Bombay/Mumbai as a Postcolonial City in Salman Rushdie’s ”The Ground Beneath Her Feet"

Abstract

In Salman Rushdie’s work, Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is not merely a physical or geographical location; it emerges as a living, shape-shifting entity that embodies the complexities of postcolonial identity. In his novels, Mumbai transcends its spatial boundaries and functions as an animate, dynamic force—one that both shapes and is shaped by the personal and collective narratives of Rushdie’s protagonists. Through its chaotic urban landscape, cultural hybridity, and perpetual transformation, Mumbai reflects the hybrid nature of postcolonial existence.

For Rushdie, Bombay is simultaneously a source of utopian cosmopolitanism and a site of alienation, particularly for displaced migrants. It is a vibrant, dynamic space of lived experience rather than a static symbol of urban modernity. Critics have argued that Bombay functions as more than a mere backdrop for the characters’ lives; it assumes the role of a character itself, intricately entwined with the protagonists’ identities. Rushdie’s use of magical realist techniques and minority perspectives underscores the centrality of memory and imagination in shaping the city’s identity. His formal innovations invite readers to conceive of the city as a nexus of competing and overlapping identities, political histories, and power structures that define the postcolonial metropolis.

Rushdie’s nostalgic depictions of Bombay in the 1950s and 1960s further suggest that his portrayal of urban cosmopolitanism is not universal but deeply rooted in historically specific iterations of the city—versions that his characters both emerge from and help to construct. These characters challenge hegemonic narratives of Indian nationalism. Their physical departure from Bombay and relocation to the West symbolize the cultural and psychological dislocation frequently experienced by migrants, producing a sense of disorientation and fragmentation.

Rushdie’s assertion that reality is an artifact underscores the notion that perception is neither fixed nor objective, but rather socially, culturally, and individually constructed. Migration, in this context, becomes a process that destabilizes one’s sense of reality, compelling migrants to renegotiate their understanding of self and place. This perspective challenges essentialist notions of identity and highlights the contingent, fluid nature of postcolonial subjectivity.

The tectonic shifts associated with postcolonial modernity—including the political, social, and urban transformations following Indian independence—have, in Rushdie’s view, led to the symbolic destruction of his native metropolis. Through his fiction, he attempts to reclaim a sense of belonging, both physical and emotional, to the Bombay of his imagination. By reconstructing a remembered city, Rushdie engages in an act of narrative reclamation, reimagining the past as a means of negotiating the present.

From an urban postcolonial perspective, The Ground Beneath Her Feet conceptualizes Bombay as a liminal, improvisational space, marked by uneven development and cultural experimentation. In the novel, the city is depicted as a site of continual flux, where Western popular culture, local traditions, and diasporic influences intersect. This confluence transforms Bombay into a performative space, emblematic of the fluid and heterogeneous nature of postcolonial urban life.