Shivaji and His Times c6.s3.3

c6.s3.3

He easily seized the rich towns of Kalian* and Bhivandi (24 Oct. 1657), which were then without walls, and there took much wealth and costly merchandise. The fort of Mahuli, which had once been the last refuge of Shahji, was next captured (8 Jan. 1658.) The Kalian sub-division with some other parts of the Thana district, thus passed into Shiva's possession, and he got a firm footing in Northern Konkan, which he rapidly improved in the course of the year. His progress southwards into the Kolaba district seems to have been assisted by the petty local chiefs who were eager to throw off Muslim yoke and wrote inviting him to come. (T. S. 13a.) Surgarh (8 miles east), Birwadi (5 miles west), Tala (10 miles south), Ghosalgarh (5 m. s. w.), Bhurap or Sudhagarh (15 miles east of Roha town), Kangori (12 miles east of Mahad), and above all the impregnable fortress of Rairi (Raigarh) which was to be his future capital, all passed into his hands, and thus the Abyssinians of Janjira lost the eastern half of the Kolaba district to him. At Birwadi and Lingana (5 miles east of Raigarh) he built strong forts. From the base of Kalian, his troops plundered the neighbouring Portuguese territory (belonging to the province of Daman, called "the North" in the records), and established themselves in the fort of Aseri (midway between Mahim and Jawhar) as a permanent menace. The Portuguese are said to have bought his forbearance by promising an annual tribute, [according to the *Jedhe Karina*, but unsupported by the Portuguese records, *vide* Viceroy's letter to King of Portugal, dated Goa, 15 May 1658, in Pissurlencar, i. 4.] Kalian and Bhivandi were immediately turned into naval bases and dockyards by Shivaji. [*Ibid.*, letter of 16 Aug. 1659.]