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Siege of Bassein (1780)

VictorEast India CompanyGeneral Thomas Goddard
1780vs
Peshwa’s garrisonCommandant of Vasai, for the Peshwa’s government

Chimaji Appa had won Vasai from the Portuguese in 1739. Forty years later General Goddard brought siege guns from Bombay and took it from the Peshwa’s men.

Date: November – December 1780Where: Vasai (Bassein) fort, Palghar district, MaharashtraType: Siege
Photo: Aakash.gautam · CC BY-SA 3.0
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Cite

MLA

“Siege of Bassein (1780).” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/siege-of-bassein-1780/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Siege of Bassein (1780). Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/siege-of-bassein-1780/

Result

The fort surrendered in December 1780; it was returned to the Marathas by the Treaty of Salbai in 1782.

01Goddard comes to the coast

Bassein had been promised to the Company by Raghoba in the Treaty of Surat, and Bombay had wanted it for years: the fort and its creek guarded the northern approach to Salsette and Bombay. After taking Ahmedabad in February 1780, Goddard turned south. In November he opened trenches before the old Portuguese walls, with heavy guns brought up by sea. A Maratha force under Ramchandra Ganesh tried to break in from the land side but was held off by Colonel Hartley.

02Breach and surrender

Goddard’s batteries opened a breach in the walls by early December, and the garrison, seeing no relief, surrendered rather than face a storm. Hartley meanwhile beat off the Maratha relieving army at Dugad. The capture gave Bombay command of the north Konkan coast for the rest of the war. It did not last. At Salbai in 1782 the Company gave Vasai back to the Peshwa, keeping only Salsette and the islands, and the fort stayed Maratha until 1818.

Why it matters

Bassein was the Company’s main gain on the Konkan coast in the First Anglo-Maratha War, and it was given back at the peace.

Places near the battlefield 8

Vajreshwari Yogini Devi TempleStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Vajreshwari Yogini Devi Temple

The Maratha general Chimaji Appa vowed a temple to Vajreshwari if he took Vasai fort from the Portuguese. He took it in 1739 and built this one, walled like a small fort, on a hill near the hot springs of the Tansa valley.

Shri Siddhivinayak Temple, PrabhadeviRebuilt
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Shri Siddhivinayak Temple, Prabhadevi

Mumbai’s best-loved Ganesh temple, founded in 1801 by a childless woman who asked that Ganapati grant children to other barren women. The small black-stone murti draws lakhs of devotees on Tuesdays and on Angarki Chaturthi.

Mahalakshmi Temple, MumbaiStanding
Company rule and the war of 1857

Mahalakshmi Temple, Mumbai

The temple of the three Devis of the Devi Mahatmya on a rock above the Arabian Sea at Breach Candy. Its katha is tied to the building of the Hornby Vellard, the causeway that joined Bombay’s islands.

Babulnath Temple, MumbaiStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Babulnath Temple, Mumbai

A Shiva temple on the hillock above Girgaum Chowpatty, named for the babul tree under which the linga was found. Its tall spire was once among the highest points of the city.

Mumba Devi Temple, BhuleshwarRebuilt
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Mumba Devi Temple, Bhuleshwar

The Devi of the Koli fishermen, from whose name Mumbai takes its own. Her shrine stood near Bori Bunder until the 18th century, when it was rebuilt at Bhuleshwar beside a tank.

Walkeshwar Temple and Banganga TankRebuilt
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Walkeshwar Temple and Banganga Tank

On the tip of Malabar Hill, a Shiva temple and a stepped tank tied to Shri Rama’s halt on the way to Lanka. Destroyed in the Portuguese period and rebuilt in 1715, it is the oldest continuously sacred spot in south Mumbai.

Elephanta Caves (Gharapuri)Ruined
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Elephanta Caves (Gharapuri)

A Shaiva cave temple on Gharapuri island in Mumbai harbour, with the three-faced Sadashiva, about 6 m high, at its centre. The Portuguese named the island for a stone elephant; the damage to its panels dates from their time.

Ambreshwar Shiva Temple, AmbernathStanding
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Ambreshwar Shiva Temple, Ambernath

A dated Shilahara temple of 1060 on the edge of Mumbai, its walls crowded with carving and its sanctum sunk below ground level. Its own inscription names the king and the year.