0.2	2.7	3.1	1.0	0.0	14.2
Hail	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Dust-storm	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1
Squall	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	2.4	1.6	0.7	0.1	0.8	0.1	0.0	5.8
Fog	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2

TABLE N o. 5 (a)
SPECIAL WEATHER PHENOMENA (SANTACRUZ)

Mean No. of days with	Jan.	Feb.	Mar.	Apr.	May	June	July	Aug.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Thunder	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.7	1.8	7.0	1.6	1.0	3.0	2.8	0.1	0.0	18.4
Hail	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Dust-storm	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Squall	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.2	2.3	4.8	3.9	1.0	0.7	0.0	0.0	13.0
Fog	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.3

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FORESTS

The Bombay island is totally devoid of any forest at present. The National Park on the Northern outskirts of the western suburbs of Bombay is the only forest worth the name. The old accounts of Bombay and South Salsette which now comprise Greater Bombay show that there was a considerable vegetation growth in many parts. The immense growth of urbanisation and industrialisation, however, reduced the floral wealth of the city. Extensive areas under vegetation were rendered barren either for human habitation or for industrialisation; Astage has now come that extensive areas in the city are without any vegetation worth the name.

Old Marathi documents and the statements of early European writers have proved conclusively that Bombay originally consisted of seven separate islands, which remained practically unaltered in shape until the eighteenth century. During the era of later Hindu1 and Mohammedan sovereignty the area, now known as Apollo Bundar, was dotted with palm-groves and tamarind trees. Between Dongri hill and Malabar hill there were groves and orchards of oak-trees, brabs, ber-trees and plantains, extending to and perhaps covering the outskirts of modern Girgaum. There was a thick jungle on the slopes of the Malabar hill, and the reran a pathway known as shidi (probably the present Shery Road) from Malabar Hill to Gamdevi through groves and babul plantations. Tama­rinds covered the land south of Parel. The Mahim area is described to be covered with trees of cocoas, jacks and mangoes. The kasba of Mahim contained 70,000 cocoa-palms, several gardens and rice fields while the village of Matunga was devoted to rice cultivation.

The vegetation of the island, in 1909 was composed almost entirely of types which prevailed in densely populated areas and which are usually known as weeds of cultivation. Most of the trees were grown along the road-sides, a certain number were cultivated in groves and orchards for their shade or for their fruit and other products, while the ordinary shrubs and trees which grew wild in villages on the western coast were also met with in considerable numbers. Many non-indigenous species were also grown in public and private gardens.

The luxuriant groves and gardens have almost disappeared now due to human encroachment. The only forest area within Greater Bombay lies in the Borivli National Park and the catchment areas of the Tulsi, Vihar and Powai lakes and the Krishnagiri upawan.

The forests in Bombay district consist of 8.07 sq. km. of reserved forests and 11.11 sq. km. of municipal foiests which are entirely under the management of the Forest Department. These forests are included in the National Park, Borivli, for the preservation of scenic, flotal, faunal, geological. historical and archaeological features in an unimpaired state for generations to come- In the National Pa!rk no silvicultural operations are carried out, and the exploitation as well as tending of the crop have been stopped.

The important species found in the Bombay forests are Teak, Khair {Acacia Catechu), Sisav (Dalbergia latifolia), Hed (Adina or Nauclea Cordifolid), Kalamb (Stephegyne or Nauclea Parvifolia) and Bamboo.

The major portion of the forests forms the catchment areas of the Tulsi and the Vihar lakes with high hills rising on all sides. The vegetation in the Tulsi catchment area ranges from pure ever-green vegetation on hill tops to the marshy growth along the fringe of the lake. The middle zone is represented by the mixed deciduous types with teak and other timber. Teak is found mixed with trees like aim, hed, kalamb, humb and climbers in moist areas, and is mixed with deciduous trees like sowar and pangara in drier parts. In the catchment area of the Vihar lake, there is a higher percentage of Khair species. Towards the lake, the percentage of tad trees increases progressively, while percentage of other species decreases. The lake is surrounded by thickly grown tad trees.

Since the forests ate included in the National Park all fellings and exploitation in these forests have been suspended from 1968-69. The main function of the Forest Department, therefore, lies in protection of the forests and regeneration of the forests, to improve the growing stock and beautify the park, construction of roads, rope ways, water channels, and provision of accommodation for tourists, etc.

The Maharashtra Government intends to develop the National Park as a holiday resort and place of tourist interest. This is particularly essential in view of the lack of recreation facilities in the city. In pursuance to this the Government decided to develop a lion sanctuary on the model of the Gir Sanctuary in Gujarat. Accordingly a lion safari was established at the National Park in the seventies. The lion park extends over an area of about 13 hectares. As many as nine lions were kept in the sanctuary initially. The lions are kept in the natural environment.

The lion park is open to visitors and tourists who can have a close view of the king of the jungle roaming in this free environment in the Park, from buses specially provided for the purpose.

The lion park has been developed by the Maharashtra Government at the cost of Rs. 9.33 lakhs, a major part of which has been contributed by the Government of India. Besides the lion park, the Government have also provided a children's recreation park and a mini railway train (Vanarani) at the National Park.

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WILD ANIMALS AND BIRDS

Bombay is now so populous and overcrowded that it is no more a congenial home for wild animals. Human encroachment on their natural habitat has totallyed wild life in the environs of Bombay.

In the past a part of Salsette, which is now included in Bombay, was the hunt of wild animals like hyena, tiger, lion, leopard, panther, bison, jackal, deer, etc. Monkeys (Primates) existed in a strictly wild state prior to several generations. The jungle cat (felis chaus), the small Indian civet and the Indian palm-civet were occasionally found in the northern portion of the island, while the mungoose (herpestes munge) was of fairly frequent occurrence in Sewri, Sion and Mahim. The chief domestic animals such as horses, cattle and goats were imported in Bombay and were bred only on a very small scale in the city.

Greater Bombay at present comprises mainly of residential and industrial areas. The reclamation of vast areas in the recent years, the ever growing pressure of population, development of roads and the advent of the motor car and loiry have had a disastrous effect upon wild life. At present there is no forest in the true sense of the teim except the Borivli forest, extending over an area of about 19.18 sq. km. Hence, wild life as such is almost extinct from Bombay.

The fauna mainly consists of the common varieties of domesticated animals, such as, cows, oxen, buffaloes, sheeps, goats, pigs, donkeys, and mules. Wild life is now seen only within the National Park. Among the big game the panther is found mainly in the hills with the low dense shrubs. It sometimes comes down to prey upon stray cattle, dogs, etc. near the paik. Recent introduction of blue bull in the park has also added to the big game in the National Park. These inhabit the low-lying flat areas near the lakes of Tulsi and Vihar. The small game includes rabbit, jungle fowl, mungoose and species of squirrels. The jungle fowl in particular is abundant in the thorny bushes which occur in most of the places as undergrowth in the park areas.

The Tulsi and Vihar lakes are reported to provide a habitat to crocodiles and alligators which come sometimes to the banks of the lakes to bake in the sun.

The vertebrate wild life of the Bombay Suburban District includes, besides a number of fishes, 42 species of mammals, 251 species of birds including migratory—land and water birds, 38 species of reptiles and species of amphibia. The wild life is characteristic of that part of west Coast of India which is north of Belgaum and south of Surat. This is, for the most part, wild life of the Deccan peninsula enriched with some elements of wild life of Kerala which is so markedly different from that of the Deccan peninsula, as Salsette island, of which the park is a part, was isolated effectively from the main land till few decades past.

Some sedentary of the adjacent main land are conspicuous by thtir rarity in the park.

A brief description of some of the important species is given below :

Tiger (Panthera tigris) : The Indian tigfer is a rich coloured well-stripped animal with a short coat. The average size is 275 to 290 centimetres.

Jungle Cat {Fells Cham) : With its long legs and comparatively short tail the jungle cat has a very distinctive appearance. Its pale green eyes give it a coldly cruel expression. The colour of its fur varies from sandy grey to yellowish grey. The tail is ringed with black towards the end and has a black tip. The paws are pale yellowish, black underneath. The ears are reddish. Underside of the body is pale with vestiges of stripes on the underside and flanks. The size of a Jungle cat is a little over 60 centimetres.

Chital or spotted Deer (Axis axis) : The Chltal is the most beautiful of all deer. Its coat is a bright rufous-fawn profusely spotted with white at all ages and in all seasons. Old bucks are more brownish in colour and darker. The lower series of spots on the flanks are arranged in longitudinal rows and suggest broken linear markings.

The graceful antlers have three times a long brow tine set nearly at right angles to the beam and two branch tines at the top. The outer tine, the continuation of the beam is always longer. Old bucks often have one or more false points on the brow antler where it joins the main beam. The averrage size of the spotted deer is about 85 cm.

Sambar (Cerus unlcolor nlger) : The coat of the sambar is coarse and shaggy. In the hot weather much of the hair is shed. The general colour is brown with a yellowish or greyish tinge. Females are lighter in tone. Old stags tend to become very dark, almost black. The antlers are stout and rugged. The brow tine is set at an acute angle with the beam. At its summit, the beam forks into two nearby equal tines. The Sambar is the largest Indian deer and carries the grandest horns. Its height at shoulder is nearby 15Q centimetres.

