Kalyan is a port for more than two millennia until siltation and the rise of Mumbai eclipsed it and its sister ports, Sopara, Thane, Vasai, etc. The port was ruled by the Maurya and Gupta Empires of North India and later was part of a petty Konkan principality vassal to the Yadava dynasty of Deogiri. Extensive ruins in Kalyan indicate the city's former magnificence.
After the Khilji sack of Deogiri, the Yadavas fled into the Konkan region and set up their base at Mahikawati, modern Mahim; Kalyan was a part of the brief Yadava state of Mahikawati. Mahikawati was conquered by the Muslims who set up petty coastal principalities.
As a major entrepot, Kalyan soon became, by 530-535 CE the seat of a Nestorian bishop[1]. The Churches of South Asia which were ecclesiastically dependent on the Church of Assyria and Chaldea in MesopotamiaIraq, lands then subject to the Persian Empire (Sassanians), early fell with it into the Nestorian Schism and used Middle Persian as the liturgical language. The Konkan, Tulunad and Malabar Coasts of South Asia are marked by stone crosses with Pahlavi inscriptions. or modern
According to some interpretations, Bombay region on the Konkan coast, a region which have been known after the ancient town Kalyan, was the field of Saint Bartholomew missionary activities and his martyrdom.[2]
During the Middle Ages, Pope John XX, headquartered at Avignon, sent a group of five missionaries to the Mongol Emperor at Khanbalik, modern Beijing in China, under the Dominican Fray Giordano or Jordanus. On their way, they picked up a novice, Demetrius, from West Asia and then travelled through South Asia, succoring the Nestorian Christians there, who were hard pressed by the Muslims. Giordano left his colleagues at Kalyan and travelled back north to Gujarat. During his absence, the Muslim governor and Qazi of ThaneSopara and buried them there. The Muslim Arab sultan of Gujarat, when informed of this development, summoned his governor of Thane and the Qazi; the Qazi fled but the governor was executed for his actions that militated against international commerce. When a later missionary, Odoric de Pordenone (fr:Odoric de Pordenone), visited Thane in 1324-1325, he collected their remains and moved on to China. summoned the missionaries and demanded submission to Islam; when they refused, they were murdered (1321). The local Nestorians collected their remains and buried them; Giordano, on his return, took them to
The Martyrs of Thane were canonized by Pope Leo XIII and are Saints Thomas of Tolentino, James of Padua, Peter of Siena and Demetrius of Tiflis.
In the later Middle Ages, Kalyan was occupied by the Ahmednagar Sultanate, an indigenous dynasty founded by a man forcibly converted from a Hindu Brahmin family as a child, and then by the Bijapur Sultanate, an Indo-Turkish state in the Deccan in the 16th century, and later by the Mughals under the Emperor Shah Jahan, who fortified the city in the mid-17th century. It came under Portuguese sway for a brief time before being re-conquered by the Muslim allies of the Mughals, and was later conquered by the Marathas, who made it one of their strategic centers because it guarded the entrance to Mumbai and the western coast of India. Kashibai, wife of the Peshwa Bajirao was born in Kalyan. About eighty years after the Maratha conquest, the Maratha Empire was forced to cede it to the British and Kalyan became part of the Bombay Presidency, a British India province that became Bombay state after India's independence in 1947.
In the Middle Ages, when Kalyan was occupied by the Ahmednagar Sultanate, they gave name as Gulshanabad and in the time of Maratha it was changed to Kalyan.
Kaali Masjid : It was founded by Mughal emperor Akbar. It is located on the bank of the lake called as "Kaala Talav".
Durgadi Fort (किल्ले दुर्गाडी): It is not known when the Durgadi fort was constructed. The wall of the fort along the top of the inner bank of the ditch, and, near the north end, had a gateway known as the Delhi or Killyacha Darwaja, which was entered by a path along the top of the north side of the town wall. Inside the fort there was a low belt of ground, about the same level, as the top of the ditch, with a shallow pond not far from the Delhi gate. The remains of the pond are still visible, in the north-west corner the fort rose in a small flat-topped mound about thirty feet high. On the top of the mound, on the west crest which overhangs and is about 100 feet (30 m) above the river, is the prayer wall or idgah, sixty-four feet long, thirteen high and seven thick, which is now in a dilapidated condition. This doubtful wall is said to be of the old Durga temple wall and is thickly plastered. It is said that near the east crest of the mound there was a mosque, but no remains of it can be traced. About thirty to forty yards of the idgah was a round cut stone wall of great depth, eleven feet in diameter with a wall two feet eleven inches thick at the top, which has now completely, collapsed except the basement of the wall. Under the Marathas (1760–72), a new gate about 150 feet (46 m) to the south of the Ganesh gate was opened near the mansion of Ramji Mahadeo Biwalkar, the Peshwa s Governor. In the citadel of the fort Marathas built a small wooden temple of Durgadevi behind the mosque, and called the fort Durgadi Killa in honour of the goddess, a name which it still bears. They also converted the mosque into Ramji's temple. The fort measures 220 feet (67 m) in length and somewhat less in breadth. Under the English the fort wall was dismantled and stones carried to build the Kalyan and Thane piers and a dwelling for the customs inspector in the west of the Kalyan fort. The gate to the north-west is almost the only trace of the fort wall, which is of rough stone masonry. During 1876 the original idol of the goddess Durga was stolen.
