The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s6.35

c7.s6.35

In 1478 the four governments of the Dakhan were increased to eight, and in this division all that part of the Konkan which belonged to the Dakhan was put under the governor of Junnar,³ which although sufficiently distant, was yet nearer to the Konkan than any previous provincial capital. Soon after this, however, Bahádur Khán Giláni, son of a governor of Goa, got possession of Dábhol and a great many places on the coast. In 1485 Malik Ahmad was appointed to the government of the two provinces of Daulatabad and Junnar and shortly afterwards he reduced a number of Ghát and Konkan forts, some of which had never before been subdued by the Musalmáns. Among these were Koári, Bharap or Sudhágad, Páli or Sarasgad, and Máhuli, and he laid siege to Dánda-Rájápur, but without success.⁴ While thus engaged, his father Nizám-ul-Mulk was put to death, and Mulk Ahmad thereupon threw off his dependence on Bidar and established the Nizám Sháhi dynasty of Ahmadnagar. In like manner Yusúf Adil Khán in 1489 founded the Adil Sháhi dynasty of Bijápur. In 1490 the new king of Ahmadnagar took Dánda-Rájápur, and thus secured peaceable possession of that part of the Northern Konkan which did not belong to Gujarát.⁵ But Bahádur Giláni was still unsubdued, and in 1493 he burnt Máhim (Bombay) and seized many ships belonging to the king of Gujarát. The latter thereupon sent both a land and sea force to Máhim, but most of his ships were wrecked there in a great storm: the admiral and those of the sailors who escaped were either made prisoners or massacred by the enemy. The officer who commanded the army marched through the Northern Konkan, and hearing of the naval disaster on arriving near Máhim halted, and referred to Gujarát for orders. Eventually a large force, composed of troops of Bidar Ahmadnagar and Bijápur, went against Bahádur Khán who in a battle near Kholhápur was defeated and killed.¹ Mahmúd Sháh, king of Bidar, then went with a few of his nobles to Dábhol, called by the Musalmáns Mustáfabad, where they spent a short time sailing about the coast. Bahádur Khán's fleet was made over to the Gujarát admiral.²