Bombay or Mumbai?
© Prakash J. Mascarenhas, Bombay, India.
The Marathi colonists in the Konkan have demanded and 'achieved' the renaming of the city of Bombay as 'Mumbai.'
They claim that this was the original name of the city before the advent of the English, who they allege, distorted the name to Bombay.
In this they are supported by many people of Konkani origin, even in Konkani publications, using the variant 'Mumboi.'
How does this claim square up with the historical facts?
Origins
The city of Bombay did not exist before the English built it, moving from the Mughal concession of their Surat 'factory' (precint or compound) to the isles of Bombay which the Portuguese ceded to them as dowry for the marriage of a Portuguese princess with an English prince.
The Portuguese had conquered it in 1508 A.D. from the Arab Sultanate of Gujerat. The Arabs called it 'Al Omanis'. The Portuguese renamed it as 'Bom Bahia', the 'Good Bay', in appreciation of the excellent and deep harbour that it possessed on the east side. This bay is now called the Front Bay, a name given by the English, although, it is nowadays more commonly called the Harbour. (The Gulf on the south-west they called the 'Back Bay.')
The English developed Bom Bahia into Bombay.
The name Mumbai on the contrary, is derived from the temple of Mumbadevi, the Goddess Mumba. It is alleged that 'Mumba' is a shortening of 'Maha-Amba,' the Great Amba, Amba being one of the more famous Hindu goddesses.
However, there is no historical evidence available or offered for the claim that the name Mumbai in any form was ever attached to the territory before the advent of the English.
As a matter of fact, the Arabs had destroyed all the temples on the isles, and the Portuguese did not permit their reconstruction. It was only the English who allowed the reconstruction and building of new temples.
The history of the Mumbadevi temple is interesting and determines the claim of 'Mumbai.'
According to this history, when the English took over Bom Bahia from the Portuguese, they, in keeping with their mercantilist policy of religious toleration, permitted the Hindus to enter and settle in the isles. A Hindu woman by the name of Mumba who subsequently settled in Bombay built the Mumbadevi temple. At this time, Bombay, like the rest of the former Portuguese territories in its surroundings - the great island of Salcette, the isles of Bandra, (originally Bandorem, 'the Wharfs' and never Vandre, as the Marathi colonists claim,) Kurla, Trombay, Dharavi, Vasai (Bassein), Uran, Nhava & Sheva, etc., the ancient cities of Thane, Kalyan and Sopara, had a Christian majority, composed of the Lusitanised descendants of the original Konkani people. The new immigrants, under England's auspices, were mainly Hindu Maharashtrians, Marathi speakers.
Later, in order to justify themselves, they invented a myth that "the temple is about six centuries old: Mumbaraka, a sadistic giant who frequently plundered the place at the time. Terrorized by these unwelcome visits, the locals pleaded with the god Brahma, Creator of all things to protect them. Brahma then "pulled out of his own body", an eight armed goddess who vanquished Mumbaraka. Brought to his knees, Mumbaraka implored the goddess to adopt his name and built a temple in her honour. She still stands there, an orange faced goddess on an altar strewn with marigolds: devotees believe that those who seek her divine favour are never disappointed."
Given the history of the Mumbadevi temple, it is obvious that the claim that 'Mumbai' is the original name of the city of Bombay is merely mythurgic: the malicious invention of the Marathi colonists as an instrument of Cultural Genocide, by destroying the original names and replacing them with Maharashtrianised names!
The renaming rests entirely on the goon power of the Marathi colonists' Brown Shirt party, the terrorist organisation that styles itself the Shiv Sena.
It is interesting that the Maharashtrians are not fighting to have Pune, the former Poona, be restored to its original Punaka.
It is claimed by some, that with the 'legitimate' governments having approved the name change, citizens must obey it and use 'Mumbai' instead of Bombay. But it is exactly this that the protagonists of the name change never did, and so have no right to ask us to do. On the contrary, letting go, accepting and using the name 'Mumbai' only legitimizes, endorses and encourages their criminality! As previously pointed out, the change was not imposed as a result of historical proofs being provided but merely by the recourse to terrorism by the Marathi colonists.
