[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882) › c7.s7.53 # The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s7.53 The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s7.53 - **Language:** English ### [c7.s7.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s7.53) possessed any territory between Bombay and Goa except the new town of Chaul, now called Revdanda; and in 1540, when they took the fortresses of Sáksa and Karnála, they speedily restored them to Ahmadnagar for an additional tribute.¹ They had however a factory at Dábhol, though it is very seldom mentioned, and it was apparently not established till after 1570.² In the Northern Konkan they seem from the first to have held the productive villages between Bassein and Agáshi, and this small district they then and afterwards called Casaba.³ About 1556 they acquired the inland forts of Asheri and Manor⁴ as giving them the command of a rich and productive district.⁵ The fort of Asheri was considered almost impregnable, and was given up by the Abyssinian captain commanding the district on payment of Rs. 6500. A garrison of sixty soldiers was put in it and a church erected. This fort was always greatly valued by the Portuguese, and was described in 1818, after the Maráthás had had it for eighty years, as accessible only at one point, and of such natural strength that with a handful of men to defend it it may justly be considered impregnable. The latter part of the ascent is an almost perpendicular staircase (with a precipice of several hundred feet immediately below it) hewn out of the solid rock forty feet high, at the top of which is an iron door horizontally fixed, and from which the ascent is nearly as steep and of equal height to a second gateway.⁶ Soon after the capture of Asheri and Manor, Daman, which the Portuguese had long coveted, was ceded to them, and with it apparently a good deal of the coast between Daman and Bassein. The Tárápur pargana is mentioned as the best and most prosperous of all the districts within the jurisdiction of Daman. In 1559 a body of Abyssinians made an attack on Sanján and Tárápur; at the latter place there was then only a stockaded fort (tranqueira) and forty men, but the Abyssinians after ravaging some villages were beaten off.⁷ In 1569 there was an expedition against the Kolis which seems to have penetrated quite up to the foot of the Gháts, and a stockaded fort permanently held by the Portuguese is spoken of at Sáyván on the Vaitarna river. The Koli country was again ravaged in 1583, and on both occasions the Portuguese suffered considerable loss from the difficulty of the country and the activity of their enemy, whom - [Previous: c7.s7.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s7.52) - [Next: c7.s7.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s7.54) - [Up: c7.s7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s7) ## Linked texts (3) - [Bassein](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.bassein) - [Agashi](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.agashi) - [Chaul](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.chaul) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s7.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c7.s7.53) · Pramāṇa