THE BUILD-UP

The Portuguese considered elimination of the Hindu religion as their primary responsibility. They framed laws according to that and began their implementation in the Sashti province. Therefore, the people there sought refuge with the Peshwa. This was the first reason behind the future war.

When Shahu heard the story of oppressions going on in Sashti, he discussed about the campaign and ordered Kalyan’s Subedar Krishnaji Mahadev to attack Sashti, and dispatched Pilaji Jadhavrao to help him. Malad’s Desai Antaji Raghunath Kavle, Gangaji Naik Anjurkar etc. local people in Sashti took great initiative and all of them together mounted passionate attacks in 1730 to capture many of the hills around Vasai. In the month of May, the Marathas clashed with the Portuguese and defeated them so convincingly, that they thought most of the Sashti province along with Vasai would slip from their control to the Marathas and requested the British to help them. They dispatched 700 of their soldiers against the Marathas and saved the Portuguese. The Marathas under Pilaji Jadhavrao captured Kambe near Bhiwandi. The attack on Sashti that year did not come about as the Portuguese were alert. At that time, Krishnarao Mahadev and Antaji Raghunath negotiated with the Portuguese, and stopped hostilities. All through this time, the Peshwa was biding his time and waiting for the day when he could spare the time and the troops to remove the Portuguese rule from Konkan.

The British proved to be the main roadblock in the Maratha progress, not only in this instance, but also in many other instances later. The Portuguese wrote to their superiors that, “The Marathas have rendered the Mughals decrepit. In such a situation, if God Himself doesn’t help us, then nobody can prevent the Marathas from threatening our Vasai province. They are trying to impose two of their primary conditions on us. One, the permission to the Hindu subjects in the Portuguese realms to build their temples. Second, the tribute from each of the village in the Vasai province.”

However, for the time being, Bajirao had kept the two demands aside, and agreed the treaty with the Portuguese on 10 February 1732 through the British governor Robert Cowan. Since the Dabhade affair and the affairs of the north Hindustan were on his mind, Bajirao felt it necessary to maintain friendship with the Portuguese. Besides, the necessity of embarking on a campaign against the Janjira’s Siddis was stronger. In that campaign too, the British betrayed the Marathas.

However, both the parties could see it clearly, that the conflict between the Marathas and the Portuguese would one day definitely rear its head again. Sometime in 1732, the Viceroy appointed General Dom Louis Botello to Sashti and asked him to beef up the defences of the island. An engineer named Andre Reberro Coutinho was appointed to plan the forts. At the north-eastern end of Sashti was a narrow creek, and the most vulnerable point was Thane, so it was decided a new fort will be built at this point. The Portuguese began a project to build a strong fortress at Thane in 1734. The construction needed money, heavy taxes, and forced labour from the inhabitants, which further alienated them from the Portuguese. Towards the end of 1734, the disputes between Sambhaji and Manaji Angre escalated, in which Bajirao took Manaji’s side. The Portuguese too jumped into this dispute. Manaji felt it was absolutely necessary to bring under his control Colaba or the nearby fortress at Chaul. He went to the Portuguese and asked for some space at Revdanda. The Portuguese first helped him to attack Colaba, but when he did not give them the promised territory, they betrayed him, mounted their cannon over a Masjid named Asaa apart from flying their standard atop it, and began firing shots over Rajkot. At that time, Manaji Angre stepped out of Revdanda and began fighting with the Portuguese. Bajirao dispatched Khandoji Mankar and Shankaraji Keshav to help Manaji. He also wrote a letter to Goa on 20 January 1735, saying, “Such fights are not correct when we have friendship. If you continue this, we will also have to defend ourselves.”

This way, he threatened the Portuguese. Vasudev Joshi wrote to Bajirao, “The Portuguese acted shrewdly. The letter we sent, was replied with arrogance. For this, we requested you to warn them, and have also written previously.”

The quarrel between the two Angre brothers rendered the Maratha navy largely dysfunctional, and it could not be called upon for the mission in Firangan. This way, the discord amongst the two parties went on increasing, and after Siddi Saat was vanquished in 1736, the Peshwa began the campaign against the Portuguese. Sambhaji Angre had his hands full fighting the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British during different periods at this time. Maratha weakness at sea was a key factor that prevented an effective blockade of Vasai. Manaji and Sambhaji Angre remained caught up in their domestic dispute.

On 13 January 1737, Manaji wrote to Chimaji Appa, “Sambhaji Angre Sarkhel took some trading vessels to Suvarnadurg. He is expected to come there from Vijaydurg shortly.”

To be continued…

PORTUGUESE BACKGROUND

The British traveller Grose, strongly critical of the Portuguese for not giving the island to the British, also blames them for their poor defence of Sashti. Writing later in the eighteenth century, he appears particularly anguished because the Marathas had then become the immediate neighbour to their tiny island of Mumbai. He says, the Portuguese, “Took no sort of care to defend it (Sashti) against their constant and natural enemies the Morattoes (Marathas), yet nothing was easier than to secure it. Those people (Marathas) had not then the least maritime force, and the island could only be attacked by land at one very narrow pass, fordable at ebb only, which was called the pass of Tannah (Thane). Here they had only a miserable redoubt, of no awe, or strength. At length, however, on appearance of an approaching rupture with the Morattoes, they began to see the expediency of fortifying this important post: and with an absurdity hardly to be believed, they began the construction of a fort, that would have indeed effectually answered the design, if the Morattoes could be supposed such idiots as to suffer them to finish it, when they had not provided even the shadow of a force to cover the building, or repel any interruption of it. Accordingly, the Morattoes very quietly let them go on with the fortification, of which themselves were sure of reaping the benefit. For before it was finished, and well-nigh finished it was, they poured their troops into the island, and easily took a fort, the walls of which were in some places open, and the batteries yet unmounted with cannon, after which they had not the least opposition worth mentioning to encounter on the rest of this island…”

There were many battles that occurred in this war, and the Marathas captured the whole province. In all these, the battles at Mahim, Tarapur and Vasai were extremely tempestuous. Many big and small Sardars were participating in the war on the Maratha side, and reading the stories of their and their soldiers’ valour forces one to appreciate the bravery and courage of the Marathas. The credit for ensuring that the whole campaign succeeded goes to Chimaji Appa. His utterances, “At least blow my head with a cannon-ball into the Vasai fort,” which are referred to in the legend, seem to be indicative of the reality. The Portuguese lost two of their big Commanders in this war, one at Thane and other at Vasai.

