Mira-Bhayandar
— — salt pans, mangroves, and the long platform at Bhayandar.
Not only on a wall.
“A twin city of about 900,000 on the northern edge of greater Mumbai, set between Vasai Creek and the Arabian Sea. The Western Railway runs the length of it; mangroves and salt pans hold the shoreline. Bhayandar carries a long-standing Jain pilgrimage tradition, with several major temples in the old quarter. The light is heavy and warm, and the air smells of the creek at low tide.
Mira-Bhayandar, 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.
Mira-Bhayandar is a twin city in Maharashtra's Thane district, on the northern edge of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The 2011 census recorded about 814,000 residents; the current figure is over 900,000. The city sits between Vasai Creek to the north and the Arabian Sea to the west, connected to Mumbai proper by the Western Railway suburban line. Bhayandar station has anchored the area since the line was extended in the mid-19th century. The municipal corporation was constituted in February 2002.
Water defines the city's edges. Vasai Creek separates Mira-Bhayandar from Vasai-Virar to the north and feeds extensive salt pans that have worked since the colonial period. The mangrove belts along the creek were brought under formal conservation in 2018 and support a migratory flamingo population that arrives between November and March. The Arabian Sea coast on the western side carries a string of small beaches (Uttan, Dongri, and Rai) used mostly by local families on weekends.
Bhayandar has been a Jain pilgrimage destination for generations. The Shri Bhayandar Char Dham complex draws devotees from across western India to its four-temple compound dedicated to the Tirthankaras. The old Jain Mandir near Bhayandar West dates from the early 20th century. The Paryushan and Mahavir Jayanti observances each year bring the largest crowds. The Jain Sthanak community, alongside Marathi and Gujarati residents, has shaped the food and the street pattern of the older quarter.