Novi, MBER, 1873.]

PORTS SOUTH OF RATNAGIRí.

quarters. There can be no doubt which was the ruling power at the time this division was made, for while the Musalmāns had the whole of the fine site on the river-bank west of the

stone, the Hindus were confined to the steep and narrow valley in which the present town stands.

This stone is, of course, the residence

321

has retained much more wealth and trade than

Khā rep at a n. But as a slight testimony to the former predominance of Musalmāns in both these places, Professor Bhāndārkar told me the

other day, as one of his early recollections, that when he first left Māl w an as a boy he was struck on arriving at Khā rep at a n by finding

of a bhit, as is also a large rock which stands out above the water close to the present land

the Musalmāns making use of the same wells as

ing-place, and which must have been a serious

torate they are not allowed to do. From Khā rep at a n to the fort of Baur à there is an easy road of about seven kos, and

inconvenience when large trade.

Khā rep at an had a

Among the many tombs on the hill-side there

the Hindus, which in most parts of the collec

are a few not otherwise distinguishable from

the ghāţ is an old one and easy for bullocks. Colonel Graham, as I have before mentioned, says

the rest except by lying east and west, instead of

that it was made by the Musalmāns about 1600.

north and south as the Musalmān tombs do, and which from this fact and old tradition are said

The fort of Baur à stands on a narrow ridge projecting out from the general line of the ghâts, but at a slightly lower level, and is an imposing object both from above and below. But, pro bably from being easily commanded from above, it seems never to have been of nearly so much importance as Višālgadh, Pun fi là, &c. It is said to have been built by Yusuf Adil Shāh, the first king of Bijäpur, in A.D. 1489.

to cover the graves of Jews. And in the mid dle of the present town there is a colony of Carnatic Jainas and a Jaina temple, the only one, I believe, in the Southern Konkan. In this

temple is a small idol of black marble,

found in

the bed of the river only three or four years

ago. The absence of garments and the curly hair are even to ordinary observers proof of its being a Jaina or Buddhist idol, and the deity is

While he was building it, a venerable Musal mán, who gave himself the name of Gebi Pir,

identified as Paršvanātha from the seven-headed

visited him in a dream and claimed the site of

snake which surrounds the head of the god like

the fort as his own. The king therefore de dicated the Fort to the Pir, and built in it three tombs, for the Pir himself, his sister, and

a canopy. The proportions are peculiar, but the carving is elaborate, and the image al together in perfect preservation. The fact of Jews and Jains having lived in

her son, and over them erected the domed

building which still stands as the most promi

Khā rep at an at a distant period would,

nent feature of the fort. After Sivāji had once

even without the evidence of the Musalmān

taken the fort and once lost it to the Musäl

ruins, show that it was a much larger place than

mâns, he again took it and gave it to the first

at present. The Musalmāns, who are as poor as

Pant Amatya. The latter believes that he owed victory on a certain occasion to the Pir, and accordingly paid his devotions to the tomb and endowed it with Rs. 350 a year. Since then all the Pants of Baurá have paid divine

most of their race in this district, say that the

old city contained 18,000 houses, and, looking at the tombs and the extent of the ruins, there is no

difficulty in believing this. Ferishtah mentions that in 1471 the Portuguese landed and burnt the towns of A di là b a d (a place I have never heard of) and Car a p at a m, on the shores of the Bijapur empire,” and this is the only reference to the place I have found. There is no doubt that the site of the old town is

as superior to that of Raja pur as the har bour of Gheria is to Jā it a pur: but whether

the fact is due to the Portuguese having burnt the town, as mentioned above, or to some other

forgotten accident, it is certain that Râjã pur

honours to the Pir, and the common people; Hindu as well as Musalmān, have followed

the example of their chiefs, and to this day worship at his tomb on Thursdays. The fort was dismantled in 1845, and the then Pant abandoned it as a residence, and built a new

town in a most delightful situation on the edge of the ghâts overlooking the fort. From Bau r à to Kolh a pur the road is remarkably level and open. This route, then—by Gheria, Khā rep a tan, Ba u r fi, and Kolhapur—must

• Briggs, Tr. vol. IV. p. 540.