Happy New Year people!!
I am beginning this year’s
post with my travel destinations. My exams ended on the 8th of December
and I boarded a flight to Mumbai from Bhubaneswar on 10th of December.
Yes, i travelled from the eastern most part of the peninsula to the western most part.
A
note to be taken, my whole extended family and my relatives lives in Mumbai (with
some few exception). So I didn’t go to Mumbai for vacation, instead I was there
to meet my entire family member.
My relatives lives in various
suburbs of Mumbai,but I went to my uncle’s home , who lives in Vasai.
It is a northern suburb
of the city. The city is also known as Bassein, which is it’s English name. This name is derived from the Portuguese name “Baçaim”.
India was a former British
colony, but many of other empire too had their colony in this vast country.
Example : Pondicherry was a French colony, Goa was a Portuguese colony. Ask
anyone to name a former Portuguese colony in India, and the first answer you will hear
would be Goa. But Vasai was one of the most important Portuguese colony whose name is somewhat lost today.
The Portuguese
first visited the place in 1509 under Francisco de Almeida. At that time, the Portuguese
were on their way to make Goa their colony, which they did successfully by the
year 1510. The islands of Mumbai , were not that of importance at those time. Gradually,
the place was passed to the British in 1661 as part of dowry of Catherine of Braganza.
Today , Vasai is a part
of the city. The only Portuguese trace that is left is the grand Vasai fort. It’s
full name in Portuguese is “"Fortaleza de São Sebastião de Baçaim “ which translates to "the fort of St. Sebastian of Vasai". Under the colony, the fort was called “ corte da norte “ or the northern court,
thus becoming the head quarters of the northern islands to Goa.
The fort was eventually
seiged by the Maratha Empire in the 1739 during the battle of Vasai. The
Maratha Empire was led by Chimaji Appa and the Portuguese were led by Captain Joa
o Xavier Pinto.
 |
| Statue of Chimaji Appa image source |
This battle led to the
construction of another historical site, Vajreswari Temple, which would be
covered in next post.
The fort was not a very nice experience for me as I reached there quite late in the evening. But, even in the dim light , the fort's grandness didn't hide.
If you look through a tourist point of view, this is an amazing place, and the history associated with it makes it even more interesting.
Apart from the last two pics, rest all pics are sourced from my brother's shutter( PS: not that crappy map), so if you like those pics, you can follow him on instagram here
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