North and Central Konkan Bike Trip 17-18 and 24-26 January, 2009

I always dreamt of biking the whole of Konkan, and covering it unlike others. Sea forts and the glorious history of Konkan is something that has always intrigued me. Last week, I did a solo trip to North Konkan in which I covered Arnala fort and the Bassein fort. I also visited a really old church at Vasai. Arnala is a small fishing village about 17 kms from Virar. The Arnala fort is on a small island. The island houses a village, fort and a private resort. A mosque and a temple peacefully co-exist inside, without any qualms. The watch tower (Buruj) at the tip of the island is a source of mysterious stories.

The fort was originally constructed in 1516 by a local chieftain of Gujarat, Sultan Mahmud Begda. In 1530s, the Portuguese, after establishing at Bassein (Vasai), conquered this fort, started reconstruction and named it as Ilhas das vocas. The Portuguese retained control of the fort for over 2 centuries. In 1737, Chimaji Appa, brother of Baji Rao I, took control of Bassein fort in a battle, the Battle of Vasai. Soon after this, Shankarji Pant, Chimaji's general persuaded him to take on Portuguese to get Arnala Fort. The first attack was routed by Portuguese' naval force. Soon it was followed by a second assualt, which took Portuguese by surprise and they lost control of the fort. Marathas controlled the fort till 1817, when they were attacked by British and forced to surrender.

The Portuguese established a fort in Bassein, present day Vasai, on the mainland just north of the Bombay archipelago. The fort was fronted by a harbour. With this as the main base, they built other smaller forts, and strong houses in many of the islands. In the 18th century the fort was attacked by the Maratha army under Baji Rao Peshwa, and fell in 1739 after a three year long campaign.

The remains of the fort can be reached by bus or taxi from the Vasai railway station. The ramparts overlook Vasai creek and are almost complete, though overgrown. Several watch-towers still stand, with safe staircases leading up.

The Portuguese buildings inside the fort are in ruins, although there are enough standing walls to give a good idea of the floor plans of these structures. Some have well-preserved facades. In particular, many of the arches have weathered the years remarkably well. They are usually decorated with carved stones, some weathered beyond recognition, others still displaying sharp chisel marks.

Three chapels inside the fort are still recognizable. They have facades typical of 17th century Portuguese churches. The southernmost of these has a well preserved barrel vaulted ceiling.

I had a nice time visiting these places solo. The road from Vasai to Arnala was gorgeous, and passed through typical and small villages with a lot of Banana and Chickoo plantations around. An interesting thing about Arnala was that the Arnala village is mostly Christian/Hindu koli community whereas the residents inside the fort referred to as ‘killedars’ are the Muslim fisher folk. Bassein fort was a nice place, and a commanding structure too. A typical feature of Portuguese forts (which was re affirmed at Revdanda in the weeks to come), was that there are 4 to 5 storey high structures (generally watch towers...see pic). I have not seen such kind of architecture in Mughal or Maratha forts.

Moving on to Central Konkan…

I had drafted an itinerary and invited fellow bikers to join me for the trip. I got some responses and finally we were 4 bikers who left on the morning of the 24^th of January. We headed straight to Alibaug via Pen. At Pen, two bikers from Pune viz. Girija and Gaurav joined us. Anurag and I had started together from Bombay. We reached Alibaug at around 9:30 am. It was high tide and the magnificent Alibaug (Kulaba) fort could be seen a mile into the sea. We decided to finish Alibaug fort right away and head south, instead of what we had through earlier, where we were to synchronize with the tide timings and walk to the fort. We hired a relatively expensive speed boat (Rs.100 per person and six can fit in a boat) to the fort, although the ride compensated for the cost. We alighted into the crystal clear waters of the fort. I had already changed into my slippers, whereas others were struggling to keep their shoes dry! Built on a rock island near Alibag town, 112kms south of Mumbai, the Kulaba fort is an imposing structure, measuring roughly 275 metres from north to south and 100 metres from east to west.

