Janjira State was a

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Q ...

. Its rulers were a

Siddi The Siddi (), also known as the Sheedi, Sidi, or Siddhi, or Habshi are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. They are primarily descended from the Bantu peoples of the Zanj coast in Southeast Africa and Ethiopia, most whom arrived to ...

dynasty of Habesha descent and the state was under the suzerainty of the

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

. Janjira State was located on the Konkan coast in the present-day

Raigad district Raigad district (Marathi pronunciation: �aːjɡəɖ, previously Colaba district, is a district in the Konkan division of Maharashtra, India. The district was renamed to Raigad after the fort that was the first capital of the former Marath ...

of Maharashtra. The state included the towns of Murud and Shrivardhan, as well as the fortified island of Murud-Janjira, just off the coastal village of Murud, which was the capital and the residence of the rulers. The state had an area of 839 km², not counting

Jafrabad Jafrabad is a town and a nagarpalika in Amreli District in the Indian state of Gujarat. Demographics India census, Jafrabad had a population of 27,167 of which 13,737 were males and 13,430 were females. Jafrabad has an average literacy rate o ...

, and a population of 110,389 inhabitants in 1931. Jafrabad, or Jafarabad state was a dependency of the

Nawab Nawab (Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian, Punjabi , Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, ...

of Janjira State located 320 km to the NNW.

History

Establishment

According to one legend, in the year 1489 the Ahmadnagar Sultanate sent its Admiral Piram Khan (of Ethiopian descent) with orders to capture the Murud-Janjira castle from Ram Patil. Owing to the castle's fortifications, the Admiral could not attack conventionally. He and his team disguised themselves as merchants and asked Ram Patil to safeguard their three hundred large boxes containing silks and wines from

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is no ...

. As thanks, Piram Khan threw a party with wine. Once Ram Patil and his soldiers were intoxicated, Piram Khan opened the boxes, which contained his soldiers, and used the opportunity to capture the castle and the island on which it stands. In the century that followed the rulers put themselves under the overlordship of the Sultanate of Bijapur. During the seventeenth and eighteenth century Janjira successfully resisted the repeated attacks of the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of S ...

Cooperation with the Ottomans

According to Ottoman records, a combined force from the Ottomans and Janjira routed a Portuguese fleet in 1587 at

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast an ...

. From this moment onwards Janjira played an important role in resisting Portuguese influence in the region. There's further record of Cooperation with the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

when the Ottoman fleet first arrived in

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

prior to Ottoman expedition to Aceh has included 200 Malabar sailors from Janjira State to aid the region

Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...

and the

Maritime Southeast Asia Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor. Maritime Southeast Asia is sometimes also referred to as Island Southeast Asia, Insular Southeast Asia or Oceanic Sout ...

in 1539.

Cooperation with the Mughals

According to one records at one time

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

emperor

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

supplied the Siddis of Janjira state with 2,000 men, provisions, ammunitions along with two

Frigates A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

and two large

Man-of-war The man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a Royal Navy expression for a powerful warship or frigate from the 16th to the 19th century. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually reserved for a ship armed w ...

battleships. The ship arrived at Bombay harbor under the commands of Siddi Kasim and Siddi Sambal in 1677. The largest Mughal ship named Ganj-I-Sawai which was equipped with 800 guns and 400 musketeer type soldiers also stationed in the port of Surat. Another record from

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

factory which written 1673 has reported the Siddis fleet which wintered from Bombay has five Frigates and two Man-of-wars beside of fifteen ''grabs'' vessels. It is because the formidable naval warfare skills of Siddis in Janjira that Aurangzeb granting annual payment of 400.000

Rupee Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, ...

for the maintenance of their fleet.

Relations with the Marathas

Rivalry with the Marathas

The main competitor of the Sidis was the Angrias, a Maratha family with sea forts and ships, based in southern Konkan.

Treaty with Marathas

In 1733, Peshwa Bajirao of the

launched a campaign against the Siddis of Janjira. Bajirao's forces, however, did not take Janjira fort, though they captured much of the surrounding area; a favorable treaty gave the Marathas indirect control over virtually all of the Sidi's lands.

Post Maratha-rule

When the British came to the Konkan area, the repeated attacks of the Marathas against Janjira ceased. Janjira State was administered as part of the Deccan States Agency of the

, founded in 1799. In the nineteenth century the rulers maintained a military force of 123 men. Following the

independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

in 1947, the state was merged with India.

Rulers

The royal family of Janjira were Sidis, also known as 'Habshi', assumed to be from

Abyssinia The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...

. Initially the rulers of the state held the title of 'Wazir', but after 1803 the title of '

' was officially recognized by the British Raj. They were entitled to an 11

gun salute A gun salute or cannon salute is the use of a piece of artillery to fire shots, often 21 in number (''21-gun salute''), with the aim of marking an honor or celebrating a joyful event. It is a tradition in many countries around the world. Histo ...

by the British authorities.Janjira Princely State (11 gun salute)
/ref>

Wazirs of Janjira

* Siddi Fattekhan *1676 - 1703 Kasim Yakut Khan II (d. 1703) *1703 - 1707 Amabat Yaqut Khan II *1707 - 1732 Surur Yakut Khan II (d. 1732) *1732 - 1734 Hasan Khan (1st time) (d. 1746) *1734 - 1737 Sumbul Khan *1737 - 1740 `Abd al-Rahman Khan *1740 - 1745 Hasan Khan (2nd time) (s.a.) *1745 - 1757 Ibrahim Khan I (1st time) (d. 1761) *1757 Mohammad Khan I (d. 1757) *1757 - 1759 Ibrahim Khan I (2nd time) (s.a.)

Thanadars of Jafarabad and Wazirs of Janjira

*1759 - 1761 Ibrahim Khan I (s.a.) *1761 - 1772 Yaqut Khan (usurper to 6 Jun 1772) (d. 1772) *1772 - 1784 `Abd al-Rahim Khan (d. 1784) *1784 - 1789 Jauhar Khan (d. 1789) ** - in dispute with - ***1784 - 1789 `Abd al-Karim Yaqut Khan *1789 - 1794 Ibrahim Khan II (d. 1826) *1794 - 1803 Jumrud Khan (d. 1803)

Nawabs

*1803 - 1826 Ibrahim Khan II (s.a.) *1826 - 31 Aug 1848 Mohammad Khan I (d. 1848) *31 Aug 1848 – 28 Jan 1879 Ibrahim Khan III (b. 1825 - d. 1879) *28 Jan 1879 - 2 May 1922 Ahmad Khan (b. 1862 - d. 1922) (from 1 Jan 1895, Sir Ahmad Khan) *28 Jun 1879 – 11 Oct 1883 .... -Regent * 2 May 1922 – 15 Aug 1947 Mohammad Khan II (b. 1914 - d. 1972) * 2 May 1922 - 9 Nov 1933 Kulsum Begum (f) -Regent (b. 1897 - d. 1959)Princely States of India
/ref>

References

External links

*
Janjira State coat of armsA Trip to Murud Janjira Fort
{{coord, 18, 18, N, 73, 00, E, region:IN_type:landmark_source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title Koli princely states Bombay Presidency Siddhi people Muslim princely states of India Konkan Raigad district African diaspora 15th-century establishments in India 1489 establishments in Asia 1948 disestablishments in India City-states