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Trans.Inst.Indian Geographers ISSN 0970-9851 Evolution of a Hinterland: The Case of in North

Rekha Mammen,

Abstract This article undertakes a phase-wise historical analysis of transformations in a peri-urban region of Mumbai before ’s Independence. Relationships between local communities, traders, religious establishments and rulers through ancient, medieval, and colonial times are traced. The evolution of different forms of land use, patterns of exchange and settlements that developed in the region as a result of people-environment interaction is outlined.

Introduction Sahyadri ranges, known as the Western presently constitutes a part of the Ghats, which runs parallel to the coast. The peri-urban region of the Mumbai Metropolis. region had an active maritime economy from Different forms of land use, patterns of the first millennium BCE despite the sharp exchange and related human settlements rise of mountains near the coast with limited evolved in the region through centuries of access (Figure 1) to the interior through difficult densely forested mountain passes people-environment interactions. Here the such as the Bor, Devasthali, Kumbharli and events and processes that shaped the region Sevtya (Campbell, 2006). The high rainfall, through ancient, medieval and colonial times tropical climate and fertile soil made the are traced in an attempt to understand the coast a considerably productive area. While needs, potential and regional development the coastal strip produced rice, salt, fish/ requirements that had emerged by the dried fish, sea shells, betel nut, coconuts, time of Independence. This would create coconut fibre and fruit, these in themselves the base upon which one could assess were inadequate to sustain trade. Timber, the contemporary landscape as imagined including teak, from the dense ghat forests through the development planning process constituted another important item for trade. and the landscape that has evolved through The various openings in the Sahyadris spaces of lived interactions. Today, Uran provided access to parts of the Deccan from taluka is an actively transforming site with where , cotton, onions, garlic, large scale corporate investment. , tobacco and pulses were sourced North Konkan Landscapes in Ancient (Naravane, 2001). Times North Konkan emerged as a significant The North Konkan, where Uran taluka trading region (Karmarkar, 1996) in its is located, is characterised by a long narrow own right with the rise of trading centres strip of coastal plain bound on the west like , and under the by the and on the east by the Andhrabhrityas (200 BCE – 400 AD). of village artisans evolved to serve village needs that crystallised into a group of twelve artisans called the bara balutedar (Kosambi, 1965), thereby reducing the need for a cash economy and making the village a fairly insular entity. Regional variations of this system naturally emerged as a consequence of the peculiarities of the differing local resource conditions. This is seen in the instance of Uran taluka where the service castes served groups of low-lying villages from their location in upland villages such as Uran, Jasai and Chirner where water, fuel wood, and other material resources needed for their respective trades were available in adequate supply. At the beginning of the early medieval period (Karmarkar, 2005) there was large-scale migration of Brahmins and craftsmen from declining urban centres to the countryside where production of crafts and agriculture picked up (Sharma, 1987). This could be the origin of the compulsion reported in Uran taluka for every low-lying village to ensure a place for at least one Brahmin and one Nhavi (barber) family. Since the predominant source of revenue for rulers was either agriculture or/and trade, much of the conflict between them was , however, started facing a to gain control over fertile tracts of land decline especially after the 3rd century AD and coastal areas along with their inland (Sharma, 1987) that persisted even in the networks (Thapar, 2002). The expansion of Gupta era. Trade with Romans, Chinese political power in the Konkan was largely and Parthians declined considerably, leading based on increased revenue from the to revenue losses to the state, merchants, introduction of agriculture in new areas, and artisans and others. Failure to improve was often achieved by land or village grants agricultural production in the hinterland of to Brahmins and to temples. The process also the erstwhile historical towns such as Sopara involved the conversion of local societies and led to a social crisis that affected to peasant cultivators in areas where such a wide range of people, from the peasants cultivators had not existed before, and the right up to the city dwellers and brought Brahmins brought them into the caste system in feudalisation (Sharma, 1965). A system by allocating the sudra caste status to them.

