The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s9.163

c7.s9.163

On the death of Khem Sávant in 1803 the district of Málvan again fell into its usual distracted condition, and in 1806 the Rája of Kolhápur before the end of the monsoon descended into the Konkan and took Bharatgad and Nivti, but as he soon returned above the Gháts the Vádi troops quickly retorted by overrunning the district and burning the suburbs of Málvan. The cruelties committed on this occasion were something uncommon even in that district, and the Kolhápur Rája then returned and carried on the war in the Vádi districts, while an advanced party raised the siege of Bharatgad just begun by the Vádi troops. Nivti and Ráiri however had fallen to the Sávants. In 1808 the Kolhápur troops had to retreat, and in the next year Phond Sávant had to fly before Mánsinghráv Pátankar who followed him as far as Rájápur and levied a heavy contribution on that town though generally quite beyond the range of Vádi politics. In 1810 the Dakhan troops had again to leave the Konkan, and Ráiri and Nivti were retaken by the Vádi chiefs.² The piracies of both these powers had continued unchecked,³ and their serious import to this Presidency may be judged of by the fact that the Duke of Wellington only two days after the battle of Assaye wrote (with his own hand as was usual to him) a short despatch on the subject to the Bombay Government.⁴ The pirates appear to have been equally bold on the seas north of Bombay, for in 1803 an officer going to Cambay had a guard of sepoys with him who kept their muskets loaded and were constantly on the look-out for pirates.⁵ The remedy adopted was the blockade of the ports belonging to Kolhápur and Vádi, but this of course could not continue for ever, and in 1812, when the settlement between the Peshwa and Kolhápur was made, the harbour and forts of Málvan were ceded to the English by Kolhápur, and the fort of Vengurla with some land adjoining by the Sávants.⁶ Nivti was left to the latter but a guard of British troops was stationed there to see that no piratical vessels made use of the port. From this time till the cession of the whole Konkan, the Bombay Government kept a civil and military establishment both at Málvan and Vengurla. The cession brought to an end the troubles of this district from the Kolhápur state, but the Sávants by their internal quarrels kept the country in confusion for several years longer.⁷ The claims of the different governments on the district were complicated and extraordinary, the revenue being divided among the Peshwa, the Rája of Kolhápur, the Sávants, and the Pant of Bávda, with separate payments for the forts at Málvan. In January 1813 the Sávants again took Bharatgad from the Kolhápur authorities, and it was not restored till a British detachment was sent from Kolhápur in March. This force afterwards went on to Ráiri, but returned above the Gháts before the monsoon.¹ In 1815 the districts belonging to Vádi in two tarafs north of Málvan were occupied by a force from Málvan,² but this was only to prevent aggression on the part of the Sávants.