Syncretic Shrines - II

Mount Mary Church, Bandra, Mumbai

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount, better known as the Mount Mary Church looks like a typical Roman Catholic Church with its stone edifice, arched façade, broached spires, a Rose window and buttresses. Yet it is arguably the most fabled of all churches in Mumbai and the most prominent of the twenty odd churches located in the suburb of Bandra near Mumbai. It is believed that Virgin Mary answers the prayers and fulfills the wishes of those who pray here. Every year in September during the Octave that follows the birth anniversary of St. Mary people of all faiths throng to the Church. Despite the rainy season a fair pitches itself up nearby. The church sees endless hordes of devotees. The surge of the jostling, serpentine queues is such that one can spend only a few seconds inside the church.

When I visited the church on a Sunday afternoon, too hot and muggy for July, I could not help but compare and contrast it with my memories from a visit during the Octave a few years ago. The Church was almost deserted. Murals with captions in Hindi and English depicted events from the life of Christ. The balcony on the first storey was vacant. There was no separate confession chamber, just a chair placed beside a wooden partition. A clergyman lay buried along the nave where the Crossing ended, between the two rows of pews. Beyond the altar and the pulpit people knelt in prayer before the statue of Mother Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms. They placed garlands of marigold and unlit candles before the statue. High above it, pink chandeliers were suspended from the dome. Two foreign tourists looked in amusement at pairs of footwear lying pell-mell at one of the entrances. A sign hung nearby instructed visitors to not leave their footwear outside. I wondered if the church had changed its mind about accepting the practices of other religions. I had noticed the chagrin of the volunteers managing the crowds during the Octave when some people covered their heads inside the church. They had probably clothed their heads out of habit, the way they would do in a temple, mosque, agiary or gurudwara. I later learnt the sign was put up following incidents of thefts of belongings left outside. Midway across the street was a sight familiar throughout India- a statue of Christ heavily garlanded in the ubiquitous marigold.

For a resident Bandraite like me, the fair held during the Octave is the time of the year when half the world seems to flock to Bandra, traffic refuses to budge and noise levels go up a few decibels. Streets leading to the church are lined with kiosks selling religious insignia, toys, clothes, home-made snacks, cotton candy, sweets, knickknacks, bangles, junk jewellery, fake perfumes, garlands, flowers and what not. To complete the festive milieu are Ferris wheels and roadside game shows. The most striking of all items on sale are paraffin wax candles shaped like limbs, houses, books, dolls and aeroplanes offered to the statue of Virgin Mary. The crippled and the ailing place candles shaped like the affected parts of their bodies with the hope that they will be healed and cured. Figurines in the form of dolls are offered by those wishing for a child, wax houses by those in need of accommodation in this city crunched for space. Miniature aeroplanes probably accompany prayers for a safe journey or even a coveted visa. The significance of wax books is anyone’s guess. As in some Hindu practices, the offering is a metaphor for the object of desire, a part of a quid pro quo arrangement between God and the devotee. It is the God who not just heals and cures miraculously but also  plies the devotee with tangible, material benefits when propitiated.

Though the current edifice of the church is only about a century old, it is believed to have been built in the sixteenth century by Jesuit priests from Portugal, vandalized by Arab pirates and rebuilt in the seventeenth century. Most of the legends explaining the name of the church have circulated and stayed alive by word of mouth.The Jesuits named it 'La Capella de Nossa Senhora de Monte', literally meaning 'The Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount'. A story goes that a local fisherman found the statue of Virgin Mary floating in the sea and that the name is a corruption of what the fisherfolk called 'Mot Māuli' (Pearl Mother). Another explanation goes that the name has been derived from 'MaTh Māuli' in Marathi, meaning 'the Mother of the Shrine'. Either way, the people of Mumbai have given it the meaning they like. And that has come to be its truth.

Photo Credits: Mohsin Khan Pathan