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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[DECEMBER, 1926
I may pause here for a minute to remark that, despite conversion, the Native Christians of Bombay and Salsette maintained their former Hindu caste distinctions to the extent of refusing to intermarry with other Christians, who had originally belonged to lower Hindu astes; and this prejudice, I believe, can still be traced among the Christians of Salsette, those, for example, who claim an original Prabhu or Panchkalshi ancestry refusing to marry fellow-parishioners, whose forbears were Bhandaris, Agris or Kolis. So far as the Christian Kolis of Bombay are concerned, their Christianity is of a distinctly superficial type: for they still observe the chief Hindu as well as Christian festivals; they still visit the shrines of aboriginal Hindu deities like Mumbai and Ekvira as well as the Roman Catholic churches; and I myself have seen in the deva-ghar or god's room of a Koli house images of Christ and the Virgin Mary side by side with the images of Mahadev, Hanuman, and Khandoba. Many of them worship their ancestors and are called on that account Virkar, and one of their more curious customs, which they are said to have borrowed from the Native Christians of Salsette, is that of photographing their family corpses. When a member of the family dies, the others prop him up in a sitting posture and have him photographed-a rather gruesome habit which may or may not be connected with the reverence regularly paid to the family dead.
Time will not permit of more than a rapid glance at the classes and castes which settled permanently in Bombay during the British period. Within ten years of the transfer of the Island by the Portuguese, Armenians and Hindu Vanis (Banias) from Surat and Brahmans from Salsette had taken up their residence in Bombay. Of these the Armenians have gradually disappeared in favour of the Bania and the Parsi, and the only legacy of their former settlement is Armenian Lane-a narrow street in the old Fort area. The Parsis were also among the arly arrivals, for one Kharshedji Pochaji was contractor for the building of fortifications 1665, and by 1673 the first Tower of Silence had been built on Malabar Hill. These people Continued to arrive in a steady stream, attracted by the prospect of trade, and many wellEnown Parsi families of to-day trace their descent from men who settled here between 1730 nd 1745. The famine of 1790 in Gujarat was also responsible for the immigration of many families. East African negroes and slaves from Madagascar, locally known as 'Cofferies,' were a well-known element of the population during the early British period and continued to be imported until the middle of the nineteenth century. They formed the ancestry of the curious Sidi population, which now resides in the Municipal ward E and supplies the large ocean liners with stokers and other members of the crew.
Another ancient community was that of the Shenvis or Gaud Sarasvat Brahmans, who came from Goa and the South Konkan. They are mentioned in an official letter of 1673 as one of the important classes of Gentus i.e., Gentiles or Hindus, in Bombay, and as being traders and cultivators: and it is probable that some of them were in the Island during the pre-British period. At any rate, immediately after Bombay came into possession of the English, the Bombay Council recorded that they had employed one Ram Simar, i.e., Rama Shenvi, because owing to long residence he had acquired an intimate knowledge of Bombay conditions. In or about 1756 the Kapole Banias immigrated from Gogha and Surat under the leadership of one Rupji Dhanji, the ancestor of Sir Mangaldas Nathubhai, who was the leader of the Bombay Hindus during the seventies' and 'eighties' of last century. They were followed towards the end of the eighteenth century by the Bhattias from Cutch and Kathiawar, who have since played a prominent part in the development of the local textile industry. From Gujarat, Cutch and Kathia war came also the three chief local Muhammadan sects, Memons, Bohras, and Khojas, of whom the first named are Sunnis and the two latter are Shias. They commenced to filter into Bombay as soon as the trade of Surat declined and arrived in large numbers after the famines of 1803 and 1813. The latter famine was also responsible for the arrival from Cutch of the Dasa Oswal Jains, who are an important section of the trading classes; while the horse trade with the Persian Gulf and the pearl trade led