As a matter of fact, they brazenly admit that they have no historical proof but that the change stands only on their 'gamand' - arrogance.
As such, it is a sacred duty of the Konkani to reject this crime and not co-operate with it. Bombay was illegally renamed, by people who had no authority, as not being it's people, and as being unhistorical and pure mythology.
References:
TIMELINE: History and Origin of Bombay
1294 Allaudin Khilji, nephew of the Khilji Sultan of Delhi (Dilika) forces the Yadava Emperors of the Marathas at Devgiri to pay tribute. 1313 Devgiri captured and annexed to Khilji Sultanate. Slain emperor's brother, Bhima, and other refugees flee to the Konkan and set up new capital on the island of Mahikawati, later called Mahim, in the Bombay archipelago. 1343 Arab Sultanate of Gujarat conquers Bombay from Yadava Maratha kings; Main Island is given Arab name of Al Omanis. 1508 Portuguese under Governor-General of India, Francis Almeida, drop anchor at Al Omanis, which they call Bom Bahia - the Good Bay. 1534 Defeated Arab Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat forced to cede the Al Omanis / Bom Bahia archipelago and surrounding territories to the Portuguese led by Governor-General Alfonso de Albuquerque. 1580 Portugal annexed by Spain following the lapse of the regnant Avis dynasty, with the death of King Sebastian without any issue. 1581 - 1648 Protestant Dutch (the Northern provinces of the Spanish Low Countries) War of Secession from Spain under the leadership of traitorous hereditary Governors (Stadtholder) of the Orange family. 1594 Dutch begin worldwide campaign of vengeance and invasions against Spanish-Portuguese holdings. 1640 Portugal secedes from Spain under John of Braganza, son of King Sebastian's daughter. Founds the Braganza dynasty, which rules till 1910. 1661 Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza brings Bom Bahia to King Charles II of England as part of her marriage dowry. 1668 English king leases the Bom Bahia archipelago to the English East India Company; The English corrupt the name to Bombay. The Portuguese Castle 'Casa da Horta' is renamed Fort Saint George and gradually expanded, becoming the nucleus of modern Bombay city. 1670 - 1675 Gerald Aungier appointed the second English president of the Presidio of Bombay. Solicited immigration to the territory, assuring the immigrants of religious freedom and tolerance, unlike the former Arab and Portuguese rulers. 1675 The Mumba Devi temple built by an immigrant Hindu woman, Mumba, near the main landing site on the former Bori Bunder creek or inlet, against the north wall of the English Fort Saint George. 1706 - 1707 "Acts of Union" Treaties between Protestant traitors in England and Scotland, and later with Protestant Anglo-Scotch colonists in Ireland, to create artificial new state of Britain, by merging England, Scotland and their dependent nations, Ireland, Wales (Cymria), Manx, etc. under the usurpers of the Orange dynasty and later of the Hanover dynasty. 1720 - 1739 Marathas invade and annex most of the Portuguese enclaves in the Konkan except Goa and environments; by Luso-Maratha Agreements, the Portuguese retain also Dama� and the territories of Dadra & Nagar-Haveli in the north Konkan. The local Lusitanised Konkani Christians forced to Maharashtrianize; Later become the 'East Indian.' 1737 The English government requisitions land around the Bori Bunder site for the terminal railway station & yards of the to be built Great Indian Peninsular Railway, the Victoria Terminus. The Catholic Cathedral moved to Malabar Hill, and the Mumba Devi temple to its present site at the Chowpatty Beach. 1782 By the Treaty of Salbai of 17 May, the Maratha Confederacy cedes vast territories in the Konkan etc to the English. 1947 English East India partitioned to create new dependency of Pakistan, and both remnant India and Pakistan granted independence. English India becomes the Indian Union. 1961 Bombay Presidency reorganised to create new provinces of Gujarat & Maharashtra. 1998 The Maharashtra provincial government, composed of the terrorist party of the Marathi imperialists and colonists in the Konkan - the Shiv Sena or Shiva's Army, renames Bombay as Mumbai; Federal government ratifies decision.
See also this interesting site on Indo-Lusitanian history!