Janjira State जंजिरा रियासत | |||||||
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Princely State of British India In union with Jafrabad (1759–1948) | |||||||
1489–1948 | |||||||
Flag | |||||||
Janjira State, 1896 | |||||||
Area | |||||||
• 1931 | 839 km2 (324 sq mi) | ||||||
Population | |||||||
• 1931 | 110,389 | ||||||
History | |||||||
• Established | 1489 | ||||||
1948 | |||||||
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Today part of | Maharashtra, India |
Janjira State was a princely state in India during the British Raj. [1] Its rulers were a Siddi dynasty of Habesha descent [1] and the state was under the suzerainty of the Bombay Presidency.
Janjira State was located on the Konkan coast in the present-day Raigad district of Maharashtra. The state included the towns of Murud and Shrivardhan, as well as the fortified island of Murud-Janjira, just off the coastal village of Murud, which was the capital and the residence of the rulers. The state had an area of 839 km2, not counting Jafrabad, and a population of 110,389 inhabitants in 1931. Jafrabad, or Jafarabad state was a dependency of the Nawab of Janjira State located 320 km to the NNW.
According to one legend, in the year 1489 the Ahmadnagar Sultanate sent its Admiral Piram Khan (of Ethiopian descent) with orders to capture the Murud-Janjira castle from Ram Patil. Owing to the castle's fortifications, the Admiral could not attack conventionally.
He and his team disguised themselves as merchants and asked Ram Patil to safeguard their three hundred large boxes containing silks and wines from Surat. As thanks, Piram Khan threw a party with wine. Once Ram Patil and his soldiers were intoxicated, Piram Khan opened the boxes, which contained his soldiers, and used the opportunity to capture the castle and the island on which it stands. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
In the century that followed the rulers put themselves under the overlordship of the Sultanate of Bijapur. During the seventeenth and eighteenth century Janjira successfully resisted the repeated attacks of the Maratha Empire.
According to Ottoman records, a combined force from the Ottomans and Janjira mariners routed a Portuguese fleet in 1587 at Yemen. [8] From this moment onwards Janjira played an important role in resisting Portuguese influence in the region. [9]
There's further record of Cooperation with the Ottoman Empire when the Ottoman fleet first arrived in Aceh prior to Ottoman expedition to Aceh has included 200 Malabar sailors from Janjira State to aid the region Batak and the Maritime Southeast Asia in 1539. [10]
According to one records at one time Mughal emperor Aurangzeb supplied the Siddis of Janjira state with 2,000 men, provisions, ammunitions along with two Frigates and two large Man-of-war battleships. The ship arrived at Bombay harbor under the commands of Siddi Kasim and Siddi Sambal in 1677. [11] The largest Mughal ship named Ganj-I-Sawai (Trading Ship) which was equipped with 800 guns and 400 musketeer type soldiers also stationed in the port of Surat. [12]
Another record from an East India Company factory[ which? ] written 1673 reported the Siddi fleet which wintered from Bombay had five Frigates, two Man-of-wars, and fifteen Grabs. It was because the formidable naval warfare skills of the Siddis in Janjira that Aurangzeb was granting an annual payment of 400.000 Rupees for the maintenance of their fleet.[ citation needed ]
The main competitor of the Sidis was the Angrias, a Maratha family with sea forts and ships, based in southern Konkan. [13]
In 1733, Peshwa Bajirao of the Maratha Empire launched a campaign against the Siddis of Janjira. Bajirao's forces, however, did not take Janjira fort, though they captured much of the surrounding area; a favorable treaty gave the Marathas indirect control over virtually all of the Sidi's lands. [13]
When the British came to the Konkan area, the repeated attacks of the Marathas against Janjira ceased. Janjira State was administered as part of the Deccan States Agency of the Bombay Presidency, founded in 1799. In the nineteenth century the rulers maintained a military force of 123 men. [14]
Following the independence of India in 1947, the state was merged with India.
The royal family of Janjira were Sidis, also known as 'Habshi', assumed to be from Abyssinia. Initially the rulers of the state held the title of 'Wazir', but after 1803 the title of 'Nawab' was officially recognized by the British Raj. They were entitled to an 11 gun salute by the British authorities after the 1903 Coronation Durbar. [15] [16]
Bajirao I, born as Visaji, was the 7th Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy.
Sambhaji, also known as Shambhuraje was the second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire, ruling from 1681 to 1689. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire. Sambhaji's rule was largely shaped by the ongoing wars between the Maratha Empire and the Mughal Empire, as well as other neighbouring powers such as the Abyssinians of Janjira, Wadiyars of Mysore and the Portuguese Empire in Goa. After Sambhaji's death, his brother Rajaram I succeeded him as the next Chhatrapati and continued the Mughal–Maratha Wars.
