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Parel is central part of Mumbai. It is also the name of a railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway. Most of the mills in Mumbai used to be in this area till some years ago. Now, most of these mills have shut down.

Parel was one of the original seven islands that formed Mumbai. It belonged to the 13th century kingdom of Raja Bhimdev. The name has come from the Parali Vaijanath Mahadev temple, dedicated to Shiva.

When the Portuguese conquered Bombay, they gave the authority of this area to the Jesuit priests, who replaced the Parali Mahadev temple with a church and a convent. They remained with the Jesuits until they were confiscated by the British, when the priests sided with the Sidis during their battle with the British in 1689 and spelt the area as Parell. In the 1770s, William Hornby, the Governor, shifted his official residence to Parel. This area then became one of the poshest areas of the city. In 1867, tanners and dealers in dry fish were relocated in this area. By the 1870s, several cotton mills had been established in the reclaimed lands in Parel (West). Gradually, Paral became very polluted. In 1883, the Governor's wife died of cholera in the Government House. Two years later the Governor's Bungalow was moved to Malabar Point. During the plague epidemics of the 1890s, the old Government House was leased to the newly founded Haffkine Institute. After the plague epidemics, mills proliferated in this area. In 1915, the Parel Bridge was built with linked the Western and Central Railway stations. It became an industrial area and in addition provided space for mill workers. With the gradual decline of the mills in the late twentieth century, this space is being recycled.

Recently Parel has seen an influx of huge enterprises in the compounds of the long gone cotton mills. Five star hotel ITC Sheraton is located in Parel.

Parel also has some famous hospitals like KEM ( Govt. hospital), Tata (specializes in treatment of cancer) , Wadia(for children) and MGM (ESI hospital).

Parel village also has an important monolithic staue called Baradev.

Lower Parel
Next station south: Mahalaxmi	Mumbai suburban railway : Western Railway		Next station north: Elphinstone Road
	Stop Number:7	KM from starting:7.67

These are the stations on Western line of Mumbai suburban railway

Churchgate | Marine Lines | Charni Road | Grant Road | Mumbai Central | Mahalaxmi | Lower Parel | Elphinstone Road | Dadar | Matunga Road | Mahim Junction | Bandra | Khar Road | Santacruz | Vile Parle | Andheri | Jogeshwari | Goregaon | Malad | Kandivali | Borivali | Dahisar | Mira Road | Bhayandar | Naigaon | Vasai Road | Nala Sopara | Virar

Parel
Next station south: Currey Road	Mumbai suburban railway : Central Railway			Next station north: Dadar
	Stop No:7	KM from starting:?	Platforms:3

These are the stations on Central line of Mumbai suburban railway

Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus | Masjid | Sandhurst Road | Byculla | Chinchpokli | Currey Road | Parel | Dadar | Matunga | Sion | Kurla | Vidyavihar | Ghatkopar | Vikhroli | Kanjurmarg | Bhandup | Nahur | Mulund | Thane

• Star Track; Times of India Mumbai; pg-2; 2006-04-21