Saturday, March 22, 2025

Instances When Indian Rulers Defeated Foreign Powers

 BATTLE OF VASAI OR BASSEIN(MARATHAS VS PORTUGESE)(1739)

BACKGROUND(PORTUGESE RULE OF VASAI AND MAHARASHTRA IN THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES)

The region around Sopara(or Nala Sopara) in Western Maharashtra was an important trading hub from the ancient times.

Ruins of the Sopara Buddhist stupa

Towns surrounding that region like Bassein,Kalyan,Chaul etc were into trade and thus that entire region including Goa and the Malabar coast caught the attention of the Portugese.

The Portugese got control of this region(Coast of Maharashtra) in the 16th century and Bassein specifically in 1530.

This region ruled by the Portugese was called the Provincia do Norte(Province of the North) which included important cities like Thane, Bombay, Revdanda, Bacaim(Basseim) etc.

Bassein,which was 50 km north of Bombaim(Bombay) was also an important trading city and its sources of wealth was trade in horses,fish,salt,timber,basalt and granite.

ATROCITES OF THE PORTUGESE IN THE 16TH CENTURY AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH GUJARAT SULTANATE

When the Portugese reached the western coast of India,the Gujarat Sultanate had control of parts of Western Maharashtra.

In 1530,Portugese army captain Antonio da Silveira burnt the city of Bassein and continued to burn and loot upto Bombay when the king of Thane surrendered Mahim and Bombaim.

This surrendering of cities by the native rulers led to furthur expansion of the Province of the North and finally Antonio de Saldanha plundered Bassein again when Bahadur Shah(Gujarat Sultan) refused to surrender Diu.

In 1533,Diogo de Sylveira burnt the entire coast from Bandora(Bandra),Thane,Bacaim to Surat and brought about 4000 slaves to Goa from these areas.

The next target of the Portugese under Nuno da Cunha was Diu as it was an important island to protect their trade.But they found that the Governor of Diu Malik Ayaz’s son was fortifying Diu with 14,000 men.

Vasai fort

Nuno de Cunha

Nuno de cunha with a fleet of 150 ships and 4000 men sailed to Bassein as Diu was being fortified by Malik Tokan(Malik Ayyaz’s son) .

Malik Tokan wanted to have peace with them but the peace treaty was rejected and the Portugese destroyed the fortifications of Bassein and Diu.

On 23rd December,1534,the Gujarat Sultan Bahadur Shah signed a peace treaty with the Portugese and gave away Thane,Surat,Bombay,Worli,Bassein Siao,Mazgao,Bandra etc.

Later the governorship of this region was given to Antonio Galvano and then to Jorge Cabral.

Jorge Cabral

Forceful religious conversion to christianity started soon after St Francis Xavier reached this region and about 9 churches were built here.

In 1573, about 1600 people were baptized.

IN THE 17TH CENTURY

Religious conversions continued and churches were built.This region became prosperous under the Portugese(mostly they benefitted from it).

Many foreign traders like the arabs used to visit this Province of the North

St James Church,Agashi

But with time,the Portugese government in India became inefficient with frequent transfer of officers and also the Goan inquisition which alienated the Iberian union(Spain+Portugal) from the Province of the North.

The Government became corrupt also and the society here was mainly dependent on slave labour.Their intolerance to other religions also caused harm to the economy of this region.

EARLY INVASIONS UNDER CHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ

In 1674,More Pundit got hold of Kalyan and forced the Portugese to pay him 1/4th of Bassein’s revenue.

Two years later,Shivaji maharaj also invaded this region which was a serious threat to the Portugese.

MARATHA CONQUEST OF THE 18TH CENTURY

In 1720,Kalyan was captured by the Marathas and in 1737,Thane,Parsia,Trangipara and all the major cities of the Salsette island were captured by them.

By 1736,when the Portugese were busy fortifying Thane,the locals,tired of opression under the Portugese,invited the Marathas to rule them.

The Ghodbunder fort,Thane(built by the Portugese)

After conquering these regions,Chimaji Appa(brother of Baji Rao the first) and others took the church bells from Vasai and installed them in the hindu temples like the Khandoba mandir.

The Khandoba mandir(where the Churchbells of Vasai were installed)

SIEGE OF BASSEIN(1739)

In February 1739,Chimaji Appa with 40,000 infantry,25,000 cavalry and 4,000 soldiers trained in laying mines reached Bhadrapur(close to Bassein).Futhurmore he had 5,000 camels and 50 elephants.

More soldiers joined from Salsette later and the army strength rose to 1,00,000!

Statue of Chimaji Appa

The Portugese,alarmed by this threat started vacating Bandra,Versova etc and moved to Bassein to defend it from the Marathas.

They started fortifying Bassein.

A maratha general Manaji Angre took control of Uran from the Portugese and later joined with Chimaji.

They captured Thana and Dharavi and gheraoed Bassein completely.

The marathas also installed cannons there.

A maratha cannon

There were two towers in Vassai-Sao Sebastios and Remedios in the Vasai fort.

They were repeatedly attacked through cannons,mines by Chimaji Appa,Malhar Rao Holkar the first,Ranoji Shinde and Manaji Angre on 1st May,1739 and the Portugese retaliated with guns and muskets.

On 2nd May,4000 marathas tried to pour into the Vasai fort and by 3rd May,the Sebastios tower and Remedios towers were demolished.

Vasai fort

The encirclement and defeat of the Portugese was complete and they were asked to surrender.

The Portugese under General Martinho De Silva finally surrendered on 16th May,1739.

On 23rd May,the saffron flag flew atop the Vassai fort.