82 | Transactions | Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015 Uran, then a village on Karanja Island, of Uran that is shared with the neighbouring seems to have gained importance as the and Pen talukas in Kolaba District, head of an administrative division during is the large area of salt marsh and mangrove rule. The ruled over swamps reclaimed for the growth of rice 1400 North Konkan villages from 765/810 (, 1908) and the production of to 1260 AD - more than 400 years (GOM, salt. Thus each taluka constituted a resource 2009) with a commercial hinterland for additional cultivators and labourers for extending up to Rajasthan (Thapar, 2002). rapid expansion. The nature and extent of trade during this period indicate complex trade links and associated influences that existed at that Medieval History of the North Konkan time. The important places in this period With the discovery of the sea-route around were Thane, Sanjan in Dahanu, Sopara, the African Cape in 1497, the period from Chaul, Lonad and Uran. Many villages and 1500 to 1800 AD saw a reorganisation of gardens were established on Karanja Island the economy of the region with the rise and the area appears to have experienced of strong maritime and continental power a period of prosperity (Nairne, 1896). Till groups (Gupta, 2001). When the Portuguese the 18th century the island, eight miles long arrived in the 15th century the western from north to south and four miles wide from coast was under the control of four main east to west, was cut off from the mainland powers – the Portuguese, Marathas, Angrias by the Bendkhal creek which at high tide was and Sidis – with the North Konkan region filled through its whole length. The creek to divided between two of them (Naravane, the east was earlier broken up into several 2001). The region had been considerably salt-pans. The erstwhile island consisted of neglected by its rulers in the previous two two rocky hills in between which there were centuries, thereby giving space to local grass and rice lands, wooded with mango chiefs to dominate the countryside. The trees and palms. Other than Uran, nineteen state of conflict between the petty chiefs villages were part of Karanja Island. and kings and the inadequately equipped Description of the subsequent arrival navies of these kingdoms made Portuguese from Paithan of a king called Bimba in occupation of ports such as Chaul (1507) Thane in the late thirteenth century, suggests and (1508) fairly easy. Bassein that his reign also constituted a period of and its dependencies (Salsette, Bombay1, expansion of paddy cultivation and salt , Wadala, Sion, Worli, Mazgaon, production in the region that required an Thana, , Mahim, and Karanja) influx of migrants who could undertake comprised one of the most attractive areas the work. One of the earliest references for occupation. The revenue sources of (Thakur, 2007) to reclamation, salt pans and Bassein in the 16th century included horse cultivation of such kharapat or ‘saline land’ trade, fishing, salt, timber, a stone quarry located along the banks of tidal creeks in (basalt, granite), and shipyards (Ramerini, the Konkan was found in a rock edict dated 1998). Revenues were also extracted from 1367 A.D near Alibag. A distinctive feature the surrounding agricultural area where

Transactions | Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015 | 83 rice, betel, cotton, and sugar-cane were Island as Karanja (Caranja) served as an cultivated. The Portuguese soon controlled a important port and one of the main Custom stretch of about 100 km from Bassein () Houses. Portuguese control over trade was to Daman called the Northern or Bassein accompanied by their efforts to control the Province which lasted for a period of almost local population through forced conversions 200 years (Ramerini, 1998). Their capital to Christianity. Unlike , where the was established at Bassein and apart from Portuguese influence caused local converts a manor on the main island, Bombay was to sever their connections with the land by relatively uninhabited (Naravane, 2001). taking up jobs in Portuguese households New crops such as tobacco, pineapple, or the government (SSIC, 1908) in large and cashew were introduced that became numbers, in Uran the Christians took great important sources of revenue (GOI, 1882) pride in earning their living from cultivation, in the province. Although none of these fishing, and toddy-drawing. Very few took crops appear to have constituted significant up employment as clerks and shopkeepers sources of revenue in Uran taluka, cashew in Bombay, perhaps due to the presence trees are seen in some villages, e.g. Panje and of a strong regional culture rooted in their Sheva. Enterprising villagers had planted relationship with the environment. Village some of the cashew nuts gifted to them by grants were also made to headmen who had traders for their services as sailors (Patil, been converted to Christianity. However, the 2012). Such informal exchange perhaps also levels of revenue extraction and religious explains how two varieties of grafted mango, repression must have been severe for a alphonso and pairi, whose origin was traced significant large-scale riot was reported to (GOI, 1882) to Goa were introduced in the have taken place on Karanja Island in 1613. study area during Portuguese rule. Of the The growing strength of Dutch forces numerous such interactions that must take between 1595 and 1663 AD resulted in place every day, some develop tremendous losses to Portuguese trade and territory. significance due to a combination of indirect A strategic alliance with England - also and direct factors such as the development of a competitor until then - in 1662 led to new communication lines and market value. the signing of a historic marriage treaty. This was seen later in the case of grafted The British agreed to mediate with and/ mango during colonial rule. or provide defence against the Dutch, The Portuguese sustained and even while the Portuguese offered a dowry that expanded rice cultivation in their territories, comprised the city of Tangier, two million with the construction of new embankments. ‘Portuguese crusados’, and the port and These were funded partly by the Government island of Bombay (Danvers, 1894). Despite and partly by the European settlers to whom a natural harbour, the seven Bombay islands the Government granted large estates did not have enough space for port related (SSIC, 1908). A number of forts were activities such as dockyards and warehouses. built for defence and to retain control over The islands were separated at high tide and the spice trade. One of these was built on connected by mud flats at low tide. With Dronagiri hill (Patil, 2007) of Karanja their prior knowledge of the region, the