Four-horned Antelope (Tetraceros quadrlcornls) : The four-horned Antelope or chowshlnga and the Nilgai are distinguished from the true antelopes by several characters. Its horns are not ringed as in the case of true antelopes proper. They are keeled in front. The females are harmless. These animals are grouped in a separate sub-family, viz., the Boselaphinae. The four horned antelope is the only member of this group with two pair of horns. Of these the front pair is always shorter. One of the most interesting features of a chowshlnga is the presence of a pair of well- developed glands between the false hooves of the hindlegs in both males and feniales. The colour of its coarse coat is dull red brown above and white below, oldbucks are yellowish. There is a dark stripe down the front oft each of its legs. It is broader and more defined on the forelegs. The height of a male is about 65 centimetres.

Indian Wild Boar (Sus indicus) : The Indian wild boar is allied to the European boar, but distinctive in its sparser coat and in its fuller crest or mane of black bristles reaching from the nape down the back. The colour of the animal is black mixed with grey, rustybrown and white hairs. The tushes are well developed in the males. The upper and lower tushes curve outwards and project from the mouth. A well grown male stands 90 centimetres high at the shoulder and its weight exceeds 230 kg.

Monkeys : Three species of monkeys viz., the Bonnet, Rhesus Macaques and the common langur occur in the National Park, Borivli.

1. Bonnet Macaque (Macaca radiata) : It is a medium sized long tailed macaque. A bonnet of long dark hairs radiates in all directions from whorl on its crown. The bonnet does not quite cover the forehead where the hair are short neatly parted in the centre. The coat of this monkey is variable both among individuals and with the season. In the cold weather it is usually lustrous olive brown and the underparts whitish. With the onset of the hot weather the coat loses its lustre, turns harsh and scraggy and fades to a buffy grey. Silting on its haunches this monkey is just under 60 cm. high.
   
2. Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) : The Rhesus has the usual squat, thickset build of a macaque. The hair on its crown radiate back­wards from the forehead without the neat centre parting so distinctive in its relative the macaque of the southern India. The orange-red fur on its loins and rump distinguishes it from any other Indian monkey. The size of a male rhssus is about 60 cm. high in a sitting position, and scales about 7 to 10 kg.
   
3. Common Langur or Hanuman Monkey (Presbytis entellus) : This is a long-limbed, long tailed, black faced monkey seen as much about towns and villages as in forests in India. Langurs from the Himalayas, Peninsular and Southern India and Ceylon are not distinct species, but merely races of a single species differing in size, heaviness of coat and details of colour. The size of a langur is 60 to 75 cm. high in a sitting position.

Striped Hyena (Hyaena striata) : A dog-like bull, massive head and fat body, weak hindquarters, and a heavy dorsal crest of long hairs sharply defined from the rest of the coat, distinguish the hyena. Its colour varies from cream, buff or tawny to grey or dirty white. There are trans­verse stripes on its body and limbs. The total length of a male is about 150 cm. and its height is about 90 cm.

Indian Hare (Lepus nigricollis) : The blacknaped hare is distinctive in having a dark brown or black patch on the back of its neck from the ears to the shoulder while the upper surface of tail is black. In the northern parts of its range this nape patch is grey.

Birds : The most abundant wild life encountered in Greater Bombay at present consists of bird fauna. A variety of birds occur all over Bombay city and suburbs, and particularly in the National Park, which are listed below :—

• Red vented bulbul (Molpastes cafercafer);
• Red whiskered bulbul (Old compsa joacosus fuscicandata);
• Spotted babbler (Pellorneum ruficeps);
• Yellow eyed babbler (Chrysomma, sinensis);
• Indian tree pie (Dendrocitta vagabunda vagabunda);
• Indian shama (Kittacincla Malabarica malabarica);
• Red breasted flycatcher (siphiaparva subsp);
• Black Dxongo (Dicrurus macrocercus);
• Racket tailed (Discemurus paradisous malabaricus);
• Tailor bird (Orthotomus, sutorius guzeratd);
• Indian oriole (Oriolus oriolus, kundoo);
• Common myna (Acridotheres tristis tristis);
• Commom babbler (Argya candata candata);
• White throated babbler (Dumetia hyperythra);
• Central Indian tora (Egithina tiphinon humei);
• Malabar gold fronted chloropise (Chloropsis auripons frontalis);
• Blue throat thrush (Cyapro sybroia succica pallidogularis);
• White throated ground thrush (Ceokichla citrina cyamotus);
• Blue rock thrush (Monticola solitaris pandoo);
• Paradise flycatcher (Tehitrea paradisi paradisi);
• White spotted fontail flycatcher (Leucocirca Pectorlispectorlis);
• Little minivet (Pericrocotus perogrinus peregrinus);
• Rupus-backed shrike {Lanius sehach erythronotus);
• Streaked fontail warbler (Cisticola juncidis);
• Black headed oriole (Oriolus anthormus maderas patanus);
• Common weaver-bird or Baya (Plocens philippinus philippinus);
• Ashy-crowned or black-bellied finch lark (Eremoptenix grisea grised);
• Loten's sun bird (Cinnyris lotenid);
• Purple sun bird (Cinnyris asiatica asiaticd);
• Indian pitta (Pitta brachyws);
• Southern yellow fronted pied woodpecker (Dryobates mamattensis mamattensis).

Besides, there are many other winter visitors (migratory birds) which come to Bombay in, December and January. It is reported that some of the winter visitors come to Bombay from foreign countries including Russia, Mediterranean countries, Iran and Afghanistan. In the coastal areas, are found brown headed kingfishers, white breasted kingfishers (Halcyon, Smyrnensis Smyrnensis) and filed kingfisher. These are very common along the coast and are frequently seen catching the fishes and taking fishes from the left overs of the fishermen.

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FISH AND FISHERIES

Bombay is known as a fishing centre from the earliest days and fishing was one of the chief industries during the pre-British epoch. Not only did the harbour yield fish supply but also the estuaries, ponds and tanks on the island were exploited for fishing. The Kolis followed fishing as hereditary occupation and carried their operations from Colaba, Chaupati, Mazagaon, Worli, Sion, Mahim, Bandra, Trombay, Madh, Danda, Vesava, etc.

A larger fishing boat which is traditionally used by Bombay Kolis is styled as Machava. Besides, ballyav and toni are also used. These boats are made almost entirely of teak, though occasionally some of their parts are made of mango tree and jack tree. They are built chiefly at Papdi near Vasai in Thane district and a few at Manori. The cost of a fishing boat in the past varied from Rs. 200 to Rs. 700 according to size and quality. The nets used by the Kolis were called Dhol, Bhokse Jal, etc. Formerly salt water was used to preserve the fish. Subsequently Kolis started to use ice for preservation of fish. There was little curing of fish in Bombay. The Bombil was not gutted before it was salted. It was simply hung up on strings in the sun for 3-4 days. The small fry was merely thrown on the sand to decompose and to dry in the sun, and then sold as manure. Fish canning and pickling on the western style was wholly unknown to the Bombay Kolis in the past.

At present marine fishing villages are concentrated along the coast line which is about 80 km. in length. There are about 21 fishing villages along the West coast, many of which are tidal ports. The tide to some extent adversely affects the free movement of fishing fleet except in a few ports of Sassoon Dock and Kasara Bundar. Fishing is extensively done throughout the coastline upto 30 fathoms from September to May. Besides this, the fishing crafts are being operated at Sassoon Dock and Kasara Bundar throughout the year. During the monsoon period off-shore fishing is suspended due to gusty winds. However, fishing at other centres is restricted to creek region. Unlike other maritime districts of Maharashtra State, the inland fishing activity in Greater Bombay is equally important. Production of fish at fish seed unit at Aarey is in progress to meet the demand of private pisciculturists.

There are about 4,917 active fishermen engaged in fishing in Bombay, of which 3,417 are engaged in marine fisheries and 1,500 in inland fisheries.

In addition to this, there are about 2,000 allied workers in fishing industry.

Marine Fishery : The important marine fishes caught in large quantity in Bombay area are as under :—

English Name	Local Name	Scientific Name
Bombay duck	Bombil	Harpodon nehereus
Golden anchovies	Mandeli	Coilia dussumieri
Prawns and Shrimps	Kolambi	Penacus sp. Actes sp.
Pomfrets	Saranga, Poplet	Pampus argentus.
Eel	Warn	Muraenosox spp.
Ribbon fish	Wagti	Trichiurus species
Clupeid	Rati	Thrissocles species
Shark ray	Mush, Pakhat	Carcharinus species
Cat fish	Shingala	Tachysurus species
Silver bar	Datal	Chirocentrus species
Jow fish and croaker	Dhoma	Sciaenidae family
Threadfins	Dara, Rawas	Eleutheronema

Besides the above, Seer fish, H. mackerel, Red snappers, black pomfrets soles, Lobsters are caught in smaller quantities.

The important fishing centres along the coastline of Bombay are Sassoon Dock, Kasara Bundar, Khar Danda, Versova, Madh, Manori and Gewarai.

