The Gazetteers Department

The antiquity of human life in South India goes back to about 3,00,000 years; but for quite a long time man lived at what is known as the "old stone" (Paleolithic) stage, using only crude stone implements and able only to gather his food as he found it, instead of growing it according to his needs. In India, it is exceedingly difficult to reconstruct the Neolithic complex. But in spite of the rather wide gaps, spatial and chronological, Gordon Childe has suggested that "Sialk B (graves in Iran) might be used to link with the west, with the Caucasus or Palestine, the celebrated Indian dolmens; for these too may at least be entered through port-hole slabs." He adds " But they are concentrated in the south of the Peninsula in areas not likely to be affected by landbome impulses from Iran, but exposed rather to maritime influences. If their distribution does suggest inspiration from the west that must surely have come by sea [Nilkanta Sastri, A history of South India, 50-51, 53.].". It is in Maharashtra that the megalithic iron-age civilization must have clashed with the southward movement of the first Aryan people to invade the Deccan [Christopher von Furer-Haimendrof, "When, how and from where did the Dravidians come to India", India-Asian Culture, II No. 3, Jan. 1954, pp. 238-247 (245).].

EXTENT.

Ratnagiri district forms part of the greater tract known as the Konkan. The tract is about 320 miles in length with a varying breadth of thirty to sixty miles and an area of 5,020.9 square miles. It is composed of 15 talukas and mahals viz. Mandangad, Dapoli, Khed, Chiplun, Guhagar, Sangameshvar, Ratnagiri, Rajapur, Devgad, Lanje, Malvan, Savantvadi, Vengurle, Kudal and Kankavli. This part, in early times had been a thinly inhabited forest from which character it has, till recently but partially emerged, "where beasts with man divided empire claimed [Bhandarkar R. G. " Early history of the Deccan "-translated in Marathi by N. V. Bapat (1887), p. 4. Rev. A. Nairne, History of the Konkan (1894), xi.]." Though this, tract can scarcely be called historically famous, its long coast-line and convenient harbours, together with its comparative nearness to the Arabian coast, made it known to the earliest travellers, while the natural strength of the country and the character of its inhabitants gave it in later days, great importance than its wealth or extent would have justified. The word Konkan is of Indian origin and of considerable antiquity. though the meaning, as the name of a country is not obvious and has never been sufficiently explained, even though various interpretations have been forwarded [Nilkanta Sastri, A history of South India, 2, 45. Chitgupi, Western Chalukyas of Vatapi, 2, 5.]. The seven kingdoms of the Konkan of Hindu mythology are mentioned in a Hindu History of Kashmir [Rev. Nairne, Konkan, 1.], and are said to have included nearly the whole of the west coast of India, of which Ratnagiri district forms a part. But the district thus known appears to have had very different limits at different periods.

According to the Sanskrit writers, the Konkan stretched only from Devgad to Sadashivgad- a distance altogether of only about 90 miles -; from Tapi to Devgad being Abhir or the country of the shepherds [Walter Hamilton, Description of Hindustan (1820), IT, 183.

The map given by Dr. Moras in Kadamba-kula, p. 16 refers to Abhir and the other map on p. 193 calls Ratnagiri district as Kapardikadvipa.]. The Abhir country was further divided into Barbara or Mahratta, from the Tapi to Bassein; Virat, from Basscin to Banket and Kirat, from Bankot to Devgad [J. Bird, the Political and Statistical History of Gujarat, p. 8 Bhandarkar, tran. Bapat, 99. (Tran. Persian of Ali Mohammad Khan,) (1835).]. The earliest certain mention of the country now called Konkan is in the geography of Ptolemy about A. D. 150 and in the Greek work called "The Periplus of the Erythraen Sea ", the authorship of which is uncertain and the date variously calculated from A. D. 66 to A. D. 240 [Rev. Nairne, Konkan, 1.]. Ptolemy divides Konkan into two provinces, Larika (Latdes) which is identified with Gujarat and part of the North Konkan, and Ariaka which includes the rest of the Konkan incorporating the Ratnagiri district [Op. cit, 1; Bhandarkar (Bapat), 99.]. Ferishta calls it Tal-ghat and Khafi Khan calls it Tal-Konkan [J. Briggs, Ferishta, II, 338.]. Ariaka included "the land of the pirates" and the pirates of Suvarnadurg are also mentioned by Strabo [Rev. Nairne, Konkan, 1.] Ariaka territory ranged from Goa to Tapi, obviously including the Ratnagiri district and was subject to Tagara [Tagara has been identified differently by different writers. Tagara has been identified by Wilford with Devgiri or Daulatabad; Lassen and Yule place it doubtfully at Gulburga; Pandit Bhagvanlal, at Junnar; Grant Duff, near Bhir and Bhandarkar maintains that Tagara was probably the centre of one of the earliest settlements in the " Dandakaranya" or " Front of Dandka" as the Desh or Maharashtra was called and suggests that it should be modem Darur or Dharur east of Bhir and 70 miles off Paithan- Nairne-Note pp. 16-17.].

