PLACES

MAHAD

Mahad (T. Mahad; 18° 05' N, 73° 25' E; p. 10,267; RS. Murhbra, 94 m.). The town lies on the right bank of the Savitri river thirty-four miles east of Banakot, just above its meeting with the Gandhari. At high water spring tides, vessels drawing less than nine feet, and, at all times of the tide, canoes can pass a mile above Mahad. The sixteen miles above the Ratnagiri village of Mhapral are extremely difficult, and a small boat, if it fails to leave Mahad within an hour of high water, will hardly get further than Dasagahv a distance of about eight miles. The eighteen miles west of Mhapral can be passed at all times by vessels of five tons (20 khandis) at low water spring tides. From here navigation is tidal, but at high water spring tides boats drawing six feet can go a mile above Mahad. Almost across the river, opposite Mahad, is a bar of rock and the channel is narrow and under the left bank. In the pool above Mahad there is never less than eight feet of water [ Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C. S.]. The limit of the tide is two miles above Mahad.

To improve inland communication, and give an impetus to inland traffic from Mahad and other Kolaba marts, a railway route has been suggested from Diva to Dasgahv, a distance of about ninety miles, with stations at Taloja, Panvel, Apta, Pen, Nago-thana, Kolad or Roha road, Manganv, Goreganv, and Dasagahv. The same has subsequently been known as Diva-Dasaganv railway which is currently under construction up to Apta in Panvel Taluka and Uran.

History.

Mahad is said to have been once known by the name of Mahikavatr [Mr. A. T. Crawford, C. S. At the junction of the Savitri and the Gandhari is a mosque still known as the Maika or Mahika mosque which occupies the site of and is probably built of the stones of a Hemadpanti temple. The mosque seems to have been turned into a battery and to have undergone a cannonade from down stream.]. Its situation at the head of the main channel of the Savitri, and the group of early (about A.D. 100) Buddhist caves in Pale hill about two miles to the north-west of the town, and two groups equally old at Kol about a mile to the south, mark Mahad as an early trade centre. The caves are considered to date from the first to the third century after Christ, and the town, or more properly the suburb, of Pale, seems to be mentioned in Ptolemy (A.D. 150) as Balipatna, and in the Periplus about a hundred years later, as Palaipatmai [Bertius' Ptolemy, 198; Mc Crindle's Periplus 129.].

In 1538 De Castro mentioned it as a large town with a great trade in wheat. The Savitri was also called the river of honey, because honey was a great article of trade [ Dom Joao de Castro Primeiro Roteiro da Costa da India, 41.]. During the latter part of the seventeenth century its nearness to Rayagad, Sivaji's capital, increased the importance of Mahad. Sivaji often lived at Mahad. In 1651, a party of troops in the interest of the Moghals and under the command of one Baji Samraj, attempted to make Sivaji prisoner, but he anticipated the surprise and attacked the party near the bottom of the Ghat and put them to flight [Grant Duff's Marathas, Vol. I, 115.]. In 1656, by building the fort of Pratapgad just beyond the southern limit of Kolaba, Sivaji gained command of the Par Pass leading front the Deccan to Mahad, and secured a retreat to the Kohkan. In 1682 when Dadaji Raghunath retired defeated from Janjira, the Sidi made constant inroads into the neighbourhood of Mahad, destroying cows, carrying women, and burning villages. He even forced his way into the town of Mahad and captured Dadaji Raghunath's wife [Grant Duff, Vol. I, 240.]. In 1771 Forbes found Mahad a fortified large and populous town [Forbes' Oriental Memoirs, I. 200.]. In 1796 Nana Phadnis, unable to prevent the accession of Bajirav, fled to the Kohkan, and at Mahad collected an army of 10,000 men [Grant Duff's Marathas, Vol. II, 261, Nairne's Konkan, 107.]. In the month of October 1796 Nana concluded a treaty with the Nizam on the one hand and English on the other. Under this treaty, which is known as the treaty of Mahad, Bajirav II was enthroned as Pesva and Nana Phadnis returned to Poona as minister [Grant Duff, Vol. II, 266.]. In 1802, when Holkar occupied Poona, Bajirav II fled with 6,000 to 8,000 men to Rayagad and thence to Mahad, and took refuge in the fortress of that place [Maxwell's Life of Wellington, I. 119; Grant Duff's Marathas, Vol. II, 318.]. From Mahad Bajirav despatched letters to the Bombay Government, requesting that ships might be sent ' to convey him and his followers to Bombay. He was anxious to send his family, and the families of his attendants to Suvarnadurg in Ratnagiri; but the commandant of the fort refused to receive them. Khanderav Raste, the governor or sarsubhedar of Kohkan, joined him at Mahad from Bassein. On hearing that Holkar was on his way down the Par Pass, the Pesva fled to Suvarnadurg, while some of his followers took refuge in the English factory at Fort Victoria or Banakor [Grant Duff's Marathas, 558, in Nairne's Konkan, 167.]. On the 24th of April 1818 the force under Lieutenant-Colonel Prother seems to have occupied Mahad without opposition. In 1820 Mahad is described as standing at the foot of a principal pass through the mountain leading to Poona, and as the emporium of the Banakot river where all merchandise whether leaving or entering the river was embarked. There was a large traffic from the Deccan [Revenue Diary 1 42,p. 2572.]. Mahad is a trade centre of much importance.