Kanhoji Angre, also known as Conajee Angria or Sarkhel Angré was a chief of the Maratha Navy in present-day India. Kanhoji became known for attacking and capturing European merchant ships and collecting jakat, seen by Europeans traders and colonists as ransoming of their crews. British, Dutch and Portuguese ships often fell victims to these raids. Despite attempts by the Portuguese and British to put an end to his privateering activities, Angre continued to capture and collect jakat from European merchant ships until his death in 1729. Kanhoji's naval prowess in capturing dozens of European trading ships and avoiding capture has led to many historians to appraise Kanhoji as the most skilled Indian navy chief in the maritime history of India.
Balaji Vishwanath Bhat (1662–1720) was the first of a series of hereditary Peshwas hailing from the Bhat family who gained effective control of the Maratha Empire and the Mughal vassals of the Marathas during the early 18th century. Balaji Vishwanath assisted a young Maratha king Shahu to consolidate his grip on a kingdom that had been racked by civil war and persistently intruded on by the Mughals under Aurangzeb. He was called the Second Founder of the Maratha State. He secured a grant from the Mughal court that confirmed Shahu as the legitimate Mughal vassal, at the expense of his rival Sambhaji. Later, his son Bajirao I became the Peshwa.
The Mazagaon Fort was a British fort in Mazagaon, Bombay, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, built around 1680. The fort was razed by the Muslim Koli general, Yakut Khan in June 1690. The fort was located at the present-day Joseph Baptista Gardens, atop Bhandarwada Hill outside the Dockyard Road railway station.
Murud-Janjira is the local name of a famous fort and tourist spot situated on an island just off the coastal town of Murud, in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. Malik Ambar is credited with the construction of the Janjira Fort in the Murud Area of present-day Maharashtra India. After its construction in 1567 AD, the fort was key to the Sidis withstanding various invasion attempts by the Marathas, Mughals, and Portuguese to capture Janjira.
Malik Ambar was a military leader who served as the Peshwa of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate in the Deccan region of India.
Murud is a town and a municipal council in Raigad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated at a distance of 150 km (93 mi) from Mumbai, Murud is a tourist destination. The Palace of Nawab is located in Murud. The palace was built in 1885 for administration purposes. The palace is still owned by the descendants of the Nawab and is a private property.
Padmadurg, also known as Kasa fort, is one of five historical sea forts built by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and located in Raigad District Maharashtra, India. It was built by the Marathas to challenge another seaport, Janjira which was controlled by the Siddis.
Mercenaries in India were fighters, primarily peasants, who came from India and abroad, to fight for local rulers in India in the medieval period. This mercenary work became an important source of income for some communities.
The Khokari tombs are three 500-year-old massive stone tombs of the early rulers of the erstwhile Janjira State in western India, near Murud in Maharashtra state.
Qasim Yakut Khan also known as Yakut Shaikhji, Yakub Khan and Sidi Yaqub was a naval Admiral and administrator of Janjira Fort who first served under Bijapur Sultanate and later under the Mughal Empire.
The Sachin State was a princely state belonging to the Surat Agency, former Khandesh Agency, of the Bombay Presidency during the era of the British Raj. Its capital was in Sachin, the southernmost town of present-day Surat district of Gujarat State.
Jafarabad, or Jafrabad State, was a tributary princely state in India during the British Raj. It was located in the Kathiawar Peninsula on the Gujarat coast. The state had formerly been part of the Baroda Agency and later of the Kathiawar Agency of the Bombay Presidency.
The Maratha Navy was the naval wing of the armed forces of the Maratha Empire, which existed from around the mid-17th century to the mid-18th century in the Indian subcontinent.
The Raja Ram Rao Patil or Itbarrao Koli was an Admiral of the Ahmadnagar Navy and Koli ruler of Janjira. Patil built and fortified the Janjira Island.
Islam is the second largest religion in Maharashtra, India, comprising 12,971,152 people which is 11.54% of the population. Muslims are largely concentrated in urban areas of the state, especially in Mumbai and the Marathwada region. There are several groups of Muslims in Maharashtra: Marathi and Konkani Muslims, whose native language is various dialects of Marathi and Konkani, Dakhni Muslims, whose native language is Dakhni Urdu, and more recent Urdu-speaking migrants from North India.
Laya Patil, also spelled as Lai Patil, was the leader of a naval unit of the Maratha Navy of the Maratha Empire at the time of Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhonsle. He was a Koli by caste and born in Alibag, present-day Maharashtra. Shivaji had built a warship in the honor of Laya Patil, which was named Palkhi and honoured with the title of Sarpatil.
Habshi dynasty refers to the era of Siddi rulers in Bengal that lasted from 1487 to 1493 or 1494 during the Bengal Sultanate. Four Habshi rulers ruled Bengal during this period. This rule began with the rebellion against and assassination of Jalaluddin Fateh Shah of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty.