Explore the real-world places that appear in Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Crawford Market (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Market), Mumbai Police Headquarters, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (Victoria Terminus), Gateway of India, Haji Ali Dargah and 7 more.
Lokmanya Tilak Road, Fort — Mumbai's old center of trade and police power
The area around Crawford Market and the old Mumbai police headquarters opposite it anchors the world of Inspector Sartaj Singh and his colleagues. Sartaj, the turbaned Sikh known as the silky Sikh, moves through this south Mumbai institutional landscape as he chases leads on Ganesh Gaitonde. It stands for the official city of paperwork, hierarchy and compromise against which the underworld operates.
Crawford Market was designed by William Emerson and completed in 1869, with sculpted friezes by Lockwood Kipling. It was named after Arthur Crawford, Mumbai's first municipal commissioner. The Mumbai Police Commissioner's Office stands opposite on the same road.
The market still sells fruit, spices, pets and household goods under its Victorian Gothic roof. It is a busy tourist and local shopping destination, and its renamed title honors social reformer Jyotiba Phule.
Visit: Crawford Market (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Mandai) (landmark)
Opposite Crawford Market — Seat of the city's police command
The police bureaucracy where Sartaj Singh works, answers to superiors such as Parulkar and rubs against the Mumbai Police's politics, is centered on institutions like this. Sartaj's career has stalled, and he must navigate departmental favors and interference when the anonymous tip about Gaitonde's hideout arrives. The world of inspectors, encounter specialists and informers radiates from this old administrative heart of the city.
The Gothic-style police commissioner's office was built in the late 19th century in the British colonial city. It has served as the nerve center of the Mumbai Police for well over a century.
It remains the working headquarters of the Mumbai Police Commissioner and is not open for tourism, though its exterior is a recognizable heritage landmark.
Fort — The city's great railway gateway
Sacred Games sweeps across all of Mumbai's classes and communities, and the great railway station stands for the city's flood of arrivals and dreamers. Characters like Gaitonde, who came to the city from a poor background, represent the migrants who pour into Mumbai chasing fortune. The station frames the rise-and-fall ambition that shapes the novel's whole world.
Designed by F. W. Stevens and completed in 1888, the station was originally named Victoria Terminus in honor of Queen Victoria. It was renamed in 1996 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.
It is one of the busiest railway stations in India, handling millions of commuters. Visitors can admire its Victorian Gothic and Indian-influenced architecture, and heritage tours are available.
Visit: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (landmark)
Apollo Bunder, Colaba — Mumbai's waterfront icon
The harbor and colonial seafront of south Mumbai form the postcard face of the city that Chandra contrasts with its dark underside. Smugglers, gold and contraband move through the docks and waters of the Arabian Sea, the economy that feeds Gaitonde's rise. Sartaj sees the glittering waterfront from a city whose real power lies in hidden deals.
The basalt arch was built to commemorate the 1911 visit of King George V and Queen Mary, and was completed in 1924. It was designed by George Wittet in Indo-Saracenic style. The last British troops left India through it in 1948.
The Gateway is a major tourist attraction and the departure point for ferries to Elephanta Island. Crowds, photographers and vendors gather around it daily next to the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.
Visit: Gateway of India (monument)
Worli Bay — Islet shrine reached by a causeway
Mumbai's religious and cultural variety, from Sikh Sartaj to the Hindu and Muslim characters around him, is part of the novel's fabric. Sites of shared devotion like this stand for the city's pluralism, set against the communal violence and riots that haunt the novel's history. Gangsters and police officers alike pursue faith, superstition and blessings in the midst of corruption.
The dargah was built in 1431 in memory of the wealthy merchant Saint Haji Ali Shah Bukhari. It sits on an islet about 500 meters offshore, linked by a narrow causeway that is covered at high tide.
It is an active Muslim shrine visited by people of many faiths, with devotees and tourists walking the causeway daily. Visitors must dress modestly.
Visit: Haji Ali Dargah (landmark)
Goregaon East — Hindi film studios
Bollywood runs through the novel, especially in the story of Gaitonde's relationship with the actress Zoya Mirza and the underworld's financing of Hindi films. Gaitonde dreams of cinematic glamour and tries to enter the film world through money and power. The studios represent the intersection of crime and cinema that Chandra explores.
