My Heritage Chronicles

Today when Mumbai along with other cities across the world is grappling with a pandemic of Coronavirus, over 125 years ago, the city had faced one of the worst epidemics of its kind, the Bombay plague in 1896. The plague crisis prompted the civic authorities to create the "Bombay City Improvement trust" in Dec 1898 with the aim to improve sanitation and living conditions in the city. The trust opened up northern suburbs to decongest the colonial Bombay and thus neighborhoods like "Gamdevi" grew out as a need for affordable and well-planned housing colonies of the twentieth century. Gamdevi attracted a lot of communities like Gujaratis, Saraswat Brahmins. Many owned private mansions like diamond merchant Revashankar Jhaveri who built a private mansion which we today know as "Mani Bhavan". It was the focal point of Gandhiji from 1917 to 1934 for his political activities. It was here in the historic four walls of Mani Bhavan, Gandhiji launched the non-coopera...

The name Chakreshwar Mahadev doesn't ring a bell instantly and many may have never heard of it. But talk to archaeologists or heritage enthusiasts and they will speak highly of this temple. No one knows of the exact date of construction of the original temple but it is generally believed that it could be 1000 years old. The original temple is said to have been destroyed and plundered during the Portuguese rule of Bassein and the new construction is modern and utterly ugly. The treasure trove of sculptures and relics in the temple compound makes it stand out and an important heritage that needs to be preserved. So where is this temple? Chakreshwar Mahadev temple is located in Sopara village which we know today as Nalasopara. Sopara was also known as Shurparaka (city of brave), It was an ancient port city and a trade center with links to other ancient cities of the world like Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Africa among others, and an important seat of Buddhism. It gets a mention in Maha...