The Fort of Janjira

Pushkar Sohoni

T
he fort of Janjira is located on an island just off the west coast
of India, approximately 85 kilometers as the crow flies south
of Mumbai. It served as the stronghold of Janjira state, which
was ruled by the ethnic group of administrator-warriors of East African
descent called the Sidis. Starting as nobles in the courts of the Nizam
Shahs of Ahmadnagar and serving them for over a hundred years, the
Sidis eventually created an independent kingdom, centered around this
island fort. They ruled over this sovereign state for over three hundred
years, from 1621 to 1948.1 The fortified island itself was called Habsan
(Persian for Abyssinians), or Murud-Janjira (a concatenation of the
words for island in two languages, Murud in Konkani and Jazeera in
Arabic), while the name Janjira, sometimes used for the island, also
refers to the entire independent kingdom. The territory of the British
Indian princely state of Janjira was fixed as a small strip of coastal
land between the estuaries of the Kundalika and Savitri rivers in the
modern Raigad district of Maharashtra.2 Several features make this
polity unique in South Asia: it was one of two princely states that were

1 For the history of the Janjira kingdom, see Chitnis 2005, Banaji 1932 and Gazetteer
1883, pages 432-452.
2 For the extent of the princely state of Janjira under the British, see Imperial Gazetteer
1908-1931 pages 57-61, esp. p. 57. 1. (opposite) Janjira’s Island fort.

2. Stamped paper depicting the
military and naval power of
the Janjira’s Sidis. Collection of
Kenneth and Joyce Robbins.
168 AFRICAN RULERS AND GENERALS IN INDIA
ruled by the Sidis;3 succession was decided by election, and not merely
by bloodline;4 and it was the only Indian kingdom which was militarily
based off the mainland and relied on its naval prowess rather than its
territorial forces. Hence, the architectural importance of the fort of
Janjira cannot be overstated, both as an exemplar of naval fortification,
but also as one of the few sites that could resist all the major imperial
powers of early modern South Asia. The rulers of Janjira were called
Wazirs until 1803, after which they used the title of Nawab, and it was
only after 1879 that the rulers were truly dynastic.5 This essay provides
an exploration of the history of the island and of its terrain, and
presents a political and social context for the period of its occupation.
HISTORY OF JANJIRA AND THE SIDIS
Ahmad Nizam Shah I (d. 1509) conquered the
fort from his erstwhile Bahmani overlords in
1489, and he appointed Sidi Yaqut in charge of it
while it was only a wooden fort (koṭ).6 The warrior-
courtiers known as Sidis (also known as Habshis,
or Abyssinians) originally came as military slaves,
merchants, sailors, and mercenaries from East
Africa, most probably the highlands of Ethiopia.7
The port of Danda-Rajpuri and the island of
Janjira were given to Shah Tahir Husaini by
Burhan Nizam Shah I sometime between 1530 and 1550,8 and little
is known of this period. Several Sidis were subsequently appointed
as administrators and military commanders.9 The fort was initially
constructed in stone under one Fahim Khan in the reign of Murtaza
Nizam Shah I (reg. 1565–1588) sometime around 1576–77, as per an
eighteenth-century inscription placed on the facade of the inner gate in
the period of the Mughal emperor Shah Alam I (reg. 1707–1712).10 It is
3 The other Sidi state was Sachin, whose history is entwined with that of Janjira; for
more on Sachin, see McLeod 2006, pages 219-233.
4 Jasdanwalla 2011, pages 41-58, esp. p. 55.
5 Gazetteer 1883 page 452.
6 Ibid., page 434; Kadiri 1967, pages 55-76, esp. p. 55.
7 Eaton 2005 pages 105-128, esp. 107-110 passim.
8 Gazetteer 1883, page 435.
9 Jasdanwalla 2011, page 46.
10 Kadiri 1967, pages 74-75.
unclear whether Fahim Khan was a Sidi. In 1598, Malik Ambar (himself
a Sidi) had taken over as regent of the Ahmadnagar sultanate, and made
his influence permanent by marrying his daughter to the young prince
Murtaza II (reg. 1600–1610) of the Nizam Shahi dynasty. Malik Ambar
appointed one Sidi Surur as commander of Janjira in 1618, followed
by Sidi Yaqut Shazli in 1620.11 Malik Ambar had deputed another Sidi
called Sidi Ambar Sanak to assess the revenues of the region around
Janjira in 1617, and upon the death of the commander of Janjira,
Yaqut Khan Shazli in 1621, Sidi Ambar Sanak was appointed the next
commander of the fort.12 By the time of the dissolution of the Nizam
Shahi kingdom in 1636, the institution of and patronage for importing
military men from Africa to the Deccan, either as military slaves or
mercenaries, had come to a close.13

