PLACES OF INTEREST

VIJAYDURG

Vijaydurg (Fort Victory) of Gheria (the enclosure), (Devgad T,; 16° 32' N, 73° 22' E; p. 2506), is a minor port on the south shore of the entrance to the Vaghotan river, 170 miles south of Bombay. The nearest Railway Station is Kolhapur, 108 miles to the south-east.

One of the best harbours on the western coast, and without any bar, it may be entered in all weathers, and even for large ships is a safe south-west monsoon shelter. In the fine season, vessels may anchor anywhere in the harbour, the best position being a mud and clay bottom with three and a half fathoms at low water. Between Vijaydurg fort and the fortified cliffs to the north-east, the channel is six cables wide, with, at low water, depths of from twenty to twenty-four feet. Inside, it rapidly shoals, and two and a half cables further the low water depth is not more than twelve or thirteen feet. The deep channel, only one and a half cables broad, lies close to the left bank of the western shore, and except at high water spring tides, there is no room for large vessels to swing [It is high water on full and change of the moon at eleven hours, mean springs rise nine feet and neaps five feet. Taylor's Sailing Directory, 390.]. There is a light-house near the port. The village, small and poorly built, with little tillage and no industry but fishing, is connected with Vaghotan fifteen miles distant, and through the Phonda pass with the Deccan by a good but little used road. [By the early Europeans Vijaydurg, called Kharepatan from the town of that name twenty-five miles from its mouth, was thought one of the best of the Korikan ports. Dom Joao de Castro (Prim. Rot. da Costa da, India, 30) calls it (1538), the noblest and most favourite river in West India. The only big river without bar, or rocks, or other dangerous troubles. To enter wanted no skill, for whether you went by the middle or the side you always met with a kindly welcome and a good depth to anchor. About a century later (1660), Tavernier (Harris' Voyages, II. 360), calls it the best port in Bijapur with fourteen or fifteen fathoms of water near the land. Ogilby, 1670 (Atlas, V. 246) also mentions it as one of the best Konkan ports. After it was Arigre's capital, A. Hamilton (1710) mentions it as Gheria or Vizendruk, fortified by a strong castle washed by the sea (New Account, I. 246). In 1756 Sir W. James, surveying before the English attack, speaks of a ' very large' town between the fort and a hill to the south. The town seems to have been nothing but a large collection of palm leaf huts. Low's Indian Navy, I. 133. Its great natural advantages make it probable that the mouth of Vaghotan river is one of the oldest coast settlements. There seems reason to suppose that it is Ptolemy's (150) Byzantium, a Greek corruption of Vijaynta. See Weber in Ind. Ant. II. 148. Rashid-ud-din's (1310) Karoba has been thought to be the Gheria. Yule in Ind. Ant. III. 209.]

Trade.

The average turn-over of import and export at the port during 1953-58 was about 25,000 tons and about 25,000 passengers travel through the port every year. An old anchor (length 13½, breadth 8' and road circumference 2'), belonging to the Maratha Navy was found lying in water near the port for over hundred years and still in good condition. It was removed to the Maritime Museum, Bombay, from the port at the request of Captain J. R. Davis, Nautical Adviser to the Government of India on 5th February 1956.

Manufacture.

The local carpenters made much admired bison-horn ornaments of various kinds. But, the industry was very small and the craftsmen much indebted. No steps have been taken to encourage this industry and there is only one family at present doing this work as a subsidiary occupation.

Inside the fort is a large building formerly used as a store and now converted into an Inspection Bungalow by Government. It is used by Government officers while on tour. The old tank near the Inspection Bungalow is in a dilapidated condition. Police quarters are constructed just opposite the main-gate. Government have constructed a fish-curing yard at a cost of Rs. 15,000 in 1951 in front of the main-gate. Besides there is also a customs house, a small government bungalow and a dharmashala within the fort area.

Fort.