Fishing Craft and Gear : A brief description of the fishing crafts commonly used is given below:—

Machava : This is a carvel type built boat pointed at both ends, stern and stem. It is an open undecked boat with a single mast at the middle part. The name Machava is supposed to have originated from the Sanskrit words Matsya Wahan, a fish carrying or a fishing boat. The size of the boat varies according to the individual requirements, but normally it is 14 metres in overall length, 3 metres in width and 11/2 metres in depth. It is usually made of teak wood. The cost of such a boat is about Rs. 20,000. These boats are being operated from Versova, Madh, Sassoon Dock and Kasara Bundar.

Ballyav : This type of boat is mainly used by fishermen of Versova and Madh. It is made of teak wood. It is also carvel type plant built boat with a length varying from 10 to 14 metres. It has a rounded broad stern and elongated high bow. The cost of the boat ranges between Rs. 12,000 and Rs. 20,000.

Of the existing boats more than 560 have been converted into mechanised boats. The total number of boats engaged in fishing is 2,034. The 560 mechanised boats in Bombay have advantages over sailing crafts.

Dol : This is one of the most important gears operated off the maritime of Bombay. It is a funnel shaped net used for fishing upto about 40 metres depth. It has a length of about 50 to 70 metres with a rectangular mouth of 30 metres width. The net was generally made of cotton twine in the past, but recently the fishermen have started replacing some of the parts of this net with a monofilament of synthetic fibre.

The nets used in the creeks are called as Bokshi. The net is set in the water against the current.

Operation of Dol net is interesting and includes fixing of khunt, a wooden pole of 40 metre length. This is carried to the fishing ground with two boats manned by 20 to 25 experienced fishermen. The technique involves the fixing of the pole vertically by pressing it as per the flowing current. As this method is very expensive, the fishermen have adopted a new method called barrel system, to operate Dol net. In this system, the net is used with the help of ropes and a barrel.

Gill Net: This net comprises webbing of varying meshes, to enable catching fishes of different size by gillmg i.e., by getting their head portion entangled in meshes as the entanglement takes place near the gill portion of the head. There are three types of gill net, e.g., surface drift, bottom drift and bottom set.

Surface drift, locally called Daldi or Wawari, it is composed of 60 to 65 pieces, each piece having a length of about 40 to 45 metres and a height of 4 to 5 metres. Daldi nets are used for catching Surmai having a mesh of 10 mm.

The floats areeithei triangular in shape or elongated flat pieces of wood attached to the head rope. These nets are generally used upto 50 metres depth.

Bottom Drift and Bottom Set, locally called Budichi Jali, are composed of a number of pieces varying from 60 to 80, each measuring about 40 to 50 metres in length. The mesh size varies from 4 to 8 mm. These nets are mainly operated by fishermen from Madh and Versova.

Trawling : Introduction of trawl nets for exploitation of demersal or bottom fisheries has been under consideration as an important aspect of raising fish production for the last about five decades. The trawl nets were introduced by Bombay fishermen in 1966. They have now realised the beneficial results of this method for haivesting demersal fisheries.

Fisheries Co-operative Societies: There are 15 primary co-operative societies in Bombay which are mainly functioning at Worli, Khar Danda, Juhu, Versova, Madh, Manori and Trombay. Besides, there is an apex fisheries co-operative society in the city. These co-operative societies have played an important role in providing ice factories, fish transport trucks, grain shops, diesel pumps and many other fisheries requisites to the members. Efforts are being made to export frozen fish, fresh as well as dry fish, in collaboration with co-operative societies to other cities and abroad.

The frozen products are exported mainly to Japan and the U.S.A. while the Bombay duck is exported to Colombo and Malaysia. In 1974-75 dry fish exported through Bombay amounted to 10,643 tonnes at the average rate of Rs. 3,781 per tonne. The turnover of fisheries co-operatives amounted to Rs. 73 lakhs in 1975-76.

The following statement shows the export of fish from Bombay Port during 1975-76 :—

Name of Product	Quantity (in M.T.)	Value (in thousand Rs.)
Frozen shrimps	5,869	1,54,901
Frozen frog legs	881	20,046
Frozen lobster tails	139	8,369
Shark fins	44	1,364
Fish maws	83	4,264
Cattle fish	39	463
Dried fish	359	2,442
Canned fish	3	91
Frozen sauria	27	74
Frozen fish	85	1,088
Cuttle fishlets	9	89
Others	1,418	9,793
Total	8,956	2,02,984

There is a fisheries training centre at Versova which was established in August 1955. It imparts training in scientific methods of pisciculture and the commercial aspects of the fishing industry. This training centre trained 671 students upto December 1976.

There were 29 ice plants in Greater Bombay with a daily production capacity of 93 metric tonnes. It is estimated that about 60 per cent of the total catch of fish is dried while 40 per cent is sold in fresh condition in Bombay Market. The average of the total catch of marine fish in Bombay during 1970-1975 was estimated to be 92,103 metric tonnes, which was worth about Rs. 1,498.81 crores.

The following statement gives the quantity and value of marine fish landings in Greater Bombay for a few years:—

	Quantity (in M.Tonnes)	Value (in lakhs of Rs.)		Quantity (in M.Tonnes)	Value (in lakhs of Rs.)
1970-71	65,109	10,44.84	1973-74	1,00,577	18,20.81
1971-72	80,477	9,32.76	1974-75	1,22,188	24,70.36
1972-73	92,165	12,25.28	1975-76	1,68,522	42,13.80

There are 7 freezing plants in Bombay. They have a freezing capacity of about 35 m. tonnes and have frozen storage capacity of about 825 m. tonnes. Shrimp, lobsters, frog legs are frozen. Efforts are being made to export frozen pomfrets to foreign countries. The dry fish trade is mostly handled by private merchants, although recently few societies are attempting to do this business.

Inland fisheries : There are 56 tanks in Bombay which are suitable for inland fishing. The potential for inland fishing in Greater Bombay extends over an area of 244 hectares. Of this, an area of 5.70 hectares is under departmental control, while the rest of the area is under private pisciculture. These tanks are stocked every year with Bengal carps. No tanks are leased out to co-operative societies. It is estimated that inland water resources yield 2.3 metric tonnes of fish per annum The following fishes are available in fresh water:—

English Name	Local Name	Scientific Name
Major carps	Catla	Catla catla
Major carps	Rohu	Labeo rohita
Major carps	Mrigal	Cirrhina mrigala
Cat fish	Shingala	Mystus sp
Tilapia	Tilapia	Tilapia mossa

Fish Seed Unit : A fish seed unit has been established at Aarey where induced breeding work is undertaken every year for the production of fish seed of major carps. The production during 1971-72 to 1975-76 was as under:—

Year	Production (fry) (in lakhs)	Year	Production (fry) (in lakhs)
1971-72	77.57	1974-75	32.18
1972-73	47.33	1975-76	60.00
1973-74	44.17

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SNAKES

(The account on Snakes is contributed by Dr. P. J. Deoras, Bombay)

There are a few hills in Borivli-Goregaon area and hillocks at Malabar hill, Worli, Sion, Andheri and Malad. The total number of people bitten by snakes and admitted to hospital is very small. There are a number of people exhibiting snakes on the road-side and trying to play with a flute. A number of beliefs have grown up in the area. An instance given below indicates as to how superstition has played its part in not understanding the problem of snakes in the Greater Bombay area. In 1957, a cobra snake came into the house of a Parsi family on Malabar Hill. They did not kill it and their efforts to get rid of it were fruitless. A snake charmer was called who pretended to have charmed the cobra and made it innocuous. It was fetched to the Haffkine Institute. On examination the scientists found that the mouth of the cobra had been stitched by a thread to prevent il from opening the mouth and biting. Picking out poison fangs, plugging the holes of fangs, removing the poison glands or stitching the mouth are usual methods adopted by the so-called snake charmers in Bombay to make a cobra innocuous.

The famous Haffkine Institute in Bombay has been conducting research on snakes for the last more than 30 years. This is the only institute in India which is producing a lyophilised polyvalent antivenin against the poisons of cobra, krait, Russel's viper and Echis carinatus snakes. Given in time, this is the only sure remedy available against snake bites in India. To produce this, they are keeping a large number of snakes, which numbered 5,000 sometimes. This is also the only institute which has a snake-farm established in 1952, and imparts education to the public about snakes and snake-bites by a public demonstration every Thursday. In the following is given a short description of non-poisonous and poisonous snakes.

Non-Poisonous :

Lycodon aulicus : Locally this snake is called Kawdya sarp or Biwatya sarp. It is found often in open gardens and grassy areas near residential areas. The dorsal surface is either camel yellow or brownish yellow with snuff coloured spots at the sides. The spots have whitish borders. The head has brown spots and the ventral scales are yellowish.lt grows to a length of about 50 cm and can climb trees with ease. It feeds on small mammals, frogs and eggs. It is harmless but when disturbed it may bite viciously.

Oligodon Arnensis : Locally people call it Gargar sarp or Shankh-kankan sarp. It is about 60 cm long and 7 cm in thickness. It is greyish brown in colour with a brown tinge, and has a number of black spots at the sides that have a white border. Remaining part of the body is full of yellow spots and the head has piky white streaks. It feeds on small mammals, lizards, gekos and insects. It moves out in the evenings in gardens and green areas. This snake is often mistaken to be a krait; but it has no single row of dorsal hexagonal scales seen in krait.