From the command of Sidi Ambar in 1621 to the merger of the

princely state of Janjira with the Union of India in 1948, the fort of
Janjira remained firmly under the rule of the Sidis, who tenaciously
held on to it despite aggressions by the English, Marathas, Mughals and
the Portuguese at various times. Despite several attempts by both the
British East India Company and the Marathas led by Shivaji and his
son Sambhaji to capture the fort, it remained unconquered. It is worth
noting that Shivaji’s father Shahaji Bhonsale (d. 1664) was a general
under Malik Ambar.14 Shahaji had served the Nizam Shahs and tried
to ensure their survival until the extinction of the dynasty in 1636.15
The nominal allegiance of the Sidis shifted from the Nizam Shahs of
Ahmadnagar to the Adil Shahs of Bijapur after 1636, and eventually to
the Mughals. Yet, the Sidis of Janjira, for all intents and purposes, ruled
autonomously over their principality and created a space for themselves
in the diplomatic and military landscape of the coastal Deccan.

Through most of the early seventeenth century, the British were

extremely eager to gain possession of the island of Janjira, preferring
it to their base in Surat.16 In 1661, the islands of Bombay were
transferred from the Portuguese to the British Crown, which then leased

11 Ibid., page 55.

12 Ibid.; Jasdanwalla 2011, page 47.
13 Eaton 2005, page 125.
14 For details of the relations between Malik Ambar and Shahaji Bhonsale, see
Shyam 1968 and Laine 2001, pages 78-84.
15 Pissurlencar 1938, pages 27-46.
16 Banaji 1932, pages 1-9 passim.

SOHONI: THE FORT OF JANJIRA 169


3. Map of Maratha attack on
Janjira ca. 1760. Raja Dina
Kelkar Museum, Pune.
Photograph by Susan Gole.
170 AFRICAN RULERS AND GENERALS IN INDIA
them to the East India Company.17 In 1671, as a result of their naval
capability, the Sidis were appointed custodians of the Mughal navy by
the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, as a way of countering increasing
European control over the sea.18 Sidi Sumbul was made the admiral
of the Mughal navy in 1671, and he accordingly shifted his loyalties
from the Adil Shahs, with whom he had previously allied. Thus, the
British, Portuguese, Marathas, and Mughals all became players along
the northern Konkan Coast in the late seventeenth century. The Sidis
of Janjira became both their allies and enemies in different events over
the next two centuries.
At the end of the seventeenth century, as Shivaji’s Maratha kingdom
was reeling from several setbacks, the Sidis controlled twenty-two forts
in the region, and had the resources to fortify their base heavily at
Janjira. Sidi Qasim, who succeeded Sumbul Khan in 1676, became the
admiral of the Mughal fleet. The name Yaqut Khan became a title used
by many Sidi commanders, and Sidi Qasim was conferred the name
by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.19 Sidi Qasim fought many battles,
and it was in his reign that he appointed
Sidi Surur Khan (reg. 1706–1732), who
eventually succeeded him, to oversee
repairs to Janjira fort. The momentary
decline of the Maratha kingdom and the
death of Aurangzeb in the first decade of
the eighteenth century allowed the rulers
of Janjira to consolidate and strengthen
their position. It was under the reign of
Sidi Surur Khan that Janjira was again
militarily upgraded, and saw an extensive
building campaign.20 In 1733, the Sidis
signed two treaties with the English, for
offensive and defensive alliances, which
allowed another period of relative peace.21
17 da Cunha 1900, pages 239-242.
18 MacDougall 2014, page 34.
19 The name Yaqut Khan occurs frequently, because it became a title that successive
rulers assumed upon their ascent as commander of Janjira; Sarkar (1920 page 303)
believed that this happened only from 1670 onwards, but Kadiri (1967 page 60)
argued that it was an earlier phenomenon.
20 Jasdanwalla 2011, page 48.
21 Banaji 1932, page 74.
The remarkable military stronghold, the fort of Janjira, ensured that
the Sidis never succumbed to their powerful and capable enemies, the
Marathas, even after the expansionist Peshwas had taken over the region
in the eighteenth century. The Maratha navy led by the Angres could
never conquer Janjira, and emulated the English navies in their failure to
do so.22 Though the Nawab of Janjira moved to his new palace, Ahmad
Ganj, in the town of Murud in 1904, several Sidi families continued to
live in Janjira fort.23 After Indian independence in 1947, and the merger
of Janjira to the Union of India in 1948, the Archaeological Survey of
India chose to serve notices on those residents living inside the fort, and
after 1972, there was no living community on the fort island, after a
continuous occupation of over half a millennium.24

