A recent heritage walk through Bhuleshwar gave Mumbaikars a first-hand experience into what the city has to offer in terms of its history
It didn’t matter that a heritage walk across Bhuleshwar began at 7 a.m. on a Sunday. It also didn’t matter that people marched in the scorching sun and completed the walk at noon. Mumbaikars and their fascination for the city’s history is evident and Khaki Tours, a city-based heritage walk group, didn’t disappoint by taking them across 19 spots along Bhuleshwar.
The area is named after an ancient shrine on the original island of Bombay. Trapped between three water bodies—the CP Tank, Mumbadevi Tank and Bhatia Bhagitathi Tank, Bhuleshwar is also the main male God of the city.
Historic significance
The walk commenced at Krishna Baug, a structure built by the Lohana community inside a hostel. “The structure is a European one with Indian embellishments, but the paintings on the ceiling are recent,” explained Bharat Gothoskar, the founder of Khaki Tours.
Following this, Gothoskar showed the group around CP Tank. Originally a water body, the tank was filled up in 1834 to make a traffic island in 1906. “The tank has gone through a lot since it was built in 1775 by Cowasji Rustomji Patel, a Parsi businessman. It was finally made into a traffic island in 1935,” added Gothoskar.
The team then moved towards Hira Baug, where Mahatma Gandhi made his first speech after returning to India from South Africa in 1915. “There is also a Jain Dharamshala, which was restored a few years ago,” added Gothoskar.
The temples in the area
After giving the group a historic tour of the area, the Khaki Tours team proceeded to take them to all the temples. “In fact, we even asked the group to wear sandals because they had to constantly take their footwear off while entering temples,” explained Gothoskar.
The group visited the Laxmi Narayan Temple, a Ganesha temple, the city’s first Swaminarayan temple (built in 1799), the Bhuleshwar temple and the city’s only Sun temple. One of the members said that she had no idea that there were so many temples in such a small area.
The temple of the Sun
The temple is aptly located in Surajwadi and was built by Seth Maniar, a Saurashtra resident, in 1899. “The temple opens at sunrise and shuts at sundown. The seven horses outside the temple represent the seven days of the week,” explained Gothoskar.
Shopping
There are lot of places to go shopping at in the area, but Gothoskar said that that would be for another heritage walk in Bhuleshwar.
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 "The Sun Temple at Bhuleshwar")
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