The height of the fort-wall varies from 6 to 8 metres at different places. It has a wide parapet with 17 bastions. The main gateway of the fort, called Maha Darwaja (see pic), is in the north-east corner and faces the city. The teak-door had strong iron-spikes driven in them. There is also a small gate on its southern side. The masonry of the fort is without lime mortar. Inside the fort there is a fresh water tank, a well and several temples, the Ganapati temple being still in good condition. In the northern corner of the parapet, there still stand two English canons facing the open sea. To the south of the fort was ship-dock, visible even now at low-tide.

The Kulaba fort was Shivaji’s last construction and was completed almost on the eve of his death in April, 1680. It attained importance under the Angres (Kanhoji Angre was the Maratha Naval Chief) and was the main base of the Maratha navy. It had palaces for the members of the Angre family, houses for their officers and storing arrangements for grain and other necessities. None of the buildings have survived. The rule of the Angres, who were also known as Kulabkar, came to an end in 1840 AD.

To the north of the main fort, there is a small fort-like structure called Sarjyakot (see pic), sometimes referred to as the 18th bastion of Kulaba. Sarjyakot was constructed to answer the artillery of Hirakot situated on the Alibag shore.

We returned to Alibaug in around an hour and a half. By the time we reached, there was a lot of crowd at the beach and near the pier as a lot of picnickers had flocked here to make the most of the long weekend. We had some coconut water and moved towards our next destination Korlai fort.

Korlai fort is about 30 kms south of Alibaug. One has to pass through the famous settlements of Chaul, Revdanda, and Korlai. While crossing Revdanda, I could see the Korlai fort on my right and it looked so inviting. It is built in a hill which intrudes into the sea. The population of the Korlai village is around 3000. It has separate sections for the Christians, Hindus and Muslims. A small community of less than a thousand people in Korlai, especially the descendants of the original converts to Christianity, still speaks a unique language known as Portuguese Creole (a blend of Portuguese and local Marathi). It is also called ‘Kristi’ language, that is, the language spoken by the Christians. The locals refer this language as ‘Naw Ling’, meaning ‘our language’. This language originated among the Christian farming community in upper Korlai from around 1520.

After the Portuguese vacated Korlai in 1740, following their defeat by the Marathas, there has been little contact between the local community and Portugal. In spite of this, the Portuguese Creole has continued for nearly three centuries as a result of relative cultural isolation of this village.

For many years, Korlai and its Christian inhabitants were relatively isolated from the Marathi-speaking Hindus and Muslims surrounding them. With the improvement in transport and communication, the isolation of the Korlai village has broken down and the more dominant languages such as Marathi and Hindi are increasingly spoken by the younger generations. Hence, the Portuguese Creole of Korlai is gradually on the verge of fading away.

There are two routes to the top of the hill where the fort is situated. The right side route, a narrow walking path climbs up through acacia trees to the top. The left side rough road near the beach leads to a light house. From behind the light house there are flights of steep steps leading to the western entrance of the fort. We took the latter route and reached the western entrance of the fort facing the sea.

The Korlai fort is 2,828 feet long, and its average breadth is 89 feet. The fort can be entered by eleven gates, of which four are outer and seven are inner. Except the outer wall on the eastern slope, the fort is in a fairly good condition.

The top of the hill is bastioned and surrounded by a parapet. It has a large underground rain-water tank with three openings, each one foot wide. The water from this tank is supplied to the rest house near the lighthouse. The temple of Ratneshwar is located near the water-tank. We also came across the ruins of the church which is now partially roofless, except for the coffered vault in the chancel.

There are three Portuguese inscriptions (see pic) within the fort. Over one of the inscriptions surmounted by a cross is a coat of arms with a shield, the Portuguese star in the center surrounded by seven castles. The other inscriptions, one over the chief entrance, the other over an altar in the chapel, are worn out and unreadable.

