Agashi
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts.Many units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Agashi
Port in the Bassein taluk of Thana District, Bombay, situated in 19 degree 28' N. and 72 degree 47' E., 10 miles north of Bassein and 13/4 miles west by a metalled road from Virar on the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway. Population (1901), 8,506. The town contains a school with 217 pupils. In the early part of the sixteenth century Agashi was a place ol some importance, with a considerable timber and ship-building trade. It was twice sacked by the Portuguese — in 1530 and again in 1531.
In 1530 as many as 300 Gujarat vessels are said to have been taken; and in 1540 the Portuguese captured a ship on the stocks at Agashi in which they afterwards made several voyages to Europe. Agashi carries on a trade with Bombay, worth annually about Rs. 4,000, in plantains, its dried plantains being the best in the District.
There is a Portuguese school here, and a large temple of Bhavanlshankar, built in 1691. The bathing-place close to the temple has the reputation of effecting the cure of skin diseases.
