PLACES OF INTEREST

DABHOL

Dabhol (Dapoli T.; 17° 35' N, 73° 10' E; p. 5,065), a minor port, lies two miles from the sea, at the foot of the hills on the north bank of Anjanvel or Vasishthi river, 85 miles south-east of Bombay, by sea. The nearest railway station is Karad, 115 miles to the southeast by road. Some details of the entrance to Dabhol are given under the head "Anjanvel". The site of Dabhol, a narrow strip of land between the river and very high steep hills, is ill-suited for a large town. [Large remains, several feet underground, seem to show that Dabhol was in very early times a place of consequence. An under-ground temple of Chandikadevi is said to be of the same age as the Badami rock-temples (A.D. 550-578), Mr. Crawford's MS. A local history bakhar states that in the eleventh century Dabhol was the seat of a powerful Jain ruler, and a stone writing has been found bearing date 1156 (3rd Vaishakh, 1078, Shalivahan).] If it ever was as populous as is stated, the buildings must have stretched three or four miles up the river.

Dabhol is connected by a motorable road with Dapoli, sixteen miles north. Coasting steamers call daily during the fair season, and up the Vasishthi, in connection with the service to Bombay, a small steam launch takes passengers to and from Govalkot, the landing place for Chiplun. At Dabhol, a steamer landing place, a floating platform has been built, and some old cells attached to the outer or north wall of the mosque serve as passenger rest-houses. Except betel-nuts sent in small quantities to Bombay, there is no trade. The volume of traffic that passed through the port in 1954-55 and 1955-56 is given below:-

Weaving is the only industry. The town is fairly supplied with water. There is a lighthouse near the port.

History.

Dabhol was one of the places destroyed by Malik Kafur in 1312.[Briggs' Ferishta, I. 379. According to a Persian history, Dabhol was, about the middle of the thirteenth century, taken by a certain Shah Nasir-ud-din or Azam Khan who came to Ratnagiri from beyond seas. The Hindu chief Nagojirav, attacking them both by land and sea, tried to drive off the strangers. The attack failed, and after one of Azam Khan's sons, Dabhol was called Mustafabad and another settlement was, after a second son, named Hamzabad. Mr. Crawford's MS. It seems probable that this local history is incorrect in its dates, and that the Musalman governors, after whom Dabhol and other places near it are named, were officers of the Bahamani (1347-1500) and Bijapur (1500-1600) courts.] About fifty years later (1357), it is again spoken of as the western limit of the Bahamani dominions. In the fifteenth century, during the prosperous times of the Bahamani kings, Dabhol was the centre of a great trade. In 1439 (864-H.), Yusuf Adil Khan, a son of Murad II, Sultan of Constantinople, afterwards the founder of the Bijapur Adil Shahi dynasty, describes it as possessing the delights of paradise, [Persian Ferishta, II. 3; Scott, I. 209.] and under the name of Mustafabad or khizrabad, it is mentioned as one of the great towns of the Bahamani king, Sultan Mahmud II. (1482-1518), where, with ample funds, he established orphan schools. [Persian Ferishta, I. 578; Briggs, II. 543; Scott. I. 56, 57. ] About 1470, the Russian traveller Athanasius Nikitin (1468-1474), found it a large town and extensive sea port, the head of a large district where horses were brought from Mysor, Arabia, Khorasan, and Nighostan and all nations living along the coast of India and Ethiopia met. [Major's India in the XVth Century, 20-30. Mysor should perhaps be Misr, Egypt.] It was captured in 1481, after the execution of Mahamud Gawan. On the complaint of Mahmud Begada (1459-1511), Sultan of Gujarat, whose ships Bahadur had plundered, Mahmud Bahamani attacked and slew him (1494), [Persian Ferishta, I. 715-719; Scott. I. 191-194; Briggs' Ferishta, II. 543. Ferishta gives the date 1494 (900 H.). According to the Gujarat historians Bahadur was taken alive and his head cut off and sent to Mahmud Begada, Watson's Gujarat, 44, 45.] and visiting Dabhol sailed along the coast.

