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50-556: The Bandra Fair is a week-long fair held annually in the Bandra suburb of Mumbai (Bombay) , India. It starts on the Sunday following the 8th of September ( Bandra Fest ) at Mount St Mary Church ; the festival of the Nativity of Our Lady , the virgin-mother of Jesus Christ. The Bandra Fair is estimatedly around 300 years old. According to legend , the celebration began when a statue of St Mary

100-495: A business centre has only exacerbated the traffic problems, as unlike other commercial hubs, Bandra's BKC is located between Bandra and Kurla stations and requires approximately 10-15 minute vehicular commute from either of the stations. Nearly 300,000 office-goers alight daily at Bandra Railway Station and take a taxi or bus to BKC. This has made Bandra among the busiest stations in India, surpassing Andheri and Bombay Central , and

150-613: A full-fledged educational institution for day-scholars as well as boarders. Cardinal Gracias High School is a convent school located in Bandra East. St. Joseph's Convent High School for girls is run by the nuns of the congregation of the Daughters of the Cross in Bandra West. It was built in 1865 (Bandra was then known as Bandora) and boasts a chapel. The school has produced illustrious alumni over

200-583: A heritage structure of "Heritage II" status. The Portuguese also pronounced Bandra As Bandora. As traffic in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region worsened, especially in South Mumbai , there was increased demand to construct a business district outside of Mumbai, in the suburbs. In the mid-2000s, the city of Bandra started an audacious task to reclaim lands on the Mithi River in the eastern portion of

250-644: A newly built terminus called Bandra Terminus in Bandra (E) from where trains bound for northern and western India are scheduled regularly. The important trains include the Bandra- New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Bandra- Indore Express, Bandra- Patna Express, Bandra- Jaipur Express, Bandra- Jodhpur Express and the Bandra- Amritsar Express Public transport also includes BEST buses, auto rickshaws and taxis, which are abundant. Bandra

300-807: 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 Portuguese Crown after the death of Isabel Botelha , Pessoa's widow. In 1568, the Jesuits who had applied for acquisition of these villages in anticipation of Isabel's death, obtained them from the Portuguese viceroy in Goa , they received royal confirmation from Lisbon , in 1570. In 1661, when Charles II of England married Catherine of Portugal,

350-548: A total period of about six weeks, drawing goods and customers from much of Europe. The Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, still the largest trade fair for the publishing industry, began in the 12th century as a fair for manuscript books. Fairs were usually tied to special Christian feast days , such as the day of the saint of the local church. Stagshaw in England, is documented to have held annual fairs as early as 1293 consisting of

400-624: 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 High 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

450-654: Is held during the eight days of the Octave of the Nativity of Our Lady, beginning 8 September, when people throng the church. The first school founded in Bandra after Bombay 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 . The school is located in Bandra West. St. Theresa's High School grew out of St. Andrew's Indian Christians' School, housed in

500-674: Is located to the immediate north of the River Mithi , which separates Bandra from the Mumbai City district . It is the third-largest commercial hub in Maharashtra , after the Mumbai City and Pune , primarily aided by the Bandra Kurla Complex . Before the opening of Khar Road railway station on 1 July 1924, Bandra was a larger area and included the present day Khar neighbourhood. It

550-500: Is set in the 1950s with the first half of the book having most of the action in Pali Village , a predominantly East Indian populace at the time. Bandra is split by the local railway-line into West Bandra (Postal Code 400050) and East Bandra (Postal Code 400051). The part of Bandra located on the western side of the railway line developed into a fashionable suburb by the middle of the 20th century. Film director Mehboob Khan established

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600-668: The Mehboob Studios here in 1954. Soon the area became a center for the Indian movie industry, Bollywood . A recording studio was set up in the 1970s. In the mid-to-late 1990s, the eastern part emerged as a commercial and administrative hub. It houses the Family Court, Bandra Kurla Commercial Complex , the office of the state housing development authority ( MHADA ) and the office of the District Collector . The residential quarters of

650-678: The Mount Carmel Church compound, which is the tail end of the fair. Recently, there have been many issues raised by the residents residing on the Mount Mary Road in Bandra where the Fair takes place. Some residents have complained that all the public transport is reserved for pilgrims during the fair, leaving the nearby residents with no transport. Due to large scale cooking on the roads, some residents have complained of pollution, while many have complained that mosquitoes increase in number during