84 | Transactions | Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015 Portuguese retained control over nearby Impact of Colonial Rule in North Konkan areas that were necessary for survival on Between the years 1803 and 1827 the the Bombay islands. Salsette was the most framework of the fertile and productive area of north Konkan took shape. The Konkan formed one of and was the supply base of Bombay as well the five territorial divisions of the Bombay as Goa. Control over Karanja and Vasai Presidency, the others being the Deccan, the were critical for the defence of Bombay, Karnatak, , and Sind. In 1817 Thana with Vasai also being an important source was made the headquarters of North Konkan, of timber for the Bombay dockyards. probably due to its location being strategic Simultaneously, the region experienced for access to the Deccan. In 1833 the region the consolidation of Mughal powers and the was divided into the two collectorates of rise of the Marathas under the leadership of Thana and Ratnagiri. Kolaba was added at . To monopolise their major factory the end of the Angres hold in 1840, made locations and the associated local production a sub-collectorate of Thana in 1863, and areas the British entered into the politics an independent Collectorate in 1869. The of the land and started supporting and/ Konkan Division finally included the town or opposing the dominant local and island of Bombay, the four districts of families that were feuding with each other Thana, Kolaba, Kanara, Ratnagiri and the (Karmarkar, 2005). In this context, the three Native States of , Janjira, and peripheral areas came under the control of . regionally based powers and their economy Karanja Island initially constituted started getting controlled by local bankers an administrative sub-division of Salsette and traders. New groups of independent taluka and a customs division of Thana rulers holding limited land emerged in the District in the Bombay Presidency that region, for example, the Angres of Kolaba contained the three ports of Mora, Karanja, and the Savants of Sawantwadi. The period and Sheva (Hunter, 1886). The island was of the Angres, who controlled the naval separated from Salsette in 1861 and the power of the Marathas, lasted for nearly original revenue settlement was undertaken 150 years from 1690 to 1840. Kanjohi in 1865 prior to the transfer of Uran Angre was the ‘Sarkhel’ or the admiral of sub-division to Panvel. It was placed the Maratha fleet in 1698, which controlled under Panvel vide Government Resolution the Konkan coast from Bombay to Malabar 456 dated 3rd February 1865 (Bombay (Meyer, Burn, Cotton, & Risley, 1909). Government, 1882) and constituted a sub- They occupied Karanja Island in 1737. Most division (petha) of 22 villages and one town, of the shilotris or embankments in Uran are inclusive of three ports. The importance said to have been built between 1755 and of Panvel arose first from its position as a 1780 under the Angrias by wealthy men of receiving and forwarding port from Bombay high status or rank, who undertook to make the embankments and maintain them on to the Deccan and vice versa, and dates special terms. from a very long time back. Though the opening of the railway in 1856 lessened