Natrix Stolata : This is the common Naneti snake of Maharashtra. It is quite docile and is seen in large numbers during the rainy season. Body hue is faint yellow with an olive green tinge is the colour of the dorsal surface, which has a net of tiny dark spiky spots dispersed all over, apart from two longitudinal almond coloured streaks on the ride of the snake. The ventral surface has white spots with black ones at the sides. It lays eggs in April, and the young ones emerge in the monsoon. It feeds on insects and small frogs. The snake though slightly agile could be handled safely and exhibited at places.

Natrix Piscator : This is a very common snake particularly in the suburbs of Bombay in the areas of the creek or open drains. Locally it is called Diwad. It grows to 90 cm in length and is 14 cm in circumference at the thickest., It is olive green with black checked square marks all over the body. No wonder it is called " checkered keel black ". The head is brown with black rings round the eyes and black streaks at the sides. The ventral side is white with black borders. It swims vigorously in water, and can stay there with only its tip of head popping out. It feeds on fishes, frogs, and other small aquatic fauna. It does not normally bother a man, but when some one puts his foot on it the snake will bite very viciously. It lays eggs in Apiil and the young ones are born in June.

Boiga Triagonate : This cat snake is called a Vidal sarp or Manjrya sarp. Local people mistake it to be a cobra, simply because it raises its head. The snake is deep brown with black chevron shaped marks all over the body. The ventral side is white with black spots at the sides. A bilobed brown spot with black border extends from the centre of the head to the neck. One brown stripe extends from behind the eyes on each side upto the nape. The length extends upto 85 cm. and the female is longer than the male. This snake is very irritable and on provocation raises its head with a part of the neck and opening its mouth hurls the body at the victim to bite very severely. It feeds upon frogs, small mammals, lizards and even birds.

Dryophis Nasutus : This whip shaped parrot green snake is commonly seen on trees and grass. The head is pointed and is often held aloft as if to hypnotise the victim. It is locally called Harantol or Sarpatol The parrot green colour bears white and yellowish black diagonal streaks. At the sides are thin lines followed by faint blue dots. The tongue is yellow and neck is sky-blue. The head is pointed, with a distinct green snout beyond the mouth. When kept in cages it strikes with the snout which often gets broken. When disturbed, it jumps and is virtually seen to fly up in the air.

The snake feeds on eggs and small birds. Though non-poisonous its bite gives some swelling and causes mild pain at the site of the bite.

Coluber Diadema : This beautiful snake brown in colour and having dark blue marks on the dorsal side was very common in the Baridra area. Due to urbanisation it is disappearing from the area. The dorsal marks look as if some one has split ink over the body from a distance. Some of the dark spots may be rectangular. The ventral surface is yellow. It grows to 120 cm and its maximum thickness is 16 cm.

As age advances the marks on the body become faint, and get a good camouflage in between tree tops and bushes. It may be mistaken to be a Russel's Viper, but the head is not triangular. It feeds on frogs, lizards and small mice. It lays eggs in May and they hatch in June-July. During the monsoon this snake is commonly encountered in the grasses or tree trunks.

Elaphe Helana : Locally this trinket snake is called Taskar sarp. The male snake is 90 cm long. The snake has a faint chocolate colour with deep brown spots, a white dot being in the centre. A small black streak lies at the base of eyes. The ventral surface is yellowish. It is a very irritable snake which when disturbed is ready to strike. Small mammals, eggs and lizards are its staple diet.

Ptyas Mucosus : Dhaman is the common name for this brown yellow snake which has black spots on the scales in the tail region. It grows to 250 cm and can climb trees with great agility. It is in the habit of making bowline knot round an object by its tail and exude foul smelling liquid from the anal region. When held by the head, it emits a sound akin to that of kite. It feeds mainly on rats. In fact the presence of this snake in a locality reduces the number of rats there.

Cereberus Rhynchops : This water snake has a faint bluish brown colour with clear black flowery marks all over the body. The marks are clear in the anterior region. A Hack line passes over the eyes. The ventral side is faint yellow with black spots on the corners. Head and eyes are small. The skin is rough, and the rear end is blunt with the tail being flattened to be used as an oar in swimming.

It is found in creek region where it often buries the tail in the mud, keeping the head above to feed upon frogs, fishes and a number of aquatic fauna that comes with the tide. Unfortunately, it cannot run properly on dry surface especially when the tide is gone, and often becomes a prey to many predators.

Achrochordus Granulatus: In Marathi it is called Chamkhilya sarp. This ash coloured snake has faint white dots. The head is chocolate with grey spots. This snake is found on the western coast and the local fisherfolk call it Gunjal sarp. It looks furacious, because of the raised ridge over various scales, and a large number of scales with projections on the head. It is ash coloured with faint white small flowery marks all over the body. Head is chocolate with yellowish spots, and tiny black small cross-bars all over the body. The skin is folded at the sides with thorny scales on the surface.

The snake is met with near creek waters where it feeds on fishes, frogs and other edible fauna. It does not lay eggs, but begets about a dozen young snakes, before the monsoon. It is non-poisonous snake whose bite may give some painful symptoms. It is about 100 cm long.

Eryx Johnii: This sand boa snake is called Mandol in Marathi. It is totally chocolate brown with a very large number of tiny scales all over the body. The head is very small and looks like a continuation of the neck. The tail is blunt. It is a very lethargic snake, living in areas with sand and soil and feeds on frogs and small mice, and can easily be handled. It is 50 cm long.

Eryx Conicus : The head and tail are both blunt. The colour is brown with patches of grey and white all over the body. It looks like a python. This snake grows to about 45 cm and always remains curved up or coiled in the soil. When badly disturbed, it would break the coil and dart out to strike.

Uropheltis Phiphsoni: This snake is quite rare and is found in the hilly regions of Borivli. People call it Khapar Khawalya. It is a deep chocolate brown small snake with variegated yellow white and red spots on the body. The tail is not only blunt but on the upper side it has a rhomboid surface creating edges which give slrength to cutting earth, while digging to burrow. The eyes of this snake are small, and it is as thick as a human thumb. It grows to maximum of 15 cm. It is negatively phototropic and moves in darkness to feed on insects. If disturbed it strikes with its edged tail. The snake is viviparous.

Typhlops Braminius : This blind snake is often mistaken to be an earth­worm, but unlike the worm it has scales covering each other all over the body. There are only tiny vestiges of eyes and two vestiges of appendage bones near the vent. There is no distinction between head and neck. It is about 23 cm long, snuff coloured except for the head side, tail and lower surface that are grey. The tail is blunt with spine-like structure meant for digging to burrow. It cannot move properly on plain ground, but on soft soil it uses the spine for movement. This snake seems to feed on earthworms, soft insects and their larval. Apart from a few teeth in the upper jaw, the snake is devoid of teeth.

Poisonous :

Naja Naja (Nag): This snake is commonly found all over Bombay, in old mill compounds, wells, crevices and even in the gardens of Malabar and Pali hills. It is distinguishable by the presence of a flattened neck region called hood. A binocoellate mark is often seen on the dorsal surface of the hood. The ventral suiface has three faint ash coloured cross thick stripes separated by white ventral scales. There are two deep black spots just above the first ash coloured stripe. Cobra scales found in the southern region have chevron shaped blackish bars all over the dorsal surface starting from the base of the hood. The most typical characteristic for recognising this snake is to see the scales on the head.Theie are three small scales behind the eyes, the third supralabrial scale is big and touches the eye and the nasal, while there is a distinct triangular scale between the 5th and 6th infralabial scales.

This is supposed to be a very poisonous but graceful snake growing upto 150 cm and feeding on rats and frogs. It requires 12 mg. of the venom of this snake to kill an able-bodied man. The only sure remedy to get relief from this venom is an injection of antivenin. This is manufac­tured at the Haff kine Institute, Bombay. The snake lays eggs in April which hatch by the end of July. A young cobra snake is as poisonous as an adult except that it may not be able to give the adequate dose of venom.

Callophis Melanurus : People call this snake as Kal sarp or Rat sarp. It is a small snake growing upto 34 cm in length and has a brown colour with a deep brown mark at the centre of each scale. The head and neck are black with yellow spots and two black stripes on the tail. The ventral surface is pink. There is a belief that its bite kills a man in 12 hours, especially if it bites in the evening the patient would die by the morning. It is seen mainly in the hilly areas bordering Thane district The only sure remedy is the administration of antivenin. This small snake feeds on mice, frogs and young lizards and lays eggs during the month of May.

Vipera Russelli: Russel's viper or Ghonas is common poisonous snake in the suburbs of Bombay, especially in the areas surrounded by vegeta­tion. It grows to 160 cm and has a greenish brown body with three rows of oval deep brown spots, one on the dorsal and one each at the sides. The male snakes are pinkish hue. The head is triangular and is full of tiny scales, with deep brown patches behind the eyes. The fangs of this poisonous snake are nearly 1 cm long. It rests its head amidst the coil of its body. When disturbed it takes a liver like action from the coils and hurls the head at its victim. The fangs are capable of tearing the skin and penetrating in the flesh. The poison of this snake is vasotoxic. There is an intense burning at the site of bite accompanied by oozing of blood and swelling. The venom required to kill a normal bodied man is 15 mg. Polyvalent antivenin is the only sure cure against this snake-bite.

The snake feeds on rats and, during the monsoon, lays about 96 young ones. It hisses loudly and continuously.

