Konkan
Konkan, 1908
A name now applied to the tract of country below the Western Ghats south of the Damanganga river, including Bombay, the Districts of Thana, Kolaba, Ratnagiri, the coast strip of North Kanara, the Native States of Janjlra, Savantvadi, and the Portuguese territory of Goa, with an area of 3,907 square miles. Population (1901), 5,610,432. The term ' Konkan ' seems to be of Dravidian origin, but has not so far been satisfactorily explained. The language of the Konkan was probably, at a remote period, Kanarese, but is now mainly Marathi. Mention is made of the people of the Konkan in the Mahabharata, Harivamsa, and Vishnu Purana, as well as in the work of Varaha Mihira, the geographer of the sixth century, and in the Chalukya inscriptions of the seventh century. The tract is found referred to under the name of Aparanta in the third century B. c. and the second century a. d. Late Sanskrit works apply the name Konkan to the whole western coast of India from about Trimbak to Cape Comorin, and mention seven divisions, the names of which are variously given, but Konkan proper is always one of these and seems to have included the country about Chiplun. The Konkan does not seem at any time to have been a political unit. The Arab geographers of the ninth to the fourteenth century were familiar with it in its present signification. In history it appears either as a number of petty states or as part of a larger whole as in the early days of Maratha power, when the Konkan Ghat Matha, or 'spurs of the Ghats,' were linked with such territory in the Deccan as from time to time came into the possession of Sivaji and his successors.
The coast strip of the Konkan is a fertile and generally level tract, watered by hill streams and at parts intersected by tidal backwaters, but has nowhere any great rivers. A luxuriant vegetation of palms rises along the coast, the coco-nut plantations being an important source of wealth to the villagers. In the southern portions the Ghats forming the eastern boundary are covered with splendid forest. The crops are abundant ; and owing to the monsoon rainfall being precipitated upon the Ghats behind, the Konkan is exempt from drought or famine. The common language is a dialect of Marathi known as Konkanl, in which a Dravidian element is traceable.
The history of the Konkan can best be gathered from a perusal of the historical portions of the articles on the included States and Dis- tricts. The earliest dynasty which can be connected with this tract is that of the Mauryas, three centuries before Christ ; but the only evidence of the connexion rests on an Asoka inscription discovered at the town of Sopara in Thana District. The principal dynasties that succeeded were the following, in their order, so far as order is ascertain- able : the Andhras or Satavahanas, with their capital at Paithan in the Deccan ; the Mauryas, of Purl ; the Chalukyas ; the Rashtrakutas ; the Silaharas, whose capital was perhaps the island of Elephanta in Bombay harbour ; the Yadavas, with their capital at Deogiri, the modern Daulatabad ; the Muhammadans (Khiljis, Bahmanis, Bijapur and Ahmadabad kings, and Mughals) ; Portuguese (over a limited area) ; Marathas ; and British. The Konkan coast was known to the Greeks and Romans, and Ptolemy (a. d. 150) and the author of the Periplus (247) afford evidence that Greek traders from Egypt dealt with the Konkan ports.
The arrival of the Bani-Israil and the Parsls from the Persian Gulf are important incidents in Konkan history. The Bani-Israil, in whom some trace the descendants of the lost tribes, are now scattered over the Bombay Presidency, but mostly in the North Konkan. The descendants of the first Parsls, who landed in Thana about the seventh century, now crowd the streets and markets of Bombay, engross a large part of the city's wealth and principal trading operations, and have their agents in all important provincial towns.
The Portuguese reached Malabar in 1498. In 15 10 Goa was seized, and soon afterwards Chaul and Bassein became the head- quarters of their naval dominion. During the sixteenth century the Portuguese shared the rule of the Konkan with the Muhammadan kings of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur. The rise and fall of the pirate power of the Angrias, who from 1700 to 1756 harassed English, Dutch, and native shipping alike, mark a disastrous period of Konkan history. In the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth century the Konkan had an unenviable notoriety on account of these pirates, who were known as the ' Malabars,' and infested the numerous creeks and harbours. The strongholds of these marauders are still to be seen on the coast. Their chief ports were Revadanda, Suvarn- drug, and Gheria or Vijayadrug. Since the British administration was established in 1818 on the overthrow of the Peshwa, the peace of the whole area, if some disturbances in Savantvadi in 1844 and 1850 be excepted, has remained unbroken.
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, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
