The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s7.76

c7.s7.76

not clear whether the rock of Korlai, which commands the entrance of the creek, and which was called by the Portuguese and other Europeans Il Morro, had ever been in the possession of the Portuguese before this.¹ It was always looked upon by them as a position of the greatest value, and in 1557 they had determined to get possession of it somehow, but the king of Ahmadnagar on their asking for it temporised with them while he began to fortify it himself. The Portuguese had a cross at the extreme point which was miraculously preserved from the attempts the Musalmáns made to destroy it, while their fleet bombarded the rock, and prevented the Musalmáns from working at the fortifications. In the end an arrangement was come to, that no fort should be built on the rock by either people.² Nevertheless in 1592 when war broke out the Musalmáns were in possession of a fort there which is described as a wonder of strength and completeness, and Ferishta implies that it had only lately been built. They greatly harassed the Portuguese at Revdanda, having a considerable force outside the fort as well as within, and the latter after many skirmishes, being reinforced from Bassein and Sálsette, determined to beat up the enemy's camp, but without any idea of taking Korlai. On the night of September 4, 1594, fifteen hundred Portuguese crossed the river and attacked the Musalmán camp. The Musalmáns, though not altogether unprepared, fled to the fort, and the Portuguese following were able to enter with them through the first gateway being blocked by a wounded elephant. The resistance though brave was disorganised, and after about two hours the Portuguese got possession of the whole of the works, with a loss of only twenty-one killed and fifty wounded, the Musalmáns being said to have lost 10,000 men. The fort was destroyed, as the Portuguese could not afford men to garrison it, but they retained the battery commanding the entrance to the creek, and afterwards rebuilt the fort on the original plan.³