Echis Carinatus : Locally it is called a Phoorsa, and is sometimes found near the hills adjoining Thane district. It is a small snake that grows upto 40 cm The body is deep brown with faint white chain of spots and arrow bead mark on the head. This snake always remains coiled up and moves as side winder. It darts and attacks after taking a lever action from the coils of its body. It is a very hardy snake that remains in the open even on warm rocks during midday time, feeding on lizards, scorpions, and a variety of insects. It breeds during monsoon months by giving birth to a large number of young ones. The lethal dose of the venom of this snake is only 8 milligrams, but often it is not able to give this much amount of poison. The victim therefore does not die. He survives, but may succumb to secondary infections and complications. While moving it makes a noise by rubbing the serrated scales on the body.

Trimeresurus gramineus : This small green snake growing to about 75 cm is met within the forest areas of Borivli. The head is triangular with a pit near the nasal opening and there are three faint white lines on the body over a leaf green surface. The eye-balls are golden and there are faint lines near it.

Living camouflaged in the deep green forests, it makes a loud hissing noise and darts at the victim. The pit near the nasal opening is used to perceive heat. It feeds on mice, birds, eggs and lizards and lays young ones in monsoon months. The venom is painful and polyvalent antivenin is the only antidote.

Enhydrina Schistosa: This ash colour snake with cross black stripes round the body is often met lying on the sea shore of Versova after the high tide. Its head is very small with nasal opening at the tip and the neck seems to have fused with the head. The tail is flattened out as an oar. The ventral scales are nearly coalesced forming just a ventral ridge. The snake cannot thus move on land and can easily be killed by man. The skin is very rough, and due to that it gets dry in the sun very soon. This snake is trapped in the nets of fishermen in deep sea. The fangs are situated far behind, and the poison is neurotoxic like that of the cobra. Due to its prolonged stay in sea waters the venom may be getting diluted. As the fangs are far behind it cannot take a grip to inject the poison. The lethal dose for a normal man is 14 mg. It lays eggs and feeds on fishes and other sea life.

Hydrophis mamillaries : This marine snake is found mainly near seashore, and is buff coloured. The ventral scales have fused to form a ridge and the tail is flattened as an oar. Its fangs are situated far behind, and the head and eyes are small. The nasal opening too is at the outerior end. The poison of this snake is neurotoxic, and the only remedy is the injection of an antivenin.

