Images of Bombay

I decided to put these images on my site after reading the Moor's Last Sigh. I realized that the book was almost intensely visual and it might be interesting to see the locales we read of. Most of these photographs have been scanned from books, wherever possible I've attempted to refer to the original published work and include descriptions of the photographs, most lifted almost directly from the books I used as sources. I have been unable to obtain permission to reproduce these pictures in electronic form, but I do not anticipate any objection to their use here.

Click on the thumbnail to see the larger image.

From "Bombay: Gateway of India"

Bombay: Gateway of India, Photographs by Raghubir Singh, Conversation with V. S. Naipaul; 1994, Aperture Foundation; 10987654321

p. 21, City from Malabar hill

p. 31, Indian Derby at Mahalaxmi

p. 32, Bandra from a Shivaji park apartment

p. 40, Irani restaurant, Dhobi Talao

p. 51, Parsi seminary

p. 88, Notice board at Irani restaurant [Readers of "The Moor's Last Sigh" will find this familiar]

p. 116, Ganpati immersion, Chowpatty [Ganpati is the elephant God, son of Shiv and Parvati, mythical scribe/stenographer for Vyas and the Mahabharat]

Images from: "Bombay: The Cities Within"

Bombay: The Cities Within, Sharada Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra; Bombay, India Book House Pvt. Ltd., ISBN: 818502880X

p. 21, The caves of Elephanta near Bombay, drawn by William Westall. According to legend, the rock-cut caves and images at Gharapuri or Elephanta were hewn out by the five Pandav brothers of the epic Mahabharat.

p. 79, Map of Bombay, drawn in 1842-46

p. 48, Mumbadevi Street, photographed by Raja Deen Dayal in the late 1880s, derived its name from the temple of the goddes, Mumbadevi, which was relocated here in the 18th century from its original site near BoriBunder.

p. 64, Mumbadevi Temple as it stands today.

p. 77, The Portugese Salvacao Church of Dadar was demolished and replaced by a modern structure a few years ago.

p. 222, Completed by the late 1930s, Marine Drive, the 'Queen's Necklace', became the most splendid sea-side promenade in Bombay.

p. 224, an old palatial villa at Bandra

p. 224, Many bungalows at Chowpatty and on Malabar Hill wwere demolished in the 1950s. [This picture is taken before the bungalows were razed to make way fro high-rise buildings.]