Transactions | Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015 | 85 its importance, it continued to play a fairly area and the lack of irrigation facilities, the important role even later. The division was region had very few double-cropped lands. officially named Uran in 1881-82 by the The predominant crop in the region was British. Panvel and Uran mahal were a part rice grown on the lowlands along the coast of till 1883 when they were and in terraced rice lands further inland, transferred to Kolaba district. with millets grown on higher ground. The subsequent promotion of Sweet rice land was always ploughed and private property and the evolution of the seedlings grown in a plot or seed-bed the revenue system were based on the that had undergone “rab” treatment which dualistic categorisation (Whitehead, 2010) consisted of burning cow-dung, leaves, of lands into productive and unproductive branches and grass, that had been spread waste (varkas) arising from a conceptual over the plot and dried during the summer. disjuncture created between field and forest, This is a practice that is seen in the region caste and tribe. The concept of wasteland even today, necessitating a close relationship was thus introduced that referred to any between rice lands, meadow and forest. land put to ‘unproductive use’, held in Salt rice lands (kharapat) were neither common or left idle. Several indigenous “rabed” nor ploughed, but the rice grown forms of land tenure2 in North Konkan on saline land did not fetch as high a price were eliminated with the introduction of or yield as much as the sweet rice (Bombay the British survey and the greater part of Government, 1925). The millets - nachni, the Bombay Presidency was held on the vari, til, urid, tur, kurasni and harik - grown ryotwari system. In the ryotwari system in the varkas lands were only grown for land was occupied by cultivators who paid home consumption. These were generally their revenues directly to the government grown as second crops after rice in lands (GOI, 1908). This was generally held to be with sufficient natural moisture. Coconut, more equitable than the zamindari system mango, areca-nut and betel leaf were grown used in other provinces such as Bengal. on the garden lands. However, Uran, Alibag and Pen talukas Beside its rice crop, which was of had an extremely skewed distribution of considerable value, the two special exports land ownership as they had mostly shilotri of Karanja Island were salt, mahua and (embankment) lands3. Given the time and date liquor. Export of dried fish, especially labour required to reclaim the salt marsh to taluka was another important and make it fit for paddy cultivation the source of income. The supply of fresh fish reclaimers were usually wealthy investors. for the market of Bombay and of dried They had a superior status and were fish for the Deccan mainly supported the permitted to let out the lands and levy a Koli population. The extraction of oil charge to meet the costs of maintaining the from sesamum, coconut, and groundnut, embankment (Baden-Powell, 1892). and the preparation of coconut fibre, also From 1835-54 rentals were reduced supported many families. There were 19 and there was considerable expansion in mahua distilleries on the island, all owned by agriculture. Given the conditions in the , that relied on flowers brought through

86 | Transactions | Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015 Bombay from the Panch Mahals. The chief 1858 and 1872 to ensure a market for salt imports through Karanja, Mora and Sheve produced in Britain. About two-thirds of were firewood, mowra (mahua) flowers and the area formerly devoted to salt-making dates, which were used in the manufacture in the district was brought under paddy of country liquor. Uran also had six cotton cultivation. More than 14,000 acres in looms, three hand ginning machines and Kolaba District were reclaimed in this way some oil-presses. The island was also a (Bombay State, 1908), leading to the in- source of entertainment for sportsmen from migration of many Agri and some Brahman Bombay who visited the island almost every families in the middle of the nineteenth day for the snipe and duck that were found in century. The reclamation of saline land was plenty in the area. The town of Uran became encouraged by no revenue being levied for a centre with several wealthy Muslim and the first ten years, and full revenue only Marwari traders and businessmen. Many after thirty years. Advances were also made of them grew rich through the trade of salt, to cultivators under the Land Improvement liquor and paddy and owned vast tracts of and Agriculturists’ Loan Acts. land. The proximity to Bombay also led Other important sources of income in the to a growing demand for grass from the region in the 19th century were sand, stone grasslands of Uran as well as other uplands quarrying and salt making. Soil, weather in the periphery of the city. Grass could and other conditions being ideal in coastal be shipped from almost every point on the North Konkan for the production of salt, creeks or near the coast where it could be this activity also flourished. Salt production carted and several smaller ports came into through evaporation provided considerable existence to support this trade. In Uran employment in the post-monsoon season, taluka, Sheva evolved as a minor port solely when many of the cultivators were not for the sale of grass. The British revenue engaged in agriculture. It was produced in system had been founded on Locke’s theory large quantities in Pen and Panvel talukas (Whitehead, 2010) that “land that is left with the Karanja division constituting about 3000 acres. The officers who oversaw the wholly to nature, that hath no improvement salt works were stationed at the village of of pasturage, tillage, or planting, is called, Uran (Bombay State, 1908). The British as indeed it is, waste; and we shall find government soon established a complete the benefit of it amount to little more monopoly over all salt production and than nothing.”(Locke 1971:13 quoted in brought in repressive salt laws. Older Whitehead, 2010). The peasants obviously respondents who had worked on salt pans disagreed with – or to use the popular in the study area recall how supervisors explanation for peasant behaviour – were too ensured that the baskets used to carry salt uneducated to follow British logic for they were washed out at the end of the day so began converting rice land into meadow. that the labourers could not carry away a This practice, first noticed by the British in single grain for personal use or private gain. 1861, was found to continue at the time of Salt-pans were gradually closed between the first revenue settlement.