Top

ANNEXURE I
FLORISTIC WEALTH OF BORIVLI NATIONAL PARK

Botanical name					Local name
I. Trees
1.			Adansonia digitata		Gorakh chinch
2.			Bombax malabaricum		Sawar, Katesawar
3.			Stercula colorata Roxb. Eruthoropsis colorata		Khavas, Khanshi
4.			Sterculia urens		Pandhari, Kada
5.			Azadirachta indica		Kaduneem
6.			Saccopetalum tomentosum F. and Th.		Hum
7.			Garcinia Indica		Kokam
8.			Ochrocarpus longifolius syn. Calysaccion longifolium		Surangi
9.			Garuga pinnata		Kakad
10.			Lannea grandis syn. odina wodier		Shimti, Shimbat
11.			Mangifera indica		Amba
12.			Tamarindus indica		Chinch
13.			Dalbergia sisso		Shisham
14.			Pterocarpus marsupium var, acuminata		Bibla
15.			Terminalia belerica		Beheda
16.			Terminalia tomentosa		Ain, Sadada
17.			Syzygium cumini		Jambhul
18.			Adina Cordifolia		Haldu
19.			Ixora arborea		Kuda
20.			Ixora brachiata
21.			Madhuka indica		Mohwa
22.			Manilkana hexandra		Ahmadabadi hewa
23.			Mimusops elengi		Bakul
24.			Alstonia scholaris		Satwin, Saptaparni
25.			Heterophragma quadricularis		Wurus, Panlag
26.			Oroxylum indicum		Tetav
27.			Sterospermum personatum
28.			Tectona grandis		Sag, Sagwan
29.			Trewia polycarpa		Petari
30.			Holoptelea integrifolia		Wavali, Papra
31.			Tremaorientalis		Ranambada, Kargol
32.			Ficus asperrima		Kharwat
33.			Ficus arnottina		Payar
34.			Ficus bengalensis		Wad
35.			Ficus mysorensis		Bhurwad
36.			Ficus religiosa		Pipal
37.			Borassus flabellifer		Tad
38.			Cocos nucifera		Naral
39.			Phoenix sylvestris		Shindi
40.			Anona squamosa		Sitaphal
41.			Anona reticulata		Ramphal
42.			Flacourtia montana		Attak, Champer
43.			Thespesia populnea		Ranbhendi
44.			Pterospermum suberifolium		Muchkund, Kanak champa
45.			Grewia colimnaria		.    Kala dhaman
46.			G. tiliaefolia		.   Dhaman
47.			Zizyphus xylopyra		.    Ghout, Ghatbori
48.			Sapindus trifoliatus                                 .		.    Ritha
49.			Anacardium occidentale                     .		.    Kaju
50.			Semecarpus anacardium		.   Biba, Bibwa
51.			Moringa oleifera syn. M. pterigosperma		.    Shevga
52.			Bauhinia recemosa		.   Apta
53.			Bauhinia variegata		.    Kanchan
54.			Cassia fistula		.    Bahava
55.			Delonix regia		.    Gulmohar
56.			Parkinsonia aculeata		.    Vedi-babul
57.			Erythrina suberosa		.    Pangara
58.			Erythrina variegata var, orientalis		.   Pangara
59.			Pongamia pinnata		.    Karanj
60.			Sesbania gradiflora		.    Agasta
61.			Acacia arabica		.    Babul
62.			Acacia catechu		.    Khair
63.			Lagerstroemia parviflora		.   Bonda, Bondara
64.			Gardenia latifolia		.   Pandru, Ghogar, Dikemali
65.			Morinda tinctoria		.    Bartondi
66.			Randia dumatorum		.    Gclphal
67.			Diospyros embryopteris		.   Temburni, Tendu
68.			Nyctanthes arbot-tristis		.   Parijatak
69.			Salvadora persica		.    Khakan
70.			Cordiamyxa		.   Bhokar
71.			Ehretia laevis		.   Datrang
72.			Callicarpa tomentosa
73.			Gmelina arborea		.    Shivan
74.			Bridelia retusa		.   Asana
75.			Euphorbia tirucalli		.    Newali, Thor
76.			Exaecaria agallocha		.    Phungali
77.			Emblica officinalis		.    Avala
78.			Jatropha curcas		.    Mogli Erandi
79.			Macaranga peltata		.    Chandoda
80.			Ricinus communis		Erand
81.			Ficus elastica		Rabarache Zad
82.			Ficus hispida		Kharoti, Kala umbar
83.			Ficus gibbosa		Dateer
84.			Ficus glomerata		Umbar
85.			Strebelus asper		Karvati, Kharota
86.			Cyperus spp.		Motha
87.			Fimbristylis spp.
88.			Scirpus spp.		.   Kachora
II. Shrubs
1.			Capparis spinosa		Kabar, Kalavari
2.			Capparis zeylanica		Wagati
3.			Helicteres isora		Kewan, murudi, Murudshcng
4.			Microcos paniculata		Shetali
5.			Zizyphus mauritiana syn. Z. jujuba		Bor
6.			Z. oenoplia
7.			Leea Microphylla		Dinda
8.			Acacia pinnata		Shembati, Shembi
9.			Calycopteris floribunda		Ugshi, Ukshi
10.			Lawsonia inermis		Mendi
11.			Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz Woodfordia floribunda.		Dhayti, Dhaiphal
12.			Ixora coccinea		Bakora
13.			Meyenia erecta		Alu
14.			Jasminum pubescens		Ranmogra, Ranjai
15.			Carissa carandas		Karwand
16.			Holarrhena antidysonterica		Kuda, Pandhrakuda
17.			Nerium odorum		Kanher
18.			Wrightia tinctoria		Kuda, Kalakuda
19.			Wrightia tomentosa		Shurikudi, Tambdakuda
20.			Calotropis gigantea		Rui
21.			Solanum indicum		Bhui, Ringani
22.			Barleria priontes		Koranti
23.			Dicliptera zeylanica
24.			Lepidagathis cuspidata		Bhuigend
25.			Oerodendron inerme		Keyanel
26.			Lantana Gamera		Ghaneri
27.			Vitex negundo		Nirgudi
28.			Pogostemon parviflorus		Pangli
29.			Acrya sanguinolenta
30.			Bridelia Retusa		Asana
31.			Euphorbia neriifolia		Thor, Nivdung
32.			Sehima Nervosum		Pavan
33.			Mallotus philippinensis		Shendri, Kunkuphal, Rohini
34.			Melanthesa turbinata		Kangli
35.			Pedilanthus tithymaloides		Vilayati-sher
36.			Boehmeria scabrella
37.			Asparagus racemosus		Shatawari
38.			Bambusa arundinacea		Bamboo
III. Herbs
1.			Argemone mexicana		Pivla dhotra
2.			Portulaca oleracea		Ghol
3.			Abutilon indicum syn. Abutilon graueolens		Mudra
4.			Malachra capitata syn. Malachra rotundifolia		Ranbhendi
5.			Sida Spinosa		Jangli methi, bala
6.			Sida rhombifolia var, retusa		Atibala
7.			Urena Lobata		Vanbhendi
8.			Melochia umbellata		Methuri
9.			Waltheria indica		.
10.			Corchorus capsularis		Tag
11.			C. estuans
12.			C. olitorius
13.			Triumfetta Rhomboidea		Nichardi
14.			T. pilosa
15.			Impatiens balsamina var. coccinea
16.			Biophytum sensitivum
17.			Oxalis martiana
18.			Cardiospermum halieacabum		Kapalphodi
19.			Cassia tora		Takla
20.			Aeschynomene Aspera
21.			Alysicarpus rugosus		Baker
22.			Crotalaria Juncea		Tag
23.			Desmodium triflorum		Ranmethi
24.			Geissaspis oristata
25.			Indigofera Gandulosa		Barbada
26.			Phaseolus radiatus		Moong, Mug
27.			Phaseolus trilobus
28.			Smithea hirsuta
29.			Smithia sensitiva
30.			Tephrosia purpurea		Unhalli
31.			Myriophyllum intermedium
32.			Ammania baccifera		Bharanambhul
33.			Ammania peplodies
34.			Jussiaca repens
35.			Jussiaca suffruticosa		Banlavang
36.			Begonia crenata
37.			Mollugo lotoides
38.			Centalla asiatica		Brahmi
39.			Oldenlandia corymbosa		Bitpapda
40.			Oldenlandia diffusa
41.			Ageratum conyzoides		Osadi, Sahadevi
42.			Blumea eriantha		Nimurdi
43.			Blumea lacera		Burando
44.			Caesulia axillaris		Maka
45.			Centrantherum phyllocaenum
46.			Eclipta Erecta		Maka
47.			Elephantopus scaber		Hastipta
48.			Granges madraspatana
49.			Helianthus spp.		Suryaphul
50.			Sphaeranthus indicus syn. Sphaeranthus indicus.		Gorkmundi, Mundi
51.			Tricholenis glaberrima
52.			Tridex procumbens		Dagadipala
53.			Ageratum Conyzoides		Sahadevi
54.			Xanthium strumarium		Sankeshvar, Gadrian
55.			Lobelia alsinoider
56.			Plumbago zeylanica		Chitrak
57.			Canscora diffusa		Kagdi
58.			Centaurium roxburghii
59.			Hopea dichotoma
60.			Coldenia procumbens
61.			Holiotropium indicum		.    Bhurundi
62.			Trichodesma indicum		.    Ghotakalpa
63.			Cressa cretica		.    Kardi, Lona
64.			Evolvulus alsionoides		.    Shankaveli
65.			Datura arborea		.    Dhotra
66.			Physalis minima		.    Chirboti, Ranpopti
67.			Solanum xanthocarpum		.    Bhoyaringni
68.			Dacuna monnicri
69.			Cantranthera hispida
70.			Limpophila sessiliflora
71.			Oindenhergia indica
72.			Lindermia ciliata
73.			Seoparia dulica
74.			Bhamnicarna largiflora
75.			Sesamum indicum		.    Til
76.			Blepharis asperrima
77.			Branthemum roseum
78.			Haplanthus tentaculatus
79.			Hemigraphis latebrosa
80.			Hygropnilla serphyllum
81.			Justicia simplex
82.			Justicia trinervia
83.			Neuracepthus sphaerostaphys    .
84.			Peristrophe bicalyculata
85.			Rungia elegans		.    Ghati pitpapra
86.			Rungia parviflora
87.			Phyla nodifolia
88.			Anisomeles heyneana
89.			Anisomelesoyata
90.			Leucas aspera
91.			Ocimum sanctum		.    Tulshi, Tulas
92.			Boerhaavia diffusa		.    Ghetuli, Punarnava, Sant
93.			Achyranthes aspera		.    Aghada
94.			Alternauthern sessilis		.    Kanchari
95.			Celosia argentea		.    Kurdu
96.			Amarantus spinosus		.    Kantemath
97.			Digera muricata
98.			Polygonum glabrum		.    Sheral
99.			Polygonum plebejum
100.			Paperomia pellucida
101.			Poliospermum montanum
102.			Euphorbia hirta
103.			Phyllanthus niruri		.    Bhuiawala
104.			Fleurya interrupta
105.			Pauzolzia indica
106.			Costna sunriousus
107.			Erimum spp.
108.			Dioscorea bulbifera
109.			Dioscorea dentaphylla
110.			Commelina benghalensis
111.			Commelina obliqua
112.			Cyanotis axillaris
113.			Cyanotis cristata
114.			Amorphophallus campanulatus		Suran
115.			Colocasia Anti Quorum		Alu
IV Climbers
1.			Clematis triloba		Ranjai
2.			Cocculas villosus		Parvel
3.			Cyclea burmanni		Pakav
4.			Tinospora cordifolia		Gulvel
5.			Capparis horrida		Tarati
6.			Cansiera rheedii
7.			Celastrus paniculata
8.			Zizyphus rugosa		Toran
9.			Ampelocissus latifolia syn. Vitis latifolia syn.		Planch
10.			Cissus latifolia
11.			Cissus carnosa		Ambatvel
12.			Cissus auriculata		Kalivel
13.			Cissus trilobata
