Religious Worship in a Changing Urban Environment: Mumbai's Workli Koliwada

This thesis examines changing Koli religious practices in Mumbai's Worli village and the impact of new, large-scale infrastructure projects. It focuses on two major Koli festivals that honour the village goddess and the sea god. These are located within the broader context of the village's religious geography and the contests for authority between community organisations. My analysis shows how the Coastal Road project is exacerbating political-religious contestations. Breaking down the boundaries between land and sea, urban and rural, and Hinduism and other religions, the thesis suggests that such artificial differences can lead to biases in scholarship and urban development plans.