Transactions | Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015 | 87 The grasslands then constituted a new grains was taken by the coarser kinds of rice target for appropriation. Entrepreneurs and grown in salt lands. Forage and mango, for traders from Bombay bought up most of which there was increasing demand in the the land from the original land holders to city (Bombay Government, 1892), replaced whom it had been leased at especially low upland dry crops. Apart from reducing the rates for rice cultivation. The impoverished nutritional base of the local communities, hinterlands – mostly grass and orchard their supportive web of relationships was uplands – were thus taken over by wealthy also broken. The tribals (adivasis) came traders and businessmen in Bombay. The close to starvation in the post-monsoon expansion of the city and escalating land season as lands that were traditionally leased prices created opportunities for speculation to them for the cultivation of grains, pulses and investment that many of the businessmen and millets were converted to grasslands and used to expand their base for capital orchards (Sinclair, 1885). This was in large accumulation from fairly early in the city’s part influenced by the extension of railways evolution. The evolution of legal tenets and that had made the rest of the country systems to aid in the development of land as customers for the fruit. Mango also began to private property has been an integral part of replace the coconut, as they brought higher this process of ensuring an expanding base returns and could be grown on either warkas for capital accumulation by the elite. The or rabi lands, which had some exposure Bombay Land Revenue Act, passed in 1879, to the sea breeze. Thus, the symbiotic determined the land rights of the citizens. relationship between urban centres and the According to this act the revenue was to be hinterland that led to livelihood generation paid in cash directly to the government. The in the periphery was broken and widespread land could be confiscated by the government impoverishment and exploitation was seen. or the usurer if the situation so demanded. Land could be sold or leased out and the The Last Phase of Colonial Rule new system led to an increase in the rents for The significance of Bombay changed leased lands with landlords increasing their dramatically with the opening of the share of the produce and also demanding Suez Canal in 1869, which facilitated the addition of straw bundles with the the development of foreign shipping grain given as payments in kind (Bombay that exploited its newfound proximity Government, 1892). to Europe (Patel, 2006). The city was Thus, the areas in the immediate spatially organized around the port and periphery of Bombay – Salsette, Uran, functioned as the central node between the Thane, Bhiwandi, Kalyan and Vasai - were hinterland and England by strategically converted into a source region (Figure 2) linking rail-lines and shipping routes with for food and other necessary supplies that areas demarcated to serve the functions of included water, fodder, fuel, timber, sand, trade, storage and distribution (Grant & and bricks. The upland dry crops disappeared Nijman, 2002). Extraction of raw materials in many villages in Uran and other areas in and revenues from the hinterland was thus the immediate periphery. Their place as food rapidly intensified in the late 19th and early

