Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/359

 PORTS SOUTH OF RATNAGIRt 321 November, 1873.] quarters. There can be no doubt which was the ruling power at the time this division was made, for while the Musalmans 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 of a lhut, as is also a large rock which stands out above the water close to the present land¬ ing-place, and which must have been a serious inconvenience when Kharepatan had a large trade. Among the many tombs on the hill-side there are a few not otherwise distinguishable from the rest except by lying east and west, instead of north and south as the Musalman tombs do, and which from this fact and old tradition are said to cover the graves of Jews. And in the mid¬ dle of the present town there is a colony of Carnatic Jainas and a Jama 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 identified as Parsvanatha from the seven-headed snake which surrounds the head of the god like 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 Kharepatan at a distant period would, even without the evidence of the Musalman ruins, show that it was a much larger place than at present. The Musalmans, who are as poor as 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 14*71 the Portuguese landed and burnt the towns ofAdilabad (a place I have never heard of) and Carapatam, on the shores of the Bijapur empire,”* and this is the only reference to the place I have found. Thero is no doubt that the site of the old town is as superior to that of Rajapur as the har¬ bour of Gheria is to Jaitapur: 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 Rajapur has retained much more wealth and trado than Kharepatan. But as a slight testimony to the former predominance of Musalmfins in both these places, Professor Bhandarkar told me the other day, as one of his early recollections, that when he first left M a 1 w a n as a boy he was struck on arriving at Kharepatan by finding the Musalmilns making use of the same wells as the Hindus, which in most parts of the collec- torate they are not allowed to do. From Kharepatan to the fort ofBaura there is an easy road of about seven kos, and the ghat is an old one and easy for bullocks. Colonel Graham, as I have before mentioned, says that it was made by the Musalmans about 1600. The fort of Baura stands on a narrow ridge projecting out from the general line of the ghats, 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 Visalgadh, Punala, &c. It is said to have been built by Yusuf Adil Shah, the first king of Bijapur, in a.d. 1489. While he was building it, a venerable Musal¬ man, who gave himself the name of Gebi Pir, visited him in a dream and claimed the site of 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 her son, and over them erected the domed building which still stands as the most promi¬ nent feature of the fort. After Sivaji had once taken tho fort and once lost it to the Musal¬ mans, he again took it and gave it to the first 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 Baura have paid divine honours to the Pir, and the common people; Hindu as well as Musalman, 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 ghats overlooking the fort. From B a u- ratoKolhapur the road is remarkably level and open. This route, then—by Gheria, Kha¬ repatan, Baura, and Ko 1 h apur—must
 * Briggs, 7'r. vol. IV. p. 540.