700-561: The Persian word for port, or "bandar." It is described by Duncan Forbes 's A Dictionary, Hindustani and English (1848) as "a city; an emporium; a port, harbor; a trading town to which numbers of foreign merchants resort". In Konkani , bandar is a loanword from Parsi (Persian) meaning harbour or port . The area along with much of the Konkan region , was ruled by the Silhara dynasty in

750-609: The Rizvi College of Arts , Science and Commerce (established in 1985); Rizvi High School (established in 1985); Rizvi College of Engineering (established in 1998); Rizvi College of Architecture; Rizvi College of Hotel Management & Catering Technology; Rizvi Law College ; Rizvi College of Education and the Rizvi College of Fashion Designing & Creative Arts All are managed by the Rizvi Education Society, and may have

800-604: The Seven Islands of Bombay were given away as part of the dowry of Catherine Braganza . However, Salsette island , on which Bandra laid, was not part of this treaty and remained with the Portuguese. The Portuguese Empire built additional chapels, oratories& 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 Western Christianity (Catholicism) among

850-499: The Treaty of Bassein with the English, surrendering sovereignty and again ceding Bandra, and it remained under British control until 14 August 1947. Arrival of Railways and development : On 12 April 1867, the first railway service was inaugurated, with one train per day between Virar and Bombay, as part of the then private rail company, BB&CI which was the earlier form of Western Railway . A grand railway station building for Bandra

900-508: The chikki (a sweet made from groundnuts and jaggery) from Maharashtra are usually found at the stalls during the fair. Only stalls erected within the boundaries of the basilica come under its jurisdiction, all other activity beyond that is organized and controlled by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation . Stalls line the street from the gate at the bottom of the steps all the way to the old 'September Garden' located in

950-538: The largest gathering anywhere in the world. Kumbha means a pitcher and Mela means fair in Sanskrit. In the United States, fairs draw in as many as 150 million people each summer. Children's competitions at an American fair range from breeding small animals to robotics, whilst the organizations National FFA Organization & 4-H have become the traditional associations. The Sirsi Marikamba Devi Fair of

1000-539: The 12th century. Bandra was a tiny fishing village inhabited by Kolis ( fishermen ) and salt farmers . The area was part of Portuguese Bombay territory extending from Damaon to Chaul , before its acquisition by the English East India Company . In 1534, Diego da Silveira, a pirate from the Mediterranean , entered Bandra's creek and burned the fishing town he found there. With that, Bandra came under

1050-671: The Indian Catholic diaspora. A similar event called the "Bandra Feast" is organized annually by the India Social and Cultural Centre (ISCC) in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain . Fair Variations of fairs include: The Roman fairs were holidays on which work and business such as law courts were suspended. In the Roman provinces of Judea and Syria Palaestina , Jewish rabbis prohibited Jews from participating in fairs in certain towns because

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1100-456: The Khar part of Bandra as weekend dwellings. Khar Danda was one of the original villages of the erstwhile larger Bandra. Back then, the local Bandra railway station was felt considerably far to alight from trains and hire 'tangas' (horse carriages) to get to their bungalows by these Bandra residents. Keeping these factors and Bandra's growing population in mind, a new railway station named 'Khar Road'

1150-480: The St+art Mumbai festival in 2014. The mural was unveiled officially by Amitabh Bachchan and Piyush Pandey , but the building has been re-painted. It is reportedly Asia's largest mural. Many of the characters in the book Bloodline Bandra by Godfrey Joseph Pereira (2014), are East Indian, including the protagonist, journalist, David Cabral, who reside in a village (hamlet) called Pali in Bandra. The book itself

1200-515: The Stagshaw Bank Fair with masses of people and animals and stalls inspired the Newcastle colloquialism "like a Stagey Bank Fair" to describe a general mess. The American county fair is featured in E. B. White's Charlotte's Web . Bandra Bandra ( [bæːɳɖɾa] ) is a coastal suburb located in Mumbai , the largest city of the Konkan division in Maharashtra , India . The area

1250-632: The area. Father Gomes also established St Andrew's Church . Bandra officially became a possession of the Portuguese East Indies , when the Sultanate of Cambay ceded Bandra and adjacent areas via the Treaty of Bassein (1534) , which was signed aboard the brig named Sao Mateus (St Matthew) at Vasai (Bassein) harbour, aided by Governor-General Nuno da Cunha and Diego da Silveira . The Portuguese enfeoffed (gave) Bandra, Kurla , Mazgaon and four other villages in 1548 to António Pessoa ; as

