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East Indians |
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (November 2008) |
| East Indians Catholics | |||||||||||||||
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| Marathi | |||||||||||||||
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| Marathi people, Kuparis, Indo-Aryans |
East Indians are a Marathi-speaking, Roman Catholic ethnic group, based in and around the city of Mumbai (Marathi: मुंबई) in the state of Maharashtra 2. These people are of the original Marathi ethnic group and had been evangelized by the Portuguese, while retaining much of their pre-Christian traditions.
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Bombay was formerly under the Portuguese in the 1500s; and East-Indians were then known as Bombay Portuguese. Bombay then became increasingly anglicized after the handover to the British in the 1600s. Under the British, they were known as Bombay Portuguese too, but, when immigrants from Portuguese-ruled Goa began to enter Bombay, in order to distinguish themselves from the Goans (whom the British also called Portuguese), they renamed themselves "East Indians", purportedly after their affiliation to the British as locals of Bombay and as such to be distinguished from the Goan Catholics and the Mangalorean Catholics. In the 1960s, the Archdiocese of Bombay estimated that there were 92,000 East Indians in Mumbai out of which 76,000 were in suburban Mumbai and 16,000 in urban Mumbai.1
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Although, they have preserved their pre-Christian Marathi culture and traditions, many Portuguese and influences have been absorbed. Their language is almost exclusively Marathi. However, the urban section is fluent in English as well. A village of East-Indians who to this day speak Portuguese. The language of the Shamedi Christians is a dialect of Marathi known as Shamedi. The East Indian cuisine is a unique blend of Koli, Marathi, and Portuguese cuisine. They still retain many of the practises of pre-Christian tradition. Most of the East Indian women wear typical Maharashtrian saree and Koli dresses 3 . East Indian ladies also wear the tikali (bindi) and Mangalsutra. The East Indians of Vasai also practise the pre-Christian tradition of visiting the Vajrayogini temple every year.
There are five broad cultural groups of East Indians - Kulbis ,Samvedi Christians, Koli Christians, Vadvals, Salsette Christians and the urbanized section.
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