BOMBAY-19 TH CENTURY-horse shoe maker

Horse-shoe Maker

Horse-shoe Maker

barber and client 19th century India

Bombay-kanheri caves-1ST CENTURY A.D.

Kanheri Caves-BOMBAY

These caves date from 1st century BCE to 9th century CE. In total in the basalt there have been carved 109 caves. Unlike the elegant splendor of Elephanta Caves nearby, the earlier cells are spartan and unadorned. Each cave has a stone plinth for a bed. A congregation hall with huge stone pillars contains the stupa, a Buddhist shrine. Farther up the hill are the remains of an ancient water system, canals and cisterns that collected and channeled the rainwater into huge tanks. Once the caves became permanent monasteries, they began to be carved out of the rock with intricate reliefs of Buddha and the Bodhisattvas carved into the walls. Kanheri had become an important Buddhist settlement on the Konkan coast by the 3rd century A.D.

Vihara - prayer hall

Most of the caves are the Buddhist viharas meant for living, study, and meditation. The larger caves were chaityas, or halls for congregational worship, are lined with intricately carved Buddhist sculptures,reliefs and pillars, and contain rock-cut stupas for congregational worship. The Avalokiteshwara is the most distinctive figure. The large number of viharas obviously prove a well-organized existence of Buddhist monks' establishment, which was also connected with many trade centers such as the ports of Sopara, Kalyan, Nasik, Paithan and Ujjain. Kanheri was a University center by the time the area was under the rule of the Maurayan and Kushan empires. In the late 10th century, the Buddhist teacher Atisha (980-1054) came to the Krishnagiri Vihara to study Buddhist meditation under Rahulagupta.

Rock cut stair leading to Kanheri



Spartan plinth beds


A vihara



A Brāhmī stone inscription at Kanheri

Inscriptions at Kanheri

A Brāhmī stone inscription at Kanheri

Nearly 51 legible inscriptions and 26 epigraphs are found at Kanheri, which include the inscriptions in Brahmi, Devanagari and 3 Pahlavi epigraphs found in Cave 90.One of the significant inscriptions mentions about the marriage of Satavahana ruler Vashishtiputra Satakarni with the daughter ofRudradaman 

Kanheri Caves served as a centre of Buddhism in Western India during ancient times

















Small stupa

Magnificent stupa in major chaitya

Assembly or dining hall cave





A depiction of a framed male alongside the entrance to one of the caves. 

in Byculla stands the Bhau Daji Lad Museum in the same compound as that of the Veer Jijamata Udyan (the zoo)

The Bhau Daji Lad Museum (formerly the Victoria and Albert Museum) is the oldest museum in Mumbai. It was originally established in 1855 as a treasure house of the decorative and industrial arts. The construcition of the present building in Jijamata Udyan in Byculla started in 1862 and was completed in 1871. The museum was opened on May 2, 1872. In 1975, this museum was renamed as the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum.






Sculptures showcasing the different hats and turbans worn by different communities living in Mumbai



A marble bust of David Sassoon, who was the treasurer of Baghdad between 1817 and 1829 and then the leader of the Jewish community in Bombay. Sassoon became a naturalised British citizen in 1853. Sassoon was a middleman between British textile firms and Gulf commodities merchants, and later invested in valuable harbor properties.
A sea shell carving from around the 19th century

Photographer: Chintamon, Hurrichund--Date: 1867--the figure seated on the left is Dr Bhau Dajee

Posed group of six figures taken by Hurrichund Chintamon c. 1867, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections. This photograph was shown at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. The European on the left is identified simply as 'A German', three other figures as 'Parsees', the figure seated on the left as Dr Bhau Dajee, and the figure seated on the right, as 'Shenoy' (?). Parsees are descendants of the Persian followers of Zoroaster who fled to India in the seventh and eighth centuries to escape Muslim persecution.

SANJAY GANDHI NATIONAL PARK -BORIVLI-BOMBAY

BOMBAY--HAND DRAWN WATER TANK -FOR DRINKING WATER

BOMBAY-HANGING GARDEN

he Hanging Gardens, Mumbai, in Mumbai, India, also known as Ferozeshah Mehta Gardens, are terraced gardens perched at the top of Malabar Hill, on its western side, just opposite the Kamala Nehru Park. They provide sunset views over the Arabian Sea and feature numerous hedges carved into the shapes of animals. The park was laid out in 1881

BOMBAY-OLD PORTUGUESE FORT IN MAHIM

BOMBAY-1842-MAP

BOMBAY-DADAR-PORTUGESE CHURH -BEFORE DEMOLITION AND REPLACED BY A GROTESQUE BUILDING IN 1950'S

BOMBAY-ELEPHANTA CAVES

On the lawn adjacent to the  Bhau daji museum is the elephant that had given Elephanta caves its name. Apparently the British wanted to transport it to England, but in the process the crane dropped it and was broken into pieces. It was finally restored and placed at the entrance to the museum.

Trimurti flanked by pilasters with figures of dwarplalas, Elephanta caves

Siva shrine, main Elephanta cave

Gangadhara (descent of the Ganges) sculpture, main Elephanta cave.

Marriage of Shiva and Parvati.

Ardhanarishwar rock-carved sculpture, main Elephanta cave

Lingam, Elephanta caves

The origins and interpretations of the Lingam are a subject of intense debate. According to one tradition, the Lingam represents the beginning-less and end-less Stambha pillar, suggesting the superiority and power of Shiva. Another theory suggests that the Lingam is a phallic symbol, though this explanation is disputed and most Hindus do not relate the Lingam to the phallus