RESEARCH HORIZONS

Magazine 2012

Colonial Sanitarium in Mahableshwar

Hill Station: Governorb s Summer Residence

Dr. Louiza Rodrgues

Ruia College, Matunga

During the colonial period, Mahableshwar developed as one of the major hill stations in western India which

catered primarily for the Bombay clientele. Apart from European troops, the main patrons and beneficiaries of

the hill station were the women and to a lesser extent, the children of the colonial community and along with

them the elite Indians.

The paper shows how within the power structure of colonialism, the British succeeded in establishing a unique

environment on the hill station of Mahableshwar. This hill station became a distinctive form of colonial urban

development particularly, the Governorb s summer residence. In the post colonial period too, Mahableshwar,

continued to be the Bombay Governorb s summer residence.

The governorb s bungalows at Mahableshwar symbolize historical buildings and confluence of the eastern and

western cultures. They played a pivotal role in the history of India in general and that of Mumbai in particular.

Today, its colonial setting is a reminder of a significant phase of this history.

Mahableshwar is located in the Sahyadri range at an altitude of 4718 feet and takes its name from an ancient

Shiva temple at old Mahableshwar connoting Maha+Bala+Iswara that is God of Great strength.

Its other identity lies in its origin of a major river in the Deccan, the Krishna. In the vicinity of Mahableshwar is

the fort of Pratapgadh. During the colonial period, Mahableshwar developed as one of the major hill station in

western India which catered primarily for a Bombay clientele. Apart from European troops, the main patrons of

the hill station were the women and to a lesser extent, the children of the colonial community and elite Indians.

Development of the Hill Station at Mahableshwar

The main characteristic of the hill station was the temporary patronage of its occupants. The annual influx of

inhabitants to this hill station stayed for a period of between one and seven months, to escape the excessive

temperatures on b the plainsb . Due to concurrent famines in the nineteenth century, Indiab s climate was generally

considered incompatible with European constitutions. The belief was that climate exerted a powerful influence

on human character and physical characteristics. The British assumption was that Europeans were incapable

of becoming fully acclimatized to the subcontinent. Europeans thrived best in climates that most resembled

the cold climate of British. Hence relatively healthy localities had to be identified for the British especially, for

the White troops. Hence British troops should be quartered away from the plains where they fell ill in large

numbers and shifted to the hills for the benefit of health. In his fascinating account of b Ecological Imperialism:

The biological expansion of Europe 1400-1900, 1986, Alfred Crosby remarked: b The rule(not the law) is that

although European may conquer the tropics, they do not Europeanize the tropics, not even countryside with

European temperaturesb .

As climate became an important feature to European existence, one of the prime objective of the Anglo- Indian

medical practitioners in the first half of the nineteenth century was to identify localities suitable for European

habitation. Hence medical topography gained importance. The hill station was thus a social response to the

colonial settlement on b the plainsb . The beautiful shrubs and flowering plants, thick forests, the cold weather,

the fog, the mist at Mahableshwar resembled the home town of the British residents. Hence, Mahableshwar Hill

station also attracted British residents in Bombay. H. Birdwood,

The Hill Forests of Western India

, H.Phipson, A.W.S Millard, (ed.),

The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society

Vol. XII, No 4.,Times of India Steam Press, Bombay, 1899, p.671.

The hill station was also was a form of socio-spatial organization peculiar to colonial urban development. There

members of the colonial community were separated from the population they knew as b nativesb , in the hillsb . The

European occupants of the bungalow, had neither social nor religious ties with the inhabitants of the Indian

town. Their relationship was one of b ruler and the ruledb . The establishment of resorts served to extend a

system of social stratification and residential differentiation.

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The third cultural reason behind the development of the hill station was the particular ethnomedical beliefs of

the colonial society which held that certain diseases, particularly cholera, malaria and typhoid were less likely

to occur in the elevated regions of the hill station. By the mid 1830b ss, the medical service became increasingly

concerned about the rise of these diseases especially in Calcutta, the political capital, because of an increasing

medical interest in epidemiology and the connections between water supply and disease transmission. The

principal assumption of the British medical authorities was that high and fluctuating temperature, high humidity

and exposure to intense sunlight weakened the constitutions of the Europeans who were not designed for warm

climates. By mid nineteenth century, the medical texts argued that excessive heat disrupted normal circulation

and reduced metabolism of the stomach and liver. These hill stations began as b health sanitariab . Lastly the

technological factor, the construction of roads and the establishment of the railways in the mid nineteenth

century allowed the aspirations of the colonial people to be realized to greater effect.