Going westwards we came across two bastions, the one on seaside is called San Diago and the one on the creek side is called San Francisco. In all there are seven bastions originally bearing the names of Christian saints. However, during the Maratha occupation of the fort (1740-1818) these bastions were given Marathi names.

Korlai was initially known as the ‘Rock of Chaul’. According to an article written by Prof Clancy Clements, Portuguese invaders arrived on the Konkan coast in 1505, and captured the Revdanda and Chaul forts by 1523. Following conversions to Christianity among the local inhabitants, the Portuguese replaced Marathi with their own Portuguese language in certain coastal areas.

Between 1505 and 1594, the Portuguese army fought several wars with local rulers and finally established their supremacy over the region in 1594. The Korlai Fort was captured from the Nizamshahi rulers of Ahmednagar and a village (Korlai) was established at the foothills. The Portuguese built the St Mathews Church in the fort around 1630 for the use of the army.

In 1684, Chatrapati Sambhaji, son of Chatrapati Shivaji made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the fort from the Portuguese. The Korlai Fort was finally conquered by the Marathas in 1740 and later acquired by the British in 1818 following the final defeat of the Marathas.

We also managed to get a 'guided tour' of the Korlai lighthouse (see pic) courtesy of Mr. Khan, who is the caretaker there. He explained to us the functioning of the lighthouse and some intricacies too. It was built by a French company.

It was quite hot now, and we were quite drained and hungry. But we needed to head to Murud Janjira before stopping for lunch. It was around 20 kms south of where we were. The road was not the best, but was okay. We crossed the beautiful Kashid beach before reaching Murud village. I also saw the locked palace (see pic) of the Nawab of Murud. There was a board warning trespassers against trying to enter it. It belongs to the descendants of the Siddi royal family; although they now supposedly reside in Indore. We had our awfully oily lunch at the only visible restaurant, post which we headed for the grand Murud Janjira. Being a weekend, and Murud Janjira being so popular anyway, there were a lot of people who were going/returning from the fort. A sizeable chunk of the people around us were Muslims, and of distinct Persian descent. We took a boat to reach the small and only entrance of the grand Murud Janjira (see pic).

Janjira is one of the strongest marine forts of India (the word ‘Janjira’ is a corruption of the Arabic word Jazira for island). The fort is approached by sailboats from Rajapuri jetty. The main gate of the fort faces Rajapuri on the shore and can be seen only when one is quite close to it. It has a small postern gate towards the open sea for escape. The fort has 19 rounded bastions, still intact. There are many canons of native and European make rusting on the bastions. Now in ruins, the fort in its heyday had all necessary facilities, e.g., palaces, quarters for officers, mosque, a big fresh water tank, etc. On the outer wall flanking the main gate, there is a sculpture depicting a tiger-like beast clasping elephants in its claws. This sculpture, its meaning difficult to interpret, appears on many fort-gates of Maharashtra.

Originally the fort was small wooden structure built by a Koli chief in the late 15th century. It was captured by Pir Khan, a general of Nizamshah of Ahmednagar. Later the fort was strengthened by Malik Ambar, the Abyssinian Siddi regent of Ahmednagar kings. From then onward Siddis became independent, owing allegiance to Adilshah and the Mughals as dictated by the times. Despite their repeated attempts, the Portuguese, the British and the Marathas failed to subdue the Siddi power. Shivaji’s all attempts to capture Janjira fort failed due to one reason or the other. It is one of the only ‘unconquered’ forts in India. When Sambhaji also failed, he built another island fort, known as Kansa or Padmadurg (see pic), just 9kms north of Janjira. Padmadurg was visible to our north to us. India’s third largest canon named ‘Kalal Bangdi’(see pic) is at this fort, and it is believed that when the enemies knew that the ‘Kalal Bangdi’ was ready to fire, most of them fled any way. It had a range of 12 km. In the limited time we had, I managed to run and cover the whole fort. There was absolutely no one on its rear side, owing to the limited time we had.

