My name is Paresh Navani, I am Director of the Russian Information Center in India.
I am sure that every person in Russia knows the name of Afanasy Nikitin, who was the first European to arrive in India in 1469, almost 30 years before Vasco de Gamma, and unlike his Portuguese counterpart was a peaceful traveller and explorer. Perhaps in modern times he would have been called a travel blogger. After all, it was he who gave the world the most valuable descriptions of medieval India, and in his diary “Journey beyond the three seas” he described the life, traditions, cities of India of the 15th century. This was the first page in the history of Russian-Indian relations, which for centuries have only been very friendly – you will not find a single record of any conflict between our two countries.
Afanasy Nikitin was looking for trade routes, a way to establish economic relations between Russia and the India. Unfortunately, upon his return to Russia he did not reach his birth town – Tver, under mysterious circumstances Afanasy died near Smolensk, and the text of his notes was rediscovered by the world only in 19th century. Who knows, if the Russian Tzar in 1474 year had read the notes of the Tver merchant, Indo-Russian history and perhaps of the whole world would turned differently…
The name of this great man means a lot to us, the Russian Information Center in India. Since 2016, we have organized several motorcycle tours named after Afanasy Nikitin for Indian bikers.
Motorcyle Rides in Tver – his birthplace & Crimea – where he wrote his book. And now, we’re launching a new media project russinfo.in about Russia and India – it is in the format of a blog and we decide to call it the same “Journey Beyond The Three Seas”, thus to continue the work of the great traveler and Russian blogger. The main launch is planned to January 2020. On pages of our website you can learn about the regions of Russia and India on English and Russian language, from the words of local residents, who will be our regular authors.
The first post in this format I decided to devote to the place where Afanasy Nikitin set foot on Indian land – in the olden days it was called Port Chaul, and nowadays it is known as Revdanda.
We visited this place a couple of days ago. And of course we decided to start with a visit to the monument. The idea to put in India a monument to the Tver merchant belongs to the President of the Russian Federation H.E. Mr. Vladimir Putin, he announced it while in India in October 2002. Funds for the construction of the monument was allocated by the administration of the Tver region, And the educational society of the Konkan region donated a plot of land on the territory of the school K. E. S Sardar Ravbahadur Tendulkar Hightschool Revdanda
As soon as we stepped into the school grounds heading towards the monument – we were approached by one of the teachers and were heartily invited to the Principal’s office – Mr. R. N. Padge. In his office our eyes were immediately drawn towards a statuette of Afanasy Nikitin on the Principal’s desk, the statuette was a replica of the monument built in memory of Afanasy Nikitin in Tver, it was touching to see the respect accorded to the great traveller.
The Principal Mr. R. N. Padge was very happy to see us and immediately organised for lovely coffee – visitors to the monument, especially Russians, are rare visitors said he. We talked for a long time, he told us about the history of the school, which is more than 100 years old, it has 2,000 students, and it is considered the best in the district. He became the Principal a couple of years ago, and now he personally takes care of the monument (it must be admitted that since our last visit here 2 years back it is in much better condition). Mr. Padge then pulled out photos from the unveiling ceremony, which took place on January 17, 2003. The opening ceremony was attended by the Mayor of Tver, Mr. Alexander Belousov, Vice-governors of the Tver region Mr. Yuri Krasnov and Ms. Olga Pishchulina and representatives of the Russian diplomatic corps in India. The Indian side was represented by the authorities of the state of Maharashtra, well-known public figures. And finally as a grand moment the respected Pricnipal Mr. Padge took out a book from his steel safe – It was ‘Journey Beyond Three Seas’ in three languages: Russian, English and Hindi. After coffee, we walked through the school yard to the monument and were surrounded by many of the shool children who wanted to take pictures with us. Thank you Sir and all the students and staff for your very warm welcome and hospitality!
“And we went by sea to Muscat for ten days, and from Muscat to Degas four days, and from Degas to Gujarat, and from Gujarat to bay of Cambay where they produced paints and varnishes. From Cambay they sailed to Chaul by sea which took six weeks. And here is where I step into and experience the real India. Here the people go naked sometimes, their heads are not covered, and their chests are bare, they have hair that has single braid and children are born every year, they have many children. Both men and women are sometimes naked and all dark skinned. Wherever I go, there are many people following me around the place – they marvel at the white man with his white sking and light hair.”- So wrote Afanasy Nikitin in his diary.
