History of The INdigenous Peoples of Bombay / MOBAI

Hi Im Luke Mendes an indigenous inhabitant of Bombay / Mumbai which is really known historically as Mobai. The Portuguese and the Moguls could not pronounce it hence the Portuguese called it Mobaim the ‘Good Bay’ which is what it meant in Modi [Old marathi – Included Sanskrit and Asoka (sounds) in it] in the first place.

For want of uniformity Marathi became the norm of language for Maharashtra and for Mumbai too.

Now It is true that there were first century Christians here in Mobai, where influences of St Bartholomew and St. Thomas were strong. Whatever remnants of Churches and Cohesive new bodies [Churches merging with Temples to evolve] were destroyed. The Moguls considered the non muslim world to be pagans and without questioning or learning about the local culture, they destroyed what they thought wrong.

As with early Christianity in the Roman Empire, it is assumed that the initial converts were largely Jewish proselytes among the Cochin Jews who are believed to have arrived in India around 562BC, after the destruction of the First Temple. Many of these Jews presumably spoke Aramaic like St. Thomas, also a Jew by birth, who is credited by tradition with evangelizing India.

More likely to be historical than the tradition that the apostle Thomas himself went to Inida is the claim of Eusebius of Caesarea that Pantaenus, the head of the Christian exegetical school in Alexandria, Egypt went to India during the reign of the Emperor Commodus and found that Christians already existed in India, and that these Christians were using a version of the Gospel of Matthew with "Hebrew letters." This is plausibly a reference to the earliest Indian churches using the Syriac New Testament, which we know to have been the case. Pantaenus' evidence thus indicates that Syriac-speaking Christians had already evangelized parts of India by the late second century.

Although little is known of the immediate growth of the church, Bar-Daisan (A.D. 154-223) reports that in his time there were Christian tribes in North India which claimed to have been converted by Thomas and to have books and relics to prove it. But at least by the time of the establishment of the Second Persian Empire (A.D. 226), there were bishops of the Church of the East in northwest India, Afghanistan and Baluchistan, with laymen and clergy alike engaging in missionary activity.

The Proselytising activities of the Church of Thomas and Bartholomew travelled from the south to the north, spreading Christianity along the way which is the western and central areas of India.
The Western region being Mobai / Mumbai [Bombay]. Being followers of Buddhism, the locals found the teaching of Christianity similar to their existing faith. Hence their conversion was with little effort.

The whole idea of mentioning this fact is because the Portuguese had heard of this history and wanted to genuinely revive Christianity. With the help of their rulers or queens, the Portuguese had made various deal with the Moguls in matters of trade and administration.
The above research and etymological connections prove that the natives were first century Christians. Prior to that they were Buddhists and prior to that they were Hindus.

What makes the natives of Mobai unique? Their skill for survival and their ability to not succumb to plagues and diseases easily, their ability for foresight and adaptation to rulers and faiths, all this to maintain continuity – hence till date they exist.

Indigenous peoples were tagged as East Indians to identify them from the Goans and Mangaloreans who migrated to Mobai for work opportintiy. The British cited this difference and to preserve the unique identity and heritage of the natives they termed as them as East Indians. Placing them apart from the Native American Indians of the west, they coined this term maintaining order in the ‘Company’ accounts about its resources and places. The term West Indies was named so, because Christopher Columbus was headed to the Indies in the east but landed there among a cluster of islands off the Americas.
Hence the term East Indian in no way refers to the people of the east of India, but refers to the Indigenous peoples of Bombay / Mumbai / Mobai [Real Name] in the British Parlance.

So this here is the introduction of the East Indian name. I will follow up with more info when needed. There is a website being prepared. If you do like my research kindly let me know. If there need some correction to be done also let me know. But please mention your references. Lets never go by Hearsay.

Indigenous People of Bombay / Mumbai

Preface:

The intentions of compiling this book is to inform the reader of a great people or a Race in the area known as Bombay to the world, and Mumbai or Mobai to us locals.

I speak of a race that is indigenous to the seven islands and areas surrounding them. Indigenous meaning aboriginal, Originating from, not traveled from anywhere and so on. There are evidences of evolution of our aboriginal people from the Stone Age, to present day electronic or virtual age. We come not from the Austro-Asiatic heritage, nor from Indo-Aryan heritage. Our Heritage is of a people who have not migrated nor traveled, but have remained in these co-ordinates millennia before the Aryans and Pre-Aryans.