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
OF THE FORT OF JANJIRA

Across the bay from the town of Rajpuri is the island of Janjira.25 The
island, which is congruent with the fort enclosing 22 acres, is located
in the estuarine creek of the Mandad river, about a kilometer from
the mainland. The island is accessible only by boat, and punting is
possible at low tide. The irregularly round island is completely walled in,
ensuring that landings from the sea can be possible at only the heavily
defended control points, of which there are two. The main entrance to
the fort is on the eastern side, facing the mainland, and accessible only
by steps from a small landing area. The other opening to the entire fort
is the postern gate, facing north, which was used during sieges. Only two
other forts in the Deccan are similar to Janjira, the forts of Ahmadnagar

22 Layton 2013, pages 75-93.

23 Jasdanwalla 2006, pages 209-212.
24 The year 1972 is mentioned by the local community of Danda-Rajpuri, and is
also repeated in most journalistic and popular accounts for the depopulation of
the site; it was a result of the passage of the Constitution (26th Amendment) Act
of 8 December 1971 by the Republic of India, which completely abolished the
privy purses and privileges of rulers. The fort would have been in the custody of,
and protected by, the Nawab of Janjira, as stated in a letter by A.A.A. Fyzee to the
editor of The Times of India: “The island is in a magnificent state of preservation
due to the care and attention bestowed on it by the present ruler, His Highness
Siddi Muhammad Khan, and his father the late Nawab Saheb, His Highness Siddi
Ahmed Khan.” (Fyzee 1952, page 4).
25 Rajpuri was an important trading port at least as early as the fourteenth century;
see Desai 1966, pages 9-10.

SOHONI: THE FORT OF JANJIRA 171

(built by the Nizam Shahs) and Belagavi (built by the Adil Shahs), both
of which are also round in plan and are each accessible only through a
single main gateway and a postern.26 Janjira fort was securely settled by
the Nizam Shahs and made a stronghold in the sixteenth century, when
those two forts were built. The continuous inhabitation of the site has
resulted in accretions, additions, deletions, and replacements for various
structures. Battlements were surely upgraded regularly to keep pace
with developments in gunpowder and other technologies.

The entrance to the fort is not easily obvious and is visible only at a
short distance from the shallow eastern side. While some of the rock
foundations of the fort are visible at low tide, the shallow depths and
shoals allow only very small craft to come close to the island, particularly
on the eastern side, thus precluding the possibility of scaling the
fortifications from ships. The site is truly liminal, and therefore attacks
by both land or sea were near-impossible; land forces were impeded
by water, and marine forces struggled with land in the shallow depths
around the fort.

The walls of Janjira fort are over 15 meters high at high tide, punctuated
by regularly placed bastions, and with crenellations and loopholes
running the complete length The great entrance is flanked by two round
towers. These are smaller than the seventeen bastions that are placed
along the outer walls at nearly uniform intervals of about 30 meters.
From the outside, the walls present three distinct coursed stories with
battlements on top. The lowermost storey of that facade is clearly a
basement storey, with the postern gate being the sole opening at that
level on the northwestern side. The middle storey has small square
openings at regular intervals, small enough to not make the walls
vulnerable to attack or scaling. Internally, the small openings let in light
to vaulted barracks and storage spaces. The uppermost demarcated
4a-b. (oppsite) Views of mainland
as seen from the fort.
26 Sohoni 2015, pages 111-126, esp. p. 115. 5. (above) The walls of the fort.

SOHONI: THE FORT OF JANJIRA 173

storey does not have any openings, and the battlements above it are
full of loopholes and other apertures for military use. The merlons are
triangular, and probably date from the nineteenth century. Apart from
these outer walls, the only ramparts are on the hillock in the middle of
the island.