1300-646: The body. The people who are ill choose one that corresponds to their ailment and offer it in the basilica along with their supplications. After visiting the basilica, pilgrims descend from the Mount using the Steps on the eastern side. The stalls lining both sides on the way down offer pilgrims sweets like Guava cheese, Kadio bodio (tiny stick made of Maida flour dipped in sugar syrup and dried) from Goa , Mawa peda (thick cookie made using evaporated milk) from Uttar Pradesh , Halva from Kerala , Tamil Nadu , and Delhi , and

1350-476: The church. The shrine began attracting tourists and pilgrims from all the surrounding areas of Bombay city and beyond. Devotees used to arrive at the foot of the hill by bullock carts. Some arrived by ferryboats from across the Mahim Creek . They would park their carts along groves of mango trees at the foot of the hill & walk up the slope to the basilica at the top. After concluding their spiritual obligations,

1400-498: The city, near the Kurla border. The newly formed Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) has attracted several equity and technology firms, such as Blackstone, Google , and Amazon , who chose Bandra instead of Mumbai City for its location, lower-cost of land, and new development. As the last suburb before entering Mumbai City , Bandra has for a while been strained with traffic, particularly around the railway station and S.V. Road. The development of

1450-437: The deity is held every alternate year in the month of March and taken through the city Sirsi, Karnataka . It is attended by a very large number of devotees. It is also most famous and biggest fair (Jaatre) of the India. Devotees from all around the state participate in this enormous event indulging themselves in the procession. Amusements for children, circuses, variety of shops, dramas and plays and many such things are set up for

1500-583: The employees of the Maharashtra State Government are also located here. Most roads and places in Bandra were given English names during British rule . They have been renamed over time but many are still popularly known by their old names. Bandra railway station is connected with the Western Railway and the Harbour Line , which is an offshoot of the suburban Central Railway . It also has

1550-516: The fair. Also, nearby dental clinics and dispensaries on Mount Mary Road prefer to remain closed during the fair. The Bandra Fair is very popular in Mumbai. Every year, different political parties set up their political banners across the suburb of Bandra inviting the pilgrims to the Fair. The Bandra Fair as known as Monti Saibini-che Fest in Konkani vernacular, is also popular outside India especially with

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1600-522: The granting of a holiday status to a fair or protections against arrest for specific laws for the duration of the fair. Officials were authorised to mete out justice to those who attended their fair; this led to even the smallest fair having a court to adjudicate on offences and disputes arising within the fairground. These courts were called a pye powder court (from Old French pieds pouldres , literally "dusty feet", meaning an itinerant trader, from Medieval Latin pedes pulverosi ). The chaotic nature of

1650-573: The natives of the island. Their descendants continued their membership of the six Catholic parish churches — Mount Carmel , St. Peter's, St Andrew's, St Theresa's, St Anne's and St Francis d'Assisi; that lie within an area of four square kilometres. Bandra became part of English territory with the signing of the Treaty of Surat in 1775, but was retroceded to the Marathas in 1779 during the First Anglo-Maratha War . In 1802, Baji Rao II signed

1700-541: The organizations that conduct various programs to encourage the artists. The programs have support from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Bandra was also home to the 37X46 metre (120X150 foot) portrait of Dadasaheb Phalke on the MTNL building at Bandra Reclamation. It was created by Ranjit Dahiya (from the Bollywood Art Project) and other artists including Yantr , Munir Bukhari and Nilesh Kharade as part of

1750-447: The people. It depicts the story of the goddess killing Mahishasura . Fairs attracted great numbers of people and they often resulted in public order issues and sometimes riots. The holding of fairs was, therefore, granted by royal charter . Initially they were only allowed in towns and places where order could be maintained due to the presence of a bishop, sheriff or governor. Later various benefits were granted to specific fairs, such as

1800-432: The pilgrims would now move back down whilst enjoying the merry fair. The Fair draws lakhs of devotees and pilgrims annually. During the Fair, tens of thousands visit the shrine of Our Lady of Mount. The shrine attracts people from all faiths who pray to Mary in thanksgiving or requesting of favours. Many pitch up stalls selling religious objects and an assortment of candles shaped like hands, feet and various other parts of

1850-570: The religious nature of the fairs contravened the prescribed practice of Judaism . In the Middle Ages , many fairs developed as temporary markets and were especially important for long-distance and international trade , as wholesale traders travelled, sometimes for many days, to fairs where they could be sure to meet those they needed to buy from or sell to. The most famous were the Champagne fairs in northern France, which were spread over six towns for

