Kalyan (Marathi: कल्याण) is a city in the Thane district of Maharashtra, and a major railway junction in the vicinity of Mumbai,India. It is the capital of Kalyan Taluka, an administrative subdivision of the district. The city has been combined with its neighbouring township of Dombivli to form the City Corporation of Kalyan-Dombivli. It is considered a part of the Greater Mumbai metropolitan agglomeration, along with Navi Mumbai and the cities of Bhiwandi, Thane.

KALYAN stands pretty on east side of a deep bend in the Ulhas River. Before the construction of railways it was a famous port form where a large quantity of trade was handled. Though now its importance as a port has diminished, there is considerable trade in goods, especially construction goods, now-a-days. The fort mount, which is notable from the railway about a mile to the west of Kalyan station, has a fine view north up the river with a background of low hills, west along the Ulhas valley green with trees and salt swamp bushes to the line of the Persik hills, and to the south a broad level stretch of rice lands interspersed with buildings, many of them industrial structures to the picturesque rugged crests of Malanggad, Tavli and Chanderi. A large industrial belt is located to the south-east from Kalyan to Kulgaon (i.e. Badlapur), where many large and middle size industries are concentrated. Formerly the adjoining areas towards the south of the Kalyan town were covered with forests. The town stretches from the creek (Ulhas River). The famous rugged fort of Mahuli which was the last resort of Shahaji before he surrendered to the Moghals near Washind is seen to the north-east of this town to great advantage.

Under the forms Kaliyan, kalian, kalyan appears, in nine Kanheri inscriptions which from the form of the letters, have been attributed to the first, second and fifth or sixth centuries. Two of the inscriptions mention a Buddhist monastery called Ambalika in Kalyan.According to the Periplus (247) Kalyan rose to importance about the end of the second century of the Christian era. At the time of the Periplus it has and declined. Greek ships were not allowed to trade to Kalliena, and if by chance or stress of weather they entered the harbor, kind Sandanes placed a guard on board and sent them to Broach. In the sixth century Kosmas Indikopleustes(535) mentions Kalliana as one of the five chief marts of western India, the seat of powerful king, with a great trade in brass, blackwood logs, and articles, of clothing. It was also the seat of a Christian bishop who received ordinance from the Persians. About a hundred years later (640) Kalyan has been identified with Hiwen Thsang
s capital of Maharashtra, which was touched on the west by a great river. This identification is very doubtfull .Kalyan had already been eclipsed by Thane, whose fame as a place of trade had in 637 brought on the Konkan the first Arab invasion. Thane was the port for foreign trade. Early in the fourteenth century (1312-1318), the Musalmans found Kalyan the head of a district and gave it the name of Islamabad. No reference has been traced to Kalyan or Islamabad during the fifteenth century. It probably was nominally under the Bahmani kings, and at the close of the century. It probably was nominally under the Bahmani kings, and at the close of the century, came more directly under the new dynasty of Ahmadnagar. It was taken by the Portuguese in 1536. They did not garrison the town, but, returning in 1570, burnt the suburbs and carried off much booty. It is described as having a fine fort with a garrison of 1500 men. From this time it seems to have been the head-quarters of a province. In 1636 it was handed over to Bijapur, and ir continued to be the headquarters if a district stretching from Bhiwandi to Nagothana. In 1648 Chhatrapati Shivaji"s general Abaji Sondev surprised Kalyan and took the governor prisoner. The Moghals recovered it in 1660, but again lost is apparently in 1662. In April 1675 Fryer found it ruined reeking in its ashes, the people beggarly, kenneling in wretched huts. Still there were signs of former importance. Its sumptuous relics and stately fabrics were the most glorious ruins the Musalmans in the Deccan had ever caused to deplore. There were buildings of many storey faced with square stones and many mosques of cut stone, abating little of their ancient luster, all watered with ponds and having about them costly tombs several of which Shivaji had turned into granaries. In 1674 under the treaty of Rairi or Raygad (June 6 th), Shivaji granted the English leave to establish a factory at Kalyan. In 1728 it had a large Musalman population and several mosques, especially one on the edge of a lake. Among many ruined remains was a pretentious tomb of Matabar Khan, the noble of Aurangzeb dated 1694. In 1750 Tieffenthaler mentions it as a large and well-people city, with 499splendid villages and revenue of Rs.94, 250. It was one long street filled with merchants,the houses red-walled and covered with thatch . In May 1780, as the Marathas had cut off supplies, the Bombay Government determined to occupy the Konkan opposite Thane as far as the Sahyadri hills. Kalyan was seized and placed in charge of Captain Richard Campbell. Nana Fadnavis sent a strong force to recover the place, which, advancing to Kalyan, threatened, if resistance was offered, to destroy the garrison, and caused a European prisoner, English Fyfe to write the commanding officer demanding surrender. Campbell replied that they were welcome to the town if they could take it. After a most spirited defense, on May 25 the day fixed for a general assault the garrison was relieved by Colonel Hartley who surprised the Maratha camp, and, with great slaughter, pursued the Maratha army for miles. In 1781 a resident was appointed. In 1810 (26th May) Kalyan was visited by Sir James Mackintosh and a party from Bombay. They walked through the streets, almost killed by the sun, without finding any compensation for their fatigue. They sat down to their tiffin on a little green in the town and drank three or four toasts in cocoanut shells. All agreed that Dr.Fryer, whose glorious ruins and stately fabrics had tempted them to Kalyan, ought to have been hanged.

