The name 'Bandra' is possibly an
adaptation of the Persian word Bandar described as 'a city; an Emporium; A
Port, Harbour; A trading town to which numbers of foreign merchants resort
' .In Marathi, Bandra is known as
Vandre, Being a habitat of Monkeys got its name from the Marathi name Vandar
for Monkeys , The area was under the rule of the Silhara dynasty in the 12th
century. Bandra was a tiny fishing village inhabited by Kolis (fishermen) and
farmers. It was acquired by the British East India Company while the rest of
Bombay belonged to the Portuguese.
In 1534, a sea captain called Diego
da Silveira entered Bandra creek and burned the fishing town he found there.
With that, Bandra came under the rule of the Portuguese crown.
Bandra became a Portuguese
possession with the Sultanate of Cambay ceding the region in the Treaty of St
Matthew signed aboard the Portuguese brig Sao Mateus in Baçaim harbor 1534,
particularly as a result of the efforts of the Governor-General Nuno da Cunha
and Diego da Silveira. The Portuguese enfeoffed Bandra, Kurla, Mazagaon and
four other villages in 1548 to a certain António Pessoa as a reward for his
military services. This was confirmed by the Royal Chancellery on 2 February
1550. As these villages were given for a period of 'two lives,' they reverted
to the Crown after the death of Isabel Botelha, Pessos's widow. The Jesuits who
had applied for these villages in anticipation of the death of Isabel Botelha
obtained them from the Viceroy in 1568, receiving Royal confirmation in 1570.
From 1565 the Jesuit fathers were at
their work of conversion at Carlem , Conduttim ,( Condita ) Goregaon , Thana ,
Bandra , Kelva , Mahim , Tarapur and Narpole in Dahanu . The Jesuits who were
on the Mount decided that they should build a church for the whole of Bandra
though conversions were slow and those converted to Christianity were still
visiting the Hindu shrines of their ancestors , They therefore built a fortress
like structure just besides the creek opposite Mahim and a church dedicated to
St Anne this was the site where today we see the BEST Bus Depot outside Bandra
railway station on the west in this fortress like structure they also housed a
college and library
This church of St Anne served the
whole of Bandra from 1571 . The Jesuit Fathers started their work of conversion
in earnest all over Bandra but met with strong opposition in their
evangelization and they were almost on the point of giving up
When Brother Manuel Gomes arrived on
the scene in 1575 , It was Father Manuel
Gomes who really Christianization Bandra
and turned the Catholic Church into the institution it has become Here Brother Gomes had joined the Jesuit
society in Bassein in 1555 as a lay brother ,
When he came to Bandra he infused new life in the congregation he was
fluent in the local language of Marathi and this helped in getting conversion
his work bore ample fruit,
And by 1588 there were 4000 converts
to Christianity , He received his priestly ordination in 1583 and by 1591 the
number of converts had risen to 6000 people ,
In the year of his ordination 1583
the church of St Anne was built where today stands the BEST Depot which there
was a slaughterhouse ,
By the time he died 11 years later,
Father Gomes' "invincible strength of soul" — as one historian
described Father Manuel Gomes worked not only at Bandra but also all over south
Salsette till his death in 1590 , It had converted 6,000 people of the area.
. It was Father Maneul Gomes who
established St Andrew's Church. It was recorded that by 1603 the whole of
Bandra every member of its population was converted to Christianity and No
Heathen remained
The Parish of Bandra was all a
single Parish that of St Anne’s till in 1616 a new parish was created by
building the church of St Andrews as this became necessary due to all of Bandra
being now Catholics and the Parish of St
Anne’s had to be divided , The Church of
St Andrew was built on the large piece of land which was bequeathed by a native
Christian East Indian who was wealthy man , Prior to this there was in
existence in 1601 the Hermitage of St
Andrew that was located on the Coast near Chimbai Village which served
the East Indian Fisher Folks living there
St Andrews church was built in 1616
suffered extensive damage to its roof just 2 years later in 1618 when a mighty
cyclone hit the west coast that also destroyed
Thirty Five Churches all over Salsette and Bassein ,
During the Maratha invasion in 1739
the Church of St Anne;s was under threat of an attack by the Marathas , The
British who were across the creek at Mahim feared that if St Anne’s Church fell
into the hands of the Marathas they would be a threat to Bombay which they had
decided to defend with all their might and Salsette being still under the
Portuguese influence had no one to defend them except the local Catholics who
were unarmed and defenceless , Hence the British asked the authorities at St
Anne’s Church to mine the fortress like structure on all sides , This being
done the fathers removed all records and books in the college and library to
Portugal , They also removed all articles of value and when the Marathas did
attack they blew up the mined fortress and left during this time all Christians
were feared and in hiding and were unable to leave their homes
In 1661, when King Charles married
Catherina of Portugal, The island of Bombay
was given to England as part of the Dowry. However, Salsette Island, on
which Bandra lay, was not part of this treaty and remained with the Portuguese.