Never a place of much trade or wealth, the whole interest of the village centres in its fort. [The special interest of Vijaydurg is that its old Musalman buildings are less than in most forts, hidden under Maratha additions. Nairne's Konkan, 38. There is also a mosque and a tomb of a Musalman saint, the first in the centre of the fortress very near the flagstaff. Nairne in Ind. Ant. III, 320.] On the neck of rocky land that forms the south side of the bay, Vijaydurg, one of the best of Konkan fortresses, though not very striking from the sea side, rises grandly about 100 feet above the river. The walls, of very great strength and protected by twenty-seven bastions, rise, at their highest point, into a great round tower. On the west breached in several places by the sea, they are over their whole length loosened and ruined by trees and creepers. Their triple line of fortifications encloses about twenty acres, [Govt. List of Civil Forts, 1862.] overrun with bushes, but with some good wells and several large habitable buildings. [Bombay Government Gazette, 3rd July 1879, 699. In 1862, except a part of the first and third outer walls, the fort was in good repair. Water was abundant and supplies easily obtained. There were 278 old unserviceable guns Govt. List of Civil Forts, 1862.] The fort is probably old, enlarged under the Bijapur kings, and about the middle of the seventeenth century, much strengthened by Shivaji [Grant Duff, 85; Nairne's Konkan, 63.] to whom it owes its finest features, the triple line of walls, the numerous towers, and the massive interior buildings. [Nairne's in Ind. Ant. III. 320.] About forty years later (1698), Angre made it the capital of a territory stretching for about 150 miles along the coast and from thirty to sixty miles inland. For more than fifty years, Angles were a terror to all traders, and the English were forced to keep a special fleet to act against them. In April 1717, their ships of war, carrying a considerable body of troops, sailed against Gheria. An attempt to breach the wall failed, the storming party was driven back with great loss, and the fleet forced to withdraw. Three years later a joint Portuguese and English fleet under Mr. Walter Brown destroyed sixteen Angre's vessels, but made no impression on the fort. [Low's Indian Navy, I. 100; Nairne's Konkan, 80.] In the same year (April 1720), the. English ship, Charlctte, was attacked, and after a gallant defence, her power having run down, she was caught and taken into Gheria. [Low's Indian Navy, I. 100.] In 1724, a Dutch fleet from Batavia attacked the place, but with no better success. [Grant Duff, 231. There is said to have been another Dutch attack in 1735.] In 1736, Angre's vessels took the richly laden English East Indiaman Derby, the armed ship Restoration of twenty guns, and several other vessels of less note. In 1738, in an action between Angre's fleet and Commodore Bagwell, Angre's fleet fled up the Rajapur creek and escaped with little loss. [Low's Indian Navy, 1. 107: According to another account (Bom. Quar Rev. IV. 75) some of the Commodore's broadsides reached the enemy, causing much damage and killing the admiral.] Besides several captures from Dutch, Ahgre about this time took the French forty-gun ship Jupiter, with 400 slaves. In 1749, Mr., afterwards Sir William James was attacked by Angre's fleet, and after a hard fight, drove them to Gheria, pursuing them and causing great loss. [Low's Indian Navy, I. 127.] Next year, in spite of their defeat, they were bold enough to attack Commodore Lisle in command of a fleet of several vessels, among them the Vigilant of sixty-four and the Ruby of fifty guns. [Milburn's Oriental Commerce, 1. 296.]. Again jn February 1754, attacking three Dutch ships of fifty, thirty-six and eighteen-guns, they burnt the two large ones and took the third. Elated with this success, Angre built several vessels, set two large ships on the stocks, and boasted he should soon be master of the Indian seas. For long the Peshva and the Bombay Government planned Angre's ruin. At last, in 1755, it was settled that in the next fair season the Peshva's troops should attack him from land and the British by sea. At the close of the year (1755, Dec. 22), Commodore James was sent to survey Gheria fort then thought as strong as Gibraltar. He found that ships could get within point-blank shot; that on shore guns could be carried, and a diversion made from the tops of two hills; and that the fort was crowded with unprotected buildings. The place was surprisingly unlike what he had heard. [I assure you, Sir, it is not to be called high, nor, in my opinion strong. It is indeed a large mass of buildings, and I believe the walls may be thick. But that part of the works which fell under any observation and which was three quarters of their circumference is quite irregular, with round towers and long curtains in the eastern manner, and which discovered only thirty-two embrasures below and fifteen above. Commodore James, 21st Dec, (755; Ives' Voyages, 80).] The Bombay Government were fortunate in having their harbour, a Royal squadron under Admiral Watson and a strong detachment of troops under Lieutenant-Colonel, afterwards Lord Clive. On the 7th April 1756, the fleet of twelve men-of-war, six of the Royal and six of the Company's navy, with 800 European and 600 native troops, and five bomb vessels with a company of artillery, and four Maratha grabs and forty' gallivats sailed from Bombay. [The details were; Royal squadron, one 70 guns, one 66 guns, one 60 guns, one 50 guns, one 20 guns, and one 16 guns; Company's squadron, one 44 guns, four 28 guns, and one 16 guns. Of the native troops 300 were Portuguese and 300 sepoys. Low's Indian Nevy, I. 134. These details differ slightly from those given by Orme. Hist. Frag. 408-417 in Nairne's Konkan, 92.] Sending a few vessels ahead to block the harbour, the fleet arrived off Gheria on the eleventh. The Maratha land force, for some time afield, was camped against Gheria. Terrified by the strength of the British fleet, Tulaji Angre leaving the fort in his brother's charge, surrendered to the Maratha general. Hearing that the Maratha general had extorted from Tulaji, an order for the delivery of the fortress, Admiral Watson on the next morning (12th) summoned the fort to surrender. Getting no answer, the fleet with the afternoon sea breeze, forming two divisions, sailed each in line of battle ship covering a bomb ketch, and protecting the column of smaller vessels from the enemy's fire. They passed the point into the river, and under a heavy fire, anchoring fifty yards off the north fortifications, battered them from 150 pieces of cannon. Angre's ships were drawn up under the fort, all fastened together, and a shell setting one on fire, the whole were burnt. [One ship of 74 guns, eight grabs of from 20 to 30 guns, and sixty gallivats. Low's Indian Navy, I. 136. Of Angre's ships, Dr. Ives (1755) writes: "They are not unlike the Tartans of the Mediterranean, only a great deal lower; they carry two guns in the bow and vast number of men. Their music is a plain brass tube, shaped like a trumpet at both ends and about ten feet long, and a drum called a tom tom, a skin stretched on a large shallow brass pan on which they strike with two large sticks, and make an amazing noise. Among them are two ketches which thev call grabs. (' Ives ' Voyages, 43). Several of the gallivats had blue or green or white pendants like the Portuguese at their mast heads, and one had a white flag with a red cross in the middle. (Ditto, 80).] Another shell set fire to the buildings in the fort, and the tremendous cannonade silenced the fort guns. [According to another account the same fire which burnt the ships passed to a large vessel lying on the shore and from her to several smaller craft that were in the building yard. From there it was conveyed to the arsenal, storehouse, suburbs and city, and even to several parts of the fort, particularly to a square tower where it continued burning all the night with such violence that the stone walls appeared like red hot iron. Ive's Voyages, 85.] Still the commander held out. Learning that the fort was to be handed over to the Marathas, Colonel Clive landed and held the ground between the Peshva's army and the fort. Next morning the admiral again summoned the fort to surrender. The commandant asked for time to consult his brother. A respite was granted, till, in the afternoon, as no answer came, the bombardment was re-opened. By five O'clock the garrison surrendered, and Colonel Clive, marching in. took possession. [According to Dr. Ives (Voyages, 85), Colonel Clive making his approaches from land greatly annoyed the enemy. At a quarter after five he came to the Admiral's ship bringing an officer from the fort with the article of capitulation, which being agreed to by himself and the two Admirals, an English officer was sent in to take possession of the fort and to hoist English colours. Captains Forbes and Buchenan were, next, with sixty men, detained to see the garrison lay down their arms, and on the 14th at sunrise the Colonel and the whole army marched into the place.] Though the masonry was destroyed, the rock defences were so perfect, that a determined garrison need not have yielded to any sea attack. Fifteen hundred prisoners were taken; eight Englishmen [Ives (Voyages, 88). gives the names of ten Englishmen.] and three Dutchmen were rescued; and plunder, amounting besides stores to Rs. 12,50,000, was divided among the captors. [Milburn's Or. Com. I. 296. In Gheria were found 250 cannon, six brass mortars, an immense quantity of stores and ammunition, £ 10,000 in silver rupees, and £ 30,000 in valuable effects (Ives' Voyages, 86). According to Dr. Ives (Voyages, 81-82), a council of sea and land officers, held before setting out on the expedition, had, to avoid disputes, settled that Admiral Watson as commander-in-chief of the Kings squadron should have two-thirds of one-eighth of the spoil, and Rear-Admiral Pocock one-third of one-eighth, while Lieutenant-Colonel Clive and Major Chambers were to share equally with the captains of the King's ships. The captains of the Company's ships and captains of the army were to share equally with lieutenants of men-of-war and subaltern officers of the army, and lieutenants of the Company's ships with warrant officers of the navy. Afterwards the officers of the army, not liking that their Commander-in-Chief should share with Captains of men-of-war, the Admiral to satisfy them gave his own security to make Colonel Clive's portion equal to that of Admiral Pocock, making good the deficiency out of any moneys he himself might be entitled to. In this way, after Gheria fell, a sum of about £. 1,000 was found due to Colonel Clive from Admiral Watson. This Admiral Watson sent with his compliments, but Colonel Clive was generous enough to refuse it, saying that he would not deprive the Admiral of the contents of his private purse, and that he had appeared to accept of the terms only for the good of the service.] The ruin of Angle's navy was completed by the destruction of two sixty-gun ships on the stocks. Four of the Company's vessels and a detachment of 600 European and Indian troops were left to guard the harbour and fort. [Tulaji Angre remained, till his death a prisoner first in a fort, according to one account, near Raygad in Kolaba, according to another in Vandan near Satara (Grant Duff, I. 66), and afterwards in Sholapur. Low's Indian Navy, I. 136 Grant Duff, I. 66.]