Historical Background

Charles Malet, the English Resident at the court of Sawai Madhavrao Peshwa, was one of the first European to

set foot on the Mahableshwar hill, but its importance as a health resort was noticed by Major Lodwick in 1824

in the Bombay Courier of 1 May 1824. Lodwick concluded with a positive assertion:

There is abundant room for several parties who may be near

or distant from each other and Mahabillysir is capable of becoming

from its centrical situation the resource of all who are in search of

health, of pleasure, or of retirement, without much fear of

disappointment and with power of returning home immediately,

should duty call or expectation not be gratifiedb .

Lodwick did not forget to reassure: b Neither tigers nor thieves are to be feared; we neither saw nor heard of any

during our stayb .

Following Lodwick, it was Colonel Briggs, Resident of Satara, who took keen interest in developing Mahabaleshwar

as a sanatorium for the Bombay Presidency and persuaded Raja Pratapsingh of Satara to construct a road

between Satara and Mahableshwar and construct a dam on river Yenna (Venna). Briggs built for himself a

wooden house on the Sindola hill. This house was the precursor of all future development at Mahableshwar. In

May 1826, at the instance of Mountstuart Elphinstone, Briggs submitted a report to the Medical Board

recommending the construction of a hospital for ailing Europeans.

Governorb s Bungalows at Mahableshwar

Sir John Malcolm, who succeeded Mountstuart Elphinstone, pursued the question of the sanatorium with the

Medical Board on the one hand and cultivated friendship with Raja of Satara which led to the establishment of

a Market-Peth at Mahableshwar in 1828. In 1829, the plateau of Mahableshwar was acquired from the Maharaja

of Satara in exchange of Peta Khandala in 1829. Thus the market Peth was named as Malcolm Peth after Sir

John Malcolm. Thereafter a number of visitors grew, traders from outside were induced to open shops in the

Peth. Finally in 1829, the Sanatoria came into existence and set a new trend in health resorts. In the same year

Mahableshwar became the Summer residence of the Governor of Bombay when Malcolm constructed the First

Government House on a site named after his wife-Mount Charlotte- a building that is known today as Mt.

Malcolm.

However, Mount Charlotte did not remain as a Government House for long and the Government house was

shifted to b Bohemiab which was constructed and owned by William Newnham who was the Chief secretary to the

Governor, Mountstuart Elphinstone and later to John Malcolm. b Bohemiab continued as Governorb s residence

until 1853. Thereafter, several cottages came up in Mahabaleshwar, yet none were convenient to accommodate

other government officials. So despite the house constructed by Malcolm, some of the Governors stayed in

rented houses along with the Council members. The Governor, Sir Bartle Frere had to persuade one of the

Council members, the Honb ble Framjee Nusservanjee, b to add two public rooms of fair size to a bungalow, his

property. Frereb s successor Sir Seymour Fitzgerald, stayed in a rented house where his own sleeping room

cracked in every direction. Fitzgerald bought an extensive property, a house and seventy acres of land belonging

to Rustomjee Jejeebhoy and commenced modifications of the house, where he stayed during his summer

residence known as Bella Vista. After his term was over, in 1869 he offered it for purchase by the government

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for a sum of 4000 pounds. It was only in 1878, b Bella Vistab was purchased by the Government of Bombay for

Rs. 32,000. The Bella Vista thus finally settled as the official residence of the Governor of Bombay.

The guests of the Governor, were usually housed in pitched tents. To accommodate these guests in a more

comfortable place, the Government opted to take on lease a property known as b The Terracesb which was

owned by Lt. General William Fredrick Mariott from Mumbai. Mariott died in 1879 and the Government succeeded

in obtaining surrender of the lease by Executors of his estate in 1884. Thus the Terraces, was assigned for the

Governorb s summer residence.

Post Colonial period- Change in status of Governorb s residence

In the post colonial period, the situation was substantially altered when the Government of India Order, 1950

included only Bombay and Poona and omitted Mahableshwar from the schedule which deterred the State

from providing funds for the maintenance of the Government House. In 1955 an attempt to reclaim Bella Vista

as the Governorb s official residence was not supported by the State Government. A considerable area of the

estate was allotted to the Tourism Department. The Governor was, however, assigned the b Terracesb for Governorb s

residence, a practice that continues to this day. The house has now been christened as Giri Darshan.

The Governorb s bungalows are impressive. These bungalows were built on the European model of architecture.