This district was specially known as Tal-Konkan [Grant Duff, History of the Mahrattas, (1863), I, 5.] and the district contained several places of trade known to the early European writers. The Vengurle rocks are mentioned as islands of the southern extremity of Ariaka and are called Sesekrienai [Schoff, The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, 44, 202.]. The name and position of Bagmandla may suggest the site of Maridagora, mentioned both by Ptolemy and in the Periplus [Schoff, 43, 201; Bhandarkar, (Bapat), 92.]. Bagmandla and Kolmandla are the remains of Mandal or Mandan, an old trading place of some consequence. Barbosa (1514) has mentioned Mandabad whose position suggests identification with Bankot at the estuary of the Savitri river, where many ships, especially, from Malabar, came taking stuffs and leaving cocoanuts, areca-nuts, a few spices, copper and quick-silver [Bhandarkar, (Bapat), 92; Bom. Gaz. X, 319; Schoff, 201.]. It seems possible that the Savitri is Ptolemy's Nan-guna which in his map enters the Arabian sea within the Ratnagiri limits [Bom. Gaz. X, 320.]. D.evgad is mentioned as Arum [Schoff, 43, 201.] and Jaygad [Ibid., Melizeigara is placed at Jaygad by Mullar and McCrindle also; Bhandarkar, (Bapat) 92.] has been identified with Strabo's (B. C. 54-A. D. 24) Sigardis and with Pliny's (A. D. 77) Sigris, on the Konkan coast, which was "one of chief ports of Western India". Ptolemy's Turannosboas is Rajapur [McCrindle puts it at the Modern Malvan - Schoff, 43, 202, 258.] with Ptolemy's Melizeigeris, an island of the pirate coast and with the Melizeigara of the Periplus, it seems better to refer these names to the island, Janjira and town, Meli or Melundi, now known as Malvan [Bhandarkar, (Bapat), 92; Nairne, Konkan, 2.]. Guhagar was known to the Portuguese as the Bay of Brahmans. It may perhaps be Ptolemy's Aramagara or Bramagara [Bom. Gaz. X, 336.].

Dabhol [Palaepatmae of Ptolemy is identified as Dabhol-Schoff, 43, 210. This is disputed-Bhandarkar, (Bapat), 92.] would seem to be a settlement of a very great age, though the site of Dabhol, a narrow strip of land between the river and very high steep hills, is ill-suited for a large town. According to a local saying Dabhol once bore the name of Amravati or the abode of Gods. Beyond Mandabad, travelling along the coast towards India, is a right fair river, at the mouth of which is a great town of Moors and Heathen, pertaining to the kingdom of Daquem, named Dabul [Dabul is the port properly called Dabhol, which is in the collectorate of Ratnagiri on the north bank of the estuary of the Vasishthi River (also called the Anjanvel River from the small town of Afijanvel on the south bank). When Barbosa wrote it was the capital of the part of the North Konkan which belonged to the "Adilshahi monarchy" (nominally under "the Deccan kingdom", i.e. the Bahamani kings of Bidar). This province extended from the Savitri River (p. 164, n. 1) on the north to the River Linua on the south (p. 182, n. 1).

Dabhol, although a place of some local importance, omitted in many modern maps, and as Yule pointed out (Hobson-Jobson, s. v. Dabul), it was confounded in Arrowsmith's map of 1816 with Dapoli " twelve miles north and not seaport". It is less excusable that in such a recent production as the Bombay Census Report of 1911 the map gives Dapoll but not Dabhol.