Before getting into the story of the actual war, it is necessary to go back in time a little, and describe the situation and position of both the parties in the region concerned. Portuguese used to normally keep the coastal areas under their control. They never displayed any desire to move into the inner hilly regions. The island of Sashti was captured by the Portuguese in 1534, who then attacked small potentates holding places like Vasai, Bandra, Thane, and Tarapur – all in the vicinity of Mumbai. The province of Gujarat was ruled by a sultan named Bahadurshah, and he could not defend Vasai against a strong and determined adversary. Thick jungles, hilly terrain, poor communications, lack of firepower and hardly any navy with Indian rulers of the time, made the Portuguese masters of the north Konkan in short order. The entire sixteenth century was a period of Portuguese growth and they spread their wings from Diu towards the north to Daman, Vasai, Sashti, Bombay, Chaul, and Goa. The Mughals came to Delhi around the same time the Portuguese began their acquisitions in the south. Akbar made an effort to dent Portuguese power in 1583 but did not succeed.

The seventeenth century saw two more powers appear from Europe – the British and the Dutch. The Portuguese had by then become a part of a Spanish Confederacy. The British defeated a Portuguese naval flotilla off Surat in 1612 and earned the approbation of the Mughals. The Dutch harassed Portuguese ships as Portugal was at war with the Netherlands. Among Indian powers, the Portuguese fought wars with Bahmani chiefs in the Deccan like Malik Ambar. The rise of the Marathas under Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj led to wars between the two from 1660 to 1689. All along, the Portuguese proselytising zeal alienated large portions of the local population.

The British had injected themselves into Mumbai just south of Portuguese-governed Sashti. The island of Sashti is about forty kilometres long and fifteen kilometres wide and, as a fertile place, it served as an immediate source of provisions to Mumbai. The British always claimed it was part of Mumbai and that it ought to have come to them with Catherine’s dowry, and Grose, who travelled to India in the late eighteenth century remarks, “In lieu of accomplishing which, in breach of all the rules of good faith, they put us off with a place (Bombay) that had no merit in it but the bare harbour.”

In Chhatrapati Sambhaji’s time, the Maratha king had attacked Goa with such ferocity that the Portuguese Viceroy appealed to St Xavier, and even laid the staff of his office in the hand of his corpse; divine intervention in the form of a Mughal force rescued Goa from the Marathas and this became a ritual in the years to come when a new Viceroy joined.

There was no peace for the residents of the Firangan (Portuguese possessions), however. The Inquisition meant immense coercion and cruelty in the name of religion and the local Hindus had to either submit to conversion or suffer without respite.

To be continued…

GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY

One cannot understand the details about the movements of both the parties and their significance, unless we clarify the area of its operation at the regional level. One should keep in front of them, the map depicting the western coast of the Thane district to study this campaign.

(Map Source: This file is from the Mechanical Curator collection, a set of over 1 million images scanned from out-of-copyright books and released to Flickr Commons by the British Library. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43871601).

Besides, one more thing should be kept in mind. The erstwhile sea-lines-of-communication and land-lines-of-communication have been completely transformed nowadays due to trains, bridges etc. The basic nature of land itself has been transformed nowadays because of the landfill used between erstwhile islands and creeks. Therefore, the region from Chaul to Daman where this war was fought in those times, if one does not have in front of them that time’s islands, creeks, forts, attack positions, and main roads, then one cannot perform a study of this campaign in the right context. The strongly fortified fort of Vasai stands at the centre of the region from Daman to Colaba. When we leave Alibaug’s Colaba fort, and the two islands Khanderi and Underi in front of it, and begin moving northwards, we see many big and small islands near Mumbai. The first big island is Mumbai itself. Right towards its east was Karanje. To Karanje’s north, a smaller Gharapuri (Elephanta). Moving on from there, we encounter the recent Trombay or Turambe. Kind of attached to Mumbai’s north is the Sashti island, whose southernmost point is Bandra, and northwest separation from the Indian mainland being near Thane at the village of Kalwa. The estuary which meets the sea near Bandra, comes from the northeast from up to Thane, and later merges with the creek that has passed Vasai. Mumbai harbour lies at the mouth of this estuary that comes down to Bandra from the northeast. Thane creek and the creek which comes down from Vasai encircle the Sashti island. Since this island had Sasasht (Sahasasht, or sixty-six in English) villages on it, it was named Sashti. This island is narrower in the south and broader in the north and bounded by the Vasai creek there. The Vasai creek branches off one more estuary near Thane towards Kalyan, which is called Kalyan creek. Sashti had fortified ports on the sea coast at Bandra and Versova besides an isle fort at Dharavi at its northern end.

