Thane

Thane (IPA: [ˈʈʰaːɳeː]) is a city in Maharashtra, India, at the head of the Thane Creek. Thane is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

City of Lakes

The most famous is the Masunda Lake, also known as Talao Pali. It offers boating and water scooter facilities. On the lakefront stands the Gadkari Rangayatan, a drama theatre which is a very popular hub for entertainment. The Kopineshwar Temple on the banks is the oldest temple in the entire district of Thane. It was built and renovated in about 1750 AD by Chimajji Appa.

History

The city crops up again in the Middle Ages and slabs and copper plates dating back to the period have been discovered in Thane. One of them, dug up from the foundations of Thane Fort in 1787, dated 1078 AD, is apparently a land grant from Arikesara Devaraja, sovereign of the city of Tagara, wherein he address the inhabitants of a city called Sri Sthanaka.

Friar Jordanus visited Thane between AD 1321 and 1324, and described it as being under a Muslim governor. He left a detailed sketch of Nestorian Christians in Thane and refers to the martyrdom of four Christian (Franciscan) friars in the region, nearly 200 years before the Portuguese set foot in India. The celebrated Ibn Battuta and Abul Feda, contemporaries of Friar Jordanus, also came here. They refer to Thane as Kukin Tana and speak of its fame as a port from which ships sailed to the gulf carrying a kind of cloth called 'Tanasi' which was produced in Thane. Duarte Barbosa, a noted traveler, described Thane by the name Tana Mayambu