Freedom At Last

After centuries of British rule, European imposition from both language to religion, Bombay became Mumbai through the choice of the Indian people. In 1995, the Hindu nationalist party announced that Bombay would be named after the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi. Not only did that name change throw off the British imposition of language, it also threw off the imposition of Christianity. Mumbadevi is the city's Hindu patron goddess, from the Indian religion, Hinduism, not the European Christianity (Beam). 

Whether it was the British themselves between 1661-1885, or French cartographers who came commissiond to chart Bombay, Mumbai had been for centuries forced into a European identity that sucked away its own. After centuries of struggle, misrepresentation, and oppression, today Mumbai is free, Mumbai is Indian, Mumbai is Mumbai.

Beam, Christopher. "How Bombay Became Mumbai." Slate. Slate, 12 July 2006. Web.