The Indigenous people have been constantly struggling to preserve and protect their identity and way of life. Lately the onslaught of government policy has done little to benefit these tribes but profit largely the migrant population.

The Indigenous peoples are many tribes, who have suffered and survived various plagues, floods, invasions, rulers, religions, mostly wiping out their original ways of life and spirituality and adopting newer ones. Anthropologists have the slightest ideas of the early years of these peoples. Anthropologists spend most of their time juggling truth with desires of the ruling governments. Obviously, when the world is still struggling with the hieroglyphics on the seals of Mohenjo Daro, Harappa lothal etc., they lag far behind in knowing a race that is pure till date. A race that has not mixed with the Aryans or Moguls or Marathas or the Portuguese or the British barring a small number called Anglo Indians. A race tagged by the British during their colonial occupation as, ‘East Indians’.

If one takes a closer look at History, one will find layers of invasions, wars, foreign cultures and so on. Beneath these layers lie the origins of the Indigenous peoples.

Information on culture, arts, livelihood, inventions and what not, lie buried in the ground. But invasions have come in various forms of religion, culture, economies, ideologies [socialists, democratic, communists etc.]. These concepts have come like a storm or subtly in the form of ‘development’ and nation building. Where does it leave us who have facilitated this platform of nation building? Well… run over – Jobless, Homeless, voiceless. But through all the muck, a Lotus does come out to face the storm and be rewarded with the beautiful sun.

Wars have clearly shoved the victor’s way of life, culture and religion on the vanquished. This was only possible by destroying and hijacking what ‘was’ in order to propagate what ‘will be’. Well, the Aryans know it, the Moguls know it, The Marathas know it and Rome knows it.

Little is known about the natives before the Aryans invaded. Much of what the Aryans brought survived. Some of what the Moguls brought remain and not much of what the Portuguese brought remain, Not Much of what the British brought remains. So Where to begin the search of the indigenous tribes roots?

Fortunately not all caves could be destroyed, not all Stone Age art could be destroyed, and not all the aboriginal or Indigenous people could be destroyed.

Early Greek philosophers have mentioned our people and our places in their books. Those books have survived.

Many tribes have preserved ways of life that run millennia transferred from parents to children and so on. Their ways have watered down to evolve with time, but their roots are strong and clear.

Lately, many have tried to showcase culture in the form of food festivals, a vain effort to bring a Great people together. When there is no vision, bankruptcy of ideas will be the obvious revelation.

I have taken it upon myself to put some facts with references on the aboriginal people of Bombay / Mumbai / Mobai and its surrounding areas in this book. Not only as information to maintain continuity, but to encourage the younger generations like me about a great people who have endured a lot and are still standing tall.

I would like to encourage my people the ‘East Indians’ or Indigenous peoples of Bombay / Mumbai / Mobai, that they belong to a great race. A majority of purity still survives today. Our Heritage does not go back a few centuries to the Abhiras of western Maharashtra or the Vakatakas. People have termed these rulers as Indigenous rulers. Lets suppose the king of Kashmir ruled Tamil Nadu, do you think the Tamils will term the King of Kashmir as Indigenous or foreign? The right thinking mind would say foreign. So were the rulers of these peaceful people, foreign and not indigenous.

Our heritage goes back even further. How does 50,000 years sound to you? There are scientific evidences for such a claim.

This effort was only possible with the help of people much senior to me. People who have helped in preserving texts and information passed on from their forefathers to them. I would proudly call them ‘My People’.

This effort is to encourage and educate my people. A mentality that has been with most of us for decades [if not centuries] ever since capitalism became a norm or a way of life and competition was a frontrunner in human relationships, a mentality of “Crabs in a Basket”.

I would like to appeal to all to please put these superficial desires of wealth and property which no one takes when the ‘Jeev’, ‘Aatma’ or the soul leaves the body, and to focus on unity and a cohesive attitude where by allowing the entire race to move forward like a wave, creating an impact in the sands of time.

Luke Mendes

[From the Book yet to be published which is temporarily titled "Bombay's Indigenous People". Following this is a brief history titled 'Mobai's History'.