Attractions in Kalyan
- Metro Junction Mall
- Durgadi Killa (Fort) of the Shivaji Era.
- Akshat MahaGanpati Mandir (Peshwa Temple)
- Pokharan Ganpati, Parnaka
- Kala Talav, Kalyan
- HajiMalang Dargah
- Acharya Atre Rang Mandir
- Ganesh Ghat
- Doodh Naka
- Shri Gajanan Maharaj Temple, Lonadh
- Birla Mandir, Shahad, (One of the most beautiful temples, dating back centuries and a must visit, currently maintained by the Birla Group)
- Siddhivinayak Mahaganapati Temple - Titwala 15 km
- Malshej Ghat - 95 km
[edit] Transport
[edit] Parts of Kalyan
In past few years sprawling new buildings and multi-facility residential complexes have mushroomed in several patches of Kalyan namely Khadak Pada, Godrej Hills, Gandhari, Wayale Nagar, Barave Gaon. This area in Kalyan is commonly known as 'New Kalyan'.
[edit] Current Developments in Kalyan
[edit] Timber Processing Zone near Kalyan
[edit] Kalyan International Airport near Kalyan-Nevali
As a result of the recent objections being raised by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on the current proposed location of the Navi Mumbai International Airport near Kopra Panvel area, because the construction of the airport would involve reclamation of low-lying areas in an ecologically fragile zone as well as destruction of several hectares of mangroves, other locations are being actively being considered, which includes the one off village Nevali near Kalyan-Ambernath 55 km away from the current airport in Mumbai. There exists an old and abandoned air-strip of World War II era and the Union Defence Ministry owns the 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) of land on which it is located. The proposal is now centred around those 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) of land. If the current location at Kopra Panvel does not go through, then the Kalyan-Newali location would be considered for a future Kalyan International Airport which would serve as a much needed second International airport for the Mumbai Metropolitan region.
[edit] Schools and colleges
- Birla College of Arts, Science & Commerce
- K.M. Agrawal College Of Arts, Commerce and Science, Kalyan (West)
- Mutha College Of Arts, Commerce and Science
- Sonawane College of Arts, Commerce and Science
- Mohindersingh Kabulsingh College of Arts, Commerce and Science.
- Model College, Kalyan (East)
- Saket College, Kalyan (East)
- New High School Junior College
- Hindi Junior College
- R.K Junior College
- G.E.I`s Jr.college (Subhedar Wada)
- Arya gurukul www.aryagurukul.com
- Birla School (CBSE affiliated)
- Lourdes High School
- St. Jude's High School, Kalyan (E)
- Rao Saheb Govind Karsan Ramji Vidhyalaya(RSGKRV)
- MJBK kanya Vidhyalaya
- G.E.I'S High School & Jr.College (Subhedar Wada)
- Subhedar Wada primary School
- Capt. R. M. Oak High School (Balak-Mandir)
- Abhinav Vidya Mandir
- Sharda Mandir High School
- Shree Gajanan Vidyalay
- Sri Vani Vidyashala High School
- St.Mary's High School
- Adarsh Vinodini Mandal High School(known as Shishuvihar)
- Nutan Vidyalay, Karnik Road, Kalyan(West)
- Ganesh Vidya Mandir, Kalyan (East)
- Gayatri Vidyalaya, Kalyan (East)
- Central Railway School and Junior College
- Saraswati Vidya Mandir
- Don Boscho School
- Girls High School
- Guru Nanak English High School
- Hindi High School Junior College
- Holy Cross Convent School
- K.C.Gandhi English School (formerly known as New Lourdes English High School)
- Mohinder Singh Kabal Singh English High School
- Mohinder Singh Kabal Singh
- National Urdu High School
- Lok Kalyan Public School (CBSE affiliated)
- G. E. I.'s New High School
- Nirmala Hindi High School
- Nutan Hindi School
- Symbiosis School
- Poddar International School
- Model English High School
- Nalanda Vidyalya
- Central Railway Secondary and Higher Secondary School
[edit] Shopping
- Metro Junction Mall, Kalyan(E).
- Mahavir shopping Centre, Agra Road, Kalyan (W).
- Laxmi Market, Station Road, Kalyan (W).
- Shivaji Peth, Kalyan (W).
- Bazaar Peth for Jewellery's & home appliances, Kalyan (W)
- APMC Market for Whole-sale Vegetable foods and flowers, Kalyan (W)
[edit] Local Websites
- KDMC :: Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation.
- Kalyanguide.com :: A Kalyan City Portal.
- Kalyan Dombivli Express :: Local Web News Portal.
- Kalyan Dombivli Plus :: Local Online Newspaper.
- Kalyan City Life :: A Kalyan City Blog.
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