Mumba Devi Temple (Shree Mumbadevi Mandir)

The trust says the first Mumbadevi temple is believed to have stood at Bori Bunder, roughly where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus is today, from about 1675, and that after it was destroyed the temple was rebuilt at Zaveri Bazaar, Bhuleshwar, in 1737. Wikipedia similarly places the original shrine on the site of the present railway terminus and describes its removal in the 18th century.

Other accounts give a longer series of moves. Hinduism Today, for example, says the temple was demolished around 1737 when the town's fortifications were extended, stood near Bori Bunder in the 19th century, and was moved after the railway terminus was built to Phansi Talao and Dhobi Talao on the Esplanade before reaching its present site in the late 1800s. The sources do not agree on dates, so the temple's exact building history is uncertain; the trust's own dates are given above.

According to Hinduism Today, management of the rebuilt temple was entrusted to a merchant, Pandushet Sonar, whose family ran it for some time; in 1952 the Charity Commissioner took over and a management trust was set up under court order. The trust's website confirms that Shree Mumbadevi Mandir Charities was established under a scheme approved by the Bombay High Court. The trust also runs an old-age home in Ahmedabad.

Architecture and sacred features

The trust lists three shrines within the temple: Mumbadevi in the main sanctum, Jagadamba (the Mother of the Universe) with Annapurna (goddess of nourishment), and Hanuman as guardian. Wikipedia describes the image of Mumbadevi as dressed in a robe with a silver crown, nose stud and gold necklace, with a stone figure of Annapurna to one side and the goddess's mount in front of the shrine.