May Nak was a

Bhandari caste The Bhandari is a caste that inhabits the western coast of India. Their traditional occupation was "toddy tapping".they were also good naval warriors. They form the largest caste group in the state of Goa, reportedly being over 30% of that st ...

admiral in the navy of

Chhatrapati Shivaji Shivaji I (Shivaji Shahaji Bhonsale, ; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680) was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle dynasty. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the Sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the ...

, and helped to lead the formation of the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

. Along with Daria Sarang, another admiral who served Maharaj, Bhandari commanded a naval fleet of 200 ships. Their official titles of Mai Nayak Bhandari and Daria Sarang translate to Water Leader and Sea Captain, respectively. The Maratha Navy was the forerunner of India's present-day

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

. A memorial has been built to Ram Nayak Bhandari at Bhatye Village, close to

Ratnagiri Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in southwestern Maharashtra, India. The district is part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known for the Hapus or ...

town.

Shivaji's naval conquests

In April 1672, Shivaji had an eye upon the rocky Islands of

Underi Underi (also called Jaidurg) is a fortified island near the mouth of Mumbai harbour south of Prong's Lighthouse. It is a companion fort to Khanderi and currently lies in Raigad district, Maharashtra. These islands of Khanderi and Underi serve ...

and

Khanderi Khanderi (officially ''Kanhoji Angre island'') is an island with a fort, located south of Mumbai, along the coast of Maharashtra, India. Location Khanderi is located 5 km off the coast of Maharashtra (off Thal, Kihim) and 20 km sout ...

, two sister islands about 11 miles south of Bombay and 30 miles north of Janjira. They were also known as ''Hennery'' and ''Kennery'', respectively. On 15 September 1672, a group of 150 warriors under Mai Nayak sailed towards

. The Deputy Governor of Bombay, under British rule, asked Mai Nayak to leave the island alone, as it belonged to Bombay. However, the Maratha fleet paid no heed to the English demand. The English decided to invite the help of the fleet under Daulat Khan to oppose the Maratha fleet, if it tried to protect the fortifications. Both the English and the Siddhi fleets appeared there to prevent the takeover by the Marathas, and Shivaji stopped the fortification. But, later on, in August 1679, Shivaji renewed the project, and commenced fortifying the island of Khanderi. By 15 September, his admiral, known as the Mai Nayak, took possession of the

island with four small guns. However, a sea-battle was fought on 18 October 1679 between Shivaji's fleet and the English fleet; with the assistance of Siddhi Johar, the English were successful in bombarding Khanderi. It was the British view that Shivaji's occupation would hamper the Portuguese presence in Bassein.

References

Shivaji the Great
* {{cite book, author=M. S. Naravane, title=The Heritage Sites of Maritime Maharashtra, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSRuAAAAMAAJ, year=2001, publisher=Maritime History Society, isbn=978-81-901000-2-1, page=153 Maratha Navy People from the Maratha Empire Naval history of India

Shivaji's naval conquests

See also

References