It was a port of great antiquity, as has been with much probability identified with the Palaepatmae of the Periplus and the Baltipatna of Ptolemy (Schoff's Periplus, p. 201; McCrindle's Ptolemy, p. 55). This name is supposed by Nanda Lal Dey to represent some such form as Paripatana, i.e., the port of Pari, (which is an ancient name of the West Vindhya mountains). The modern name is connected probably with Dabhileshvara, a name of the god Shiva. The form Dalbhesa is given in the Sangameshvar, Mahatmya quoted in V. N. Mandlik's article in Journal Bombay Br. R. A. S., 1875, p. 100. From this form it would seem that the oldest form of the name was Dalabha, from which by metathesis Dabhol is formed. It dates from the Chalukya period.

Dabhol was found to be a flourishing port by the Portuguese, and is mentioned in the travels of Nikitin as a place of great trade about 1475. Its trade with East Africa, Arabia and Persia is alluded to by Barbosa in many places, but among the earlier Arab writers it had not the same fame as Chaul. Most travellers seem to have gone south to Goa or Sindapur, and to have touched at no port between Goa and Chaul.]. Within the mouth of the river there is a fortress with artillery for its defence. It has a very good harbour, whither sail many ships of the Moors from diverse lands, to wit, from Meca, Adem and Ormus (which bring hither many horses) and from Cambaya, Dio and Malabar, which constantly deal here in goods of every kind, with many very worthy merchants, of whom some in this land are of great wealth, as well Moors as Heathen. Hence they send inland great store of copper, also much quick-silver and vermilion dye; and from the inland regions great store of cloth comes down the river and is laden on the ships, also much wheat, grains [See p. 155, n. 4. If the word grain is read separately the meaning may be the great millet Holcus sorghum, see 64, p. 155, n. 3.] (probably millet), chick-peas and sundry other sorts of pulse [Aligume stands here for the modern Portuguese legume, which denotes pulse of all kinds.]. Great sums of money are gathered in here at the custom-house; the dues are collected for the king by persons whom he entertains for that end. It is a fine and well-situated place; some of its houses are thatched with straw, and within on the river there are very fair mosques on both banks, where there are many beautiful villages. The land is well-tilled, rich and fertile, with good ploughing and breeding of cattle.

Dabhol.

The present name is said either to be a short form of Dabhilavati, a name given to it from the still remaining temple of Shiva, Dabhileshvar or to be a corrupt form of Dabhya, according to Puranas, a god-inhabited forest. Large remains, several feet underground, seem to show that Dabhol was in very early times, a place of consequence. An underground temple of Chandikadevi is said to have been of the same age as the Badami Rock-Temples (A.D. 550-587) [ Mr. Crawford's MS. Bom. Gaz; X, 327 (1880).]. Chiplun, the home of the Konkanastha Brahmans, supplied with sixty ponds and sixty gardens by Parashuram, the reclaimer of Konkan, has for long been a place of consequence [Bom. As. So. Meeting, (Sept. 1879); Schoff, 201, (p. XXXV), Vol. XIV.]. C. Neibuher (1763) states that close to Bankot, was a very large rock-temple divided into 25 chambers [A stone has been found at Chiplun bearing the date 1156 A. D. Ibid. Sanskrit inscription forwarded by P. Falla who found it in Chiplun. The surname of the Maratha families of the district such as Kadam, More (Maurya), Shelke (Chalukyas), Palav, Dalvi and others show their connection with the old ruling houses.]. Byzanteion was Vijaydurg [Schoff, 43, 201; Bhandarkar (Bapat) maintains otherwise, 92; Nairne, 2.]. The name of Betel River is merely a trade term given by the Portuguese. From its position, however, it may without hesitation be identified with Vijaydurg (16� 23' N; 73� 20' E), one of the best harbours on the west coast of India, which still gives shelter to large ships. It stands on the Vaghotan river and has a strong fort.

Vijaydurg.

