Kalyan is a city in the Thane District of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is also known for being the Mumbai region's exit station to North India and South India. Kalyan is within the administrative division (tahsil) at a taluka level of the Thane District. Kalyan and its neighbouring township of Dombivli jointly form the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation, abbreviated as KDMC. It is considered a part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, along with Vitthalwadi, Bhiwandi, Thane, Ulhasnagar and the municipal councils of Ambernath and Badlapur. Kalyan is the 7th biggest city in Maharashtra and 28th in the country. In pre-independent India, the administration spelled Kalyan as Kallian, Callian and sometimes as callianee. The city has been attacked by various foreign armies including the Mughal, the Portuguese and the British. The Marathas were held in high regard by the locals for being the only line of defence against invasions. Walter Hamilton, a foreign visitor passing through India described Callianee as follows in his 1820 book A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindostan, and the Adjacent Counties, Volume 2 on page 150: This town (callianee) sustained many sieges during the wars between the moghuls and the marathas, and is surrounded by the ruins of various sorts. It is still a populous town and carries on some traffic in coconuts, oil, coarse cloths, brass and earthenware. Its external appearance indicates a former state of superior opulence; Kalyan is rich for its ancient culture and is known as the place shivaji maharaj resided. And its Maharastrian dominated place "Agri\Koli" culture Kalyan also found attraction among European Christian Missionaries. The port of Kalyan landed them well within the mainland through boats in their attempt to spread Christianity across the other side of konkan. In the Middle Ages, Kalyan was occupied by the Ahmednagar Sultanate who renamed the city as Gulshanabad. It was captured by the Bijapur Sultanate, an Indo-Turkish state in the Deccan in the 16th century, and later by the Mughal empire under the emperor Shah Jahan, who fortified the city in the mid-17th century. Anandibai Joshi graduated from Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMC) in 1886. Seen here with Kei Okami (center) and Tabat Islambooly (right). All three completed their medical studies and each of them was the first woman from their respective countries, obtaining a degree in Western medicine. Kalyan served as a port city for many centuries until siltation and the rise of Bombay eclipsed it and its sister ports – Nallasopara, Thane, Bhiwandi. Abandoned lighthouses used to guide sea traffic still exist along the riverbanks of Ganesh ghat. The port was ruled by the Maurya and Gupta Empires of north India and later was part of a Konkan principality vassal to the Yadava dynasty of Daulatabad, Deogiri. After the Khilji sack of Deogiri, the Yadavas fled into the Konkan region and set up their base at Mahikawati, modern Mahim; Kalyan was a part of the brief Yadava state of Mahikawati. Mahikawati was conquered by the Muslims who set up petty coastal principalities.[citation needed] It came under Portuguese sway for a brief time before being re-conquered by the Muslim allies of the Mughals, and was later conquered by the Marathas, who made it one of their strategic centers because of its geographical location and renamed the city back to Kalyan. About eighty years after the Maratha conquest, the Maratha empire was forced to cede it to the British and Kalyan became part of the Bombay Presidency, a British India province that became Bombay state after India's independence in 1947. Anandi Gopal Joshi, a Women from Kalyan along with Kadambini Ganguly was one of the first two Indian women to obtain a degree in Western medicine in 1886. She is also believed to be the first Hindu woman to set foot on American soil. Durgadi Fort: The city of Kalyan was surrounded by a fort wall, the construction of which began during Shah Jahan's reign and was completed during Aurangzeb's reign in 1694 A.D. This city wall, which ran in excess of 2000 yards, 2123 to be precise, was guarded by 4 gates and 11 towers. The fort wall enclosed an area of 70 acres and on a high mound near the Kalyan creek, where the current Ganesh ghat stands, was a fine fort since as early as 1570. The wall of the fort along the top of the inner bank of the ditch, and, near the north end, had a gateway known as the Delhi or Killyacha Darwaja. Under the Marathas (1760–72), a new gate about 150 feet (46 m) to the south of the Ganesh gate was opened near the mansion of Ramji Mahadeo Biwalkar, the Peshwa's Governor. In the citadel of the fort Marathas built a small wooden temple of Durgadevi behind the mosque, and called the fort Durgadi Killa in honour of the goddess, a name which it still bears. The fort measures 220 feet (67 m) in length and somewhat less in breadth. Under the English rule, the fort wall was dismantled and stones carried to build the Kalyan and Thane piers and a dwelling for the customs inspector in the west of the Kalyan fort. The gate to the north-west is almost the only trace of the fort wall, which is of rough stone masonry. During 1876 the original idol of the goddess Durga was stolen.[4] Metro Junction Mal: Metro Junction Mall, a shopper's paradise in the heart of Kalyan in Mumbai, is a hub of key lifestyle retail brands along with entertainment and dining experience. The mall is spread across a retail space of approximately 750,000 sft, housing various categories like departmental stores, apparel, footwear, accessories, dining, entertainment, and many more. The mall is into its seventh year of operation; key retailers include Shoppers' Stop, Pantaloons, Max, Big Bazaar, McDonald's', KFC, Bata, Ezone and a 5 screen multiplex Inox, to name a few. Metro Junction mall has been nominated as a finalist for the 'Most Admired Shopping Centre of the Year: Metros (West)' by the Indian Shopping Centre Association in year 2014. Kalyan Junction is on the rail line between Mumbai and Karjat/Kasara. Kalyan Junction serves as an important railway station at the node of Mumbai. Numerous express trains halt at Kalyan Junction directed towards Gujarat, North and South India. Unfortunately, despite being a big city and an important junction, there are no bus services to Mumbai, Thane or Borivali. KDMT serves the twin cities of Kalyan and Dombivali as well as the villages around. It also has routes which connects Vashi and Panvel in Navi Mumbai, Ambernath, Ulhasnagar, Badlapur, Bhiwandi and Saravli MIDC. AC bus service has been started on three routes; Vasant Valley Terminus to Vashi Bus Depot, Kalyan Station to Vasant Valley Terminus and Dombivali West to Vashi Railway Station. NMMT also serves three routes from Kalyan to Navi Mumbai (60 - Kalyan Rly Stn Vashi Bus Stn Via Turbhe Naka, 61 - Kalyan Rly Stn to CBD Belapur Via Turbhe Naka and 62 - Kalyan Rly Stn to Vashi Rly Stn Via MBP, Kopar Khairane). NMMT also started their AC Volvo bus service from Kalyan Vasant Valley to Vashi Railway Station Via MBP, Kopar Khairane within the frequency of 30 minutes.