This small beach town called Revdanda, was the erstwhile medieval port of Chaul, where Afanasy Nikitin arrived from Persia, fron the port of Bandar Abbas on April 9, 1469-30 years before the Portuguese Vasco da Gama. The history of this place is ancient and one of the oldest amongst all the current and past cities on the Konkan coast, and is an important part of ancient, medieval and colonial India.
The earliest mention of Chaul is in the inscriptions embedded in one of the Buddhist caves of Kanheri, which is now in modern Mumbai (in those times there was no such city called Mumbai). The inscriptions in Sanskrit are dated between the 1 & 2 century AD and they express gratitude to one of the family of jewellers from Chemulaka, another name used for Chaul. Buddhists from this region are gone centuries ago, but some monuments are still preserved, for example, in the current Hindu temple Hingulja Devi (Hinglaj Mata Mandir nowadays) in Revdanda, you will still find a Buddhist stupa from the 1st century ad.
Mention of Chaul can be found in the Geography of Ptolemy and Periplus of the Erythraean Sea – from the second and third century AD. In 6th century after Christ, Chaul was visited by the monk traveller Kosmas, where in his records he spoke of Chaul as a thriving trading center and port. In the 10th century, Chaul was visited by the Arab traveller Al Masudi and he described the place as a large commercial port and city where mangoes, coconuts, rice, onions and spices grow. He noted that there are at least 10,000 Muslims living here, but there are many other nationalities – there is a mosque, temples, fire temple of Zoroastrians, a Church and a Synagogue. In the early 14th century, Chaul came under the control of Alauddin Khilji and is mentioned in the annals as one of the main cities and the main port of the Bahmani Sultanate.
Interestingly, some historians have tried to prove that the first European to arrive in India was the Briton John Mandeville, but later it turned out that the mention of Chaul in his book in 1350 was plagiarism. Now no one doubts that it was Afanasy Nikitin who was the first European to arrive in the Indian land, who described its life, the state of the cities, and it was during the reign of the Sultan of Bahman.
In 1490, the greatness of the Brahmin Sultanate came to an end, and control of the main port of the coast passed to the Sultan of Ahmednagar (Ahmednagar Sultanate), under their rule Chaul especially flourished.
The Portuguese appeared here in 1505, when the Portuguese commander Don Lorenzo de Almeda (Dom Lourenco de Almeida), accompanied by 10 ships attacked the port of Chaul and inflicted huge losses on the locals. He later imposed an annual duty of 2,000 gold coins on the Port and Sultanate. A few years later there was a huge battle between the Portuguese and the Sultans of Gujarat, in which Don Lorenzo himself died. As a result of the huge losses on both sides, a trade treaty was signed, with the continued presence of the Portuguese in the region. It was then, in 1524, that the Portuguese completed the construction of the Fort of Revdanda (Revdanda Fort or Fortaleza de Chaul), which allowed them to hold force against the onslaught of the Sultanates and later the Marathas and control the region during the 17th and 18th centuries.
In 1806, the Marathas captured Chaul and destroyed almost all the Portuguese buildings, handing out plots on the territory of Fort Revdanda to the locals. To this day, you can see immersed in the greenery of coconut trees local houses, built in the very unique style of Maharashtra.
Interestingly, there is still a small colony, a minute fragment and remanants of the Portuguese occupation to be found in the village of Korlai, which is on the foot of Korlai Fort which lies on the opposite of the sea bay to Revdanda, they speak a unique language found only here which is a mixture of Konkani and Portuguese, it is known as Kristi (Kristi). The Fort is located on a mountain with stunning views, and I will definitely talk about this fort in our coming posts.
There is little evidence of Portuguese presence on the Konkan coast today, among the few are the ruins of the bell tower of the Church of St. Barbara in the territory of Fort Revdanda and a small chapel where Francis Xavier is said to have prayed (St.Francis Xavier), later became a Saint and his remains can be seen, still preserved in Goa – a more lasting Portuguese colony compared to Maharashtra which regained its local controls quite earlier on.
In 1818, Chaul came under the control of the British, who finally defeated the resistance of the Marathas. This is how the mass colonization of India began, the decline of its local Kings and power. The special value of the work of Afanasy Nikitin is that he arrived in India 30 years before the outbreak of mass wars and colonisation attemots by the Portuguese and the British, and he was one of the first and probably the last European to describe India as it actually was and much before facts were twisted to suit the colonisers.