Thane was the central location of Sashti that time, at the mouth of the creek. Kalyan creek goes up to Bhiwandi. There is a place called Kambe beyond it. To the east of Turambe at the mouth of the Panvel creek, there was a check-post named Belapur, housing a fort. Near Thane beyond the creek, Anjur, Kalwa etc. villages became famous in the battle afterwards. The creek was shallow near Thane, and it used to be possible to walk right across it to the Sashti island. Ahead from Bandra, to Parle’s east, the Marol station used to be a strong one at the time. From Andheri up to Vasai, on the western coast there were many big and small islands. To Goregaon’s west, there was a fort at Vesave, and Malad ahead of it. Malad’s Inamdar Sardesai brothers Antaji Raghunath and Ramchandra Raghunath strove really hard with Bajirao and Chimaji Appa to check the Portuguese. To Borivali’s west and at the mouth of Vasai creek, there was a long and narrow island, which had a fortified station named Dharavi. At the northernmost point of the creek there was the fort of Vasai. There is a narrow access from the north. Beyond the creek there existed Vasai Tehsil and beyond it there were recent Tehsils of Mahim, Dahanu and Umbargaon. To the north of Vasai on the coast there is a village named Agashi. Beside it, there is a water-fortress named Arnala. Following the coast further to the north, two stations of Mahim and Kelwe, to their east, Tandulwadi, and to the northeast Manor and Asherigad forts were also strong in those times. Following the shoreline further north, we find Shirgaon, Tarapur, and Chinchni harbours. Beyond them, Dahanu and Umbargaon harbours lie. To the north of the Umbargaon creek, it is important to keep in mind two villages named Nargol and Khatalwad from the perspective of the Vasai campaign. The Daman harbour further north remained in Portuguese hands till the end. To Vasai’s east, Kamandurg and the villages nearby Rajaval, Gokharve, Achole, Chinchoti, Takmak, Mandavi etc. are mentioned at various places. Near Vasai on the south banks of the creek there is a place named Ghodbandar. While reading the stories of the campaign, the above locations are named as per the narrative, and at most of these places, the Marathas and the Portuguese clashed against each other passionately for twenty-five-and-a-half months. The forts like Asheri, Tarapur, Mahim, and warehouses and places of worship like Manor, Versova and Bandra formed a defensive ring around the Firangan. Once the Thane fort was complete, it would have become even more difficult to enter Sashti.

To be continued…

FINALLY, THE APPRECIATION

The utterances to the effect, “This campaign needs a uniform authority. This would ensure that the servants will stay at their place and the enemy will be vanquished,” have been written by all the experienced Sardars often.

These express the primary defect of this campaign. Considering all this, one has to admit that whatever happened was good achievement. Not only this, but this campaign lasting from May 1733 up to April 1736, i.e. almost three years, there were numerous instances of bravery, prowess, and selfless national service. In fact, in the cacophony of the quarrels amongst the many participant Sardars, the above memorable incidents have got overshadowed. In the month of January 1734, the Siddis captured Pachad, and attacked Raigad further. At that time, the Marathas fought a really passionate battle. Hari Ganesh Rajadnya, Udaji Pawar, Baji Bhivrao, and Somvanshi brothers fought besides themselves and cut-off the enemy. Their chief leader Siddi Ambar Afwani was killed. Hundreds of men were massacred. In summary, they achieved a victory in the Swami’s cause (10 January 1734). Shahu was very happy, and wrote, “Afwani’s head has been cut-off, bring that to show me. Cut off the heads of all the Siddis who have been captured alive.” In this battle of Raigad, the first person to ever oppose Shahu, but now turned his loyal Sardar, Krishnarao Khatavkar was killed.

Bankot’s battle too was equally memorable. This fort was under the control of the Siddis. Maharaj ordered Hari Ganesh Rajadnya to capture it. Rajadnya informed his preparations to Maharaj in one of his letters. The Marathas captured this fort on 8 March 1734. In this task the Sardars like Baji Bhivrao etc. fought beyond their abilities. The Siddis mounted constant attacks and recaptured the fort from the Marathas on 5 December 1735. In that battle, one of the Peshwa Sardars Hari Ganesh was killed. Twenty more renowned Sardars and two to three hundred men also lost their lives. In so many such incidents from the lowly to the renowned Marathas displayed immense bravery and adventure.

All the chief Sardars and diplomats in the Maratha Confederacy were engaged in this campaign for four long years. The Angre dynasty actually lost all their men in this task. Bajirao and Chimaji Appa spent all their hard-earned expertise behind it. Pilaji Jadhavrao, Baji Bhivrao, Fatehsingh Bhosale, Pratinidhi, Tubaji Anant, Ramchandra Hari and his brother Govind Hari (Patwardhan), the Dabhades, Satam, Somvanshi etc. all the families fought in it through the feeling of national service and the desire to protect their religion. Mavalas, Kolis, Mahars, Hetkaris, whoever Shahu saw, he dispatched all of them to this campaign. Opened all the money taps. Convinced everybody. For up to four years, Shahu did not have any other muse. The overall effect of the whole enterprise was that the Maratha leadership began believing in the noble adage, “One can sacrifice wealth for life, but has to sacrifice life for respect.”

On the basis of this hard-earned respect, the later expansion of the Maratha Confederacy was built. Many of us do not pay attention to this moral aspect of the Janjira affair. It is as if the whole nation has fallen into a habit of gauging ourselves lightly in the slavery of so many years.

Hearing that Bankot was lost, Shahu became extremely angry. He got his passion ignited in Chimaji and Pilaji Jadhavrao and dispatched both of them against the Siddi in haste. Chimaji went there, quickly caught up with Siddi Saat, killed him and thirteen-hundred of his men, and acquired a huge fame.

The British at Mumbai, Portuguese at Chaul, Mughals from Surat and the Nizam at Aurangabad, helped the Siddis in this Maratha-Siddi war so profusely, through all possible means, that the Marathas found it difficult to face all of them together. Sambhaji Angre informed the Peshwa at one time, “If the Swami keeps the British and Portuguese at bay, then the Shyamal (dark-skinned) doesn’t stand a chance. We will cut them all off.” The weight of the British actions and their power becomes evident from the above letter. The Siddis themselves fought passionately and valiantly in the whole campaign.