There are eight small reservoirs (talaos) in the town mostly of consequential antiquity, viz., (1) Bhatala, (2) Adhar, (3) Raharai (4) Rojale (5) Dandesar (6) Davinje (7) Lendale and (8) Ghodale. Bhatala is located near the fort, Adhar, Rahatai and Rojale on the north; Dandesar on the camp road; Davinje on the south and Lendale and Ghodale in the town. Many of these reservoirs are partially reclaimed either by the municipality or by the people.

Before the Musalmans took Kalyan, the site of the town which was called Nawanagar, lay to the east of the railway station. The present town occupies the lands of Kalyan Village. There are, at present, as many as 34 wards, twenty-three more than the olden days. The present functioning municipality was established in 1855.

Below is the brief description of the town appearing in the old Gazetteer of Thana district:

The Lendale reservoir, which was located behind the municipalitys office, is now completely reclaimed by the municipality. An exquisite garden has been laid on the reclaimed land, in which a miniature zoo consisting of a panther, a few forest birds, etc. is maintained. On the reclaimed area of Lendale talao, a big stadium is under construction with an estimated cost of Rs.8.44 lakhs. Besides, it is proposed to construct a swimming pool near the stadium. In the garden area there is a recreation club and a hall with a gymnasium. The Lion"s Club, Kalyan, has donated a television set to the municipality which is kept in the open space of the garden.

The Shenale lake which is located about one kilometer to the north of the railway station, covers about twenty-four acres (1.212*885) and varies in depth from six to fourteen feet and has its sides lined throughout with broken basalt masonry. The name of the lake is traced to a bird called Shen, whose feathers shone like gold after bathing in the pool. The lake is also known as the Kala talawo as the black mosque is located on its bank. During the last century almost the whole supply of drinking water came from the Shenale Lake. The tank is taken in veneration by the local people for very long though the date of its construction is not known. The masonry however appears to belong to the Musalman times (A.D.1506). IT is said to have been built by the Adilshah of Bijapur. Subsequently it was renovated by Shri Ramaji Biwalkar, the Subhedar of Peshwas. At the south-west corner of the lake is the black mosque or the Kali Masjid. It is also known as the Jama Masjid which was built in A.D.1643 (Hijri 1054) by one Subhedar of Yusuf Adilshah of Bijapur known as Sayyad at his own expenses. This mosque is constructed in black rock with three arches on the face and two inside the mosque. The arches and the dome are built in a good architectural design. The wheel in the midst of the dome and the petals of lotus flower below the dome show strong Hindu influence. There is a small pond located to the left of the mosque, and close by the Kali mosque is a tomb of a famous Hindu ascetic named Sahajanand. On the west bank of the lake are four Hindu temples-one to Rameshwar, one to Ganapati and two to Ramaji. From the west bank between the black mosque and the Hindu temples was a masonry tunnel, said to be large enough for a man to walk upright. It carried water about sixty yards to four cisterns (ganj) which are now in a dilapidated state. From the side of the cistern opposite the tunnel, there were three nine-inch earth ware pipes, placed one below the other about three feet apart, carrying water to three deep wells, one in Kumbharwada, one in Maliwada and one opposite the house of the Sar-Subhedar, i.e., the Subhedarwada of Ramji Mahadev Biwalkar where the Gokhale Education Societys High School is located. Shri Ramji Mahadeo is believed to have constructed the water works, when governor of the North Konkan under the Peshwas (1760-1772). From Ramjis well the water passed to a large brick reservoir 190*100 with a flight of stone-steps on the west side that led twenty feet down to the under-level. On the east bank of the lake is the handsome tomb of Matabarkhan, a governor of Aurangazeb, with the inscription Center Heaven (in Urdu Ud Khuli Janta), which gives the date 1108 (Hijiri), that is A.D.1694. It is said that the monument cost about a lakh of rupees. There is a small mosque near the makbara (tomb). Both the black mosque and the makbara of Matabarkhan show an inner structure which has been thickly plastered. Remains of some ancient buildings are shown over and used as steps or seats.