The Fort is mostly ruins, but they fit very picturesquely fit into a coconut grove and an empty huge beach that runs for kilometres.
Especially recommend to visit here at sunset and take in the interplay of the Sun, the beach, the Revdanda Fort behind you and the Korlai Fort in front of you in the sea! What an experience, truly memorable, it will make you wish that you never leave this quaint, beautiful and historical town by the sea.
Next to the guns there is an inscription that they are dated to the 17th century. By the way, it was Afanasy Nikitin who was the first to witness the first use of gunpowder in India – when the Bahman Sultan attacked the capital of Vijayanagar Empire.
It is here that Afanasy Nikitin went to the beach for a swim on a hot day. Although the Fort was not here in his time, but we think the surrounding scenery would not be much different.
As mentioned in the ancient texts, rice, mango and betel nut are still grown here in huge quantities as they were centuries ago. Also Afanasy Nikitin mentions the betel nut as “the magic nut from which they make wine”. Now betel is used as a mild stimulant in the famous Indian mouth freshener made from natural products and is called the Paan – it is chewed and swallowed after some period giving the eater a mild high. By the way, wine from grapes and rum from cane sugar, were brought to India by the Portuguese.
A kilometer away from the school is an ancient site called the Rameshwar Temple, they say its history dates back to the 11th century after Christ. The true history of the temple is unknown. There is one thing that connects the temple with the Pandavas. Inside the temple there are various artifacts that date back to different eras – from the 11th to the 16th centuries. Like most things in Hinduism, the origin of Shivling (called Rameshwar) is now the subject of myths. In the Maharasthrian Konkan region there are many such temples like Harihareshwar, Ganpatipule etc… with many of them dedicated to Lord Shiva. Rameshwar Temple is probably one of them.
At the rear of the temple, hidden in a group of trees, is an ancient damaged stone structure. Locals say it was the Samadhi (tomb) of a famous chief. Some sources say it could have been Anholi Angri Kanhoji Angre, a famous pirate who became a Maratha naval commander under the rule of the Great Maratha King and leader Shivaji Maharaj.
Right at the foot of the structure is a small stone sculpture of Nandi. The style of architecture reminiscent of the Chaluki Empire style, and similar to what we can see in Badami and Pattadakal. Indeed, this region was once part of this Chalukyan Empire. This stone statue of Nandi sits by alone itself, and there is nothing around it. Was it part of the Rameshwar temple or some other? We can only guess…
In this area of Maharashtra exist a whole many lot of interesting places – about 350 temples, 20 Buddhist caves, hundreds of FORTS in the mountains and on small Islands in the middle of the ocean, deserted beautiful beaches – I will tell you more about them in coming posts.
How to get there: from the center of Mumbai, India Gate runs a regular ferry to Alibag. It takes about 40 minutes. From the Marina you can take a rickshaw or take the local bus.
Where to stay in Revdanda:
On booking sites there are a lot of budget places in Revdand or neighboring Alibag, unfortunately I find it difficult to allocate some specific. For guests with a higher budget I recommend The Fern Alibag-it is 2 km from the Monument and Rameshwar temple. If you want to relax on the beach-it is better to choose the neighbouring beaches of Kashid or Murud-but about this I shall speak more in the following posts. Please note that Mumbai & Pune residents like to relax here, so accommodation on weekends should be taken care of well in advance.
Where to eat: there are many local restaurants serving excellent dishes in the style of the Konkan coast – Malvani cuisine. It is distinguished by fish dishes cooked with coconut. For unusual foreign visitors-it may seem a bit harsh, but in general it is not as sharp as for example in the neighbouring region of Kolapur, or in Rajasthan. The Fern also serves non-spicy continental cuisine.
Author: Paresh Navani, Director of the Russian Information Center in India.
Photo: Katerina Belyakova
Source list:
Kommersant, in India put a monument to Athanasiy Nikitin, 17.01.2002
“”Journey beyond the three seas”” by Afanasii Nikitin. Modern translation by L. S. Semenov
Live History India, Chaul: Maharashtra’s Medieval Port? 13.10.2019
Anannya Deb, Exploring Chaul — A Village Of Many Histories, 26.01.2015
REDISCOVERYPROJECT, Korlai: A Portuguese speaking village on Maharashtra’s Konkan coast, 12.03.2018