Another perspective is always neglected with regards to the Janjira campaign. Nobody knows whether Bajirao and Chimaji had any time gone to Konkan with their father. But in these four years of the campaign, the experience they earned by fighting on the Konkan plains and preserving their authority, was helpful for them in defeating expert naval forces of the Portuguese at the time of Vasai. They learnt many things in the Janjira campaign about the topography of Konkan plains, rains, rivers, streams, overall movement of men and animals, the difficulties that arise on the seas or on coastline, and various equipment and preparation that are required for resolving those. All this proved to be very useful in their successful Vasai campaign. No wonder, Chhatrapati Shahu and the Peshwas used to feel highly proud about freeing this Konkan land, steeped in Godly and sagely lore, from the foreign rule. One of the erstwhile gentlemen writes the below poignant question to Bajirao, “The Swami’s fame spreads in all directions and his success goes on expanding by the day. But, does your heart not think, that one place you should call your own in Konkan, and the way your ability has been displayed on the plateau, you should display the same in southern Konkan or over the seas? But, on the plateau, you will get only money. In Konkan, you will get nine types of wealth. Konkan is part of your own Watan grant. You just have to look at it to achieve it. Please do what you feel appropriate.”

To be continued…

BRITISH TO THE RESCUE

By June 1733, Sekhoji had taken Chaul’s Rajkot, the fort of Rewas on the Pen river near Mumbai, and the fort of Thal. He was poised to mount an attack on the Siddi’s island of Underi which stood at the centre of these three forts. The British became extremely frightened that if Angre captured Underi, their trade at Mumbai would permanently collapse. The power of the Angre would increase and the British would not survive in the neighbourhood of Mumbai. They used to always nurse ultimate hatred towards the Angres. Therefore, the British supplied the Siddis with force, ammunition and provisions. The moment they saw their enemy would enter their own house, they decided to establish their own station at Underi. Underi, which was under the control of the Siddis (Abyssinians), was handed over to the British by them at this time. The British sent their troops under Captain Thomas Holden with a battleship named ‘Mary’ and abundant equipment in July 1733 to Underi. Captain Inchbird and McNeal met the Siddi and prevailed upon him to fly the British flag on the island. Although the Marathas fired on Underi from the fort of Khanderi, the island could not be taken.

Shahu began thinking of teaching the British a lesson for this trespass. He began his efforts on the lines, “What do the British have to do with the moneylenders at each harbour? If the Shyamal (dark-skinned) have sold them Underi, they should take the money and hand it over and agree to terms.” Due to this, the Maratha efforts slackened a bit.

In the month of September, the British provided a huge battleship to help the Siddis, and they also dispatched other big and small battleships to Janjira. Due to this, the Siddis got a big fillip. The Siddis at Janjira had also sought help from the Mughal Badshah and the Nizam. Khan Dauran sent an appeal to the British at Mumbai to help the Siddi. The British, as businessmen, asked the Mughal Badshah to defray the expenses and send an army to help them. They also added that it was their main business to trade and, “not to increase our charges, we keep up such number of troops only as are capable of defending and protecting our commerce.”

The Nizam began his discussions on behalf of the Siddis. He sent robes of honour to Siddi Saat and began planning a diversionary raid on Shahu’s territories. Conspiracies and rivalries are the essence of politics, and the British felt that Siddi Masood of Surat was actually on the Peshwa’s side and acting against the Siddi of Janjira, his grouse being against Siddi Yakub of Underi. In a letter of September 1733, Henry Lowther, the governor of Surat, wrote that Masood had confessed to him that the report of his treaty of friendship with Bajirao was true to fact. The British wrote that it was, “now clear that Siddi Masood being for a long time at variance with the Siddi Yakub,” had been chiefly instrumental in first stirring up the Marathas against his own countrymen. It was practically due to him that the Siddis had lost their fleets and many of their forts.

In July 1733, Shahu heard that the Nizam planned to invade him from the west and had begun with an army from his capital. To keep an eye over the Nizam, Chimaji Appa went back to Pune. In August, Shahu wrote to Bajirao asking him to return and face the Nizam. Bajirao replied to Shahu that Chimaji, Pilaji or Ambaji Purandare, who were with Shahu, could replace him in the Konkan, in which case he would come up the Ghat to fight the Nizam. Alternatively, he would remain in the Konkan, and the Nizam’s army could be stopped by any of the three Sardars at Satara.

A news came that Siddi Masood will come for helping the Siddis from Surat. Shahu dispatched urgent orders to Umabai Dabhade and Damaji Gaikwad to block him. Since Dabhade and Gaikwad held the grudge against Bajirao, they did not obey these orders, and in September, the Surat help reached Janjira. Due to all these accretions, the strength of Janjira was increasing. It seemed like the campaign would fail due to internecine disputes and the help that the Siddis had been getting all around from outside.

Bajirao was until this time keen to complete the campaign in the Habshan and win the battle. Sambhaji Angre from Vijaydurg was also keen to join forces with Bajirao, but eventually did not come. He wrote on 11 August that he was prevented from coming due to torrential rain.

Finally, fate lent a hand to the Siddi and Janjira was saved. In August 1733, the Janjira campaign received its death blow. Suddenly, Sekhoji Angre died on 28 August 1733. This was a huge calamity for the running campaign.

To be continued…

GOWALKOT & ANJANVEL

The Siddis got the benefit of the monsoon. The Marathas could capture stations like Antone, Nagothane, Ashradhara, Avachitgad, Birwadi, Nizampur, Raigad etc. but the forts like Anjanvel, Gowalkot, Vijayagad, Janjira and Underi were strong, and the Siddis had secured them perfectly. Due to the respite provided by the monsoon, the Siddis got a fresh impetus. They began secret discussions with many parties like the Portuguese at Chaul, British at Mumbai, Mughals at Surat, the Nizam etc. seeking their help. They even requested the Delhi’s Badshah to help them in this emergency situation. The Vazir dispatched an urgent order to the British at Mumbai about sending them help in terms of additional forces and naval ships. The British replied back to the Badshah, “We are traders. However, if you provide your forces and money, we will send our navy and help the Siddis.”

