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TITLE: BY-WAYS OF BOMBAY
AUTHOR: S. M. EDWARDES
EBOOK: E00133 (O'Briens Book Cellar)

BY-WAYS OF BOMBAY. 
 
BY 
 
S. M. EDWARDES, C.V.O. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
The various chapters of this book originally appeared under the 
_nom-de-plume_ of "Etonensis" in the _Times of India_, to the 
proprietors of which journal I am indebted for permission to publish them 
in book-form, They cannot claim to be considered critical studies, but are 
merely a brief record of persons whom I have met and of things that I have 
seen during several years' service as a Government official in Bombay. In 
placing them before the public in their present form, I can only hope 
that they will be found of brief interest by those unacquainted with the 
inner life of the City of Bombay. 
 
HEAD POLICE OFFICE, 
 
BOMBAY, _June 1912_. 
 
S. M. E. 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
The first edition of "By-ways of Bombay" having been sold out within a 
month, Messrs Taraporevala Sons and Co. have interested themselves in 
publishing the present edition which includes several illustrations by Mr. 
M. V. Dhurandhar and an additional article on the Tilak Riots which 
appeared in the _Bombay Gazette_ in August, 1908. My acknowledgments 
are due to the Editor for permission to republish this article. 
 
HEAD POLICE OFFICE, 
 
BOMBAY. _November, 1912_. 
 
S. M. EDWARDES. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
I. The Spirit of Chandrabai 
 
II. Bombay Scenes 
 
III. Shadows of Night 
 
IV. The Birthplace of Shivaji 
 
V. The Story of Imtiazan 
 
VI. The Bombay Mohurrum 
 
VII. The Possession of Afiza 
 
VIII. A Kasumba Den 
 
IX. The Ganesh Caves 
 
X. A Bhandari Mystery 
 
XI. Scenes in Bombay 
 
XII. Citizens of Bombay 
 
XIII. The Sidis of Bombay 
 
XIV. A Konkan Legend 
 
XV. Nur Jan 
 
XVI. Governor and Koli 
 
XVII. The Tribe Errant 
 
XVIII. The Pandu-Lena Caves 
 
XIX. Fateh Muhammad 
 
XX. The Tilak Riots 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
1. Spirit of Chandrabai 
 
2. A Mill-hand 
 
3. A Marwari selling Batasa 
 
4. The seller of "Malpurwa Jaleibi" 
 
5. A Koli woman 
 
6. The "Pan" Seller 
 
7. An Opium Club 
 
8. A "Madak-khana" 
 
9. Imtiazan 
 
10. The Possession of Afiza 
 
11. A Bhandari Mystery 
 
12. An Arab 
 
13. A Bombay Memon 
 
14. Sidis of Bombay 
 
15. The Parshurama and the Chitpavans 
 
16. Nur Jan 
 
17. A Koli 
 
18. A Deccani Fruit-seller 
 
19. The Coffee-seller 
 
20. Fateh Muhammad 
 
[Illustration: The Spirit of Chandrabai] 
 
I. 
 
THE SPIRIT OF CHANDRABAI. 
 
A STUDY IN PROTECTIVE MAGIC. 
 
Fear reigned in the house of Vishnu the fisherman: for, but a week before, 
his wife Chandra had died in giving birth to a child who survived his 
mother but a few hours, and during those seven days all the elders and the 
wise women of the community came one after another unto Vishnu and, 
impressing upon him the malignant influence of such untimely deaths, bade 
him for the sake of himself and his family do all in his power to lay the 
spirit of his dead wife. So on a certain night early in December Vishnu 
called all his caste-brethren into the room where Chandra had died, having 
first arranged there a brass salver containing a ball of flour loosely 
encased in thread, a miniature cot with the legs fashioned out of the 
berries of the "bhendi," and several small silver rings and bangles, a 
coral necklace and a quaint silver chain, which were destined to be hung in 
due season upon the wooden peg symbolical of his dead wife's spirit in the 
"devaghar," or gods' room, of his house. And he called thither also Rama 
the "Gondhali," master of occult ceremonies, Vishram, his disciple, and 
Krishna the "Bhagat" or medium, who is beloved of the ghosts of the 
departed and often bears their messages unto the living. 
 
When all are assembled, the women of the community raise the brass salver 
and head a procession to the seashore, none being left in the dead woman's 
room save Krishna the medium who sits motionless in the centre thereof; and 
on the dry shingle the women place the salver and two brass "lotas" filled 
with milk and water, while the company ranges itself in a semi-circle 
around Rama the Gondhali, squatting directly in front of the platter. For a 
moment he sits wrapped in thought, and then commences a weird chant of 
invocation to the spirit of the dead woman, during which her relations in 
turn drop a copper coin into the salver. "Chandrabai," he wails "take this 
thy husband's gift of sorrow;" and as the company echoes his lament, Vishnu 
rises and drops his coin into the plate. Then her four brothers drop a coin 
apiece; her sister-in-law, whispering "It is for food" does likewise; also 
her mother with the words "choli patal" or "Tis a robe and bodice for 
thee";--and so on until all the relatives have cast down their 
offerings,--one promising a fair couch, another an umbrella, a third a 
pair of shoes, and little Moti, the dead woman's eldest child, "a pair of 
bangles for my mother," until in truth all the small luxuries that the 
dead woman may require in the life beyond have been granted. Meanwhile 
the strange invocation proceeds. All the dead ancestors of the family, who 
are represented by the quaint ghost-pegs in the gods' room of Vishnu's 
home, are solemnly addressed and besought to receive the dead woman in 
kindly fashion; and as each copper coin tinkles in the salver, Rama cries, 
"Receive this, Chandrabai, and hie thee to thy last resting-place." 
 
When the last offering has been made, the women again raise the salver and 
the party fares back to Vishnu's house, where a rude shrine of Satvai (the 
Sixth Mother) has been prepared. "For," whispers our guide, "Chandrabai 
died without worshipping Satvai and her spirit must perforce fulfil those 
rites." Close to the shrine sits a midwife keeping guard over a new gauze 
cloth, a sari and a bodice, purchased for the spirit of Chandrabai; and on 
a plate close at hand are vermilion for her brow, antimony for her eyes, a 
nose-ring, a comb, bangles and sweetmeats, such as she liked during her 
life-time. When the shrine is reached, one of the brothers steps forward 
with a winnowing-fan, the edge of which is plastered with ghi and supports 
a lighted wick; and as he steps up to the shrine, the relations and friends 
of the deceased again press forward and place offerings of fruit and 
flowers in the fan. There he stands, holding the gifts towards the 
amorphous simulacrum of the primeval Mother, while Rama the hierophant 
beseeches her to send the spirit of the dead Chandrabai into the 
winnowing-fan. 
 
And lo! on a sudden the ghostly flame on the lip of the fan dies out! The 
spirit of Chandrabai has come! Straightway Rama seizes the fan and followed 
by the rest dashes into the room where Krishna the medium is still sitting. 
Four or five men commence a wild refrain to the accompaniment of brazen 
cymbals, and Rama passes the winnowing-fan, containing the dead woman's 
spirit, over the head of the medium. "Let the spirit appear" shrieks Rama 
amid the clashing of the cymbals. 

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