The makbara is now in a dilapidated condition. Originally the entire area surrounding the makbara (five and half acres) was owned by one Pathare who sold it to Sayyad Ahmad Ajikhan and Sayyad Afzul Ajikhan Pirzade in 1932; the present owner Joseph Dominic Colaco bought it in 1953. The land surrounding the makbara has been developed and is used as agricultural land as also for growing vegetables.

Under the Muslmans the town of Kalyan was surrounded by a stone wall begun by Nawab Matabar Khan, the minister of Shah Jahan (1628-1658), and completed in A.D.1694 (A.H.1103) during the reign of Aurangzeb. The total length of this wall was about 2,123 yards. It was surrounded by a ditch 33 feet wide with a depth of twenty feet. Under the English, the east and south town wall was pulled down in 1865, and a road runs along the line. It is also said that the ditch was reclaimed during the same period. After dismantling the west town wall the stones of the same were taken to build the Kalyan and Thane piers and dwelling for the customs inspector in the west of the fort. The town wall had as many as eleven towers and four gates and had enclosed an area of seventy acres. At the north-east corner, another in the middle of the east wall, the third in the south-east corner and the fourth to the landing place. No remains of the towers and gates can be traced now. Of the four main gates, the sdhar gate, called after the village of Adhor (now a part of Kalyan) about half a mile to the north, was near the middle of the north wall and the Ganesh gate about 400 yards distant, was near the middle of the east wall. Till recently on every Dasara day the Hindus used to sacrifice a buffalo in honour of the Devi, burying its head close to the Ganesh gate. Now, this practice is no longer followed. The Panavel gate was near the middle of the south wall and bunder or wharf gate was in the center of the west wall.

Tradition goes that on an open space adjacent to the house of one Rajaram Paranjape, the Baradari or the Darbar of Shivaji used to be held. In this darbar, the tradition says Abaji Sondeo, a commander of Shivaji known for his attack on Kalyan treasury presented the daughter-in-law of the Kalyan
s Subhedar to Shivaji who treated her as his own daughter and sent her back with honor and dress. It is not known as to when the Durgadi fort was constructed. The wall of the fort along the top of the inner bank of the ditch, and, near the north end, had a gateway known as the Delhi or Killyacha Darwaja, which was entered by a path along the top of the north side of the town wall. Inside the fort there was a low belt of ground, about the same level, as the top of the ditch, with a shallow pond not far from the Delhi gate. The remains of the pond are still visible, in the north-west corner the fort rose in a small flat-topped mound about thirty feet high. On the top of the mound, on the west crest which overhangs and is about 100 feet above the river, is the prayer wall or idgah, sixty-four feet long, thirteen high and seven thick, which is now in a dilapidated condition. This doubtful wall is said to be of the old Durga temple wall and is thickly plastered. It is said that near the east crest of the mound there was a mosque, but no remains of it can be traced. About thirty to forty yards of the idgah was a round cut stone wall of great depth, eleven feet in diameter with a wall two feet eleven inches thick at the top, which has now completely, collapsed except the basement of the wall. Under the Marathas (1760-72), a new gate about 150 feet to the south of the Ganesh gate was opened near the mansion of Ramji Mahadeo Biwalkar, the Peshwas Governor. In the citadel of the fort Marathas built a small wooden temple of Durgadevi behind the mosque, and called the fort Durgadi Killa in honour of the goddess, a name which it still bears. They also converted the mosque into Ramjis temple. The fort measures 220 feet in length and somewhat less in breadth. Under the English the fort wall was dismantled and stones carried to build the Kalyan and Thane piers and a dwelling for the customs inspector in the west of the Kalyan fort. The gate to the north-west is almost the only trace of the fort wall, which is of rough stone masonry. During 1876 the original idol of the goddess Durga was stolen. The other idol was placed during the last decade of the 19th century. The present fort as well as the present Durga temple was renovated (jirnoddhar), by the Kalyan municipality on 15 th December 1974. A new idol of goddess Durga made if Panchadhatu (five sacred metals) was installed by Shri Gajanan Maharaj and Shri Annasaheb Pattekar of Thane on the same date. The idol is four-armed, three and half feet in height, with a lion resting at its back. To the right of idol is the old idol. The municipality has constructed a new gate 35 feet high and with four towers. There has also been laid a beautiful garden which surrounds the fort. The fort which has now more or less become a picnic spot gives an excellent view of Retibunder, the creek, the Bhiwandi bridge, the groves near and afar and the hills to the north of the fort. The construction of subhedarwada was started in phalgun shake 1688 and completed in Shake 1691 and is a good structure done in fine woodwork. The hall popularly known as the Ganapatimahal, is quite spacious with the same design as the Ganapatimahal of Shaniwarwada in pune.

