Last year, while conducting explorations in an area extending from Dharavi to Khar and Juhu, research scholar Dr Prachi Moghe recalls learning of a stone inscription with the name 'Hambir Rao' engraved on it at BARC. "Dr Salunkhe, chief horticulturist and Mugdha Karnik Director, of Centre for Extra Mural Studies (CEMS) found out about the inscription. It was intriguing because we rarely stumble upon objects that date back to the pre-Portuguese era," she says. Further research led to the revelation that Hambir Khan was a vassal or feudatory ruler of Feroz Shah Tughlaq, a ruler of the Tughlaq Dynasty, who reigned over the Delhi Sultanate from 1351 to 1388.

Tadwadi Qabrastan at Dharavi where the plaque was discovered