The Siddis even got the imperial Firman issued in the name of the Siddi Sardar who was sitting on the Janjira seat then. Since the Siddis had begun these efforts with the Badshah outside, the Maratha power came up short. Since Sheikhji and Siddi Rehman had joined the Marathas, they were subjected to insults in their social circles. Here, the Marathas too could not achieve anything immediately, due to which Sheikhji too slackened a bit. After the agreement of getting paid fifty thousand rupees, Bajirao had wrapped him up at five to ten thousand rupees, due to which he became disheartened. Bajirao was forced to give him Avachitgad, around 20 miles towards Janjira’s northeast, which had been recently captured, upon Sheikhji’s demand for a secure place to keep his family. Feigning illness, he informed Bajirao that he would not be able to do anything for the four months of monsoon. Overall, Sheikhji had not done anything as per the agreement with Potnis apart from showing the route up to the fort from Khokri.

However, the efforts that Shahu was taking to convince all his Sardars and the amount of attention he was paying to this campaign are expressed in the following letter he wrote to Bajirao, “Six forts have been captured, this is excellent. You are a capable and intelligent servant. The Swami is confident that you will work towards accomplishing the objectives. You do whatever it takes out of the four pillars of action – Saam-Daam-Danda-Bhed – and achieve greatest success. Satisfy everyone and accomplish the objective. The forces from Rajashree Shrinivas Pratinidhi and Sachiv Pant that are helping you, and whatever other Maratha forces that you must have gathered, do provide them suitable encouragement, and keep giving them the money required for their expenses. Both of you act together and get the remuneration for your own service. We have written in detail to Fatehsingh Bhosale, from that you will understand. You are wise.” There was internal competition amongst various of his Sardars, and it would prove disadvantageous. This feeling in Shahu’s heart is expressed in this letter.

Initially, the Angre, Pratinidhi, Peshwa etc. Sardars caused a huge consternation for the Siddis. Up to the end of June, Sekhoji Angre captured from the Siddis, the larger Thal fort near Mumbai, and the fort of Rawli near the Pen River. Due to this, the British at Mumbai were also frightened. Since the Portuguese could have helped the Siddis, Angre also began efforts to capture a portion of the Chaul town under their control. He had captured a British ship named ‘Rose’. He extracted a ransom of 7603 rupees and returned it back to them. While Sekhoji Angre was busy in the north, he and his mother Mathurabai dispatched Bankaji Naik to capture stations like Anjanvel and Gowalkot etc. He killed a hundred soldiers of the Siddi and besieged Gowalkot. Fresh from his success at Raigad, the Pratinidhi moved to Chiplun where he hoped for another diplomatic triumph. Worried about Bankaji Naik’s attack, Siddi Saat saw the coming danger and began parleys with the Pratinidhi, with whom he had maintained good relations in the past. Siddi Saat promised the Pratinidhi that he would peacefully hand over his forts and accompany him to meet Shahu provided Maratha forces were withdrawn at this time. The Pratinidhi believed him and asked Bankaji to withdraw from Gowalkot. Once Bankaji moved away, Siddi Saat broke his word. Mathurabai described Bankaji’s valour at this instance in a letter to Brahmendra Swami, which is eminently readable, “If Anjanvel and Gowalkot both the stations join the Swarajya, it will be a hugely famous task. Therefore, we had dispatched strong forces along with Bankaji Naik. Vijayagad fort fought for seven days. The Siddis also fought one or two battles near Chiplun against Bankaji with great passion. On the seventh day of the waxing moon fortnight of the month of Aashadh, Siddi Saat gathered the forces from all three places, and attacked. He had thousand to fifteen hundred men with him. We had three hundred. It was a high-pitched battle. We broke the back of the enemy and drove them away to Gowalkot. Shripatrao himself came to Shreesthal (Parashuram Ghat), and watched the whole battle with his own eyes. After that, the artillery and his forces arrived from Jaigad. While we aimed to besiege Gowalkot with our forces with an intention to capture it, Rajashree Pratinidhi began negotiations with them. When Bankaji Naik met Pratinidhi, he brought up a point that he will convince the enemy to surrender. He did not have to fight. To that, Bankaji Naik replied, that the Pratinidhi himself should go to Anjanvel and capture that. Bankaji would capture Gowalkot. He would not agree. His discussions proceeded. Siddi Saat met the Pratinidhi. So, since there was no point staying back there, we asked Bankaji Naik to return back. After that, Siddi Saat fought one or two battles passionately with the Pratinidhi. It does not look like he will achieve success. We will act as per the situation arises in future.” This letter expresses the competition amongst the Maratha Sardars at the time. Pratinidhi did not understand the Siddis’ secret intention, and he did not help Bankaji.

To be continued…

THE ELUSIVE JANJIRA

It was time; time to delve into affairs of the Konkan. Shahu himself took the lead and the reins of the campaign in his own hands. No longer did the king wish to wait for news of battles fought far away, for the Konkan was near his capital. Brahmendra Swami, the seer, once lived in the Konkan and became the prime mover of the campaign against the Siddi.

In war, in politics, and in the lives of nations, the campaign has to be fought when the opportunity is right and the year 1733 gave the right mix for just such a move. The Peshwa and many other chiefs spent long months in the Konkan, braving its monsoon, the sea, the hills, and rivers.

Bajirao did not have the time to move north that year, and did not cross the Narmada. In the beginning, they did not achieve the result everybody wished for. Long months and valuable resources were poured into the campaign. The end was a long time coming. And when it came, surprisingly, the man at the helm of the campaign was not Bajirao.

Yet, the success that came finally liberated a long-oppressed people; as it emerged, for evermore.  

