Mahalakshmi Temple
— — a temple the city walks to before sunrise.
Not only on a wall.
“A small stone temple on a rocky outcrop at Breach Candy, where Bhulabhai Desai Road bends toward the sea. Three goddesses sit inside — Mahalakshmi, Mahakali, Mahasaraswati — drawn, the city's older stories say, from the water itself. Tuesdays and Fridays the queue runs long past the gate. Coconut sellers, marigold strings, the low bell from inside, and the salt of the Arabian Sea waiting on the other side of the wall. The city around it is loud. The temple is not. from the studio
Mahalakshmi Temple, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Mahalakshmi Temple sits on a rocky promontory along Bhulabhai Desai Road in the Breach Candy neighbourhood of South Mumbai, facing the Arabian Sea. The shrine was built in 1831 by a Hindu merchant, Dhakji Dadaji, and houses three principal deities: Mahalakshmi at the centre, flanked by Mahakali and Mahasaraswati. The temple sits at the northern end of Worli Bay, a short walk from the Haji Ali Dargah causeway. Tuesday and Friday are the busiest days, with queues running well past the gate, and Navaratri in autumn draws crowds that fill the surrounding lanes for a week.
The temple is a compact stone structure, modest beside the scale of Mumbai around it, with a small shikhara above the sanctum and a gated forecourt that opens onto the sea wall. The three central images are carved from black stone and adorned with gold ornaments and fresh garlands each morning. Local tradition holds the figures were retrieved from the sea during the construction of the Hornby Vellard causeway in the late 18th century, the engineering project that joined Mumbai's seven original islands. The setting — temple, rock, water — is part of why the place holds the eye.
The temple opens early, around 6 a.m., and stays open into the late evening with a midday close on some days. Entry is free; photography inside the sanctum is not permitted. Shoes are left at the stalls along the approach, where vendors sell coconuts, marigold garlands, and small packets of sweets for offering. The walk in passes through a covered market lane before opening to the sea-facing courtyard. The Mahalakshmi railway station on the Western Line is the nearest stop, about a kilometre east, and the Haji Ali Dargah is roughly the same distance south along the coast road.