Even as the mosque is common sight to most passing through Bandra by the virtue of its location, the documentation of the structure (in both writing and visuals) is lacking. Akin to the previous part of this series, even the history of this mosque only opened to me through a stray photograph online. The colloquial name of mosque is ‘Bandra Grand Mosque’ (a translation of ‘Bandra Jama Masjid’, I believe that this is the reason for the disconnect. The set was captured in the company of Tanvi. This iteration of this Jama Masjid is believed to be the third form it has taken. Apparently, the first iteration was built somewhere near Dongri, and the second was built in Esplanade after it was demolished. Around the 1770s, the colonial British administration of Mumbai (then, Bombay) mandated the destruction of this second structure as well, leading to the third depicted in these entries. The present Bandra Jama Masjid was built around 1802, after 27 years of construction. This 220 year old building is still functional, and among the most popular mosques in the city. Yet, somehow, the documentation on the structure seems to be virtually non-existent.
This article is available on my Instagram as well.