The Konkan coastal strip had been the landing place for many trading communities from across the Arabian Sea. It had many trading ports from time immemorial. India was a giant medieval economy and a rich trading partner for Europe and Africa as well as Arabia. The Abyssinians, present-day residents of Ethiopia, were also among those who came by sea to trade with India. They were excellent sailors but perhaps not quite as good traders. In the course of time, they found better employment in the army and administration of the Bahmani kingdoms of Bijapur and Ahmednagar, and rose to powerful positions by their ability as well as loyalty to the monarch. Followers of Sunni Islam, they were labelled Siddis; a name that may or may not have arisen from the Sayyeds. Remarkable men like Malik Ambar in Ahmednagar and Ikhlas Khan in Bijapur rose to fame and left their mark on the administration of their kingdoms. When Akbar, Shahjahan, and finally Aurangzeb annexed the Bahmani kingdoms, the Siddis joined the Mughals.

The Siddis ruled over the Konkan from their sea-fort of Danda-Rajpuri, often just called Janjira, derived from the Arabic word ‘Jazira’, or an island. The entire region they controlled came to be called ‘Habshan’ after ‘Habshi’, the name they were called by in that region. The fort of Janjira was separated from the mainland and surrounded by fairly deep water, making access difficult at all times of the year. The fort was originally built probably during the rule of the Yadava dynasty between the ninth to the fourteenth centuries. legend has it that around 1489, a few Siddi traders sought permission to stop at the fort with their cargo which was in the form of some three hundred crates. Permission granted, the cargo was brought in, and from each of the crates emerged a fully armed soldier.

Once the island was taken, the Siddis did not let go. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj tried to capture Janjira for most of the 1660s, when even the British took a liking for it; at one time preferring it to Mumbai which they got in 1668. However, an attack from the sea was always difficult and a blockade from land would not work otherwise. A cannonade was not quite enough due to its strong walls and distance from the shore. The Dutch, the Marathas, and the British – all failed to win the place. From here, the Siddi ruled not just the island but also a good part of the coastal strip and a few forts; prominent among them the erstwhile Maratha capital Raigad. Siddi Yakut’s petition to Aurangzeb to be appointed as Mutsaddi (diplomatic official) of Danda-Rajpuri had the Mughal Badshah write on it, “For a long time I have known of this aggressive and self-willed spirit of Siddi Yakut Khan.”

In the 1690s the Siddi spread his wings in the Konkan, and Chhatrapati Rajaram appointed Kanhoji Angre as the Sarkhel to deal with them. The ‘Habshan’ was a stretch of two hundred kilometres of broken coastline in the Konkan. It began just south of Mumbai harbour with the tiny island fort of Underi near Alibaug and extended to the southern bank of the river Vasishthi where Siddi Saat ruled from his stronghold of Anjanvel. Underi was close to Colaba and Khanderi, two forts held by Kanhoji. From here coming south along the coast one came to the fort of Chaul at the northern end of the mouth of the River Kundalika. Upstream of this river, around the town of Roha were the four forts of Avachitgad, Birwadi, Tala and Ghosala. Going further south, the coast once again makes way for the broad creek of Danda-Rajpuri river. The island fort of Janjira is to the north of this creek but separated by half a mile of deep water from the coast. Further south, the fourth puncture in the coast is where the River Savitri joins the sea. On its northern end lie Shrivardhan and Harihareshwar, the native places of the Peshwas and on the southern bank likes the fort of Bankot. Going upstream from the Savitri, one encounters the fort of Mandangad. The last break in the coastline comes from the River Vasishthi. Anjanvel lies on its southern bank, and upstream, the fort of Govalkot is surrounded by the river on three sides. Not far from Govalkot is the town of Chiplun. The terrain in the Konkan was not just broken by rivers but also several hills and forts making cavalry operations nearly impossible. The heavy rains from June to September were a further deterrent to continue operations in this period. into this region, suited for operations of the infantry, the Peshwa was soon dispatched to deal with the Siddi.

To be continued…

SWARAJYA & SARDESHMUKHI

Three separate gazette notifications delineating the previously-mentioned three elements were received by Balaji Peshwa from the Badshah. The structure and expansion of the Maratha Confederacy depended on these three elements. The notifications in this regard are dated 1719, signed by Mohammedshah, and preserved in the Satara official documents. The Swarajya notification delineates the Parganas (districts) as follows – Pune, Baramati, Indapur, Wai, Maval basins, Satara, Kasrabad (Karhad?), Khatav, Maan, Faltan, Malkapur, Tarala, Panhala, Aajre, Junnar, and Kolhapur. Koppal, Gadag, Haliyal etc. Parganas on the north banks of the Tungabhadra River, all the forts captured by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and Konkan are also depicted as part of Swarajya in the notification. Considering the forts, and all the provinces, there is a list of total 35 Mahals mentioned there, and for each of the Mahals its boundaries have been mentioned. The below Parganas (districts) have been mentioned as part of the Konkan belt, Ramnagar, Gandevi, Jawhar, Chaul, Bheemgad, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Rajpuri, Dabhol, Javli, Rajapur, Fonda, Ankola, and Kudal.

The erstwhile small Jagir including Pune and Supe, during the early days of Shahajiraje, was elevated to the level of an independent principality by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 1644. This small principality securing its independence from Bijapur’s Adilshahi went on expanding and spread up to twenty to thirty miles more in 1674, to both sides of the Sahyadri from Baglan up to Fonda. This expansion was termed ‘Swarajya’. Aurangzeb never provided his approval to this Swarajya. He used to count this Swarajya as being part of his Aurangabad Suba. After this, due to the above treaty, the Swarajya that was granted to Shahu in 1719, the provinces included in it have been mentioned above. This Swarajya was not a contiguous region everywhere. It began from the western coast, and went up to the Bheema and Neera rivers in the east. Towards the south, Gadag, Bellary, Koppal, Haliyal etc. many of the disjointed Parganas were part of Swarajya since the time of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He had kept all these intervening regions in his control to link the Tanjore and Jinji provinces in the far south. Khandesh was not a part of Swarajya. In lieu of that, some of the regions to the east of Pandharpur was handed over to Shahu’s control in the above treaty. Adjacent to this Swarajya were the six Mughal Subas. This new decision gave Marathas the rights to collect Chauth and Sardeshmukhi from all the six Subas right up to Tanjore and Tiruchirappalli. It is interesting to see the income and expense sheets in this relation from 30 August 1719.