In 1500, about ten years after the new Deccan dynasties rose (1489), to power, Dabhol passed into the hands of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur in 1498.[Jervis' Konkan, 75. According to one account (Mr. Dunlop, Bom. Rev. Rec., 121 of 1819, 2226), Dabhol was called Mustafabad after a certain Mustafa Khan, a Bijapur officer, who, in 1495 (903 H.), founded the town and appointed district and village officers. This is incorrect, as under the Bahamanis, Dabhol was known as Mustafabad. See above. ] At the beginning of the sixteenth century two influences depressed Dabhol. By the transfer of the head-quarters of power from Bedar to Bijapur, the direct line of traffic from the coast was moved south of Dabhol, and its position, so close to the coast, made specially open to the attacks of the Portuguese, the enemies of the Bijapur kings. Varthema, in 1503, speaks of it as extremely good, surrounded by walls in the European fashion, containing great numbers of Moorish merchants and governed by a pagan king, a great observer of justice. [Badger's Varthema, 115.] In 1508, Dabhol was one" of the most noted coast towns with a considerable trade and stately and magnificent buildings, girt with a wall, surrounded by country houses, and fortified by a strong castle garrisoned by 6,000 men of whom 500 were Turks. [Faria-y-Suza, in Kerr's Voyages, VI. 115. De Barros (1550-1579), mentions it as a place of great commerce, full of noble houses, fine buildings, superb temples and old mosques (V. 266). (Compare also DeCoutto, VI. 419, VII. 239, and Mickle's Lusaid, X.) Dom Joao de Castro (1538), says the defences were slight and the Musalman garrison only 4,000 strong. Before it was pillaged by the Portuguese, Dabhol was, he says, a very large and noble settlement, the emporium of all India, thronged by Persians, Arabs, and traders from Cambay. Vide de J. Castro, 264-269; Prim. Rot. da Costa da India, 136.] Against it, the Portuguese Viceroy, Admiral Dom Francisco D'Almeida, came (December, 1508) with nineteen vessels, carrying 1,300 Portuguese soldiers and marines and 400 Malbar seamen, and under cover of a false attack, landed at some distance. The resistance was vigorous; " Piles of dead strengthened the barrier of the city palisades. But the assailants pressed on, scaled the ramparts, and entering the city, plundered it, razed it to the ground, and reduced it to ashes, putting to death men, women and children [Decunha's Chaul, 30, the wrath of the Firingi as it fell on Dabhol became a proverb. Baldaeus, 1660 (Churchill, III. 540), says that most of the booty was afterwards destroyed by fire. Faria-y-Suza notices that preserved locusts were found by the Portuguese and much liked by them. They tasted not unlike shrimps.]. Those who escaped' came back, and restored the city so that in a few years it was inhabited as before. [Stanley's Barbosa, 72.] In 1514, it was defended by a rampart and artillery, and was a place of great trade with many residents, Moor, Gentile, and Gujarat merchants, and large fleets of Moorish ships from Mecca, Aden, and Ormuz, and from Cambay, Diu, and Malbar. The imports were copper, quick-silver, vermilion, and horses; the exports were great quantities of country fabrics, wheat, and vegetables. [Stanley's Barbosa, 72.] In 1520, Ismail Adil shah (1510-1534), offered the Portuguese a friendly alliance if they would protect the import of horses into Dabhol. [Lassen's Ind. Alt. IV. 198] To this the Portuguese seem not to have agreed and two years later (1522) Dabhol was again sacked. From this sacking it soon recovered, and in 1540, was a great city with the largest concourse of merchants of the whole Indian ocean, thronged with people from all parts of the world. [Dom Joao de Castro, Primeiro Roteiro da Costa da, India, 39.] Seven years later it had only 4,000 inhabitants, two forts and some redoubts. In that year, it was destroyed by the Portuguese who took the upper town some way from the sea. [Vide de Joao Castro, 264-269.]

In the following year (1548), a treaty was made between Bijapur and the Portuguese. The Portuguese promised to send a factor to Dabhol to give passports to merchants and others wanting to go to sea and to try their best to people and enrich Dabhol [Col. de Mon. Ined. V. I-43. The Portuguese for some years (1547-1554) seem to have paid £ 154 (2,000 gold pardaos) a year for the privilege of granting passports. Ditto, 244.] In 1554, the Portuguese refused to pay the sum agreed on for the privilege of granting sea passports at Dabhol, and in 1555, and again in 1557, they pillaged Dabhol. [Nairne's Konkan, 143. Faria-y-Suza in Kerr's Voyages, VI. 192. In 1571 the Portuguese made another attack on Dabhol. But the governor, Khwaja Ali Shirazi, having heard of their intentions, let them land and put to death upwards of 150 of them. Briggs' Ferishta, IV. 540. ] In 1570, the Gujarat historians, speak of Dabhol as one of the European ports. [Bird's Mirat-i-Ahmadi, 129.] But it is doubtful if the Portuguese ever held it. If they did, they kept it only for a few years, as early in the seventeenth century (1611), Middleton found the governor, a Sidi, friendly, offering presents and free trade. Still the place was disappointing. The people " made a noise of" fine cloth, indigo, and pepper, but none was forthcoming, and all they took was some broadcloth, kerseys, and lead bars. [Middleton in Harris, I. 107. About the same time (1611), Captain Harris speaks of selling iron, ivory, and indigo (Harris, I. 119), and Captain Peyton (1615), notices that the Portuguese had a factory but no fort (Harris, I. 155). How important a place of trade Dabhol was, appears from the fact that one of its ships, the Mahmudi 136 feet long, 41 broad and 29½ deep, was of 1,200 tons burden. Orme's Hist. Frag, 325.] In 1616, in consequence of Middleton's honourable treatment of the Mokha junk, the governor of Dabhol offered the English free trade, and as their position in Surat was most uncomfortable, they thought of removing to Dabhol. In 1618, the English made a further attempt to trade, [Milburn's Oriental Commerce, XVII.] and in 1624, again proposed to move to Dabhol from Surat.[Bruce's Annals, I. 261-274.] At first they were received by the Dabhol people with much honour. Then a scuffle arose and the English took to their guns and set fire to the town. The people fled, but encouraged by a Portuguese factor and some others, came back and drove the English to their ships. [De La Valle's letters, III. 130. Three years later (1626), Herbert describes the town as with low houses terraced at the top and with nothing to boast of but an old castle and a few temples. Nairne in Ind. Ant. III. 102.] Ten years later (1634), they asked if they might start a factory, but probably because of the former disturbance were refused. [Bruce's Annals, I. 334. Mr. Nairne thinks that no factory was ever established, Konkan, 118.] In 1639, Mandelso described the Dabhol fortifications as in ruins, without walls or gates, defended on the river side by two batteries; the entrance, none of the best by reason of a sand bank at the mouth, was dry at low water. The people were Vanis and Musalmans, and the chief trade was in salt and pepper. Instead of the fleets it used to send to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, there were only a few wretched boats trading with Combrun. [Mandelslo in Harris, II. 130, and Voyages, 220. The salt was said to come from Oranubammera perhaps Uran-Bombay.]