1900-507: The rule of the Portuguese Goa . A period of Christianisation began in Bandra. Father Conceicao Rodrigues , a Catholic priest, was instrumental in increasing the Church's prominence in Bandra. In 1580, he baptised about 2,000 fishermen. By the time he died 11 years later, Father Gomes' "invincible strength of soul", as one historian describes it, had helped convert close to 6,000 people in

1950-472: The sales of animals. Along with the main fair held on 4 July, the city also hosted smaller fairs throughout the year where specific types of animals were sold, such as one for horses, one for lambs, and one for ewes. The Kumbh Mela , held every twelve years, at Allahabad , Haridwar , Nashik , and Ujjain is one of the largest fairs in India, where more than 60 million people gathered in January 2001, making it

2000-717: The second-busiest station in Maharashtra's Western Railway after Churchgate railway station . In 1993, a group of terrorists attacked a hotel in Bandra in addition to other sites in the city. Bandra has a large collection of street art or graffiti. The paintings on walls are principally located in the vicinity of Chapel Road and Veronica Street, but prominent works are also visible near Bandstand and Mount Mary Church . They consist of various types of graffiti, including pieces, stencils, tags, etc. Globally renowned artists such as Gomez have created works on these walls. St+art Mumbai, Bollywood Art Project and Dharavi Art Room are some of

2050-450: The statue to Bandra and constructed the church there. In 1700, Arab pirates disfigured the statue by cutting off the right hand. In 1760, the church was rebuilt and the statue was substituted with a statue of Our Lady of Navigators from the St Andrew's Church nearby. This statue had an interesting legend. It goes that a Koli fisherman dreamt that he would find a statue in the sea. The statue

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2100-500: The status of Muslim religious minority institution. St. Andrew's College of Arts, Science and Commerce is another famous college located in the heart of Bandra, just a few hundred metres away from St. Stanislaus High School. St. Andrews boasts of one of the best auditoriums in the city. IES's Management College an Research Centre is also located at Bandra Reclamation. It offers PGDM programs related to Management and Pharma. Bandra Lake , also called Bandra Talao or Motha Reservoir

2150-519: 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 . The Rizvi Education Complex , located off Carter Road , comprises

2200-553: Was considered too large a suburb to be served by one railway station and railway station was established to give the northern part of Bandra closer access to the Western Railway line. This eventually led to Khar being considered a separate suburb. However, to this day, the two adjoined suburbs make up one homogeneous zone. A number of prominent residents of Bandra are celebrities or VIPs who are active in Bollywood , media, cricket and politics. The name "Bandra" possibly originates from

2250-468: Was constructed by a rich Konkani Muslim of Navapada (also spelt Naupada or Naopara), an adjoining village. The lake was later acquired by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai . It was officially renamed Swami Vivekanand Sarovar. Paddle boating facilities and pisciculture (fish farming) activities were operational in this lake during the 1990s but have since stopped. This lake is now

2300-565: Was discovered floating in the Arabian Sea between 1700 and 1760, which a Koli Christian fisherman had already dreamt about earlier. Monti Fest celebrated by Goans, Karwaris & Mangaloreans is similar to the Bandra Fest, and coincides with the Nativity. Although the current church edifice is just 100 years old, the history behind the current statue of Our Lady of Mount goes back to the 16th century when Jesuit priests from Portugal brought

2350-473: Was inaugurated in 1869. The innovative aspects used in the design of this structure are visible to this day. On closer scrutiny, it is evident how railway tracks bunched together make up each of the iron pillars, that hold up the roof over the platforms. In 1873, with growing demands, the frequency of trains available was increased to 24 each day. In the early 1900s, the affluent Pathare Prabhu community lived in South Mumbai , and used their quaint bungalows in

2400-513: Was indeed found floating in the sea, sometime between 1700 and 1760. A Jesuit Annual Letter dated to 1669 and published in the book St Andrew's Church, Bandra (1616–1966) supports the claim. This was believed to be a miracle by the locals, and the Bandra Fair was started to celebrate the event. However, in 1761, the original statue of the Lady of Mount was renovated with a child in her arms and returned to

2450-556: Was introduced adjoining Bandra Railway station on 1 July 1924. This development is the primary reason that the Khar part of Bandra started being referred to as a suburb by itself. 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 began with an aim to accommodate immigrants. As of 2018, 940 trains stop daily at Bandra railway station . Bandra

2500-501: Was raised to the status of a municipality in 1876 and was then 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, Khar Danda, Pali, and Chuim. These have almost been lost to urban development of the island. The Bandra Fair

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