Kandarpada Gaothan

By Anurag

Today, the suburb of Dahisar is the northernmost outpost of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Dahisar, despite being a frontier suburb of the richest municipal body in the country, is home to one of Mumbai's oldest continuously inhabited societies. It is also home to one of Mumbai's four major rivers, namely the eponymous Dahisar River.

Early History

The rock-cut caves of Mandapeshwar, excavated in the seventh and eighth centuries, are the oldest datable monument in Dahisar. The region then was ruled by the Northern Shilaharas, who reigned from their capital, which was once located in what is now modern-day Thane. The Mahikavatichi Bakhar, which documents Mumbai's history between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, mentions Dahisapur, a village under the Malad khapna administered by Gangadhar Rao. The two native settlements in Dahisar are the Dahisar and the Kandarpada gaothans, home to the native Koli, Agri, and other communities.

Kandarpada

The abundant mangrove forests that once surrounded this locality may have inspired the name Kandarpada. One of the Marathi words for mangrove is kandar, which may have given this gaothan, or village, its name. Rakesh Thakur is a media professional and a native of the Kandarpada gaothan. He is also an avid scholar of the local history and culture. He states that, as far as he is aware, Kandarpada's known history is at least 300 years old. It is a gaothan home to the Agri and Christian Koli communities, as well as members of the Adivasi community. The traditional boundaries of the Kandarpada gaothan extend from Eksar in the south to Manori Creek in the west, as well as the Dahisar River in the east and north. The present-day Laxman Mhatre Road divides it traditionally into two sections: Varchi valli and Khalchi valli. Valli is the Aagri equivalent of the Marathi word aali, meaning lane. The Varchi valli, the settlement to the north of the main street, is home to the native Aagri and Christian Koli communities, while the Khalchi valli, the area to the south of the main street, houses the Indigenous Aagri community. The oldest families that constitute this urban gaothan are the Thakur, Mhatre, Bhoir, and Patil. Traditionally, the soyrik, or marital alliance, in Kandarpada was done with families hailing from Eksar, Dahisar Gaon, Morva, Rai, Navghar, and Murdha.

Kandarpada's primary occupation was farming, with paddy fields encircling the settlement on all sides. Pranita Thakur, Rakesh Thakur’s wife, says that the rice variety indigenous to Kandarpada was locally known as ratya bhat or lal tandul, literally translating to red rice. It was a rice breed only found in coastal areas, and it had a slightly salty taste when consumed. With the disappearance of farmlands in Mumbai, these local rice varieties also vanished.

Religious Landscape

The gramadevata of Kandarpada is Bhavdevi, whose temple sits on top of a hillock that oversees the entire locality. According to Thakur, this basalt hillock was once a large hill, extending all the way to the shores of Manori Creek, and the locals had to hike to reach the creek waters. However, the arrival of urban development has reduced it to its present-day size. People also worship a large basalt outcrop outside the Bhavdevi shrine, known locally as Dhondi, as part of the goddess' sacred complex. Every year, the day of Akshay Tritiya hosts the annual jatra of Bhavdevi. The highlight of the jatra is the palkhi of Bhavdevi, where the entire village parades the goddess' image in a palanquin.

According to the locals, Bhavdevi is also considered the rakhandar, or guardian, of the settlement. An old fable describes Bhavdevi’s appearance. She wears a white sari and holds a stick with a set of ghungroos in one hand. She descends from her shrine at night and patrols every lane of Kandarpada to ensure peace and safety for the natives.

Traditionally, people worship local goddesses such as Bhavdevi and Jari Mari as remedies for measles. The patient is dressed in white and made to wear a silver ring with a ghungroo attached to it. They are then worshipped as the manifestation of the goddess and ceremonially taken to the Bhavdevi temple, where a pooja is performed in honour of the Devi, and the patient adorns the goddess's image with a garland of flowers.

Apparitions known as jira were also part of the local spiritual domain. They would assume a human form, usually that of a friend or a close associate of their victim, and approach their victim’s house in the night. They would then call out to the victim in the voice of a friend or associate, asking them to join the Jira on a fishing trip. Such jira tales narrated by the elderly still form an important part of familial and communal conversations.

