Janjira State

Janjira State was a princely state in India during the British Raj.[1] Its rulers were a Sidi dynasty of Habesha descent[1] and the state was under the suzerainty of the Bombay Presidency.

Janjira State
जंजिरा रियासत
Princely State of British India
In union with Jafrabad (1759 - 1948)
1489–1948
Flag

Janjira 1896
Area 
• 1931
839 km2 (324 sq mi)
Population 
• 1931
110,389
History 
• Established
1489
1948
Succeeded by
India
Today part ofMaharashtra, India
Merchant Flag
View of Janjira Fort
Janjira State in the Imperial Gazetteer of India

Janjira State was located on the Konkan coast in the present-day Raigad district 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, and a population of 110,389 inhabitants in 1931. Jafrabad, or Jafarabad state was a dependency of the Nawab 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. 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.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

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.

Cooperation with the Ottomans

According to Ottoman records, a combined force from the Ottomans and Janjira routed a Portuguese fleet in 1587 at Yemen. From this moment onwards Janjira played an important role in resisting Portuguese influence in the region.[8]

There's further record of Cooperation with the Ottoman Empire when the Ottoman fleet first arrived in Aceh prior to Ottoman expedition to Aceh has included 200 Malabar sailors from Janjira State to aid the region Batak and the Maritime Southeast Asia in 1539.[9]

According to one records at one time Mughal emperor Aurangzeb supplied the Siddis of Janjira state with 2,000 men, provisions, ammunitions along with two Frigates and two large Man-of-war battleships. The ship arrived at Bombay harbor under the commands of Siddi Kasim and Siddi Sambal in 1677.[10] 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.[11]

Another record from East India Company 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 for the maintenance of their fleet.

Rivalry with the Marathas

The main competitor of the Sidis was the Angrias, a Maratha Koli[12] family with sea forts and ships, based in southern Konkan.[13]

Treaty with Marathas

In 1733, Peshwa Bajirao of the Maratha Empire 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.[13]

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 Bombay Presidency, founded in 1799. In the nineteenth century the rulers maintained a military force of 123 men.[14]

Following the independence of India 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. Initially the rulers of the state held the title of 'Wazir', but after 1803 the title of 'Nawab' was officially recognized by the British Raj. They were entitled to an 11 gun salute by the British authorities.[15]

Wazirs of Janjira
  • 1676 - 1703 Kasim Yaqut 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)[16]

See also

References
  1. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Janjira" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 152.
  2. Yimene, Ababu Minda (2004). An African Indian Community in Hyderabad: Siddi Identity, Its Maintenance and Change. Cuvillier Verlag. ISBN 9783865372062.
  3. Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Kola'ba and Janjira. Government Central Press. 1883.
  4. Robbins, Kenneth X.; McLeod, John (2006). African Elites in India: Habshi Amarat. Mapin. ISBN 9788188204731.
  5. Ali, Shanti Sadiq (1996). The African Dispersal in the Deccan: From Medieval to Modern Times. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 9788125004851.
  6. Jayasuriya, Shihan de S.; Pankhurst, Richard (2003). The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean. Africa World Press. ISBN 9780865439801.
  7. Chilka, Amit (8 September 2014). Sea Forts of India. Osmora Incorporated. ISBN 9782765903611.
  8. Ottoman court chroniclers (1588). Muhimme Defterleri, Vol. 62 f 205 firman 457, Avail Rabiulavval 996.
  9. Cambridge illustrated atlas, warfare: Renaissance to revolution, 1492–1792 by Jeremy Black p.17
  10. Shanti Sadiq Ali (1996). The African Dispersal in the Deccan: From Medieval to Modern Times. Paris: Orient Blackswan. pp. 260 Pages. ISBN 8125004858.
  11. Roy, Kaushik (30 March 2011). War, Culture and Society in Early Modern South Asia, 1740-1849 (Volume 3 Asian States and Empires ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 13. ISBN 9781136790874. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  12. "As NDA cadet, I was witness to Vice Admiral Awati's kindness". ThePrint. 5 November 2018.
  13. 1945-, Gordon, Stewart (1993). The Marathas, 1600-1818. Cambridge University Press. p. 123. ISBN 9780521268837. OCLC 25914184.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. Great Britain India Office. The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908
  15. Janjira Princely State (11 gun salute)
  16. Princely States of India

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