The entrance landing leads up a small flight of stairs inside the vaulted
gateway. Straight ahead is an inscription, while on the left wall are a
pair of lions and a pair of elephants, and on the right wall is the motif
of a lion conquering or trampling several miniature elephants. This
imagery had a particular valency in the Deccan in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries and was present on most military construction as
a device for protection and a proclamation of royal sovereignty.27 All
the Deccan sultanates and early Marathas placed similar sculptures
in relief on the entrance gateways to their forts such as Raigad. The
inscription mentioned earlier is an important one, crediting Sidi Surur
Khan (Yaqut Khan II) with carrying out repairs to the fort and adding
two gateway bastions in the year 1700.28 Another epigraph across from
this one continues the text five years later, and mentions that the two
bastions were completed in 1705 by the efforts of Sidi Surur, suggesting
that the work took five years.29 These bastions, called hulmuk,30 flank
the gateway, above which is the naqqārkhāneh, or drummers’ chamber.
Ceremonial drums and reed instruments, markers of power limited to
royal favor, were played here to announce important visitors.

The bastion that is just north of the entrance barbican has three large
canons atop it. The largest is named the Kallalabangadi, on account of
its being made of rings fused together (bangadi literally means bangle in
Marathi and Konkani). This technique of producing guns in small forged
iron sections that were then welded together was used in the sixteenth
century, and thus any Maratha attribution for the gun, which would be
much later, can be safely dismissed. The other two guns on the same
bastion are the Chavdi and the Landa Kasam,31 but any explanation for

27 Sohoni 2018.
28 Kadiri 1967, pages 70-71.
29 Ibid., pages 71-72.
30 The Persian “h-l-m-k burj” has been translated as hulmuk-bastions, which refer 6a. (opposite, top) Entrance landing.
to the bastions flanking the main gate; the only other mentions of hulmuk are
in Ghosh 1965 page 59, in which a hulmuk of the gate of the qasba of Malkhed 6b. (opposite, bottom) Inside the
in Gulbarga is mentioned, and in Epigraphia Indica 1960, page 76, in which the entrance landing.
etymology of the word from Indic languages is described. 7a-b. (above) Examples of canons at
31 Deshpande et al. 2011, pages 683-693. the fort.

SOHONI: THE FORT OF JANJIRA 175

their names is missing. Otherwise, there are over a hundred large and
small guns throughout the fort, and many of them are placed on these
bastions, in largely imaginative and hardly historic configurations. Some
of these artillery pieces are of European manufacture, including three
Swedish, one Spanish, one French and one Dutch cannon.32

Further through the gate on the left, there is a small open area in which
stands a shrine believed to have been instrumental in the construction
of the fort. This shrine is of Pir Panchayatan or Panjattan Pak (the Pure
Five). The shrine commemorates the five key figures in Shi’i Islam: the
Prophet Muhammad, his daughter Fatima, his son-in-law Ali, and his
grandsons Hasan and Husain.33 One of the stories regarding the shrine
states that a trunk containing models of panjās (metal palm-shaped
models, the five fingers being of significance) washed ashore and was
then buried by Mirza Ali and Qalb-i Ali, the two earliest Nizam Shahi
commanders.34 The popular narrative today is that five shipwrecked
people were given proper burials on the site before the fortifications were
built. To the right of the tomb is an opening with the tughra motif of a
lion carved in its lintel, featuring a Shi’i proclamation of faith, the Nad-i
Ali quatrain. The Nizam Shahs were staunch Shi’is after the conversion
of Burhan Nizam Shah I (reg. 1509–1553) in the early sixteenth century
and it is possible that the relief is from that period, as the Sidis were
Sunni and would not have commissioned it. Shah
Tahir Husaini, who once was vested with the port of
Danda-Rajpuri and the island of Janjira (mentioned
earlier in the section on history), converted Burhan
Nizam Shah I to Shi’i Islam sometime around 1537.35

Upon passing through the doorway leading inside,

a great freshwater cistern can be seen, one of two on
the island. It is believed that the stone excavated from
these two large water pools was used to build the basalt
walls of the fort, thus solving two problems at the same
time: the excavation of large water storage tanks, and
the supply of good building stone for the fortifications.
This particular cistern is ovoid in shape, and water

32 Gazetteer 1883, page 462.

33 Jasdanwalla, McLeod, and Bhandare pages 176-217, esp. page 185.
34 Ibid., caption for illustration 181, page 186. 8a-b. (opposite) Shrine
commemorating the key figures
35 Daftary 1990, page 489; Michell and Zebrowski (1999 page 10) think that Burhan
in Shi’i Islam.
Nizam Shah I converted in order to bring his kingdom “into sympathetic relations
with Iran.” 9. (above) Freshwater cistern.

