The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s2.20

c7.s2.20

Though the Konkan can scarcely be called historically famous, its long coast line and convenient harbours, together with its comparative nearness to the Arabian coast, made it known to the earliest travellers, while the natural strength of the country and the character of its inhabitants gave it in later days much greater importance than its wealth or extent would have justified. The Buddhists and after them the Bráhmans chose Sálsette for one of their greatest monastic establishments, and in other parts of the Konkan their cave temples are remarkable. The descendants of immigrant Pársis Jews Abyssinians and probably Arabs are still found in considerable numbers. The Musalmáns had two or three famous marts on this coast, and when the Portuguese began to make settlements in India the coast of the North Konkan was one of their early acquisitions; and in the South Konkan, factories of the English Dutch and French were established early in the seventeenth century. A little later the great founder of the Marátha empire chose a Konkan hill-fort as his capital. And when, after two or three generations, the pure Marátha dynasty lost its power, the Konkani Bráhmans better known as Konkanasths or Chitpávans inherited it and extended the Marátha conquests over the greatest part of India. Thus, though the Konkan has never been more than a province of some inland kingdom, it has many famous associations. And if, as geographically it does, the island of Bombay be considered