Film City was established in the 1970s by the Maharashtra government as a large studio complex in the Aarey hills. It has hosted thousands of Hindi and Marathi film and television productions.
Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari, known as Film City, is a working studio complex with some tours available to the public. Access is generally by arrangement with tour operators.
Visit: Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari (Film City) (tour)
Juhu — Film-star neighborhood and seafront
Juhu is the seaside suburb of film stars, producers and glamour, the sphere Gaitonde craves to enter through his relationship with Zoya. The film world's mansions and parties contrast with Gaitonde's hidden bunker and violent business. The neighborhood represents the glittering celebrity world that crime money helps fund.
Juhu grew from a fishing village and airfield area into a prestigious residential district from the mid-20th century. Many Bollywood actors settled there, and the beach became a popular public promenade.
The beach is a popular evening gathering place with street food stalls, walkers and families. Celebrity homes line the nearby streets, though they are private.
Visit: Juhu Beach (park)
Central Mumbai — Dense informal settlement
Mumbai's slums and crowded working-class districts form the social ground from which gang recruits and street-level informers emerge. Gaitonde's early life of poverty and hustling in the city's lower reaches reflects the world of such neighborhoods. The novel keeps returning to the contrast between the marginalized city and the powerful elites above it.
Dharavi developed in the late 19th century, beginning with tanneries and potters and growing through waves of migration. It became one of the largest informal settlements in Asia with a thriving small-scale industry.
Dharavi remains a dense neighborhood of homes and workshops producing leather, pottery and textiles, with a significant redevelopment effort underway. Guided community tours are offered by local operators.
Visit: Dharavi guided community tours (tour)
Southern Mumbai — Business district on reclaimed land
The financial heart of Mumbai stands for the legitimate wealth that overlaps with gangland money in the novel. The business world of builders, financiers and politicians brushes against G-Company's operations. Chandra shows how criminal capital flows into respectable commerce.
Nariman Point was built on land reclaimed from the Arabian Sea in the 1970s and named for Khurshed Framji Nariman. It became the commercial center with high-rise offices and hotels.
It is a business district of skyscrapers adjoining Marine Drive and the sea. The nearby promenade is open to the public.
South Mumbai — Curved seafront promenade
The seaside promenade is part of the city's public face in the novel, a place where Mumbaikars take the air as Sartaj moves through a Mumbai of dusk and traffic. It serves as a scenic counterpoint to the violence and conspiracies of the underworld. Sartaj's lonely evenings and reflections reflect the city's mix of beauty and weariness.
Marine Drive was constructed in the 1920s on reclaimed land along Back Bay, and its art deco buildings were added in the 1930s. Its curve of streetlights at night earned the name Queen's Necklace.
The promenade is a popular public walkway for locals and tourists, especially at sunset. Art deco apartment blocks line the inland side.
Visit: Marine Drive (park)
Bandra West — Seafront promenade by Bandra Fort
Bandra, home to many film and media figures, forms part of the world of glamour and money surrounding Gaitonde's story. Characters move between Bandra's seafront and the city's other districts as the plot connects film stars, gangsters and cops. It illustrates the modern, restless Mumbai that Sartaj polices.
Bandra developed from a Portuguese-era settlement into a fashionable suburb, with Bandra Fort built by the Portuguese in 1640. Its Bandstand promenade became a famous celebrity-spotting area.
The Bandstand is a busy seaside promenade with cafés and views toward the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. Bandra Fort nearby is a public heritage site.
Visit: Bandra Bandstand Promenade (park)
Elephanta Island, Mumbai Harbour — Ancient rock-cut temples
The novel's title evokes sacred and mythic dimensions that sit beside crime and politics, and ancient sites like Elephanta mark the deep spiritual history beneath modern Mumbai. Chandra's characters grapple with faith, fate and apocalypse as the plot builds toward catastrophe. The island represents the older sacred city that outlasts the schemes of men like Gaitonde.
The rock-cut cave temples dedicated to Shiva date to roughly the 5th to 7th centuries CE. The famous Sadashiva sculpture is its centerpiece, and the site was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
Ferries from the Gateway of India carry visitors to the island, where the cave complex is managed as a protected monument. It is a popular day trip with a museum and guided visits.
Visit: Elephanta Caves (historic site)
More by Vikram Chandra: All Vikram Chandra books
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