Travelling back to the lost times!

In the previous part of this series, we saw at the different political and trade players that were present on the western coast of India in the 18th century. These were the British, the Portuguese, the Siddis of Janjira and the Marathas.  In 1713, Kanhoji Angre was one of the most prominent maratha general present on the coast. Now, let us move towards the main subject of this series of blogs that is the heroics of Kanhoji Angre, the Sea lion or the Sea hawk of the Indian coast.  Kanhoji was such an Admiral that the Marathas kept the British, Portuguese and the Siddis in check under his leadership of navy. No one would dare to go against him; such was the weight of Angre on the coastal Maharashtra at that time.  Now let us move towards the battle where the Marathas had badly humiliated the British Navy for the first time and the British never again dared to go against the Marathas directly through the sea for a very long time.  TREATY WITH THE BRITISH- In the 1710s, ...

In this series of blogs, let us know about the Indian admiral who ruled the seas in 1700s till the 1730s. He is  called as "The Shivaji of the seas". Such was the power of his naval fleet that the English and the Portuguese navies along with the power of the Siddis of Janjira could not stand against the Maratha navy. He was practically the ruler of the seas in his times. His name is Kanhoji Angre. Before diving into Kanhoji's heroics, let us understand the power equations that existed in medieval India on the western coast of the country.  THE PORTUGUESE - As discussed in previous blogs, the Portuguese sailed to India in 1498 and started spreading their legs along the western coast from Malabar to Maharashtra.  The Portuguese with their naval fleet and the concessions brokered with the coastal rulers, became the most powerful naval force on the western coast over the 16th century. Such was the increase in their dominance on the Indian coastal exports that they controlled ...

In the previous part of the blog, we saw that the Marathas had encircled Vasai and now their next target was the strategic and fierce fort of Vasai which was to now face the wrath of war from March 1739 to May 1739.  This war confined the Portuguese to Goa and ended their dreams of colonizing India and kept the British confined to Mumbai for 3 decades.  THE FINAL STRUGGLE- Vasai or Bassein was the Portuguese stronghold outside Goa. It had fortwalls of over 40 feet in height and 5 feet in breadth. It was therefore known as the strongest sea fort of the time.  It was hard to storm the fort due to these fortwalls and also bombardment using cannons was difficult. Moreover, owing to sandy terrain, use of mines to blow up the fortwalls was also challenging. The fort was vulnerable from the north but the Portuguese had garrisoned huge guns and a lot of men to fend off any attack from the northern side.             Chimaji Ap...

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. 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...

In this series of blogs, let us see another golden page in history of medieval India, where an Indian force once again defeated a European power decisively just like Sambhaji Maharaj had threatened Portuguese existence in India in 1680s. Sambhaji Maharaj was not able to completely eradicate the Portuguese given the pressure of Mughals on the other side. However, in the era of Bajirao I, the Marathas were finally able to confine the Portuguese to Goa and the English to Mumbai for the whole of the 18th century. The Portuguese had to stay in Goa till 1961 that is for almost 230 years after this and their dreams of colonizing India were vanquished.  THE PORTUGUESE POWER IN INDIA- As seen in earlier blogs, the Portuguese had arrived in India in 1498 and gradually climbed to a status of a paramount naval power over the next century and captured various important ports like Mumbai, Thane, Vandre(Bandra), Tarapur and eventually won the island of Sashti by 1584( This is different from the G...

In the last blog, we saw that the Nizam and the Marathas, both destroyed their opponent's capitals and the Marathas were now headed for Aurangabad, which was the second capital of the Nizam of Hyderabad.  The Marathas had significantly weakened Nizam by their diplomatical tactics by alienating the defected Maratha sardars like Bhosles of Nagpur and Patwardhans of Miraj from the Nizam. After these sardars joined the marathas, the Nizam became a sitting duck in the maratha territory.... but the Nizam was completely unaware of these events and was inching towards Aurangabad to save his capital from the Marathas.      Peshwa Madhavrao I, Peshwe Park, Pune THE PHOENIX RISES-        The Nizam was left alone on his march towards Aurangabad along with his favourite minister Vitthal Sundar. Vitthal Sundar pleaded the Maratha sardars on Nizam's side to not leave them seeing the possibility of a clash with the marathas now seemingly inevitable. B...

In the last blog, we saw that the Nizam had started marching towards Pune on the advise of Vitthal Sundar and the Marathas were contemplating their next step against the Nizam. Let us now move towards the counter moves of the marathas and some strategic manouvers which significantly affected the outcome of this campaign against the Nizam of Hyderabad.  STRATEGIC AND DIPLOMATIC MOVEMENTS OF THE MARATHAS- Vitthal Sundar was the most prominent minister in the Nizam's court. He was the one responsible for defections of Maratha generals like Gopalrao Patwardhan of Miraj and Janoji Bhosle of Nagpur to the Nizam's side. He also had a lion's share in the rise of Nizam Ali, the current Nizam of Hyderabad. Vitthal Sundar was responsible for the renewed attack on Pune. The Nizam continued his march towards Pune. Here, Raghunathrao contemplated an attack on the marching Nizam's army; which is exactly what was desired by the Nizam as the Maratha army could not match the Nizam's ...