Multicultural Mumbai!

This post takes me back to a post I published back in July. The post had discussed how when presented with a map of cultural areas you might well logically think that all those living within say the ‘Hindu region’ are of that religion, but how wrong you would be. Mumbai provides a fantastic case study illustrating this point for students.

Mumbai as a class case study

When it comes to religion in Mumbai the people here appear to be highly devout. Like other parts of India, Hinduism is the major religion observed by most residents in Mumbai. There is evidence of this religion almost everywhere you look, none more so than the statues of Ganesha that are currently slotted into every nook and cranny (we have visited Mumbai during the Ganesh Festival).

However, apart from Hinduism other religions are also practised here such as Islam, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity. Here are some encounters I have had with multicultural Mumbai:

After chatting to a Jain man on a walk down Marine Drive, he told us about his religion and gave us a list of Jain mosques to visit whilst in Mumbai. 

Here is one of the mosques he mentioned, it is called the Haji Ali Mosque and sits on a small island just off the coastline. 

We were also lucky enough to visit the christian cathedral of St Thomas.

Then finally we received a tour inside this beautiful church in the naval area of Mumbai. It is called the Afghan Church 

The interior of the Afghan Church.