The Bombay Government were very anxious to keep Gheria, and offered to give Bankot in exchange. To this the Peshva would not agree, and Gheria was handed over the following October. [Low's Indian Navy, I. 136.] The Peshva made it the headquarters of a district and the seat of his Admiral Anandrao Dhulap. Under the Peshva piracy flourished as vigorously as ever. In 1780, Anandrao attacked and captured an English ship carrying despatches to the Court of Directors, and imprisoned an officer in Rasalgad near Mahabaleshvar. Again in April 1782, in spite of a gallant resistance, he captured the Ranger of a ship of the Bombay Marine. [Grant Duff, 457 in Nairne's Konkan, 105.] In 1800, Lieutenant Hayes was sent to harass the pirates, but though he punished them severely, they were soon as troublesome as ever. In May 1818, Colonel Imlack, attempting to take Vijaydurg, was met by so heavy a fire, that his ships were forced to cut their cables and run. But the whole of the district had now passed to the British, and in June of the same year, the commandants, two brothers of the Dhulap family, surrendered. In the river was taken the Admiral's ship, 156 feet long, 33 beam and 430 tons burden [Waddington's Report in Asiatic Journal, IX. 123. On their surrender the Dhulap family were, by the Bombay Government, given two villages near Vijaydurg. Here they are still settled, and though impoverished by mortgages, hold an honourable place among Marathas, their daughters being fit matches for the highest families, Nairne's Konkan, 105.].

