Bombay was the capital of Bombay Presidency – one of a handful of governing entities into which the British had organized their empire in India. It was a major port and the entry point for all visitors arriving from the West. By the mid-1860s, it also emerged as the commercial and financial capital of India. The city attracted adventurers from all parts of India and the world, ranging from American and European Christian missionaries to Arab traders, to Irish and English soldiers. It was a cosmopolitan and lively place.
A rich portrait of the Bombay of this era can be found in the 1884 book, Life and Travel in India (free download on Google Books), by Anna Leonowens. The writer is none other than the Anna of “The King and I” fame. (How did the prim Anna of England and Siam–now Thailand–come to know India so well? The answer is in the biography, Bombay Anna, by Susan Morgan.)
Leonowens’ vivid descriptions of the social and economic circumstances are priceless. About Bombay, she wrote:
The great square was with a motley crowd of dark and white faced all eager jostling and contending with each amid hubbub of all languages and all manner of dialects. Here were strange specimens of every phase of life from the lordly English merchants the skilful and assiduous Parsees to nude wretched looking fakeers and beggars this spot in the hope of getting a few pice.
And she described the market at Bhendi Bazaar, which is, even today a bustling marketplace, thus:
It is not only full of everything Oriental but everything Occidental even to the idols so largely manufactured in Europe for the Indian markets from the costliest gems from the mines of Punnah and Golconda to the commonest English prints and since the introduction of free trade one can absolutely purchase English goods cheaper in this market than in the cities where they are manufactured.
In contrast, while a less cosmopolitan city, Poona had the distinction of being the seat of the erstwhile Maratha Empire and the center of Maharashtrian culture.
The streets of the city of Poonah are more picturesque and far more Oriental than even those of Bombay. The principal street is long and wide and furnished with sidewalks with shops of all sizes and all kinds of merchandise having open fronts and the goods are exposed on inclined platforms The lanes and thoroughfares are thronged with people of all nationalities the sedate and white robed Brahman the handsome Hindoo the refined and delicate looking Hindoo woman in her flowing graceful saree and pretty red sandals for in this city Mohammedan influence has not yet reached the point which it has in other parts of India and the women are not cooped up in harems but are met everywhere in the streets temples and bazaars;
“Life and Travel in India” is definitely worth a read.