Mahim (Mumbai)

India / Maharashtra / Mumbai
 suburb, invisible
The name "Mahim" is derived from the English, who derived it from the Portuguese. In Portuguese, however, the last alphabet is silent, thus conforming to the original name of the place, Mahi, which is a contraction of Mahikavati. It is claimed that Mahikavati acquired its name due to Raja Bhimdev who was forced to flee his original capital, also named Mahikavati, in interior of the Konkan. Raja Bhimdev himself is a person whose antecedents are not very clear, for some claim him to be a scion of the Yadava Emperors of Devgiri, fleeing from the depradations of Allaudin Khilji, while others make him a scion of the Gurjara kings of Gujarat, from their capital Anhilwad; it is impossible that he could be both, but it is possible, given the close relations between the two dynasties, that he was indeed related to both.

Mahim stood on an eponymous island that formed part of the Bombay Archipelago. The town proper stood at the northern end of the island, in and around the Mahim Fort.

The Arabs, ruling out of the city of Cambay in Gujarat / Saurashtra, soon after conquered Mahim from Bhimdev or his descendants, and, in turn, the Portuguese forced Bahadur Shah I to cede it by the Treaty of Bassein, 1534, signed on the Portuguese ship Saint Matthew (Sao Matheus) anchored at Bassein. Under the Portuguese, the majority of the population was gradually brought over to Christianity due to the intense proselytization activities of missionaries from several different orders - Carmelites, Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, etc., competing among each other to convert the most souls.

Subsequently, the Portuguese ceded the island of Bombay and some others of the neighboring islands to the English, as part of a Dowry Treaty, but this did not include the islands of Mahim and Colaba. The English, however, subsequently, invaded and annexed Mahim, taking advantage of the difficulties the Portuguese found themselves in following the Battle of Alcácer-Quibir in North Africa. Under the English, the seas between the islands of the Bombay Archipelago were reclaimed, making these islands into one united artificial island, the Bombay City Island.

This particular part of Mahim was designated by the English as Upper Mahim, to distinguish it from Lower Mahim, now West Dadar, and Mahim Woods, now Prabhadevi. It is now called simply Mahim.

See also www.east-indians.net/Mahim.htm
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahim_Mumbai
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   19°2'26"N   72°50'46"E

Comments

  • nice place
  • MEHTA PARK ANCETRAL HOUSE OF DESAIS
  • mahim is the best place bcoz i have born here n my rest of the life is here this is our ancestral place i have been staying here for 60yrs masha allah n hope so my rest of the life 2spend here there is so many restarauts n parks ilove this n utoo will love it when u will visit it
  • it stinks over here.....but a good place.......very peaceful......near to all the main markets n church
  • It is the best place where I use 2 stay it is very covent. 2 travel every where where ever you want 2 go our best buses and life line of bombay thats local trains r available for all the destination Ahhhhhhh I LOVE MAHIM
  • It is one of the best localities in Mumbai - Mahim (w). The best part about Mahim is it is not crowded, simply because on the West it is Arabian Sea and the East it is Mahim Railway Station. So no developers can mess up the place.
  • I was checking a line in Rudyard Kiplings poem The Gipsy Trail, which mentions Mahim Woods.
  • early Mahim is very good but now a days it is very huge crowded, in a villages you will get the week market like this in Mahim you will see the Wednesday Market and Monday Market but Wednesday market is one of the oldest market in Mahim area. one of our great Scholar Hazrat Makdoom Mahim is wrote a Law book and that book none as "Fiqqah of Mahim" which is read in all over the world
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This article was last modified 10 years ago