88 | Transactions | Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015 20th centuries. As the hinterland became Agashi lost their importance (Phadke, 1982). organized and connected, the further Konkan ports such as Ulwa, Mora, and development of towns and cities ensued, Karanja continued to be important as ports albeit in an unequal manner (Patel & Deb, subsidiary to Bombay since the road and 1995). Railway stations became significant railway facilities could not be adequately points and the role of river ports such as developed there. New jetties such as Thane, Kalyan, Vasai, Bhayandar and Dharamtar, Mandva and Rewas came up in

Transactions | Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015 | 89 the 1860s to meet the demand for supplies were killed in firing and lathi charge by the to Bombay (Phadke, 1982). Bombay’s police. The depression of the 1930s added domination over the hinterland increased as to the plight of peasants due to a fall in the the existing ports, towns and cities became prices of agricultural products and created mere supply and revenue collection centres, further grounds for peasants’ and workers’ losing their independent social, economic agitations in the years to follow. Inter and and diversified resource base. The port city intra-village clashes were seen between served British interests at the cost of the peasants employed by the savkar and those associated hinterlands, indigenous inland opposing them. The severe discontent that cities and oceanic networks (Das Gupta, was simmering among the tenant farmers in 1987). the Konkan peaked sharply with the active By 1920 Uran was no longer quite involvement of Ambedkar and several an island, the upper part of Karanja creek other leaders. The peasants went on strike having been filled up, and the road from in Vashi of Pen taluka (1922-1925), in Uran to Panvel having no need for the Chari of (1932-1937), and in wooden bridge by which it formerly crossed Bhendkhal of Uran taluka (1939-1943). The the creek at Jasai (Bombay Government, struggle continued until Independence when 1925). The landlords had been pressing the struggle for land reforms took shape. their claims to rent and had used several coercive means to extract as much as they Conclusion could of the share of the crops. The peasant At the time of Independence this was an struggle against tenancy that began in 1920 extremely productive region that had been brought realisation that conditions were not formed through the sweat and blood of happy for the villagers of the region (Thakur, generations of people. A wide network of 2007). The Agri peasants’ discontent against interaction between primary, secondary the excesses of the landlords (the savkars, and tertiary hinterlands and the related pandharpeshes, and khots) began to be seen movements of communities from different with the demand of first claim on the land regions led to its unique socio-economic as tillers. composition. The caste society of this region During 1929-30 the British attempted to was and still is peculiar to the Northern implement a law preventing peasants from Konkan region, particularly in the Pen, accessing forests, cutting trees and extracting Alibag, Uran and Panvel talukas, where natural resources. The consequences of Agris are the highest in number and this led to a a historic struggle by Chirner proportion. Occupational differentiation peasants – the local tribals, adivasi thakurs, appears to be primarily based on the Brahmins, Agris, Kolis, Kumbhars (potters), ecology of the region and the inhabitants’ Sonars (goldsmiths), and other service castes evolving material conditions. The history – dependent on the forest for their livelihoods of the region depicts the complex array of and survival. The struggle culminated in a factors that led to its constantly changing confrontation between the Birtish police and socio-cultural and ethnic profile. It brings peasants in September 1930 when 13 people one to realise, as Thapar (2002) points out,

