Mumbai's Holy Crosses Get A Lifeline: Two-Year Kuruz Census Documents Nearly 300 Shrines Amid Legal Scrutiny
The Mobai Gaothan Panchayat has documented nearly 300 holy crosses in Mumbai under its two-year Kuruz programme, conducted for the East Indian Catholic community. Chief Coordinator Britney Dharmai said the city may have nearly 1,000 such shrines, including 1970s-era crosses and late nineteenth-century “plague crosses”, as questions over the legality of some structures continue to grow.
Mumbai's Holy Crosses Get A Lifeline: Two-Year Kuruz Census Documents Nearly 300 Shrines Amid Legal Scrutiny |
Mumbai: A two-year project to document the holy crosses dotting Mumbai's urban villages and streets has recorded nearly 300 structures.
Legal Context & Recent Controversy
The documentation is being conducted under the 'Kuruz' programme by the Mobai Gaothan Panchayat (MGP), an organisation representing the East Indian Catholic community. This initiative has become vital as the legality of several structures faces scrutiny. Recently, following allegations that a chapel near the Shree Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple in Prabhadevi was illegal, the local Roman Catholic community clarified that the shrine replaces a 50-year-old cross temporarily relocated for the underground Metro 3 project.
Britney Dharmai, Chief Coordinator of Kuruz—the word for holy cross in the East Indian Marathi dialect—estimates there are nearly a thousand such shrines across the city. "Many date back to the 1970s, but others are 'plague crosses' built in the late nineteenth century as protection from disease," Dharmai said.
Challenges of Documentation
The census is exhaustive, as many crosses reside on inaccessible private property. Dharmai, who has catalogued crucifixes in Uttan and the Bandra gaothans (urban villages), emphasized the need for authentic data to ensure conservation.
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"There are documents for these crosses. Several, including shrines near the Siddhivinayak temple and L J Road, Mahim, were shifted for the underground Metro," she added, noting that many function as multi-faith spaces, such as a cross sharing a traffic island with a Hindu temple near Antonio da Silva High School in Dadar.
MGP founder trustee Gleason Barretto stated that the initial drive drew an overwhelming response, recording 178 registrations against a target of 100. Moving forward, a ten-point action plan will focus on restoring historic crosses, installing CCTV to prevent desecration, and protecting shrines from aggressive infrastructure development. "Additionally, a special policy draft is underway for the archdiocese and government," Barretto said.
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