Indian Antiquary Vol 52

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 228

212
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
AUGUST, 1923
1628, writes the name "Bumbaiee." Phonetically, there is little difference between this and the proper vernacular name" Mumbai." In A.D. 1654, however, the Company in a petition to Cromwell describe the Island as "Bone Bay," which is reminiscent of the old erroneous dorivation from "Buon Bahia quasi Boon Bay." After that date the name is almost invariably written "Bom baim," until it is finally superseded by "Bombay." The late Mr. A. M. T. Jackson was probably correct in holding that Mumbai, "Mother Mum ba," the eponymous goddess of the Island, is a local form and manifestation of "Mommai," the well-known village-goddess in Kathiâwâr.
Dr. Khan remarks that Kerridge's dispatch of A.D. 1628 contains the earliest description of Bombay by an English writer, and that his information was obtained from one Richard Tuck, an English sayler," who had long served the Portuguese and frequented the Island. Ho describes the inhabitants "both of Bumbaiee and Salsett" as "poore fishermen and other labourers, subject to the Portugall." These are the "Cooleys " (Kolis), "Callim bines and Bunderines" (Kunbis and Bhandaris), and "Frasses" (Farash) etc., of later writers. Another point, which is clearly indicated in a report of the Company to Charles II in February 1675-6, is the former importance of Mahim. "Within this Haven or Bay," they write, "stands the Island of Bom baim (called anciently Mahim), which gives Title and denomination to the whole Soa that enters, which is called the Port of Bombajm. There are some small spotts of Islands as Trum bay Galean and others as Elefanta and Patacas scarce worth notice ....... On part of the Island of Bombaim stands Mahim, the name formerly of the whole Island. There, in old time, was built by the Moores a great Castle, and in the times of the Kings of Portugall, this was the place where his Courts and the Custome house was kept, and here were the Duties paid by the vessels of Salset, Trumbay, Gallean and Bundy on the Maine etc." So far as I can remember, none of the early records in India refer so clearly as this to the original importance of Mahim, and particularly to the fact that the whole Island was originally styled Mahim, the Portuguese transliteration of Mahi (ie., Mahikâvati), which was the name of the former city of the almost legendary Raja Bimb.
Tho knowledge of the Island possessed by the Court of Committees compares favourably with the gross ignorance displayed by some members of the King's entourage. Even the Lords of the Council who examined very carefully the territorial claims of the English against their Portuguese antagonists were handicapped by having no map of Bombay, and could not therefore adjudicato as clearly as they might have done upon the Company's view that Salsette and Karanja formed an integral part of the territory ceded to England under the Marriage Treaty. Charles II, however, was bent upon upholding the Company's claims, and it was really his repudiation of Humphrey Cooke's agreement with the Portuguese Viceroy and his advocacy of the Company's case against the Portuguese that formed the foundation of Bombay's subsequent expansion
The documents of the period throw further light on Humphrey Cooke's character and behaviour. A letter from him to the Secretary of State dated August 26th, 1664, proves the truth of Colonel Biddulph's opinion as to the exact date (April 6th) of Sir Abraham Shipman's death, published in ante, vol. XLI, 1912, and justifies the view adopted in the Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island, that Shipman died in April, 1664. Cooke's letter, which is written from "Angediva Island in Easte India," discloses the terrible mortality among the soldiers from the poisonous air of this "un houldsum" place, and then, after descanting upon the heavy charges incurred by Cooke as Governor "in housekeeping and servants," which could not be "avoyded for our nation's honour," proffers a request that the King will grant him a two years' commission as “Governor in Bom baim "at a salary of 40 shillings a day. In another long letter of March 3rd, 1664-65 Cooke complains of the attitude of Sir George Oxinden-the earliest indication, as Dr. Khan remarks, of that friction between the King's and the Company's officers which led later to the cession of Bombay to