Mumbai Art Street: Here’s why ‘kala ghoda’ stands alone today

Kala Ghoda got its name from the black stone statue of King Edward VII (the then Prince of Wales) mounted on a horse that was built by Jewish businessman and philanthropist Albert Sassoon. The statue was, however, removed from the precinct in 1965 and subsequently placed inside the Byculla Zoo. Ex-chairman of the Kala Ghoda Association (KGA) Maneck Davar said that in the ’60s, due to the patriotic fervour, a lot of colonial statues was set aside and King Edward VII along with his horse was packed off from the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan or the Byculla Zoo in 1965.

However, in the previous decade, as steps were taken to restore old heritage structures that fell to decay, a suggestion was also put forth to have the ‘kala ghoda’ there so that people knew why the area was called Kala Ghoda. However, rather than wading into controversy by getting back colonial statues, KGA decided to just get back the ‘kala ghoda’ and not its rider.

“We did not want to use the original horse. So, we got a new horse to be sculpted that was eventually put up at a traffic island at the spot and was inaugurated by the then CM Devendra Fadnavis in 2017. The original structure is still in the zoo,” Davar said.

A statement issued by the KGA when the structure was to be inaugurated said, “It was decided by KGA not to resurrect the past but to create the symbol for the future. Hence, the ‘Spirit of Kala Ghoda’, which embodies ‘the essence of art, culture and the free flow of ideas’.”

The 25-feet high structure was designed by architect Alfaz Miller and sculpted by Shreehari Bhosle. The horse was erected at the parking lot, in the west direction facing the Army and Navy Building and the David Sassoon Library.