Out of the three elements, Sardeshmukhi was the original Watan-right. The Deshmukhs in Maval basin owned the Deshmukhi Watan-rights. This Sardeshmukhi Watan-right was similar. Sardeshmukh had the responsibility to collect the revenue from a fixed, agreed region, deposit it in the government treasury, and keeping tight security in the region. “The treaty which was signed was that, the awardee would remain with his body, soul, and mind in the mandatory service, with an objective of allowing the subjects to flourish. He will protect the government’s treasury and punish the criminals. He will provide fifteen-thousand strong army in the service of the Subedar. He will ensure the subjects are aligned to the imperial cause. He will ensure cultivation begins at decrepit villages in the three coming years. He will ensure such tight security, that there are no troubles faced by the subjects. If any incident of robbery or plunder occurs, he will punish the thieves and hand over the stolen goods to the rightful owners. If they could not punish the thieves and could not capture them, they will protect the valuable goods. Besides, he will not hold any especial desire to keep the Chauth and Sardeshmukhi for himself. Whatever additional taxes get imposed from time-to-time, he will collect them and deposit in the government treasury. This was the treaty.”

It is important to remember the words used in the agreement. These Bhosale Sardeshmukhi Watan-rights delineated various places initially, and Shahu used to consider himself a Sardeshmukh for the whole kingdom. He would appoint others on his behalf under him. As per tradition, the Deshmukh used to keep ten percent portion of the government’s revenue. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was engaged in the task to acquire the Watan-rights of Bhosale’s Sardeshmukhi at various places since the beginning through various means. He also corresponded with Shahjahan and Aurangzeb in this regard. But they did not openly accept his Sardeshmukhi rights. The Treaty of Purandar does not mention Chauth or Sardeshmukhi. In 1668, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj entered into separate agreements with the Bijapur and Golconda Sultanates, accepting an annual amount of three lakh rupees and five lakh rupees respectively. And in 1671, he began to openly implement these revenue-rights from the Mughal realms as well. Thereafter he collected such taxes from the Portuguese, from the petty kings at Bednur, Sondhe etc. and later from the Carnatic as well, years on end.

To be continued…

THE LAST ATTEMPT

Kanhoji was completely aware about the British plan. He too, on one hand began reconciliatory negotiations, while on the other hand prepared for battle, and asked urgent help from Shahu Chhatrapati. Here, the British got additional battleships that joined their navy from Europe. On 29 November 1721, Portuguese and British battleships got together at Chaul. Their combined strength of six-thousand trained and experienced seamen warriors got ready to attack the Angres. On the other side, Shahu urgently ordered Pilaji Jadhavrao and Bajirao himself to help Angre. Thus, a terrible attack on the landward side was mounted on the European naval soldiers, and since they did not have any equipment to resist the landward attack, they went up in utter confusion. On 12 December 1721, they mounted an attack on Colaba. In this battle, British Captain Matthews was wounded due to a Maratha spear. Later, on 19^th, the moment Colonel Braithwaite attacked the fort’s ramparts, Bajirao mounted such a hand-to-hand attack from behind them, that they had to simply run away saving their lives. All their cannons and ammunition fell into Maratha hands. Due to this failure, the Portuguese and the British were permanently estranged from each other. Taking the advantage of this opportunity, Bajirao entered into an independent treaty with the Portuguese, and separated them from the British (Dt 9 January 1722).

“When the Portuguese had attacked Hirakot fortress, Pilaji Jadhavrao had himself fought hard and beaten down both the Portuguese and British. He proved the might of his sword and protected the fortress.”

Shahu described the above battle in such words. Bajirao got his first invaluable experience in terms of both battle and politics in the above incident.

The British then sent Robert Cowan to Bajirao asking for reparations, threatening that the war would otherwise continue. This was accompanied by a ‘friendly letter’ by the governor to Bajirao. Cowan reached the port of Chaul and asked Bajirao to send a person “with full power and instructions to adjust the peace without delay.”

Bajirao brushed aside the British request. On receipt of Cowan’s letter, Bajirao replied,

“I take notice of what you write concerning the peace. That point was fully discussed when we made peace with the Portuguese, no person being present for the British, was reason why they were not included. You desire me to send a person with full powers and instructions, but what has been already proposed (with the Portuguese) is sufficient and to talk of more is not convenient. If you have anything further to offer, you may send one with sufficient powers, and when I know your proposals, I’ll send a person if I deem them proper.”

Bajirao’s firm reply put a dampener on the British hopes. He refused to discuss reparations or a fresh treaty and “complete freedom of trade on the basis of mutuality.” The conflict between Angre and the British lingered on. Beyond a point Shahu did not involve himself with resolving matters between the two. The British propped up the Siddi against Angre but decided never to break with Shahu, whose power was considered too big to trifle with. The Marathas continued to raid areas around the British possessions and the anxious merchants at Mumbai sought advice from London,

“The unsettled condition of the kingdom of Hindustan continues, and the Ganims appear in great bodies from places adjacent to Surat, robbing and plundering what they can, insomuch that it causes a general damp on trade… and… no measures from Court are taken to prevent these incursions… which interrupts all trade from Surat…”

After this, the British passion calmed down completely. Kanhoji too did not want war. He began conciliatory negotiations. Governor Boone left his office and Phipps was appointed in his place. Kanhoji wrote a decent letter to him in 1724. To this Phipps responded arrogantly. So, Kanhoji replied to it on 23 July 1724 as follows, “It doesn’t look good upon traders like you to claim that our administration runs on the business of piracy. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj fought with four Sultanates and established this Maratha kingdom after defeating them. I am just one of his disciples. Whoever engages in commercial activities following the rules of the land, does not and will not face any trouble from our side. Our men are held prisoners by you. If you release them, we will also release your men held by us as prisoners.”

