No 467, NM Joshi Marg: The Sassoon Graveyard

The graveyard with the railway at the back

Sassoon. You would have at least heard the name if you've been to Mumbai. Even if you haven't, the Sassoon docks would ring a bell.

So who is this Sassoon, after whom places in Mumbai are named, you may wonder. And whats the graveyard connect?

David Sassoon was an Iraqi Jew in Baghdad, who, after a falling out with the Ottoman governor of Iraq, moved to Persia. Starting a trading business from the bottom up, he set up a business empire and banking corporation from Shanghai to London. He had eight sons, each of whom went into one line of business or the other.


Bombay was one of their headquarters. David Sassoon was a naturalised British citizen, despite never having visited the island, and leader of Bombay's Baghdadi Jewish community. In Bombay lived a few members of the family, who handled business, including the second son, Elias David Sassoon.

Elias's son Jacob, while in Shanghai, died in 1868. As a way of remembrance, Elias set aside a plot of land, now by the railway line, as a Jewish cemetery in 1878. This is mentioned on a plaque by the gate.  Buried here are many Sassoons, all the way up to the 1996 as far as we could see.

The plaque at the entrance

As you pass the Central Jail, and turn at the circle, this little plot does not stand out. However, if you look over the compound wall, you will see the tops of a couple of tombs. Approaching the gate, which is locked, we passed through via a smaller opening in the gate.

The gate

The whole area is peaceful. The caretaker asks a couple of questions, but once he is satisfied, he is happy enough to take you around and show you personally. The whole area is green at the edges, and around the big tombs, with neat rows of graves laid out. Occasionally, you see a train slowly coming in to the station, and hear its horn. But besides that, birds and your voices are the only noises in the cemetery.

Right in the centre are three massive structures. Two of them hold Sir Jacob Sassoon, and his wife, Lady Rachel, while the other is for Sir Albert Sassoon. Both Sassoons are sons of David, and Albert in fact set up the Sassoon docks, Mumbai's wet docks, to export cotton, in 1875.

A confluence of old and new, with a hint of green - a symbol of what the city is

Jacob Sassoon's grave

Lady Rachels grave

Albert Sassoon's grave

Sir Jacob is likely the man who set up the synagogue in Kala Ghoda, (a place now of high security, where you need to submit a copy of your ID and show the original before you are let in) behind Rhythm house.

The tombs of Sir Jacob and Lady Rachel

The inner dome of the tomb

Now what were the Sassoons doing in China, and Hong Kong, which is where Joesph died? They traded - I came across this article that answered my question - Opium. Starting in textiles, they made their money in the opium trade. Opium was where the money was, and China was importing a lot of it at the end of the 19th century. They also branched into cotton, silk, wool,  banking, edible commodities, trade of precious commodities, among their various activities and did some philanthropy as well. They were in almost all spheres of life.

This cemetery is one of many where Jews are buried in Bombay, but the Jews here are Baghdadi and Bene Israeli(the Bene Israeli Jews married Bagdadi Jews and integrated). A prominent Bene Israeli Jew here is the poet Nissim Ezekiel, whose grave unfortunately we were unable to see, and that I found out about only after the visit.

A memorial to Elias David Sassoon

This cemetery is also special, because it commemorates some of those who died due to Nazi persecution in Europe, who had a Bombay connect. A large wall by the entrance has names, and the cities or concentration camps they died in, etched. Around and below that, other prominent Jewish names from Bollywood are remembered.Read more about the wall here

Oddly enough, of late, many Jews from Israel have been coming to this cemetery to identify long-dead relatives and force them to move back in with them! The bodies are taken to Israel and reburied.

David Sassoon and all his children left a huge mark on Bombay and the world. He himself died in Poona, in 1864 and is buried there.

A place of peace and tranquility, the Jewish cemetery in Chinchpokli should be on every history enthusiasts places to visit, especially if they are looking at the history of Bombay city.

Jewish cemetery, Chinchpokli