About twenty-two yards to the south of the fort gate, the creek was crossed by a wall which begun near the Delhi gate, and across the creek ran about 1,000 feet east upto the Adhar gate. There is a large white Christian tomb to the west of the town near the bunder, close to the landing place without an inscription. It is said to have borne the date 1795, and is believed to have been raised in honor of Captain Richard Campbell, who held the fort of Kalyan against the Maraths in 1780.

Somewhere across the river the Portuguese, in the sixteenth century, built a bastion called Belgrado or Santacruz, to prevent the Musalman
s ships from passing the Salstte (the area of suburban Bombay and Thane tahsil). In 1634 this bastion was described as a wall and platform, having two iron and one brass falcons garrisoned by eight soldiers and one bombardier.

At present there are about thirty to thiry-five Hindu temples, and one Jain temple. Most of the temples are Brahmanic temples; of them some are dedicated to Shiv, some to Vishnu and some to local or early deities. Most of these temples date subsequent to the arrival of the Musalmans (1300). Of the whole number, sixteen were built under the Peshwas, and the remaining except the Dnyaneshwar temple after the fall of the Maratha state. The chief temples are Ramchandras on Shenale lake, Ramjis and Mahadevs near the former mamlatdars office, Devis and Trivikrams on the station road, Durga Devis on the Durgadi fort, and the Dnyaneshwars on the Agra road, the last of which was constructed in 1943.

Beside the Hindu temples, there are as many as fourteen mosques in the town of which the Black or Kali mosque (or Jama masjid) on the bank of Shenale lake, Makabareka masjid, Mahman masjid and the bunder masjid are of consequence. The dargah of Gulam Ali Shah os located at some distance from the makbara of Matbarkhan, where an urus is held on every Zilhija, 10 th of the Hijri.

There are four churches in Kalyan, of which the Methodist church is famous and is located to the east of the Kalyan railway station.

The Parsis who had been long settled in Kalyan have, about three miles north of the town, a Tower of Silence, now not in use as most of the Parsis have migrated from Kalyan to some other part of the peninsula. It was built in 1790 by Nawajbai, the widow of Nasarvanji Dadabhi Modi. A few yards from this tower are the foundations of an old tower which as it is made of brick, was probably built before 1553. There was a Parsi fire temple built in the last century, of which now no trace remains.

There are six public gardens in the town, the Jijamata Udyan near Durgadi fort, Rani Laxmibai Udyan near Jehangi maidan, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Udyan in Kolsewadi, Baji Prabhu Deshpande Balodyan in Bharatacharya Vidya Chauk, Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Udyan in Mahatma Phule Chauk and Shankarrao Udyan behind Kalyan Municipality
s office. It is proposed ro extend the Jijamata Udyan and to make it the biggest one in the Kalyan town. Besides, there are three fountains in the town, one near Subhash Putala (idol) in Subhash Chauk on Murbad road, second near Shivaji Putala in Shivaji Chauk near the Prabhakar tower and the third in Shankarrao Udyan. The later is attached with colored lights.

Besides the above-mentioned objects, the others of note are the following: - The Bridge on the Bhiwandi road across the creek near Durgadi fort, which was built by the British in 1914. In the midst of the town are the Pimpalacha par, Sarkarwada, Chaskar Joshiwada and Ramji temple, Besides the Black mosque and the makbara of Matbarkhan on the bank of Shenale lake is the Rameshwar temple. Saticha Par, Chabutara, tombs, etc. near the Rojale lake.