These bungalows were situated in a compound or open space was cordoned off from its immediate surroundings

by a wall or fence. Although these bungalows were in European style, they were built with Indian craftsmen

trained to design in the novel style. The architecture of these bungalows are in Gothic style. Some of the

characteristics of Gothic style are arches and vault, buttress, stained windows, etc. Gothic style buildings

expressed their purpose quite directly on their exterior form. These bungalows therefore had large open halls

and functional areas. The legibility of function is a hall mark of the Gothic. The Gothic architecture was more

useful than elegant.

Conclusion

This hill station became a distinctive form of colonial urban development particularly, the Governorb s summer

residence. In the post colonial period too, Mahableshwar, continued to be the Bombay Governorb s summer

residence. The Governorb s bungalows at Mahableshwar symbolize historical buildings and confluence of the

eastern and western cultures. It played a pivotal role in the history of India in general and Mumbai in particular.

Today, its colonial setting is a reminder of a significant phase of this history The charm of these bungalows lies

in the surrounding cluster of other precincts, their antiquity and indeed their association with personalities that

influenced the course of history, everything that contributes to its heritage value. No doubt in this proven built

up architecture plays an important role. At a time of increasing globalization, the protection, conservation,

interpretation and presentation of these precincts is an important challenge.

References

(Endnotes)

Sadashiv Gorakshkar, Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra, Government Central Press, Mumbai, 2002, p.178.

Michael Edwardes, Bound to Exile : The Victorians in India, Sidpwick and Jackson, London, 1969, pp. 12, 91.

Approximately 41,000 in the 1830b s of whom 37,000 were troops, in 1859, this had risen to 1,26,000 of whom,

5,00 were troops, By 1930, there were approximately 1,65,000 Europeans in India, of whom 63,500 were troop

Samita Gupta, Architecture and The Raj, B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 1985, p.79.

Mark Harrison, Climate and Constitutions: Health, Race, Environment and British Imperialism in India (1600-

850), Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999, p. 154.

Kaushik Roy, b Managing the Environment: Disease, Sanitation and the Army in British India, 1859 b 1913, (Ed.)

Ranjan Chakrabarti, Situating Environmental History, Manohar Publishers, Delhi, 2007, p. 197.

Alfred Crosby, Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe 900-1900, Cambridge University

Press, Cambridge, 1986, p. 134.

C.F., Anthony D King, The Bungalow: The Production of a Global Culture, Routledge & Paul, London,1984,

p. 30.

(182)

Richard, Grove, Ecology, Climate and Empire, The Indian Legacy in Global Environmental History 1500 b

940, OUP, Delhi, 1998, p. 71.

Kaushik Roy, op. cit., p. 189

C.F., Anthony D. King., b Culture, Social Power And Environment: The Hill Station in Colonial Urban Development

, Social Action, July-September, No. 3, Vol. 26, 1976, pp.196-208.

Sadashiv Gorakshkar, op. cit., p.177.

G.G.Khare, A Guide to Mahableshwar, Bombay, 1933, (translated from Marathi to English), pp. 2-6.

S. Gorakshakar, op. cit., p. 179.

Between 1893 and 1969, Bohemia was owned by the Sassoons, the Wadias and Sir Kikabhai Premchand

Charity Trust. In 1969 it was purchased by its present owner Pranlal Bhogilal, a distinguished connoisseur and

owner of vintage cars. Ibid., pp. 181, 182.

Ibid., p. 184.

M.D David, Bombay The city of Dreams, Himalaya Publishing House, Mumbai, 1995, p. 82.

Meera Kosambi, Bombay in Transition: The Growth and Social Ecology of a Colonial City, 1800b 1980,

Almquist and Wiksell International, Stockholm, 1986,p. 19.

During the Victorian period (1840-1900), the Gothic Revival style was prevalent in England. Christopher. W.

London, Bombay Gothic, India Book House pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, 2002, p. 10.

G.B. Kunte, (ed.), The Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island, Vol. I, The Government Photozinco Press, Pune,

977, p.194.

Sadashiv Gorakshkar, Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra, Government Central Press, Mumbai, 2002, p.178.

Michael Edwardes, Bound to Exile : The Victorians in India, Sidpwick and Jackson, London, 1969, pp. 12,

1. Approximately 41,000 in the 1830b s of whom 37,000 were troops, in 1859, this had risen to 1,26,000 of

whom, 85,00 were troops, By 1930, there were approximately 1,65,000 Europeans in India, of whom 63,500

were troops.