In 1725, the prisoners on both sides were released. After this, many other incidents of reconciliation and hostility occurred between them. The war that Boone started in 1718 went on till 1756. In time, these matters reached a threshold where they had to be acted upon. For now, with Shahu’s attention drawn to the Nizam’s machinations, the affairs on the coast became a sideshow. Marathas engaged in a huge fight with the Abyssinians in 1733. Later similar intense war was fought between the Marathas and the Portuguese in 1737 up to 1739. In those, the British played cleverly and did not help the Abyssinians or the Portuguese. Or possibly, they did not venture to hurt the Peshwas directly for many days. The British used to carefully ensure, that they always complained to Shahu or Peshwas through their correspondence or their emissaries, that Angres troubled them unnecessarily, which was why naturally, they had to resist him.

The moment his ongoing war with the British ended, Kanhoji’s power increased manifold. On 19 February 1724, Shahu brought about a familial relationship between him and Kudal’s Sawants. Renowned and mighty warriors like Shankroji Mohite, Ranoji Gole, Khandoji Nalkar, Rumajirao Kharade, Krishnaji Mod, Hassankhan Jamadar etc. gathered in Kanhoji’s service. They engaged in battles and hard work to protect the kingdom in the Konkan. For this, Shahu awarded him with protocol palanquin and Inam villages to felicitate him, satisfy him. Kanhoji died on 7 July 1729. Until then, the westerners could not do much on the western coast. Considering all these later effects, one can understand how important and conducive Balaji Vishwanath’s Colaba Treaty in 1714 was for the growth of the Maratha kingdom. It also becomes easier to understand how the later disputes on the western coast originated from this initial project.

To be continued

ANGRE-BRITISH WAR

The Portuguese signed a treaty to support Boone, but eventually did not do so. Seeing that the British were on their way to attack him, Angre suddenly captured three of their big ships named, Success, Robert and Otter. Angre peddled the argument that even though these ships were carrying goods owned by the Company, the vessels were not owned by the Company. The British too captured similar such vessels belonging to the Angres near Mahim. With this, they entered into open warfare. On 17 April 1718, a huge British armada attacked Vijaydurg. British opened up a great barrage over the fort, but since Kanhoji too protected the fort with equal vigour and skill, the British ended up with two hundred dead and three hundred wounded at the end of this battle, and earning a big failure they had to return back to Mumbai (18 June 1718).

Boone felt he was strong enough to declare a war on Angre and even plan an attack on the Angre sea-fort Vijaydurg. At the same time, he wrote to Kanhoji,

“The condition of my Government is to observe the orders and interests of my sovereign and Rt Hon Company, and in this again, yours is different from us, since though you acknowledge a prince (Shahu), who is actually in peace with us, you act in opposition thereto, following the dictates of your ambition…”

The letter emphasises the dual nature of the Maratha state and the relations between the sovereign and his confederates – who did not entirely follow the king’s orders, and also acted on their own account. Kanhoji, first pronounced Sarkhel as early as 1698, had always followed a policy of opposing the British, and his alliance with Shahu in 1713 was not sufficient reason to deviate from past practice.

Boone was not broken due to this failure, and made strenuous efforts to counter Angre. Immediately after the monsoon, on 2 November 1718, he again personally took his huge armada of six grabs, a gully, three ketches, and forty-eight gallivants and attacked Khanderi. Being very close to Mumbai it was a constant irritant to the British. The British had to face failure there as well. They mounted many attacks but all of them were broken successfully by Angre. An intense assault on Khanderi from 3 to 8 November, and a chase in the high seas, failed to yield a result. British marines who attempted to land on the island were forced to leave. Kanhoji unfurled his ‘red flag’ as a sign of victory. The British had an untrained army under a civilian leader and failed.

Boone again went back to Mumbai on 24 November dejected. For a short while after this, both the parties engaged in conciliatory negotiations. The support Kanhoji might obtain from Shahu always intrigued the British. Relations between Shahu, the Peshwa and Kanhoji, was another matter they wanted to know more about. The British therefore, sent an emissary to Shahu in August 1718 with detailed instructions. One of these said,

“You will also note whether Balaji Vishwanath, and his other favourites unreservedly obey him (Shahu) or there is misunderstanding between them; also observe whether Balaji and Angre have friendly relations or they pretend to be friends and ascertain whether Balaji will or will not send Angre any succour if he asks for it… and if you find Balaji happens to be Angre’s friend, you will conduct your business with all care and prudence.”

At this time, Balaji Vishwanath was preparing to join Sayyed Hussein Ali’s march to Delhi and he had little time for any interaction with the British emissary.

But both the parties were preparing for battles ahead. The British had not dumped their dream of capturing Vijaydurg. On 19 September 1719, under the command of Walter Brown, the British navy in full preparation again attacked the fort. Brown was completely incapable of handling such battles. He was able to sink many of the Angre vessels, but Vijaydurg remained unbroken. While returning, the whole British naval convoy was plundered and Brown himself went empty handed to Mumbai. This way, seeing that they alone could never win against Angre, Mumbai’s British negotiated with Goa’s Portuguese and agreed to attack Colaba together (on 20 August 1721). The above treaty also decided that once they defeated Angres, the Portuguese were to get Colaba, and the British were to get Vijaydurg, but for that both parties were to join forces at Chaul and attack Colaba suddenly.

To be continued…