Maratha campaign against the Siddis of Janjira

01Raigad regained

The Siddis, of Abyssinian descent, held the island fort of Janjira off the Konkan coast, which neither Shivaji nor Sambhaji could take. After the fall of Raigad in 1689 they held it and the country around for the Mughals. In 1733, with the Siddi house divided by a succession quarrel, Shahu ordered war. Bajirao besieged Janjira while Maratha officers worked on the Raigad garrison, and in June 1733 Raigad was recovered, a moment of great joy at Satara.

02Siddi Saat falls

The siege of Janjira itself made no progress; the Siddis were supplied by sea, and the English at Bombay quietly helped them. Rivalry between Bajirao and the Pratinidhi, and the death of Sekhoji Angre, weakened the Maratha effort, and a peace was patched up in 1733. The war went on in smaller fights. In April 1736 Chimaji Appa caught the Siddi general Siddi Saat, who had desecrated the temple at Parshuram, near Rewas and killed him. A treaty that year left the Siddis Janjira and a few villages.

Person · 1630–1680 CE; crowned 1674Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajBorn at Shivneri on 19 February 1630, Shivaji built a free Maratha state from a handful of hill forts around Pune, outfought Bijapur and the Mughals, escaped from Aurangzeb’s court, and was crowned Chhatrapati at Raigad on 6 June 1674.Read →