The Warrior of Vasai- Part 2
In the previous blog, we saw that Chimaji Appa, after capturing Sashti and doing some bombardment of Vasai from the fort of Dharavi, had to retreat to Pune in July 1737 due to rains and his poor health. This reduced the Maratha strength in Konkan and after the Portuguese reinforcements of around 5000 men arrived in September 1737 in Vasai, the Maratha campaign was put on hold for the time being. Let us see the events leading up to March 1739 from this point, which will help us to understand the challenging campaign of Vasai in greater detail.
Asherigad fort
Ghodbandar fort, Thane
Tarapur fort
THE PORTUGUESE STRIKE BACK-
Taking advantage of the reduced Maratha power, Portuguese thought of recovering the losses they faced in Chimaji Appa's campaign in March- April 1737.
The Marathas had figured out that it was not possible to capture Vasai without hemming in the Portuguese from all sides and weakening them eventually. Therefore, Marathas started attacking the surrounding areas of Mahim and Shirgaon. However, around January 1738, the Portuguese were able to successfully push the Marathas back to Asheri, a hill fort. The Marathas had to retreat further back from Asheri as they were demotivated by this debacle.
Thane and Vasai were important outposts strategically for both the Portuguese and the Marathas. The Portuguese using their powerful naval fleet, pretended to attack Thane fort, but suddenly turned towards Dharavi and captured it without much hassle. The reverses faced by the Marathas at Dharavi, Asheri and Mahim harmed their campaign considerably.
The main reason for all this chaos was the weaker Maratha navy. Kanhoji Angre, the stellar naval leader of Marathas had passed away in 1729 and his successors Manaji and Sambhaji Angre were competing for succession, weakening the Maratha Navy.
After the magnum opus campaigns of Bajirao I in Delhi in 1737 and the defeat of Nizam in Bhopal in 1738 at the hands of armies of Bajirao I and Chimaji Appa, the Marathas found breathing room to continue their campaign against Portuguese. We will look at these campaigns of Bajirao I in some other blog.
On 18th January 1738, Chimaji Appa resumed his campaign against the Portuguese despite his health not supporting him. The failures faced by the Marathas at Dharavi, Asheri and Mahim had led to a loss of life of around 120000 Maratha army.
This made Chimaji Appa even more adamant in the campaign against Portuguese.
STRATEGIC MOVEMENTS FOR VASAI-
Although it seemed that the Portuguese had recovered a lot of their losses, their position was hard to sustain as the reinforcements being received from Goa were miniscule and after the arrival of Chimaji Appa, the Maratha forces again heaviiy outnumbered the Portuguese. Only around 500 men could be stationed in the recently captured forts of Dharavi and Mahim. Around 480 men had arrived in Vasai around May 1738.
On the other hand, around 3000 Maratha men stood in Thane and around 7000 infantry and 700 cavalry were hovering around the Portuguese territory. The rainy season and Chimaji Appa's health did not allow any skirmishes until November 1738.
On 24th November 1738, the Portuguese tried capturing Thane, but were badly defeated and their army chief was killed. Bajirao I sent even more reinforcements for the Marathas numbering around 8000 cavalry and 10000 infantry.
The Portuguese kept receiving reinforcements from Goa and Daman, which was in their control, although very small contingents each time. The reinforcements received from Bajirao I were diverted to cut off the Portuguese reinforcements from Goa and Daman.
Goa, thus, was again in danger after 56 years after Chh. Sambhaji Maharaj's fierce offensive in November 1683 discussed in previous blogs. However, this time, the Portuguese governor bribed a Maratha chief and saved Goa for the time being. However, Marathas managed to capture Madgaon.
The Marathas continued pressurizing Goa. Eventually, talks were opened with the Portuguese as the local chiefs of Sawantwadi and Goa did not wish complete rout of the Portuguese from Goa for their personal gains. But the struggle for Vasai still raged on.
By the start of 1739, the reinforcements of Portuguese being received from Goa gradually had stopped due to the movements by Marathas. Eventually, Marathas captured Mahim, Shirgaon and Tarapur in January 1739.
The battle fought at Tarapur was the most gruesome and fierce one. The chief of the Portuguese army was killed in this battle and the Marathas captured Tarapur. A lot of Portuguese women were captured by the Marathas.
The famous incident of Chimaji Appa similar to Chh. Shivaji Maharaj letting go the wife of the Subhedar of Kalyan in 1656-57 occured at this time.
The wife of the chief of the Portuguese was captured along with many women captured at Tarapur.
Chimaji Appa calmed her down by saying that he was like her brother and showered gifts on the captured women. She requested a respectful burial of her late husband and her request was duly satisfied and all the women were respectfully released.
After Tarapur, The fort of Asheri fell, and after this in quick succession, the forts of Versova, Dharavi and Arnala too fell in the hands of Marathas by February- March 1739. This was majorly due to the naval help sent by Manaji Angre to the charging Maratha Army. Manaji Angre further captured Uran island near Kulaba now completely blockading the Portuguese army stuck at Vasai fort.
Thus by March of 1739, the Marathas had managed to circle the Portuguese stronghold of Vasai from all sides and a now a final blow was awaited for the capture of Vasai.
This was still not going to be easy as the fort was well garrisoned and strong with reinforcements of men and grains. Although the fort was now surrounded from all sides by the Marathas cutting off any help from Goa and Daman, the sandy terrain made the capture of the fort challenging.
A lot of work was still to be done before the Marathas could finally capture Vasai in a couple of months and confine the Potuguese to Goa from 1739 to; unbeknownst to them; ultimately 1961 when Goa was freed from the Portuguese occupation.
Let us see this final blow to the Portuguese power in the next part of this series of blogs where Marathas managed to confine the Portuguese power to Goa dealing enough damage to end any future imperial dreams of the Portuguese to colonize India!
Till then. Peace!✌🏻✌🏻
Source-
1) The Era of Bajirao by Dr. Uday S. Kulkarni
