By-Ways of Bombay

By-Ways of Bombay

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Title: By-Ways of Bombay
Author: S. M. Edwardes, C.V.O.
Release Date: November 12, 2003 [EBook #10071]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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BY-WAYS OF BOMBAY.
BY
S. M. EDWARDES, C.V.O.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The various chapters of this book originally appeared under the
nom-de-plume of "Etonensis" in the Times of India, to the proprietors
of which journal I am indebted for permission to publish them in
book-form, They cannot claim to be considered critical studies, but are
merely a brief record of persons whom I have met and of things that I
have seen during several years' service as a Government official in
Bombay. In placing them before the public in their present form, I can
only hope that they will be found of brief interest by those
unacquainted with the inner life of the City of Bombay.
HEAD POLICE OFFICE,
BOMBAY, June 1912.
S. M. E.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The first edition of "By-ways of Bombay" having been sold out within
a month, Messrs Taraporevala Sons and Co. have interested themselves
in publishing the present edition which includes several illustrations by
Mr. M. V. Dhurandhar and an additional article on the Tilak Riots
which appeared in the Bombay Gazette in August, 1908. My
acknowledgments are due to the Editor for permission to republish this
article.
HEAD POLICE OFFICE,
BOMBAY. November, 1912.
S. M. EDWARDES.

CONTENTS
I. The Spirit of Chandrabai
II. Bombay Scenes
III. Shadows of Night
IV. The Birthplace of Shivaji
V. The Story of Imtiazan
VI. The Bombay Mohurrum
VII. The Possession of Afiza
VIII. A Kasumba Den
IX. The Ganesh Caves
X. A Bhandari Mystery
XI. Scenes in Bombay
XII. Citizens of Bombay
XIII. The Sidis of Bombay
XIV. A Konkan Legend
XV. Nur Jan
XVI. Governor and Koli
XVII. The Tribe Errant
XVIII. The Pandu-Lena Caves
XIX. Fateh Muhammad

XX. The Tilak Riots

ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. Spirit of Chandrabai
2. A Mill-hand
3. A Marwari selling Batasa
4. The seller of "Malpurwa Jaleibi"
5. A Koli woman
6. The "Pan" Seller
7. An Opium Club
8. A "Madak-khana"
9. Imtiazan
10. The Possession of Afiza
11. A Bhandari Mystery
12. An Arab
13. A Bombay Memon
14. Sidis of Bombay
15. The Parshurama and the Chitpavans
16. Nur Jan
17. A Koli

18. A Deccani Fruit-seller
19. The Coffee-seller
20. Fateh Muhammad

[Illustration: The Spirit of Chandrabai]
I.
THE SPIRIT OF CHANDRABAI.
A STUDY IN PROTECTIVE MAGIC.
Fear reigned in the house of Vishnu the fisherman: for, but a week
before, his wife Chandra had died in giving birth to a child who
survived his mother but a few hours, and during those seven days all
the elders and the wise women of the community came one after
another unto Vishnu and, impressing upon him the malignant influence
of such untimely deaths, bade him for the sake of himself and his
family do all in his power to lay the spirit of his dead wife. So on a
certain night early in December Vishnu called all his caste-brethren
into the room where Chandra had died, having first arranged there a
brass salver containing a ball of flour loosely encased in thread, a
miniature cot with the legs fashioned out of the berries of the "bhendi,"
and several small silver rings and bangles, a coral necklace and a quaint
silver chain, which were destined to be hung in due season upon the
wooden peg symbolical of his dead wife's spirit in the "devaghar," or
gods' room, of his house. And he called thither also Rama the
"Gondhali," master of occult ceremonies, Vishram, his disciple, and
Krishna the "Bhagat" or medium, who is beloved of the ghosts of the
departed and often bears their messages unto the living.
When all are assembled, the women of the community raise the brass
salver and head a procession to the seashore, none being left in the dead
woman's room save Krishna the medium who sits motionless in the
centre thereof; and on the dry shingle the women place the salver and

two brass "lotas" filled with milk and water, while the company ranges
itself in a semi-circle around Rama the Gondhali, squatting directly in
front of the platter. For a moment he sits wrapped in thought, and then
commences a weird chant of