SIDDIS OF JANJIRA

Access the activities of the Siddis of Janjira and their importance in Maritime History of India

After the eclipse of the Zamorins fleet under Kunjalis, the first of the local powers on the West Coast to dispute British naval supremacy in the coastal waters were the Siddis. Their seaborne commerce was based at the Port of Janjira some fifty miles south of Bombay. With the decline of the Deccan Sultanate, the Siddis rose to prominence. Malik Amber developed a fleet based at Janjira. They also operated from Surat for the protection of Haji pilgrims travelling by sea. They challenged any vessel in the coastal waters. They were completely committed to settling their disputes with the Marathas. They set out from Surat and Janjira and plundered the Maratha country regularly.

In order to check the aggression of the Siddis, Shivaji decided to form a naval force and between the years 1659 and 1664, he constructed two fleets with as many as 500 vessels.

The emergence of the Maratha navy in the initial stages did not present a serious threat to the Siddis. The Siddis under the patronage of Aurangzeb succeeded in operating freely in the coastal waters from Gujarat to Goa. There were only stray skirmishes between Shivaji’s squadrons and the Janjira fleet. The Siddis had complete control of the seashore waters of the Konkan coast.

In the year 1679, the English permitted the Siddi fleet to take refuge in Bombay Harbor. The English had not forgotten Shivaji’s daring attack on Surat in 1669. Shivaji had destroyed his troops to annex the island of Khanderi situated to the south of the entrance to Bombay harbor. The Anglo Siddi fleet attempted to evict the Marathas from the island, but despite prolonged fighting at sea of Bombay they could not do so.

The Siddis were in possession of the important fortresses of Raigad and Mahad and had become a thorn in the Maratha side.

The Siddi chiefs committed atrocities on the Temples of Brahmendra Swami, a religious person much respected by the Peshwa family. He had built lovely temples of Shiva, Ganapati, Maruti, Renuka, Adharmashastra and Deepmala at Parshuram near Chiplun. Siddis attacked the temples on 8^th February 1727 and raised them to the ground. The aggravated the situation against the Siddis.

In 1733, a political revolution occurred at Janjira. The Siddi chief, Siddi Rasul Khan died in Feb 1733. His elder son was murdered. The son of a murdered Abdullah fled to the Marathas for protection. A powerful Siddi chief Yakub Shaikji agreed to join Marathas for a substantial reward. The Marathas seized the opportunity and marched into Konkan to seize Janjira and Jaigadh. Ultimately, they succeeded in pushing Siddis into the sea. By 1736, the Siddis power declined and they became in all but names a tributary of the Maratha state.