We headed back to Murud and clicked some beautiful pictures of the setting sun (see pic), against the fort’s backdrop. We had to leave immediately, as I had decided that we must reach and halt for the night at Indapur, on NH17, so that tomorrows journey to Harnai would be simpler. We managed to somehow reach Indapur negotiating the darkness, mosquitoes, and unknown roads, only to find no accommodation at Indapur. We finally managed to find a good (too good for my budget) place to stay on the highway in between Indapur and Mangaon. We enjoyed a nice meal, where I chose to relish on sea food. The next morning, one of the bikers, Girija, decided that he has to head back to Pune for some reason. I tried convincing him against it, but to no avail.

The remaining three of us headed towards Khed in the morning at 6:30 am. After a few kilometers, Gaurav’s Thunderbird’s clutch cable gave away. I had to race ahead to stop Anurag and get him back. It was decided that they will wait, slowly head to Mangaon or someplace, fix it, and meet me at Harnai in the afternoon. I reached Khed solo at 9 30 am or so. After a quick breakfast and some research, I made up my mind to first go to Dabhol from Dapoli instead of Harnai. I wanted to visit Gopalgad fort at Anjanvel. The road to Dabhol was not the best. It had many cashew plantations around. I reached Dabhol in an hour, and was greeted by the excellent views of Dabhol and a creek separating it from Anjanvel and Guhagar (see pic). On reaching Dabhol, I found out that the Eicher India Map Book in association with the Survey General of India has let me down, as it failed to indicate that there was no bridge connecting Dabhol to Anjanvel. Luckily, there was a ferry service, which was a large boat like thing that could take cars, bikes, people and even buses across the creek waters. The ‘launch’ (as that vessel is referred to commonly) got a tourist bus from the other side, which struggles to alight at the Dabhol side’s pier. We had to wait for a good thirty minutes there watching the fun. I met a group of people with their families and luxury cars. They turned out to be senior managers at Infosys and Wipro.

Finally, we crossed over to the other side, and I headed to Anjanvel, which was at a distance of 11 km from the jetty. I passed through the massive Enron project of the Dabhol power plant. There were a couple of other groups at the fort, which overlooks the sea. There is a moat around it (see pic), securing the land entrance. Gopalgadh (Anjanwale Fort) located at the top of the mountain this fort covers 7 acres area. In it there is a place called 'Padkot' where there are pillars which reach out to the sea. It is believed that in the year 1699. It was built by Siddhi Khairath Khan. It has assumed importance due to Dabhol creek. The fall of Maratha Kingdom was seen by this fort and as such has historical importance. Shivaji Maharaj captured this fort in 1660. At that time a godown was built for Maratha troops. In the year 1699 Khairath Khan captured this fort and it was under his control for 46 years. In 1736 Chimaji Appa captured it. In 1745 Tulaji Angre captured it until then the fort was known as Govalkot, but due to Angre it came to be known as Gopalgad. During the Peshwa rule Sardar Biwalkar captured it and t was under Maratha rule till 1880.

I explored the fort and got to see a few rare birds around. This place is known for its migratory birds (see pic). After exploring the fort, I headed back to the jetty. Again, my bad luck struck. The vessel’s turbine had stopped working on the other side, so we were all stuck. To go to Dabhol/Harnai by road from here meant and extra 80 km! No way! I headed to the passenger jetty hoping to convince some one to take my bike in a boat there. After spending some ½ hr there, I managed to persuade a small boat to take me to the other side. Another biker (local) also joined me. After we got to the other side, getting the bike out was another pain. As we landed at the passenger jetty, there was no pier there, and there were steps instead. I had to request 5-6 people to help me pick up my beast step by step. Every one was surprised as to what a solo rider from Bombay on a sexy looking Karizma is doing in Dabhol! Without even having any lunch, I hurried towards Harnai. Anurag and Gaurav had reached and were already relaxing at a resort on the Karde beach near Harnai.