14.			Wagatea spicata Dalz
15.			Abrus precatorium		Gunj
16.			Cylidla scariosa		Ranghewda
17.			Strychuos Nuxvomica		Kajravel
			Derris trifalia
18.			Moghania strobilifera
19.			Teramus labialis		Ranudid
20.			Entada phaseoloides
21.			Combretum ovalitolium		Zellusi, Madbel
22.			Coccinia indica		Tondli
23.			Luffa acutangula		Shirali, Dodka
24.			Melothria maderaspatana		Chirati
25.			Memordica dioica		Kartoli
26.			Trichosanthes anguina		Padval
27.			Jasminum malabaricum		Jai, Kusar
28.			Sterculia Foetida		Nagalkuda
29.			Cryptolepiso buchanani		Setakavali
30.			Cymnema sylvestra
31.			Hemidesmus indicus		Anantvel, Uparsali dudhasali
32.			Marsdenia volubilis
33.			Oxystellma esculentum		Dudhani
34.			Argyraia speciosa		Samudrashok
35.			Argyraia satosa		Sambarveli
36.			Ipomea spp.
37.			Operculina turpothum		Dudhkalai, dudhkalmi
38.			Floriosa superba		Bachnag
39.			Smilax zeylanica		Ghotvel
				V. Epiphytes
1.				Tinospora cordifolia	.    Amarvel, Akashvel
2.				Striga aulatica
3.				Dand-rophthoa falcata syn. Loranthus parriflorus	.    Bandgul
4.				Viscum nepalense
5.				Acomoe wightiana
				VI. Acquatic plants
1.				Ceriops tagal	.    Chauri
2.				Rhizophora mucronata	.    Kamo, Dumbi, Kandal
3.				Hmnanthemum indicum	.    Kumud
4.				Hydrolea xelanica
5.				Ipomea aquatica
6.				Donatrium indicum
7.				Utricularia flexuosa
8.				Asteracantha longifolia	.    Kolshinda, Talimkhan
9.				Caratophyllum demursum
10.				Morochoria hastesfolia
11.				Nurdannia versicolor
12.				Pistia stratiotes	.    Gondal (waterlettuce)
13.				Lemna gibba
				VII. Halophytes
1.				Sonneratia apetala
2.				Aegiceras corniculatum	.    Kajla
3.				Acanthus ilicifolius	.    Marandi (seaholly)
4.				Avicennia officinalis	.    Tivar
5.				Pandanus odoratissimus	.    Kewda, Keura
ANNEXURE II FAUNA MAMMALS
Insectivora
Family Soricidac
1.	Sunscus murinus				House Shrew    (Chichundri)
Chiroptera
Family Pteropidae
2.	Rousettus leschenaulti				.    Fulvous fruit-bat
3.	Pteropus giganteus				.    Indian flying fox (Wat- Waghul)
4.	Cyanopterus shinx				.    Short-nosed fruit-bat
5.	Family Emballonuridae Taphozous melanopogon				.    Black-bearded tomb bat
6.	Taphozous saccolaimus				.    Pouch-bearing bat
	Family Megadermatidae
7.	Megaderma spasma				.    Malay false vampire
8.	M. lyra				.    Indian false vampire
9.	Rhinolophus rouxi				.    Roux's horseshoe bat
10.	Hipposideros speoris				.    Schneider's leaf-nosed bat
11.	H. bicolor				.    Bi-coloured leaf-nosed bat
12.	H. galeritus				.    Cantor's leaf-nosed bat
	Family Vespertilionidae
13.	Pipistrellus coromandra				.    Indian pipistrelle
14.	P. mimus				.    Indian pygmy pipistrelle
15.	P. dormeri				.    Dormer's bat
16.	Hesperoptenus tickelli				.    Indian Tickell's bat
17.	Scotophilus heathi				.    Greater Yellow bat
18.	Kerivoula picta				.    Painted bat
	Primates
	Family Cercopithecidae
19.	Macaca radiata				.    Bonnet Monkey (Makad)
20.	M. mulatta				.    Rhesus monkey
21.	Presbytis entellus				.    Common Langur (Wanar)
	Camivora
	Family Canidae
22.	Canis aureus				.    Jackal (Kolha)
	Family Viverridae
23.	Viverricula indica				.    Small Indian civet (Jowadi manjar)
24.	Paradoxurus hermaphroditus				.    Common palm civet (Ud manjar)
25.	Herpestes edwards i Family Hyaenidae				.    Indian grey Mongoose (Mungoos)
26.	Hyaena hyaena Family Felidae				.    Striped Hyaena (Taras)
27.	Felis Chaus				.    Jungle cat (Baul, Bagoda)
28.	Panthera pardus				.    Panther (Bibalya)
29.	Panthera tigris				.    Tiger (Wagh)
Artiodactyla
	Family Suidae
30.	Sus scrofa				.    Wild boar (Ran dukkar)
	Family Tragulidae
31.	Tragulus meminna				.    Indian spotted chevrotain or mouse deer (Pisorisheda)
	Family Cervidae
32.	Axis axis                                                    .				.    Spotted deer (Chital)
33.	Cervue unicolor                        .				.    Sambar
	Family Boridae
34.	Tetracerus quadricornis				.    Four-horned Antelope (Bhekari)
Lagomorpha
	Family Leporidae
35.	Lepus nigricollis				Indian Hare (Sasa)
Rodentia
	Family Sciuridae
36.	Funambulus palmarum				Three striped palm squirrel
37.	F. Pennanti				Five striped palm squirrel
38.	Hystrix indica Family Muridae				Indian crested porcupine (Saloo)
39.	Rattus blanfordi				Blanford's rat
40.	Rattus rattus				House rat (Undeer)
41.	Mus musculus				House mouse
42.	Bandicota bengalensis				Lesser bandicoot Rat
BIRDS
Podicipediformes
	Family podicipedidae
1.	Podiceps ruficollis				Little grebe
	Pelecaniformes
	Family Phalacrocoracidae
2.	Phalacrocorax niger				Little or Pigmy cormorant
3.	Anhinga rufa				Dartar
Ciconiiformes
	Family Ardeidai
4.	Ardeola graeyii				Pond heron
5.	Bubulcus ibis				Cattle egret
6.	Egretta alba				Large egret
7.	E. intermedia				Median egret
8.	E. garzetta				Little egret
9.	Nycticorax				Night heron
10.	Ixobrychus cinnamomeus				Chestnut bittern
	Family Ciconidae
11.	Anastomus Oscitans				Openbill stork
12.	Ciconia episcopus				Whitenecked stork
Anseriformes
13.	Dendrocygna javanica				Lesser whistling teal
14.	Anas acuta				Pintail
15.	A. crecca				Common teal
16.	A. poecilorhyncha				Spotbill duck
17.	A. querquedula				Garganey or Bluewinged teal
18.	Aythya ferina				Redheaded pochard
19.	A. nyroca				White-eyed pochard
20.	A. fuligula				Tufted duck
21.	Nettapus coromandelianus				Cotton teal
Falconiformes
	Family Accipitridae
22.	Elanus caeruleus				Blackwinged kite
23.	Pernis ptilorhyncus				Honey buzzard
24.	Milvus mi grans				Pariah kite
25.	Haliastur indus				Brahminy kite
26.	Accipiter badius				Shikra
27.	A trivirgatus				Crested goshawk
28.	A. nisus				Sparrow hawk
29.	Butastur teesa				White eyed buzzard eagle
30.	Aquila rapax				Tawny Eagle
31.	Ictinaetus malayensis				Black eagle
32.	Haliaeetus leucogaster				White bellied sea-eagle
33.	Gyps indicus				Indian longbilled vulture
34.	G. bengalensis				Indian white backed vulture
35.	Neophron percnopterus				Egyptian or scavenger vulture
36.	Circus macrourus				Pale harrier
37.	C. pygargus				Montagu's harrier
38.	Spilornis cheela				Crested serpent eagle
39.	Pandion haliaetus				Ospery
	Family Falconidae
40.	Falco tinnunculus				Kestrel
Galliformes
	Family phasianidae
41.	Francolinus pictus				Painted partridge
42.	Coturnix coturnix				Common quail
43.	C. coromandelica				Blackbreasted quail
44.	Perdicula asiatica				Jungle bush quail
45.	Galloperdix spadicea				Red spurfowl
46.	Gallus gallus				Red junglefowl
47.	G. sonneratii				Grey junglefowl
48.	Pavo cristatus				Common peafowl
Gruiformes
	Family Turnicidae
49.	Turnix sylvatica				Little bustard quail
50.	T. suscitator Family Rallidae				Common bustard quail
51.	Rallus striatus				Bluebreasted banded rail
52.	Porzana pusilla				Baillon's crake
53.	P. porzana				Spotted crake
54.	Amaurornis phoenicurus				Whitebreasted waterhen
55.	A. fuscus				Ruddy crake
56.	Gallicrex cinerea				Water cock
57.	Gallinula chlorophus				.,    Moorhen
58.	Porphyrio porphyrio				Purple moorhen
59.	Fulica atra				Coot
Charadriiformes
	Family jacanidae
60.	Hudrophasianus chirurgus				Pheasant tailed jacana
61.	Metopidius indicus Family Cacanidae				Bronzewinged jacana
62.	Haemantopus ostralegus				Oystercatcher
63.	Vanellus indicus				Redwattled lapwing
64.	V. Malabaricus				Yellowwattled lapwing
65.	Numenius phaeopus   .				Whimbrel
66.	N. arquata				Curlew
67.	Tringa totanus				Common redshank
68.	T. stangnatilis				Marsh sandpiper
69.	T. nebularia				Green shank
70.	T. ochropus				Green sandpiper
71.	T. hypoleucos				Common sandpiper
72.	Capella stenura				Pintail snipe
73.	C. gallinago				Fantail snipe
74.	C. minima				Jack snipe
75.	Calidris minutus				Little stint
76.	C. temminckii				Temminck's stint
	Family Rostratulidae
77.	Philomachus pugnax				Ruff and reeve
	Family Recurvirostridae
78.	Rostratula benghalensis				Painted snipe
79.	Himantopus himantopus				Blackwinged stilt
	Family Burhinidae
80.	Recurvirostra avosetta				Avocet
	Family Glareolidae
81.	Burhinus oedinemus				Stone curwel
	Family Laridae
82.	Cursorius coromandelicus				Indian courser
83.	Larus brunnicephalus				Brownheaded gull
84.	L. ridibundus				Blackheaded gull
85.	Chlidonias hybrida				Whiskered tern
86.	Sterna aurantia				Indian river tern
87.	S. acuticauda				Blackbellied tern
88.	S. albifrons				Little tern
	Columbiformes
	Family Ptediroclididae
89.	Pterocles exustus				Indian sandgrouse
	Family Columbidae
90.	Treron pompadora				Greyfronted green pigeon
91.	T. phoenicoptera				Green pigeon
92.	Columba livia				Blue rock pigeon
93.	Streptopelia decaocto				Indian ring dove
94.	Streptopelia tranquebarica				Red turtle dove
95.	S. chineasis				Spotted dove
96.	S. senegalensis				Little brown dove
97.	Chalcophaps indica				Emerald dove
Psittaciformes
	Family Psittacidae
98.	Psittacula eupatria				Alexandrine parakeet
99.	P. krameri				.    Roseringed parakeet
100.	P. cyanocephala				.    Blossomheaded parakeet
101.	Loriculus vernalis				.   Indian lorikeet
Cuculiformes