In 1660, and again in 1661, Dabhol was burnt by Shivaji, and in 1662, it was wrested from the Moghals and made a part of Shivaji's kingdom. [Grant Duff, 80, 83.] Thevenot about this time (1660), described it as an old city, with low houses and few fortifications. [Voyages, V. 249. Of the town Ogilby (1670) gives the following details:: Anciently very famous, Dabhol is now much ruined by wars and decreased in trade. It is open only on the south side which fronts the water where there are two batteries with four iron guns. On the mountains are several decayed fortresses and an ancient castle without guns or garrison. On the north point is a little wood, at a distance like a fort, and below the wood, near the water, a white temple. On the south point is another temple and several stately edifices. Atlas, V. 247.] In 1670, Father Navaritte spoke of it as a strong and handsome fort belonging to Shivaji. [Orme's Hist. Frag. 206.] In 1695, Gemelli Careri passed it almost without notice. Shortly after (1697), it was granted to the Shirke family. [Nairne in Ind. Ant. II. 280.] From 1700 to 1744, under the joint government of the Habshi and the Marathas, Dabhol is described as an old place, deserted by trade, where the English once had a factory. About this time Tulaji Angre took it, and driving out the Habshi, governed it for eleven years. It was then (1755), taken by the Peshva, [Bankot Diaries in Nairne's Konkan, 92.] and held by him till, without a struggle, it was, in 1818, handed over to the British.

Remains.

Except in the hills, where there seem to have been a round tower or two, there are no signs of fortifications. Of Musalman remains the chief is, close to the sea and almost buried in cocoanut trees, a handsome mosque 63' by 54', in its inner measurements, with minarets and a dome about seventy-five feet high. The style is like that of the chief Bijapur mosques. It is on all sides enclosed by a stone wall and approached by a broad flight of steps. In the centre of the stone terrace, in front of the mosque, are a well and a fountain. The mosque is said to have been built in 1659 by a Bijapur princess, Aisha Bibi, popularly known as lady mother, ma sahibah. The real date is probably much earlier. [The local account is that the princess, with a retinue of 20,000 horses, arrived at Dabhol, intending to go to Mecca but was kept back from fear of pirates. Determining to spend on some religious work, a sum of Rs. 15,00,000, she had with her, she, with the advice of the maulvis and Kazis, began building this mosque and finished it in four years. The builder's name was Kamil Khan. The dome was richly gilded, and the crescent pure gold. The gold and gilt have long disappeared, but much of the beautiful carving and tracery remains. Eight villages, Bhopan, Saral, Isapur, Bhostan, Chivili, Modpur, Bharveli, and Pingari were granted for its maintenance. After the overthrow of the Bijapur kingdom, the grant was renewed by Shivaji (1670). The mosque still bears the name of its founder Masahibah.] In front of the mosque is a well-maintained garden with a pond and a fountain. Dabhol has also a Juma mosque built in 1649 (1059-H.), in the beginning of Aurangzeb's reign, by Pir Ahmad Abdullah, the chief officer, subhedar of the district. [As much of the inscription on this mosque as has been read runs: " In the name of God, the Just, the Merciful. Verily mosques belong to God, so be not co-sharers with Him. The rival of this mosque in colour does not exist in the world. The best of well-born Governors Pir Ahmad (built this mosque), in the year 1059 (A.D. 1649) of the Hijri of the Prophet, on whom be peace and blessing ".] On the sea face of a third mosque, a writing was found cut in wood in 1875. It begins with the usual Shia blessing of the Prophet, his daughter, and the twelve Imams, and ends ' May God help Sadat Ali, king of kings, who raised this building in 1558 (987-H.) [Bom. As. Soc. Meeting, Septr. 1879.] There is also a cenotaph, mukam of Khwaja Khizr, the Prophet Elias, bearing the date 1579 (987-H.), and a tomb of Azamkhanpir.

Recently a dharmashala has been built at Dabhol port. The dock is widened and landing facilities have been considerably improved by the State Government by spending an amount of two lakhs of rupees.

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