I reached the Harnai village by 4:40 pm. Gaurav and Anurag has confirmed that they were tired and not inclined towards visiting Suvarnadurg (see pic). The island fort of Suvarnadurg stands close to Harne in Ratnagiri Distric, a natural harbour famous for fishing and its marketing. A very strong fort, its walls are cut out of solid rock and the ramparts are raised by using huge square blocks. No mortar was used in the walls. The fort has many bastions and a postern gated on the western side. The hidden main gate opens towards the east. It has on its threshold a carved figure of a tortoise and on the side wall, that of Maruti (Hanuman). Inside the fort there were several buildings, water tanks and a place for ordinance. All the buildings are now in ruins.

The fort was probably built by the Bijapur kings in the 17th century. Captured and strengthened by Shivaji, it became a stronghold of Maratha navy and remained with the Peshwas till 1818 AD. It was one of the main naval bases of the Angres.

Gova, Kanakadurg and Fatehgarh forts on the mainland are separated from Suvarnadurg by a narrow channel. The small Gova fort was stronger than the other two. It has two gates, one towards the land and another towards the sea. On the wall of the sea-gate there are carved figures of a tiger, eagle and elephants. The old buildings inside the fort are in ruins. Kanakadurg has the sea on three sides. Nothing remains of the fort, except two broken bastions. There is a light at its highest point. Fatehgarh is in complete ruins. Most probably, these three small forts were built by Kanhoji Angre (1667-1729AD) to protect Suvarnadurg from the land route.

I reached the pier (which is largely surrounded by fishing boats) and inquired about boats to the fort. Unfortunately for me, the wind was blowing hard now, and so the boats (small ones unlike the ones that take you to Murud) will not venture into the sea. I clicked a few pictures of the grand looking fort and resigned to my luck. The boatmen did offer to take me there tomorrow morning, but I knew that I wouldn’t have time then. I met an Israeli couple, and interacted with them for some time. They were the first foreign tourists that I had seen all through this trip (all of them just go to Goa I guess!). I headed to Karde beach and tried to find the other guys but couldn’t. I was busy capturing the gorgeous sunset anyway (see pic). Post sunset, we met and headed to the resort. These guys had got a wonderful place, quite expensive. I stayed there in an extra bed. The view from the room’s window was fantastic. I had dinner at the hotel’s buffet, which was excellent. We were dead tired and my cervical was aching badly. We rested for the night and woke up only by 7 am.

After checking out and cleaning our bikes, we headed back. At Mahad, I told these guys to carry on towards Bombay, as I had planned to go back to Revdanda and Chaul to cover some things that we had missed earlier. I left the NH17 at Kolad and reached Revdanda via Roha.

Formely known as Chaul Fort, it is now popularly called as Revdandakot because the Revdanda village lies within the fort walls. There are many names to this fort. Some say it falls in 'Revdanda-Agarkot-Chaul' complex. However, Chaul town is now situated 4km away from Revdanda and villages in this proximity all share a common bazaar at Chaul.

Formely a Portuguese town, Chaul is situated about 350km north of Goa and 60km south of Mumbai, at the mouth of the Kundalika river. Chaul was located on the low Northern bank, opposed to a promontory (cape/peninsula) on the South bank, which was called "Morro de Chaul" (Mount of Chaul) or Korlai. In 1521 Chaul was brought under the Portuguese control, and in the same year, the first fort was built. In October 1531, they erected a massive, square stone fortress at Chaul, which also contained a church and dwelling-houses for 120 men and this fortress was named "Santa Maria do Castello" (Saint Maria of Castello). The Portuguese town developed around this castle. However, 1558, a treaty was enforced prohibiting the expansion of the town's fortification. In Nov 1570, Chaul was attacked by Nizam Shah. He laid siege for months and the town was reduced to shambles. However, in July 1571, the siege was raised and a treaty was signed. After the siege, the town was rebuilt, and the town walls with several bastions was built around it. In April 1592, the Moors from Africa, began a new siege of Chaul, but after an hard battle, the Portuguese succeeded to supress the attack. In 1594, the Portuguese, conquered the adjoining fortress of the "Morro de Chaul" - Korlai. Owing to the repeated attacks by the Moors against Chaul, in 1613, new defense works were carried out.