90 | Transactions | Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015 how the game of identity politics and any Bombay Government. (1892) & (1925). Papers claim based on ‘who was there first’ has no Relating To The Revision Survey Settlement historical validity. Of The Of The Kolaba Collectorate (SELECTIONS FROM The communities of this region deserved THE RECORDS OF THE BOMBAY redress for the injustices and exploitation GOVERNMENT: No. COLXIV – New they had faced over centuries. Additionally, Series). Bombay Presidency, Revenue. past investments had created a region Bombay: Printed by Government Central capable of contributing immensely to the Press. productive base of the regional state and Campbell, J. M. (2006). Gazetteers of the nation. Independence marked a phase Bombay Presidency - Kolaba District . when the nation could choose to build on Retrieved May - July 2012, from Gazetteer these resources and re-establish functional Department, Government of : and symbiotic relationships between urban http://raigad.nic.in/DG/1883/prologue.html and rural spaces for regional development. Danvers. (1894). Portuguese in India - Being However, the lack of value given in the post- a History of the Rise and Decline of Their Independence period to the history of people- Eastern Empire (A.D. 1481-1894). London: environment relationships here is clear from W.H. Allen & Company Limited. the dismissive description of the region as Das Gupta, A. (1987). India and the Indian a ‘common, undeveloped expanse...which Ocean, c. 1500-1800: The Story. In A. Das was once a marshy sanctuary to salt pans and Gupta, & M. Pearson, India and the Indian paddy fields’ (CIDCO, 2012) that informs Ocean. Calcutta: Oxford University Press. the development trajectory of this region Grant, R., & Nijman, J. (2002). Globalization today. and the Corporate Geography of Cities in I sincerely thank Swapna Banerjee- the Less-Developed World. Annals of the Guha for suggesting the topic, giving Association of American Geographers , 92 (2), 320-340. direction and shape to this article through ongoing discussions and guidance. Karmarkar, D. (2005). A Historical Geography of Coastal Gujarat and Konkan: Revisiting Spatial and Social Relations. Mumbai: References Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Geography, . Baden-Powell, B. (1892). The Land-Systems of British India: A Manual of the Land-Tenures Kosambi, D. D. (1965). The Culture and and of the Systems of Land-Revenue Civilisation of Ancient India in Historical Administration Prevalent in the Several Outline. London: Routledge and Kegan Provinces. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Paul. Bombay Government. (1882). Gazetteer of Meyer, W. S., Burn, R., Cotton, J. S., & Risley, the Bombay Presidency: Volume XIII, H. H. (1909). Imperial Gazetteer of India. Part II THANA. Retrieved July 20, Oxford: Clarendon Press. 2012, from Ebook and Texts Archive, Nairne, A. K. (1896). History of the Konkan. American Libraries: archive.org/details/ In B. State, Gazetteer of the Bombay gazetteer15pregoog Presidency: Volume I Part II - History of

Transactions | Vol. 37, No. 1, 2015 | 91 the Konkan Dakhan and Southern Maratha Endnotes Country. Bombay: Government Central 1 The name ‘Bombay’ is used in the text while Press. discussing events and processes as they Naravane, M. (2001). The Heritage Sites of occurred up to 1996. Thereafter ‘Mumbai’ Maritime Maharashtra. Mumbai: The is used as the name of the city was officially Maritime History Society on behalf of the changed in that year. Maritime Heritage Foundation. 2 These included the dhep or lump, the kas Patel, S. (2006). Bombay and Mumbai: Identities, or estate, the nangarbandi or plough system, Politics, and Populism. In S. Patel, & K. the suti or special remission settlement, and Deb, Urban Studies (pp. 249-273). New the pandharpesha or high-class villager’s : Oxford University Press. settlement (Choksey, 1960). The suti tenure Phadke, V. S. (1982). An Analysis of the Socio- was common and the most important in Economic Characteristics of the Bombay the North Konkan and was similar to the Metropolitan Region with Special Reference mirasi, a term used to indicate any kind of to its Rural Rimland. Mumbai (Unpublished hereditary right (Baden-Powell, 1892). Thesis): University of Mumbai. 3 These are also called khars or kharlands Ramerini, M. (1998, October 3). THE which are plots reclaimed from the sea PORTUGUESE TOWN OF BAÇAIM (BASSEIN, VASAI) - Portuguese Colonial Rekha Mammen History. Retrieved July 8, 2012, from Faculty COLONIALVOYAGE.COM A Website Centre for Community Organisation and Dedicated to Colonial History: http://www. Development Practice colonialvoyage.com/eng/asia/india/bacaim/ School of Social Work, TISS index.html Mumbai Thakur. (2007). The Agaris of North-West Email: [email protected] Maharashtra: An Ethnographic Study. [email protected] Mumbai: Unpublished Thesis, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay. Thapar, R. (2002). The Penguin History of Early India From the Origins to AD 1300. New Delhi: Penguin Books. Whitehead, J. (2010). John Locke and the Governance of India’s Landscape: The Category of Wasteland in Colonial Revenue and Forest Legislation. Economic and Political Weekly , 83-93.

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