SOHONI: THE FORT OF JANJIRA 177

from it is used for ritual ablutions for the jami’ mosque just behind it, to
the west. Several graves are seen in this area, and various tombstones
have epigraphs that have been published by A.A. Kadiri in Epigraphia
Indica Arabic and Persian Supplement 1966.

Beyond that is the great shell of the palace that was built under Sidi Surur
Khan in the first decade of the eighteenth century. The floors and roofs
of the building have all collapsed, and what remains are the outer walls
built from well-dressed basalt. Situated on a high plinth that formed an
inhabitable basement storey, the building above had at least four storeys.
The floors are articulated on the walls by horizontal bands of masonry
marking the divisions between them. The basement storey has an arcade
of ogee arches that would have formed a long gallery. The actual entrance
to the upper building is on the first floor, marked by an arched doorway,
and the windows on this floor are no more than ventilator openings. The
upper two storeys have larger windows. Now commonly imagined as a
large multistoried court building where justice was publicly dispensed, it is
clear that this would have been a residential palace.

Past this palace is the other water cistern, perfectly round and surrounded
by the ruins and plinths of the Nawab’s palace and women’s quarters,
barely any of which survive. In 1860, a large fire burnt more than half
of the buildings inside the fort.36 The Nawabs of Janjira moved to their
new palace, Ahmad Ganj, soon after its completion in 1904, and the old
palace in the fort fell into disuse.

Throughout the fort were tightly spaced

dwellings, with narrow alleys between
them, rising up to the highest point in
the fort.37 The high platform in the fort,
around which all the residential buildings
were concentrically arranged, is accessible
by a broad set of stairs, and was known as
the chaukhandi.38 The western face of this
raised platform also has two bastions, and
hosts several large swivel guns with a wide
sweep. Just below the highest point is a
large magazine built in dressed stone.

10. (opposite, top) Ruins in the

36 Gazetteer 1883, page 463. island fort.
37 Ibid. 11. (opposite, bottom) The palace.
38 Jasdanwalla 2006, page 184. 12. (above) Ruins in the island fort.

SOHONI: THE FORT OF JANJIRA 179

 From this vantage, the fort of Padmadurga (also called Kansa), can be
seen just under four kilometers to the north-west. Built on a small island
by Shivaji Bhonsale (d. 1680) in 1676 to blockade the fort of Janjira,
it was later captured by the Sidis, and eventually came under British
control. Padmadurga had a large reservoir which filled in the monsoons,
and whose water lasted throughout the year.

The fort of Janjira, though largely built in the early eighteenth century,
was unaffected by the developments in military architecture in Europe,
despite sustained contact with the English and the Portuguese. Perhaps
because of its unique context as an island with shallow waters, notions
of planning like trace italienne (star fort or bastion fort in common
parlance) were never implemented. While the Portuguese and English
were building forts with large projecting triangular bastions that covered
each other, the fort of Janjira still followed the old pattern of a round
medieval enceinte with towers that did not project much outside the
over profile of the fort. The highest point on the island was protected
by a second line of ramparts, and provided protection against fire that
emanated from guns on large military vessels. Such ships could not ply
on the eastern side of the island because of its shallow depths.

CONCLUSION
The island fort of Janjira has never been conquered. Subject to at least
three major building campaigns, it was militarily upgraded to keep pace
with the changes in technology. Its natural location deterred attacks from
the land or the sea, aided by the bravery of the men who defended it.
The present form of the fort is largely from the eighteenth century and
is a powerful symbol of resistance to all powers, colonial, imperial and
provincial, which tried to claim it. It is one of the physical markers of
the military and political prowess of the Sidis, a community otherwise
largely marginalized. Janjira is a palimpsest of almost five hundred years
of the history of the Deccan coast.



13a-c. (above and opposite) Ruins in

the island fort.

180 AFRICAN RULERS AND GENERALS IN INDIA

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