Two miles from the fort, on the same side of the river, is an old dock, hollowed out of the rock by Angre, 355 feet long and 227 in the broadest part, and said to have been able to hold vessels of 500 tons. [Waddington's Report in Asiatic Journal, IX. 123.] Though nearly chocked with mud the stone face and entrance may still be seen. There was also a small building yard and a mast house. [In 1819, the bottom of the dock, sloping gently upwards from the entrance, was thick with mud and sand. The gateway, 23 feet broad below and 37 above, stood open without gates. Of the walls parts on the south and east were cut in the rock; the rest was of masonry in good repair. From the south-east corner ran a stone-built water channel. Lieut. B. Dominicette, 9th June 1819; Public Diaries 432 of 1819, 1055.] On the creek two miles below the dock is a strong well built Martello tower called the Mitatya Buruj A little way from the fort, on the Vaghotan road, is the temple of Rameshvar, probably 100 years old, built by Gangadhar Bhanu a brother of Nana Fadnis (1720-1800). An ordinary temple with a large rest-house lying deep in a glen, its chief interest is the approach about 250 yards long, cut through rock fifty feet deep. The idol, a four-armed figure seated on a bull, is of solid silver said to weigh a hundredweight and is in good condition at present.

There is a big well at the entrance of the temple and also a high wooden mast used on a flag-pole by the temple authorities. The management of the temple at present rests with trustees five in number, appointed by the Civil Court in 1914. This Deosthan holds inam land and also a cash allowance of Rs. 334 per year from Government. The trustees have repaired the temple from time to time since 1914. The temple at present is in good condition. A fair is held for six days in the month of Magha every year which is attended by about 5,000 people from nearby villages.

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