Veshivarche Dev, or frontier deities, are an important part of Kandarpada's religious landscape. Four frontier deities preside over the four directions of Kandarpada’s traditional boundaries. Chandoba guards the southern ves, or boundary; Biroba is the divine sentry charged with protecting the northwestern direction; the goddess Jari Mari sits near the Kandarpada Talav; and Bhairav is the guardian of the northern ves. The Bhairav shrine was the most important for the natives and is locally known as Kolhapur. It was also the site of Kandarpada's old fishing harbour.

In the olden days, the tradition for the annual jatra of Bhavdevi involved sacrificing a goat outside the temple in honor of the goddess. Following the sacrifice, the villagers mixed the blood from the sacrifice with cooked rice, referred to locally as khola, and offered portions of this to the Veshivarche Dev as part of their annual maan. All the villagers gathered outside the temple premises for a communal feast that followed. However, with the advent of the modern era, the practice of ritual sacrifice has ceased to exist.

Most families in Kandarpada primarily worship three deities on a household level. For many families, Khandoba is the kuladevta, or clan deity. Tulja Bhavani is the kula swamini, or clan goddess, and Ekvira is the aradhya devta, or personal goddess, of many families in the locality.

All members of the Kandarpada community pay their respects at the shrine, which is also a significant part of the local religious life.

Fishing Practices

The Aagris of Kandarpada used to fish in the creek in Dahisar when it was still a pristine water body at the northern edge of Mumbai. The most preferred fishing technique among the locals was known as tara lepna. It consisted of erecting an upright net across the creek from one bank to the other. According to Thakur, tara lepna was an extremely labour-intensive fishing technique, requiring 40–50 people to set the net up across the creek. Once the net was in place, people waited for the tides to change. The high or low tide's ensuing water flow pushed the fish into the erected nets. The locals would then gather the trapped fish.

Other fishing techniques include the vana, or hand-held nets, used in the shallow waters near the shore, and bhokshi, which involved creating artificial bunds or embankments in the creek and maintaining a netted outlet for the cultivated fish. The Kandarpada natives frequently used this technique for prawn fishing. The Kandarpada natives used circular net cages with narrow openings, known as phaga, to fish crabs out of the creek waters, and a local fishing device known as busa to fish nivtis, or mudskippers.

Prominent local catch consisted of shingala or catfish, shivlya or clams, kalve or oysters, boi or flathead grey mullets, nivtis or mudskippers, mori or baby sharks, vaam or eels, and chimbori or crabs. Locals believe the kilis, a fish that resembles a large eel, to be highly beneficial in relieving backaches. Yashoda Thakur, who is Rakesh Thakur’s mother, states that her father-in-law insisted on her cooking kilis as and when he suffered from backaches.

She also mentioned that they would sell the catch in the local markets, but they would take it to the wholesale markets of Malad and Bhayandar when the catch was good enough.

Festivals

Holi, or Shimga, is the most important festival for the Kandarpada community. The celebrations last fourteen days, culminating with the Kombad Holi and the Mothi Holi. The bonfires are made from the wood of eranda (eucalyptus), amba (mango), jambul (jamun), and bhendi (Portia) trees, and the main bonfire on Mothi Holi night uses mango and jamun wood. The Holi bonfire symbolises a savashin, or married woman, and the ceremonies involved in creating the bonfire are similar to those involved in honouring a married woman, i.e., draping the Holi with a sari and offering Oti to her. Locals in Kandarpada used to traditionally organize the Holi at a location known as Holicha Maidan. However, various development projects have destroyed the maidan over the years. Despite the destruction, the natives have managed to preserve the traditional spot for the Holi bonfire, which now sits amidst a lane fork that passes through the gaothan. An interesting tradition in Kandarpada is keeping the burnt stock base from the previous holi preserved in situ until the next holi. During the celebrations, the new bonfire replaces the old wood stock.

A native tradition of Holi involves inviting newly married couples, especially the javais, or sons-in-law of Kandarpada, and conducting the Holi pooja at the hands of the new couple. The Javais place a towel on their shoulder and a white cap on their head. They carry a sugarcane stick on their shoulders and a coconut in their hands, then proceed towards the Holi bonfire, accompanied by the tunes of the traditional brass band. The bonfire then burns the sugarcane and coconut as offerings.

The community also ensures that bereaved families are involved. The entire community visits the mourning households and formally invites and includes them in the wider public celebrations to help them move on from their sorrows and enjoy the festive spirit.