Population.

The population of the town according to 1951 census was 10,267. Of this the agricultural classes number 1,009 and the non-agricultural 9,258. Of the latter, 1,829 persons derive their principal means of livelihood from production other than cultivation; 2,462 persons from commerce; 1,070 persons from transport; and 3,891 persons from other services and miscellaneous sources.

Municipality.

Mahad is a town with an area of 1.5 square miles where the municipality was established in 1866. It now functions under the Bombay District Municipal Act, III of 1901. The total number of members representing the municipal council is 19. Two seats are reserved for women and one seat for the scheduled castes. The various committees which manage the municipal affairs in the respective fields are: (1) General Committee, (2) Managing Committee, (3) Dispensary Committee and (4) Schools Committee. The administrative organisation of the municipality comprises the following departments:-

(1) General Administration.

(2) Octroi.

(3) Public Works.

(4) Sanitation.

(5) Shops and Establishment.

The total income of the municipality for 1958-59 excluding extraordinary and debt heads amounted to Rs. 2,80,944.02; comprising municipal rates and taxes Rs. 2,18,934.70; realisation under special acts Rs. 289.50; revenue derived from municipal property and powers apart from taxation Rs. 14,295.05; grants and contributions Rs. 45,124.63 and miscellaneous Rs. 2,300.14. The expenditure for the same year amounted to Rs. 1,94,973.62; general administration and collection charges being Rs. 40,256.26; public safety Rs. 22,863.05; public health and convenience Rs. 93,177.92; public instruction Rs. 13,287; contributions Rs. 2,935 and miscellaneous Rs. 22,454.39.

Kurla Nala and two other tanks form the source of drinking water for the town. The municipality had undertaken a scheme of supplying water through pipe lines, which is completed.

There are kutcha road-side gutters in this town. Underground drains have been built only in some parts of the town (1959).

Primary education which is compulsory in the town is managed by the Zilla Parishad. The municipality pays an annual contribution at the rate of 5% of the rateable value of all municipal property to the Board.

The municipality, besides a vegetable market, maintains a mutton market and a slaughter-house. The quarters for Harijan employees of the municipality were constructed at a cost of Rs. 15,876.09.

The municipality runs a dispensary. The veterinary dispensary in the town is managed by Government. It also maintains a fire-fighter-cum-water-sprinkler equipped with necessary fire-fighting apparatus and a requisite staff.

The total length of roads within the municipal area is ten miles of which nine miles and seven furlongs are metalled and one furlong is unmetalled.

There is a municipal garden in the town. The municipality pays an annual contribution of Rs. 200 to the Karve Library; Rs. 750 to the Maternity Home; Rs. 1,500 to the Kohkan Education Society's V. H. Paranjape Vidya-Mandir, Mahad; Rs. 400 to the Balvikas Mandir, Mahad; and Rs. 50 to the Board of Extra-Mural Studies of the University of Poona.

There is a cremation place for the Hindus managed by the municipality. Besides there are two municipal burial places, one for the Cambhar community and the other for the Muslims.

Mahad had three water tanks, viz., Cavadar Tale, Viresvar Tale and Hapus Tale. It is said there are 14 wells beneath Cavadar Tale. In 1930 Dr. Ambedkar, the leader of Harijans started his famous Satyagraha and stood at the head of a large gathering of Harijans to assert the right of being allowed to take water from Cavadar Tale. It was a historic incident. Viresvar temple is important among the Mahad temples, and of the old Mahikavati temple only remains are to be seen.

Besides the sub-divisional establishments, Mahad has a subordinate judge's court, a dispensary, a library and a high school. In the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1942 on 10th of September, one Vasant Date who stood at the head of the morca of peasants fell a victim to police bullet. The place where he fell being still known as Vasant Date cowk. Recently in (1961) the People's Education Society has started an Arts and Science College in memory of late Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

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