Have you ever thought what would happen if Mumbai, as we know it today, didn’t exist? What if the British and the Portuguese hadn’t interacted? Which other urban centres would be the seat of trade and commerce? At an upcoming virtual lecture series titled If Not Bombay, Dr Suraj Pandit, head and associate professor, Department of Ancient Indian Culture and Buddhist Studies at Sathaye College, and archaeologist Dr Kurush F Dalal will find answers to these questions while discussing four alternatives to Mumbai.

The series, hosted by the Mumbai Research Centre of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai, will span four days. Dr Pandit shares that the idea came from  Dr Shehernaz Nalwalla of the Mumbai Research Centre. “There would have been many other cities which would have flourished like Mumbai. When there was no Mumbai, cities such as Sanjan, Sopara, Kalyan and Mandad functioned as important port cities,” he explains. In the lecture series, he adds, participants will try to understand the archaeological history of these cities, what their potential was, and their contribution to the heritage of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.