After lighting the bonfire, everyone present receives sakhar phutane, or sugar crystals. Following this tradition, people fill their fists with sugar crystals and throw them into the burning Holi bonfire. On Holi night, people perform the traditional folk dance Fera Nrutya. It consists of performers dancing in a circular formation, with a dholki player in the center.

Gauri Ganpati is another important festival for the locals, and the Gauri celebrations in Kandarpada are unique in terms of the festive imagery. On the third day of Ganpati, people fashion the image of Gauri from a terda, or rose balsam plant, and place a mukhavta, or goddess mask, over this assemblage. Yashoda Thakur adds that in the past, people would place the image of Gauri next to their chools, or household stoves. An important local tradition for the goddess Gauri is to create fist imprints resembling feet with a rice flour slurry. These impressions trace paths from the house's threshold to important locations within it, such as the water storage, the granary, and the stove. In doing so, they beseech the visiting goddess to bring prosperity to the household.

The natives of Kandarpada also celebrate Dahi Handi with equal pomp and circumstance. All the inhabitants celebrate the Krishna Janma at the Bhavdevi temple on the night of Gokulashtami. People traditionally break the local Dahi Handi before noon and place pieces of the broken pot, known as khapars, in their granaries as a symbol of prosperity.

In Kandarpada, Baya Poojan is an important household celebration. Local goddesses, as previously mentioned, are considered the remedial deities for measles and other ailments. The Baya Poojan ceremony is performed for every child in Kandarpada to secure the goddesses’ blessings and prevent illnesses from befalling that child. During the ceremony, the child dons an entirely white outfit and wears a garland around their neck. The family performs a pooja for the child in front of the house before leading them in a joyous procession to the Jari Mari temple. During the procession, the mama, or maternal uncle, holds a white cloth over their head and walks barefoot. Once the procession arrives at the temple, they perform another pooja in honour of the goddess. After this, the mother of the child places footwear on her head and, with rice porridge in her mouth, begs for alms from five neighbouring houses. The alms that she receives are portions of rice. Every household in Kandarpada performs this once-in-a-lifetime ceremony diligently and enthusiastically.

The local chapel hosts an annual feast of Mother Mary, known as Maulichi Jatra. Local Christians and Hindus participate equally in this annual feast of their local Mauli. Local Christians and Hindus participate equally in this annual feast of their local Mauli.

Culinary Traditions

The majority of Kandarpada's unique foods revolve around the marriage ceremony. Bhokache vade, or fried rice bread, and papdya, or rice fritters, are mandatory in any local wedding ceremony in the Aagri community. During the wedding ceremony, the gods receive bhokache vade as a symbol of their honour, known as devacha maan.

Chavli vanga batata, a curry made with black-eyed beans, brinjal, and potato, is another important culinary legacy that is made at all local weddings. The Aagri community is renowned for its carousel-like Haldi ceremony, during which they prepare javla vanga, a gravy with shrimp and brinjal, for both young and old to relish.

The adivasi families living in the gaothan traditionally gathered numerous monsoon vegetables from the nearby Sanjay Gandhi National Park Forest and consumed them seasonally in Kandarpada.

Mutton is an important part of the Aagris' culinary traditions. Lagnacha mutton, which literally translates to wedding mutton, is a symbolic dish in Aagri weddings that attracts people from every section of society who want to relish this speciality. Other mutton specialities include mundi (goat head), paya (goat trotters), and vajri (goat tripe).

Bread is an integral part of any cuisine, and the Aagri community is synonymous with rotya, or rice flatbread, with dough kneaded using hot water and prepared on clay griddles known as khapri. The rotyas are made on every special occasion to accompany the zesty curries and gravies that are essential parts of the Aagri cuisine.

The Dahisar River has changed a lot in the past few decades, shifting from a bucolic setting of fishing hamlets to an urban locality with numerous high rises. However, despite being engulfed by the citadels of modernity, the Kandarpada gaothan is still holding strong to its cultural roots and religious syncretism.

Bibliography:

Karmarkar, Dipesh. "Understanding place names in ‘Mahikavati’s Bakhar’: A case of Mumbai-Thane region." Studies in Indian Place Names 31 (2012): 116–139.

Rakesh Mahendra Thakur, in discussion with the author, March, 2024.

Pranita Rakesh Thakur, in discussion with the author, March, 2024.

Yashoda Mahendra Thakur, in discussion with the author, March, 2024.

Mahendra Ratan Thakur, in discussion with the author, March, 2024.