‘REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1882-83.’ [‎33v] (75/498)

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BOMBAY ADMINISTRATION REPORT.
[1882-85.
Goa. The chief places mentioned in the Peri plus about a.d. 247 are Ouppara or Sopara
Kalliene or Kalyan, Semulla or Cheul, Palaipatmai or Palpattan near Mahad, Melizeigara
probably the island of Melundi that is Malvan, Byzantium apparently Vijaydurg, Toparon
perhaps Devgad,, Turannosboas perhaps Rajapur^ and the Sesekreinai islands perhaps
the Vengurla Rocks. According to the author of the Periplus, a little before his time
a king whom he names Sandanes stopped the foreign trade of the Konkan ports and
carried Greek ships to Broach. The fact that his object was to centre^ foreign trade at
Broach, makes it probable that Sandanes was a Gujarat ruler, perhaps a Kshatrap. About
the end of the fourth century the Konkan together with Gujarat and the Bombay Deccan was
held by a king named Krishna, perhaps an early member of the great R&shtrakuta family
who, with their capital at Manyakhet or Malkhet in the Nizam’s dominions, were the chief
rulers in Western India between 750 and 973. Krishna’s coins have been found in Bombay
island, in Salsette, and in Nasik. The next rulers of which mention is made are the
Mauryas who about a.d. 560 were defeated and driven out by the great Chalukya king Kirti-
varma. Of these Mauryas, who appear to be a remnant of the old Mauryas, an inscription
has been found at Vada in North-east Thana. About the same time (a.d. 535) the Greek
merchant and monk Kosmas Indikopleustes mentions the king of Kalliena, apparently
Kalyan thirty-three miles north-east of Bombay, as a great ruler. In the seventh century
Thana was attacked by an Arab fleet from the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and about the same time or a
little earlier one or more large bodies of Parsi refugees from the Arab conquerors of Persia
settled at Sanjan on the north coast of Thana. Beni-Israels, apparently from the Persian
Gulf, at some uncertain time probably not later than the Parsis, settled on the Konkan coast,
chiefly round Alibag about fifteen miles south of Bombay. From the seventh to the fourteenth
century large numbers of Arab and Persian merchants settled in the Konkan coast towns, and,
marrying with the women of the country, formed a useful class now chiefly husbandmen and
sailors. During the eighth century the great Brahmanic caves at Jogeshvari in Salsette
and in Elephanta island in the Bombay harbour, whose makers are unknown, point to the
presence of some powerful chief in the neighbourhood of Bombay. About the ninth century
a Hindu family, apparently from the Deccan, under the name of Silaharas rose to power at
Kolhapur, at Goa, and at Puri, a place apparently within Thana limits, which, on the whole,
is perhaps most likely to have been Elephanta island in Bombay harbour. The Puri or
Northern Konkan Silaharas remained in power till, about 1275, they were overthrown by
Ramchandra or Ramdev, the greatest of the Yadav family, who, from Devgiri or Daulatabad
in the North Deccan, ruled the Konkan, Deccan, and Karnatak. During the greater part of
Silahara rule the coast of North Thana, or at least settlements along the coast, seem to have
been held by officers of the powerful Solanki (943-1215) kings of Anhilwad in North Gujarat.
During most of their term of rule the Silaharas held as feudatories of the Rashtrakutas of
Manyakhet or Malkhet in the Nizam’s dominions. After 973, on the overthrow of Rash-
trakuta power by the revived Chalukyas, the SilAharas seem to have become independent.
Early in the fourteenth century Alp Khan the general of Ala-ud-din Kbilji about 1315 and
Mubarik Khilji about 1318 overthrew the Devgiri Yadavs, and conquered the north of the
Konkan. As part of the Yadav dominions much of the Konkan fell to the Musalman rulers
of Daulatabad, but they had little actual hold of the country. In 1343 the Koli chief of
Jawkar in North Konkan, whose descendents still hold part of the original territory, was
recognized by the Delhi Court as the lord of twenty-two forts and of a country yielding a
yearly revenue of £ 90,000. In 1347, when the independent dynasty of Deccan Musalmans
known as the Bahmanis established themselves at Kulbarga in the Nizam’s dominions,
Muhammadan power in the Konkan was confined to a few trade and other centres. This
state of affairs continued until, about 1469, Muhammad Gawan reduced most of the Konkan
chiefs. In lo47, when the Deccan separated from Delhi, steps had to be taken to supply the
place of the mercenaries and the horses which the Deccan Musalmans had formerly drawn
fiom North India. This led to closer relations between the Konkan ports and the lands
beyond the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. The import of horses from Arabia and the
Peisian Gulf became one of the chief branches of commerce, and numbers of soldiers of
fortune from Persia, Arabia, and East Africa passed inland through the Konkan ports.
Some .remained m the Konkan, the most distinguished of whom were a body of Abyssinians
or Sidis, who in the latter part of the fifteenth century rose to importance as the Bahmani
admirals, and who acting as admirals first for the Bijapur kings (1490-1660) and then for
the Moghals (1660-1 /51) have, by the help of the English, held the rock of Janjira against
all comers.. In the lattei pait of the fifteenth century the Ahmadabad kings, who had
always claimed a strip of the Thana coast as part of their inheritance from the Yaghela
soveieigns of Anhilwad, increased their territory, and, by the end of the century, spread
then powei as fai as Gheul about thirty miles south of Bombay. About the same time (1490)
power passed from the Bahmani dynasty, and their Konkan territories were divided between
two of their chief Deccan nobles, Add Khan of Bijapur about 175 miles south-east of Poona
who topk the southern part corresponding roughly to the Ratnagiri coast, and Ahmad Nizam
bhah of Ahmadnagar about seventy-five miles north-east of Poona, to whom fell inland
Ihana and Kolaba and the coast between Cheul and Bankot.
A few years after this change of rulers a new power appeared on the Konkan coast.
The Portuguese reached Malabar in August 1498, and in a few years gained the rule of the
rf a * they, suffered a severe defeat in Cheul bay from the combined Egyptian and
Gujarat fleets, but m lo09 this loss was revenged by the destruction of the Egyptian fleet at
Din m South Kathiawar. In loJO the capture of Goa secured to the Portuguese a perman-