Vijaydurg is generally identified with the Byzanteion of Ptolemy and Periplus. Towards the end of the 17th century it was the headquarters of the private chief Angre. It was taken by the English under Clive and Watson in 1756. Nitrias mentioned by Pliny as a chief station of the pirates, Rennell identifies with Nivti between Malvan and Vengurle [Nairne, 2.]. The river of Bamda, may with probability be identified with the estuary on which stands the modern town of Vengurle (15� 52' N; 73� 38' E), still a considerable port with a population of 19,000 and trade in cocoanuts, coir, molasses, cashew, etc. It lies within the limits of the Ratnagiri District. Banda in some modern maps is shown a short distance inland from Vengurle, and in Ribero's map of 1529 it appears north of Goa, also Bamda in Dourado's map of 1570.

PROTO AND ANCIENT PERIOD.

Some of the Nordics, who had made their appearance in Asia Minor, about 2000 B. C. had accompanied the people who landed on the western coast of India [This alone explains the colour of the eyes of the Chitpavans of the Ratnagiri district-The colour is greenish grey rather than bhre-Dr. G. S. Ghurye, Caste and Race in India, 122. Nilkanta Sastri, A history of South India, 58. Walter Hamilton, Description of Hindustan, II, (1820), 184. Chitgupi, Western Chalukyas of Vatapi, 21.]. The original limits of the inhabitants were the Savitri in the north and the Devgad river in the South [Parashuram hill, near Chiplun is the headquarters of this Chitpavan caste. These people in allusion to the story of their being sprung from corpses brought to life by Parashuram, nicknamed Chitpavan or pure from the pyre or chita. Turning this from a nickname into a title of honour, it means pure of heart or chitta. The local legend makes them strangers descended from fourteen shipwrecked corpses who were restored to life by Parashuram. Javal Brahmans from Dapoli take their name from being shipwrecked in a storm, Javal. The hill from which the Avatar is said to have shot his arrow is named after him, Parashuram and looks over the fertile and beautiful valley in which Chiplun stands. Of the sixty legendary ponds dug by Parashuram, the only traces left are eight reservoirs in various parts of the town of Chiplun, Ramtirth being prominent among them. The shenvis are found all over the district but chiefly in Malvan and Vengurle and had Goa, as their original Konkan settlement, where, they are said to have come at Parashuram's request from Trihotra or Tirhut in northern India. Sahgameshvar, the meeting of the Alaknanda and Varuna is a place of some sanctity and of high antiquity. It was originally called Ramkshetra and had temples built by Parashuram or Bhargavram. The story of Farashuram runs as follows:- Brahmans being reduced to cave life by the Kshatriyas, were restored by the 6th Avatar of Vishnu, appearing under the form of the son of a Brahman named, Tamadagni. Parashuram's mother and the wife of the great Kshatriya king, Sahasrarjun, were sisters. The sage Jamadagni was poor and his wife was forced to do all the household duties with her own hands. One day, fetching water, she thought of her sister's grandeur and her own poverty: and as she was thus thinking the pitcher became empty. The sage asked her why her pitcher was empty and when she told him how the water had leaked away, he blamed her for thinking of her sister's state better than her own. She said, " If I want to ask my sister, there is hardly food for ten men." " I have" the sage said, "food for ten thousand but I do not think it wise to call a Kshatriya to dinner ". She pleaded that they should be asked and her sister and her husband came with a large following. From his wish-fulfilling cow and never-empty jar, the sage satisfied the king and all his men. Learning the source of the sage's store of food, the king carried off the cow and the jar and killed the sage, forcing him to lie on a bed of pointed nails. Grieved with the result of her foolishness, the sage's wife committed suicide. The orphaned Parashuram vowed vengeance on the Kshatriyas. Attacking them with his axe, Parashuram, broke their power, slew all who did not forfeit their birthright by mixing with the Shudras and gave the whole of their lands to Brahmans. Finding that he had left no land for himself, he. prayed the sea, which then washed the Sahyadri cliffs, to east him up a kingdom, the sea refused and Parashuram determined to drive it back. Standing on the Sahvadris he shot an arrow westward and before it, the sea retired. But the sea God had sent a friendly bee to bore Farashuram's bow string and the arrow fell short, reclaiming only a strip of about 40 miles broad. Harivamsh (Vishnu Parva) Chap. 39, Verse 28: & chap. 40, verse, 39. Harivamsha is treated as a modern part of Mahabharat.].

TOP