Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 353

NOVEMBER, 1873.]
PORTS SOUTH OF RATNAGIRI.
319
breeze. After winding, weary and alarmed, through these dreadful labyrinths, the army entered a darker forest, a passage through which was difficult even to the winds of heaven. It was bounded on three sides by mountains whose heads towered above the clouds, and on the other side was an inlet of the ocean, so that there was no path by which to advance in retreat but that by which they had entered." The troops were by nightfall of course excessively fatigued, and then Raja Sirkê sent for Shankar Rai, who came with a great force and fell on the Musalmans. The general, five hundred noble Sayids, and nearly seven thousand Musalman soldiers, besides Abyssinians and Dekhanis, were killed on this occasion, the few survivors escaping above the ghats.
The exact place where this massacre took place hits never been ascertained, but Grant Duff thinks that it was not very far from Vis Algad h, which is so probable, not only from the Raja of that place being so particularly mentioned, but also from the nature of the country described. Even now, with all the improvement of the country, there are very few parts of the Southern Konkan where an army of 10,000 men could march without the greatest difficulty; and the tract of country lying beneath and a little to the north of Viśà lg ad h, between the towns of Sangames var and Lanja is almost the only open plain of any extent in the collectorate. Anywhere across this an army might easily have marched for two days, but it would need but a slight-deviation either to the west towards SÁtava lì, or to the east towards Viśålgadh itself, to get into hills and gorges which in those days must almost have come up to the description given by Ferishtah. If it be a fact that an inlet of the ocean was on one side, then the immediate neighbourhood of Sâta vali would answer, the description : otherwise, as to the closeness of the valleys and the height of the hills, Pra. bhånváli seems the most likely place. At all events it is most probable that the massacre took place somewhere in the country which lies beneath and in front of the most projecting point of Vis algad h.
This misfortune to the Musalman arms was not avenged till 1469, when Khwaja Mahmûd Gawan, the prime minister, collected a large force, and by constant hard labour and with
many precautions cut his way through the jungles, and at last after an unsuccessful siege of Kheln å for five months, interrupted by the monsoon, succeeded, partly by stratagem and partly by bribery, in getting possession of this fortress. He spent the rest of this season and the whole of the next in ravaging the country, and so, apparently, reduced the whole of the Rajas to subjection, finishing up by taking Goa from the Vidyanagar troops. As this is stated as the period of the reduction of the whole of the Konkan, we may reasonably suppose that the establishment of the Masalmans at Prabhân vâli and Sata vali took place soon after this. Two hundred years later, after being captured by Sivaji, Visalga dh was twice unsuccessfully besieged by the whole force of Aurangzib, and on one of these occusions the loss of the garrison was so great that on the retreat of the Musalmans seven hundred satis are said to have taken place among the widows of the defenders who had fallen.
The road from Visalgadh to Bijapur would probably lie through Mal kâ pur and Kolhapur,-for this is a very slight deviation from a straight line, and Kolhapur, or rather the neighbouring fortress of Panala, was almost as famous in Muhammadan as in Marathả days.
The next place to be mentioned is the creek on which R ja pur stands. This is one of the oldest towns in the district, and was formerly a place of great trade, which is proved by the English, French, and Dutch all having had factories here in very early days. It had also a great trade with Arabia and the Persian Gulf, and even now two or three Arab bagalos come there every year. There is good a deal of interest in the way of Hindu temples and traditions, but I am sorry to say I know very little of its Musalman history, though the Musalmâns are still so strong there as to be divided into two very bitter parties and to have several mosks. Though plundered by Sivaji, it appears never to have been much damaged, -owing its security probably to its being so far from the sea; and it has therefore all the appearance of an ancient town, which Dabhol, though undoubtedly much older, has lost. A hill behind the town still preserves the name of Talimkhánd, or gymnasium, and I am told that, though it is not used for the purpose now, the Musalmans of Rajápur still keep