Elphinstone Circle, Bombay in the 1870s (2)

The Horniman Circle Gardens is a large park in

South Mumbai South Mumbai, colloquially SoBo from South Bombay in Anglo-Indian English, administratively the Mumbai City District, is the city centre and the southernmost precinct of Greater Bombay. It extends from Colaba to Mahim and Sion neighbour ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, which encompasses an area of 2½ acres (10,100 m²). It is situated in the Fort district of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, and is surrounded by office complexes housing the country's premier banks. Designed to be a large open space with grand buildings in the middle of the walled city, the area had been known as ''Bombay Green'' in the 18th century, while the Elphinstone. Following India's

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

in 1947, the area was renamed in honour of Benjamin Horniman, editor of ''

The Bombay Chronicle ''The Bombay Chronicle'' was an English-language newspaper, published from Mumbai (then Bombay), started in 1910 by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta (1845-1915), a prominent lawyer, who later became the president of the Indian National Congress in 1890, a ...

'' newspaper, who supported Indian independence.

History

The Town Hall and part of Elphinstone Circle Gardens

The building was begun in 1821 and not completed for twelve years. In 1842, the area had been just a dump of

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...

shells and debris. The Police Commissioner, Charles Forjett, thought of converting the Green into a circle surrounded by buildings. He was supported by governors Lord Elphinstone and

Sir Bartle Frère Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, 1st Baronet, (29 March 1815 – 29 May 1884) was a Welsh British colonial administrator. He had a successful career in India, rising to become Governor of Bombay (1862–1867). However, as High Commissioner for ...

. The garden was planned in 1869 and completed in 1872 with well laid out walkways and trees planted all around. An ornamental fountain was placed in the centre, but it was replaced by a modern

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

iron pipes design. The park was a favourite social venue of the

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

community. In the pre-independence era, a band used to perform there every evening. The

Asiatic Society of Mumbai The Asiatic Society of Mumbai (formerly ''Asiatic Society of Bombay'') is a learned society in the field of Asian studies based in Mumbai, India. It can trace its origin to the Literary Society of Bombay which first met in Mumbai on 26 November 18 ...

overlooks the Horniman Circle Gardens and the Reserve Bank of India. Close by, in Nariman Street is St. Thomas Cathedral, the first Anglican church in Mumbai, completed in 1718.

Events

Horniman Circle hosts the annual

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

and mystic music festival, Ruhaniyat. It is also one of the venues of the

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is annual festival, nine days long, commencing always on the first Saturday of February and closing is always on the second Sunday in February, in the Kala Ghoda area of South Mumbai, India. From its inception in ...

when several music and dance concerts are held at the park.

References

External links

Elphinstone Circle, Bombay, 1870

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

{{Coord, 18, 55, 55, N, 72, 50, 6, E, display=title Parks in Mumbai 1872 establishments in India

History

Events

References

Further reading

External links