The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s6.120

c7.s6.120

The remains of Musalman buildings in the Konkan are but few and unimportant. Dabhol was so frequently burnt by the Portuguese, and Chaul so thoroughly destroyed by Shivaji, that there is little more than enough to show that they were once great places. At both there are a number of tombs scattered about, but none of great pretensions. At Dabhol there is a fine mosque with dome and minarets standing close to the water's edge, and now almost buried in cocoanut trees. It is of considerable size, and its situation is striking, but it would not be thought very much of in Gujarat or any other district rich in Musalman remains.² The site of the Musalman city of Chaul is even more covered by cocoanut gardens than Dabhol. The most striking ruin is a hamam khana or bath, containing one large central chamber and two smaller ones, all octagonal, and each lighted by a circular opening in the cupola which covers it. There is also a mosque of some pretensions. At Kalyan, formerly called Islamabad, there is a large Musalman population and several mosques in use. There is however nothing either old or remarkable except one mosque, which would be very fine if it had a dome in proportion to its other parts. This stands on the edge of a noble pond, round which there are many tombs and other undistinguishable remains, as well as one considerable building said to be the tomb of a governor named Mohartaba Khan, on which is the date H. 1108. This is probably the person called by the Portuguese Mortaba Khan, Nawab of Bhiwndi, who ravaged their territories at various times about 1690.³ The absence of other buildings is due to the ravages to which this district was subjected in the early days of Shivaji. Fryer, who travelled in India from 1673 to 1676, speaks of the remains of the Musalman city of Kalyan, then only recently destroyed, as noble and striking, and goes so far as to call them "the most glorious ruins the Mahommadans in the Deccan ever had occasion to deplore."⁴ At Kharepatan there are the foundations of a large Musalman town in a fine situation and a great number of tombs, but no building remains standing.⁵ At Rajpuri near Janjira, now a wretched looking village, there are the tombs of four of the Nawabs situated in a pretty glen and close to the creek. There are, of course, tombs and mosques of an ordinary description in many places, but none architecturally remarkable. The tomb of a saint at Bhiwndi, said to have been previously a diwan of Bijapur, and that of a princess at Lanja, said to have been the daughter of one of the Bijapur kings, may be mentioned.