Kalina
Kalina, purported to be the original home of the Valladares family, is located in what is now known as SantaCruz East in Mumbai. It lies to the east of Vile Parle, a village at the foot of a hillock called ‘The Rye’. The village was originally known as Kole-Kalyan but eventually came to be known as Kalliana, which has morphed into its present day name of Kalina. Folklore has it that jackals, foxes and wolves roamed these areas in large numbers fin the past and the people of these villages spent their days gathering fire wood, berries and fruit from Rye Hill. Until the 1800s the view from the Rye was described as breath-taking and panoramic.
However, going back to the 6th to the 8th centuries, the region to which Kaliana belonged, was ruled by the Chalukyan kings of the Deccan who established their capital to the east of Bombay on the island of Mangalpuri or Ghariapuri (Elephanta Island). Their chief business centre was established in a township on the island of Shashti (60 villages) or Shashti (which came to be known as Salsette in Portuguese times).) The Chalukas were overthrown by the Rashtrakutas (the Silhara dynasty) which ruled from the 9th to the 13th centuries. It is believed that large numbers of Pathare or Patane (from Patan) Prabjus and Yajurvedi Brahmans from the River Godavari Valley, settled in Ambernath, near Kalyan in Bombay during this time. The islands then came into the hands of Raja Bhimdev. His exact origins are a subject of controversy. One school of thought suggests that he was a Solanki ruler who came from Anahilwada-Patan in Gujarat during the 12th century, another suggests that he was a Yadav ruler of 13th century Deogiri. It was during his reign that the development of Greater Bombay started.
Bimbakyan (Chronicles of Bimb or Bhim), presumed to have been written in 1139, and referred to by J Gerson da Cunha in his work, The Origin of Bombay, records that Raja Bhimdev established his capital at Mahikawati (Mahim). The fisherman’s colonies were already part of his kingdom, which he divided into fifteen mahals or districts, each subdivided into twelve sections called pakhadis. With the king, came a sizable group of Pathare Prabhus, Palshis, Pachkalshis and toddy tapper Bhandaris, who comprised the first wave of immigrants to Bombay. Members of agricultural communities like the Vadvals, Malis, Bhois and Agris, Brahmans and traders from nearby regions were also thought to have settled in Bombay during this time.
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