Mumbai Neighborhood Map Including Evidence of a Lost Jewish Burial Place
Fascinating map of a portion of the Nagpada neighborhood of Mumbai, drawn in the second half of the 19th Century.
The map reflects the diversity of the neighborhood, with a Jewish Burial Ground, Parsis family lands, a larger British firm and the location of an important hospital.
The "Burial Place of Issrael" is apparently the burial grounds in the Nagpada neighborhood lost to time, which was recently rediscovered. The entire area of Nagpada and Mazgaon used to be suburbs of Mumbai back in the 18th and 19th Centuries. It was full of small colonies of Parsis, Christians, Jews and Hindus. The burial site, which is near the Magen David Synagogue constructed in 1864, was apparently lost until recently, when is was rediscovered in 2018. A story regarding the discovery can be found here: https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-jewish-cemetery-discovered-under-nagpada-garden-in-mumbai-2703254
This map would seem to have been drawn at a moment in time when it was a multi-cultural enclave for different minority communities of greater Mumbai.
Among the places shown on the map are:
- Property of [sic] Richerdson & Cruddus (Richardson & Cruddas) (established in Mumbai in about 1858)
- Sir J.J. Hospital (Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals, first built in about 1845
- Property of Jahan Geerjee Nusserwanjee Wadia (the Wadia Family were major shipbuilders in the mid-19th Century in Mumbai and part of the Parsis, a a small community of Indian Zoroastrians with roots in Iran)
- Property of Munchejee Framjee Cama (Part of the above family)
- G.I.P. Railway (Great India Peninsula Railway)