The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s5.139

c7.s5.139

The hill from which the avatár is said to have shot his arrow is named after him Parshurám, and overlooks the fertile and very beautiful valley in which Chiplún stands, with "a full-fed river winding slow" to the distant sea. The temple, though not outwardly remarkable, is one of the most famous in the Konkan and is constantly visited by pilgrims on their way from Dwárka to Cape Comorin. Those who believe in Parshurám as a historical character say that he was never in this part of India at all, and Dr. Stevenson states that, though this is the first place where the legends of Parshurám affect the names of places, yet they are frequently found further south.¹ The severe historical interpretation is that, "This legend of the creation of the Konkan and the subjection of a great part of its territory to the Bráhmans by Parshurám is nothing more nor less than a faint tradition of the first triumphs of Hinduism over other forms of superstition prevalent in the province."² And to this it must be added that the Sahyádri Khand, in which the story of the creation of the Chitpávans at Chiplún is first mentioned, is by the best authorities believed to be not more than 300 years old. Yet those who like to hold by the legend may take it as in favour of their view that the district about Chiplún has certainly always been the great head-quarters of the Chitpávan caste. The cave temples as being beyond mere human power are believed by the common people to have been made by the Pándavs, but the first sovereign of the Konkan is said to have been Bhimdev. From some Marátha records, supposed to be a little later than the capture of Bassein in 1739, it is made out that at the end of the thirteenth century the Konkan was conquered by this Bhim Rája, who is said to have been a son of Rámdev Rája of Devgir, defeated by the Musalmáns in their first invasion of the Dakhan.³ Other accounts give him a different origin, and his caste is also in dispute between the Parbhus Rajputs and Shudrás. He dispossessed the Náik princes, and seized upon Chichni, Tárápur, Asheri, Kelva Máhím, Thal, Sálsette, and (Bombay) Máhím, which he made his capital. He divided the whole into fifteen maháls or groups containing 444 villages. His chiefs received subordinate governments in Kelva, Bassein, and other places. His son Pratáp Sháh built another capital at Marol in Sálsette which he called Pratáppuri. He was, however, defeated and deprived of his kingdom by his brother-in-law, a chief of Cheul, named Nágar Sháh, whom the Muhamıadans in their turn defeated. Now, as to the origin of Bhim Rája, Tod gives three Rájás of the Anahilaváda dynasty of this name between A.D. 1013 and 1250, and he connects this dynasty very closely with the Konkan and Kalyán.⁴ Sir W. Elliot gives a Rája Bhimdev and his brother Haripáldev among the Yádav kings of Devgiri early in the fourteenth century.⁵ It is easy to find support in the inscriptions already given to the theory of one or other of these Bhimdevs having been the first conqueror of the Konkan, but it seems scarcely worth while to try to connect these legends with real history when there is nothing to enable us to advance beyond the region of conjecture. But the name of Pratáp Sháh's capital is still preserved as Pardápur or Parjápur, a deserted village near the centre of Sálsette. There are no ancient remains there, but the caves of Kondivte are in a hill very near, and within a mile or two is a fine pond called Pasrák taláv and belonging to the villages of Marol, Kondivti, and Mulgaon, on the edge of which are the ruins of a fine Portuguese church and monastic buildings.