	Family Cuculidae
102.	Clamator coromandus				.    Redwinged crested cuckoo
103.	C. jacobinus				.    Pide crested cuckoo
104.	Cuculus varius				.    Common hawk cuckoo
105.	C. micropterus				,   Indian cuckoo
106.	C.canorus				.   Cuckoo
107.	Cocomantis sonneratii				Indian banded bay cuckoo
108.	C. merulinus				.    Indian plaintive cuckoo
109.	Surniculus lugubris				.    Drongo cuckoo
110.	Eudynamys scolopacea				Koel
111.	Taccocua leschenaultii				.    Sirkeer cuckoo
112.	Centropus sinensis				.    Crow pheasant
Strigiformes
	Family Strigidae
113.	Tyto alba				.    Barn owl
114.	Otus scops				.    Scops owl
115.	Bubo bubo				.    Great horned owl
Caprimulgiformes
	Family Caprimulgidae
116.	Caprimulgus indicus				.   Indian Jungle night jar
117.	C. asiaticus				.    Common Indian night jar
Apodiformes
	Family Apodidae
118.	Apus affinis				.    House swift
119.	Cypsiurus parvus				Palm swift
Trogoniformes
	Family Trogonidae
120.	Harpactes fasciatux				.    Malabar trogon
Coraciiformes
	Family Alcedinidae
121.	Ceryle rudis				.    Lesser pied kingfisher
122.	Alcedo atthis				.    Common kingfisher
123.	Ceryx erithacus				.    Three-toed kingfisher
124.	Halcyon smyrnensis				.    Whitebreasted kingfisher
125.	H, pileata				.    Blackcapped kingfisher
	Family Meropidae
126.	Merops philippinus				Bluetailed bee-eater
127.	M. orientalis				Green bee eater
	Family Coraciidae
128.	Coracias benghalensis				Indian roller
	Family Upupidae
129.	Upupa epops				Hoopoe
	Family Bucerotidae
130.	Tockus griseus				Malabar Indian grey hornbill
Piciformes
	Family Capitonidae
131.	Megalaima zeylanica				Green barbet
	Family Picidae
132.	M. haemacephala				Crimson breasted barbet
133.	Jynx torquilla				Wryneck
134.	Micropternus brachyurus				Rufous woodpecker
135.	Dinopium benghalense				Lesser  goldenbacked woodpecker
136.	D. Javanense				Indian   goldenbacked three-toed woodpecker
137.	Dryocorus javansis				Indian great black woodpecker
138.	Picoides maharattensis				Yellow fronted pied woodpecker
139.	P. nanus				Pigmy woodpecker
140.	Hemicircus cenente				Heartspotted woodpecker
141.	Chrysocolaptes festivus				Black backed woodpecker
142.	C. lucidus				Larger goldenbacked woodpecker
Passeriformes
	Family Pittidae
143.	Pitta brachyura				Indian pitta
144.	Mirafra erythroptera				Redwinged bush lark
145.	Eremopterix grises				Ashy crowned finch lark
146.	Ammomanes phoenicurus				Rufoustailed finch lark
147.'	Galerida malabarica				Malabar crested lark
148.	Alauda gulgula				Eastern skylark
	Family Hirundinidae
149.	Hirundo concolor				Dusky crag martin
150.	H. rustica				Swallow
151.	H. smithii				.    Wiretailed swallow
152.	H. daurica				Striated swallow
	Family Laniidae
153.	Lanius schach				Rufousbacked shrike
	Family Oriolidae
154.	Oriolus oriolus				Golden oriole
155.	O. xanthornus				.,   Blackheaded oriole
		Family Dicruridae
156.		Dicrurus adsimillis			Black drongo
157.		D. leucophaeus			Grey or ashy drongo
158.		D. aeneus			Bronze drongo
159.		D. paradiseus			Greater Racket-tailed drongo
160.		D. hottentottus			Haircrested drongo
		Family Artamidae
161.		Artamus fuscus			Ashy swallow shrike
		Family Sturnidae
162.		Sturnus malabaricus			Greyheaded myna
163.		S. pagodarum			Blackheaded myna
164.		S. roseus			Rosy pastor
165.		S. contra			Pied myna
166.		Acridotheres tristis			Common myna
167.		A. fuscus			Jungle myna
168.		Gracula religiosa			Grackle or hill myna
		Family Corvidae
169.		Depdrocitta vagabunda			Indian tree pie
170.		Corvus splendens			House crow
171.		C. macrorhynchos			Jungle crow
		Family campephagidae
172.		Tephrodornis pondicerianus			Common wood shrike
173.		Coracina novaehollandiae			Large cuckoo-shrike
174.		C. melanoptera			Blackheaded cuckoo shrike
175.		Perecrocotus flammeus			Scarlet minivet
176.		P. cinnamomeus			Small minivet
		Family Irenidae
177.		Aegithina tiphia			Common iora
178.		Chloropsis auriffons			Goldfronted chloropsis
179.		C. cochinchinensis			Goldmantled chloropsis
		Family Pycnonotidae
180.		Pyconotusjocosus			Redwhiskered bulbul
181.		P. leucogenys			Whitechecked bulbul
182.		P. cafer			Redvented bulbul
183.		P. luteolus			Whitebrowed bulbul
		Family Muscicapiade
184;		Pellorneum ruffceps			Spotted babbler
185.		Pomatorhinus schisticeps			Deccan scimitar babbler
186.		Dumetia hyperythra			Rufousbellied babbler
187.		Chrysomma sinensis			Yelloweyed babbler
188.		Turdoides caudatus			Common babbler
189.		T. malcolmi			Large grey babbler
190.		T. striatus			Jungle babbler
191.		Alcippe poioicephala			Quaker babbler
	Family Muscicapinae
192.	Muscicapa parva				Redbreasted flycatcher
193.	M. tickelliae				Tickells blue flycatcher
194.	M. thalassina				Verditer flycatcher
195.	M. latrirostris				Brown flycatcher
196.	Culicicapa caylonensis				Greyheaded flycatcher
197.	Rhipidura albogularis				Whitespotted fantail flycatche
198.	Terpsiphone paradisi				Paradise flycatcher
199.	Monarcha azurea				Blacknaped flycatcher
200.	Cisticola juncidis				Streaked fantail warbler
201.	Prinia hodgsonii				Franklins longtail warbler
202.	P. subflava				Plain longtail warbler
203.	P. socialis				Ashy longtail warbler
204.	P. sylvatica				Jungle longtail warbler
205.	Orthotomus sutorius				Tailor bird
206.	Acrocephalus stentoreus				Indian great reed warbler
207.	A. dumetorum				Blyth's reed warbler
208.	A. agricola				Paddyfield warbler
209.	Hippolais caligata				Booted warbler
210.	Phylloscopus collybita				Chiffchaff
211.	Sylvia curruca				Lesser whitethroat
212.	Phylloscopus tytleri				Tytler's leaf-warbler
213.	P. inornatus				Yellowbrowed leaf-warbler
214.	P. trochiloides				Dull green leaf warbler
215.	Erithacus svecicus				Bluethroat
216.	Copsychus saularis				Magpie robin
217.	C. malabaricus				Shama
218.	Saxicols torquata				Stone chat
219.	Oenanthe deserti				Desert chat
220.	Saxicoloides fulicata				Indian robin
221.	Monticola cinchlorhynchus				Blueheaded rock-thrush
222.	M. solitarius				Blue rock-thrush
223.	Myiophoneus horsfieldii				Malabar whistling thrush
224.	Zoothera citrina				White throated ground thrush
225.	Turdus merula				Blackbird
	Family Motacillidae
226.	Anthus trivialis				Tree pipit
227.	A. godlewskii				Blyth's pipit
228.	Motacilla flava                            .				Yellow wagtail
229.	M. alba				White wagtail
	Family Dicaeidae
230.	Dicaeum erythrorhynchos				Tickell's flowerpecker
231.	D. agile				Thickbilled flowerpecker
	Family Nectariniidae
232.	Nectarinia zeylonica				Purplerumped sunbird
233.	N. lotenia .				Loten's sunbird
234.	N. asiatica				Purple sunbird
235.	Aethopyga siparaja				Yellowbacked sunbird
	Family Ploceidae
236.	Passer domesticus				House sparrow
237.	Petronia zanthocollis				Yellowthroated sparrow
238.	Ploceus philippinus				.    Baya
239.	Estrilda amandava				.    Red munia
240.	Lonchura malabarica				.    Whitethroated munia
241.	L. Striata				.    Whitebacked munia
242.	L. punctulata				.    Spotted munia
243.	L. malacca				.    Blackheaded munia
	Family Fringillidae
244.	Carpodacus erythrinus				.    Common rosefinch
	Family Emberizidae
245.	Emberiza melanocephala				.    Blackheaded bunting
	REPTILES
	Family Crocodilidae
1.	Crocodilus palustris				.    Indian Marsh crocodile
	Testudines
	Family Emydidae
2.	Geomyda trijuga trijuga				.    Pond tortoise
	Family Testudinidae
3.	Testudo elegans				Star red tortoise
	Family Trionychidae
4.	Trionyx leithi
	Squamata
	(I. SAURIA)
	Family Geckonidae
5.	Hemidactylus maculatus				Rock gecko
6.	H. brooki				House gecko
7.	H. leschensulti
8.	H. giganteus
9.	Eublepharis macularius
	Family Agamidae
10.	Calotes versicolor				Bloodsucker, common calotes
11.	Calotes rouxi				Forest calotes
12.	Psmmophilus blanfordanus				Rock lizard
	Family Chamaeleonidae
13.	Chamaeleon zeylanicus
	Family Scinidae
14.	Mabuya carinata				Common skink
	Family Varanidae
15.	Varanus monitor				Common monitor
(II. SERPENTS)
	Family Typhlopidae
16.	Typhlops braminus				Common blind snake
	Family Boidae
17.	Python molurus				Indian python
18.	Eryx conicus				Russel's sand boa
19.	E. johni				John's sand boa
	Family Colubridae
20.	Acrochrodus granulatus				Wart snakes
21.	Elaphe helena				Trinket snake
22.	Ptyas mucosus				Dhaman or rat snake
23.	Coluber fasciolatus				Banded racer
24.	Liopeltis calamaria				Bridal snake
25.	Coronella brachyura				Kukri snake
26.	Ahaetulla trists				Common Indian bronze
27.	Lycodon travancoricus				Travancore wolf snake
28.	L. aulicus				Common wolf snake
29.	Natrix piscator				Checkered keelback
30.	N. stolata				Striped keelback
31.	N. beddomei				Beddome's keelback
32.	Boiga triagonate				Indian gamma
33.	Dryophis nasutus				Common green whip sn
	Family Elapidae
34.	Bungarus caeruleus				Common Indian krait
35.	Callnphis melanurus				Slender coral snake
36.	Naja naja				Indian Cobra
	Family Viperidae
37.	Vipera Russelli				Russell's viper
38.	Trimeresurus malabaricus				Malabar pit-viper

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