, The Portuguese built additional Churches in Bandra, one of the earliest being
St. Andrew's Church in 1575. Their Jesuit missionaries, who learned local
languages and cultures, attracted many Indian converts to Catholicism among the
villagers on the island. Their descendants continue to support the six Catholic
parish churches; Mount Carmel , St. Peter's , St. Andrew's , St. Theresa's ,
St. Anne's and St. Francis D'Assissi, that lie within an area of four square
kilometers.
Bandra became part of English
territory with the signing the Treaty of Surat in 1775 But was retroceded back
to the Marathas in 1779 during the First Anglo-Maratha War. In 1802, Bajirao II
signed the Treaty of Bassein with the English, surrendering sovereignty and
again ceding Bandra and remained under the British till 14 August 1947.
On 12 April 1867, the first Railway
service was inaugurated, with one train per day between Virar and Bombay . Six
years later, it was increased to 24 each day. In the 21st century, 940 trains
stop daily at Bandra. As late as the 1930s, Bandra had only one bus service
from Pali Naka, Hill Road to the Railway station. Other people just walked to
the nearest railway station. After World War II, the building boom started to
accommodate immigrants.
The only relic of this Church of St
Anne’ it seems is the large stone cross which was later removed and brought to
St Andrews Church and stands proudly even today on the south of the church
adjoining the compound wall that is the only visible legacy left from that lost
church which can safely be called the Cradle of Christianity in Bandra , This
cross brought to St Andrews from the ruins of the old St Anne’s Church is
sculpted from a single block of stone and it has on its side engraved 39 symbols from the Old and New Testaments of
the Bible it was lying in St Andrews
till some Enterprising Vicar thought of erecting it in the compound this was
done in 1870 , A flight of step led to
the cross from there were removed in 1917 – 1919 when the present dome base was
built
Bandra was raised to the status of a
municipality in 1876, and then was expanded. In 1950, following independence,
it was merged into the Bombay Municipal Corporation to form the Municipal
Corporation of Greater Bombay. Bandra consisted of many villages, among them,
Sherly, Malla, Rajan, Kantwady, Waroda, Ranwar, Boran, Pali, Chuim, etc. These
have been lost to urban development of the island.
The first school founded in Bandra
after Mumbai passed on to the English was St Andrew's Parish School, started by
Fr. Francisco de Melo in 1780 to teach catechism to the children of the parish.
This later became St. Andrew's High School.
St Theresa's High School grew out of
St. Andrew's Indian Christians' School, housed in a very dilapidated building
situated in Old Khar. This school was founded in 1918. It was taken over by the
Society of Divine Word (S.V.D). in 1952. It is counted among the best schools
in Mumbai.
St Stanislaus School was founded in
1863 by the Society of Jesus. It started as a Native Boy's orphanage.' It
became a high school in 1923 and was the first English medium school in the
suburbs. Later it grew to be a full-fledged educational institution for
day-scholars as well as boarders. What started out as a school for 40 orphans
has grown to support 2,300 students.
Cardinal Gracias High School is a
convent school located in East Bandra. St. Joseph's Convent High School for
girls is run by the nuns of the congregation of the "Daughters of the
Cross" built in 1865 (Bandra was then known as Bandora)and also boasts of
a beautiful chapel.The school has produced illustrious alumni over the years.
R.D. National College was originally set up in 1922 in Hyderabad, Pakistan
under the guidance of Annie Besant. In the run-up to the Partition of India, it
was relocated to its present site in 1949 in Bandra.
The Thadomal Shahani Engineering
College was established in 1983 by the Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate
Board. It was the first private engineering institute to be affiliated to the
federal University of Mumbai. It was the first among various engineering
colleges affiliated to the University of Mumbai to offer courses in Computer
Engineering, Information Technology, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology.
Godfrey Pimenta
Vice President
Bombay East Indian Association.
Teddie J Rodrigues ( Traces )
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