Khar Danda

Varin Pada Havli Holi, is one of the first public Hindu festivals ever granted by the British -India government, which was approved on 12th of March, 1922. Before this every year the fishermen's from Khar Danda used to gather wood from Bandra for the annual holi bush fire tradition. But, once due to the lack of trees available in the Khar and Bandra region they started visiting other nearby villages, which resulted in heated arguments and violent fights between the fishermen's of Khar Danda & the other nearby villagers who accused them for stealing wood from wells and carts. A tale follows that The Goddess Holika appeared to the fishermen and commanded them to always celebrate Holi 2 days prior to the Hindu calendar so that there is sufficient wood available for all. Then Carter Perry Sr, a suburban collector of British was amused to hear this tale and officially gazetted this festival on 12th of March, 1922. Since then Holi is celebrated 2 days before the actual date. Also Mumbai Police is always the guest of honor present to celebrate along with the villagers.

The entire village every year is decorated with lights and diyas, sweets are distributed, and the fishermen and women perform pooja a ritual for their colorful fishing boats.

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Bandra has been known to be a natural harbor since ancient times, then called "Bandora". Khar Danda & Chimbai were the only suitable shores for habitation. Chimbai village was a small rocky wetland then and was frequently flooded during monsoons due to being in a low-lying area. The fishermen community hence preferred to settle in Khar Danda. During the Portugal Era, the Portuguese sailors along with the villagers built a beacon on a coral reef near Khar Danda, which is till date battling the sea tides and alerting the fishermen and the sailors about the sea rock's presence in that area, previously named as "Uarashi Reef" and now renamed to "Varashi Reef". The Ministry of Home, Maharashtra government has its office of the regional port officer in Khar Danda. During 1944 Bombay explosion, Khar Danda residents opened doors for around hundreds of people. A few generations later as the community grew in this Koliwada, the local panchayat Danda Koli Samaj divided the village into small gaothans in order to ease the management. The gaothan were named Dandpada, Madhala pada, Kotpada, Patilpada, Varin Pada & Vetalpada with each gaothan having its own deity. Soon after the Bombay land reclamation progressed Hanuman Nagar & Gulab Nagar were added to the official map of Khar Danda.

Khar Danda gaothans

In the year 2020, the world was impacted by a pandemic that started in Wuhan, China. This led to countries going into lockdown and cities going shut.

With the help of BMC and Mumbai Police, Khar Danda sealed itself cutting out to others by barricading all entries and exit to the village. This protected the village from spreading of infection. Certain rules and norms have adhered and shops were allowed to open in a specific time bracket.

On 24 July 2020,the BMC declared Khar Danda region as green zone being the first in Mumbai

Reference

• Pali Naka
• Khar, Mumbai