PLACES OF INTEREST

JAYTAPUR

Jaytapur (Rajapur T.; 16° 35' N, 73° 20' E; p. 2414) is a minor port situated four miles from the entrance of the Rajapur river. [Taylor's Sailing Directory, 389. The details of the river entrance are given under Rajapur.] It is the outlet for the sea traffic from Rajapur, and the place of call for coasting steamers, which stop three times a week for passengers going to and from Rajapur. The village of Madaban has a sea custom house and a light house which is situated six miles away from Jaytapur.

The volume of traffic that passed through the port in 1954-55 and 1955-56, is given below:-

The nearest railway station is Kolhapur, 125 miles to the east. The main occupation of the village is agriculture.

Mandelslo (1638) mentions it under the name Suitapur as one of the best coast harbours, the island sheltering it from all winds. [Voyages, 221.] Ogilby (1670), calls it Cetapur, one of the chief Konkan ports, [Atlas, V. 248.] and at the beginning of the eighteenth century, Hamilton (1700-1720) speaks of Rajapur harbour as one of the best in the world. [New Account, I. 244.] It was burnt by the Sidi and Moghal fleet in December 1676. [Orme's Hist. Frag. 64.]

On the north bank of the river, on the opposite side of the estuary lies the old ruined fort of Yeshvantgad which is now in village Nate. [See under " Yeshvantgad Fort ".] Close to the edge of the cliff on the south point of Rajapur bay is the Jaytapur light-house. This, a small white masonry tower twenty-one feet high, shows during the fair months (10th September to 10th June), a fixed white light of the sixth order. It is ninety-nine feet above the sea level, and in clear weather can be seen from a distance of nine miles. During the cyclone of the 15th January 1871, a small steamer, the general Outram was wrecked off Ambolgad bay a few miles north of the Jaytapur light.

TOP