The Portuguese power declined and Chaul, slowly, lost his importance. In March 1739, Chaul and the fortress of "Morro de Chaul" (Korlai Fort) were besieged by the Maratha Navy commandeered by Kanhoji Angre. On 18 September 1740, a treaty was signed and Chaul was handed over to the Marathas.

I also saw the ruins of the famous Saint Barbara tower inside the fort (see pic). The tower was originally seven storeys high, and one could see Bombay from its top. Its now in ruins and only 3 of the 7 storeys now stand. After exploring the Revdanda fort and the ruins of a Portuguese church and a seminary, I headed to see the oldest (in use) church of Revdanda. It was a small Mother Mary church (see pic).

I was curiously looking around when a gentleman asked me if I would like to go inside. I said I would love too. He then introduced himself as Issac Saporkar (see pic in white shirt), the custodian of the keys. He was Jewish, of ‘Bene Israel’ descent. He was the head of one of the six Jewish families that live in Chaul and Revdanda. He had distinct Israeli features, even though his language was that of a local Maharashtrian. The local hindus and Issac Saporkar refer to Mother Mary as ‘Devi’ and sometimes ‘Samudra Devi’. Issac Saporkar also added that on Sundays, Christians from Korlai come to this church for their mass.

I had lunch at a small restaurant nearby and headed to my final destination of the trip; one which was hard to find…one that was lost in time. I was trying to find the Samadhi of the famous Maratha naval chief Kanhoji Angre. Born in the town of Alibag, little is known about his early life except that he was involved in daring exploits at sea and that his father was Tanoji Angre, a commander under Maratha Chhatrapati (Emperor) Shivaji.He spent much of his childhood in the fort at Suvarnadurg Fort, of which he would later become governor.

He was originally appointed as Darya-Saranga by the chief of Satara in 1698. Under that authority, he was master of the Western coast of India from Mumbai to Vingoria (now Vengurla) in present day state of Maharashtra, except for the property of the Muslim Siddis of Janjira who were affiliated with the powerful Mughal Empire. Kanhoji initially started by attacking merchant ships of the British East India Company and slowly gained respect from the sovereign and notoriety with the colonial powers. When Maratha Chattrapati Shahu ascended the leadership of the Maratha kingdom, he appointed Balaji Viswanath Bhatt as his Senakarta ('Commander'), and negotiated an agreement with Angre around 1707. This was partly to appease Angre who supported the other ruler who claimed the Maratha throne, Tarabai. Under the agreement, Angre became head of the Maratha navy. He also played a role in the Maratha conflicts against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who was camped in the Deccan.

He was born into the Agri tribes of northern Konkan, which is one of the aboriginal (Adivasi) tribes of the Deccan, although some Western accounts have described him of being of an African (Habshi) extraction.

After spending half an hour trying to locate Kanhoji’s samadhi, I found it behind a very old temple, hidden by the thick vegetation around it (see pic). I clicked a few photos and paid my respect to a great warrior. I was experiencing a sense of completion after this. I headed back to Bombay and reached home by around 5 pm on the 26th of Jan. My odometer had clocked 770 kms over the last three days. It was a magnificent trip, which re-emphasized my outlook that Konkan was probably the most important place in world, as it had all the major powers of the world vying to control it. I am already looking forward to my third and final phase of Konkan, in which I shall cover south Konkan and Goa.