Sopara
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.
Sopara
Ancient town in the Bassein taluka of Thana District, Bombay, situated in 19° 25' N. and 72° 48' E., about 7/2 miles north- west of Bassein Road and about the same distance south-west of Virar on the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway. Population (1901), 486. Sopara is said to have been the capital of the Konkan from 500 B.C. to A. D. 1300. It is still a rich country town, with a crowded weekly market. Under the name of Shurparaka, it appears in the Mahabharata as a very holy place, where the five Pandava brothers rested on their way to Prabhas. According to Buddhist writers, Gautama Buddha, in one of his former births, was Bodhisattva of Sopara. This old Indian fame gives support to the suggestion that Sopara is Solomon's Ophir, Jain writers make frequent mention of Sopara. Under the names Soparaka, Soparaya, and Shorparaga, it is mentioned in old inscriptions, about the first or second century B. c. The author of the Periplus in the third century a. d. mentions Ouppara between Broach and Kalyan as a local mart on the coast.
