Muslim Conquest of the Deccan and Konkan (Part 5)
The Muslim position was further transformed in 1294 with the invasion and eventual annexation of the Deccan by Sultan Ala al-Din Khilji of Delhi.
Although the conquest of the Deccan was no more than a looting expedition in the beginning, it sowed the seeds of territorial occupation and the subsequent inroads into Konkan itself when Dabhol (not to be confused with Dabhel, further northwest on the Sindh coast) was overrun by Malik Kafur, the trusted general of Ala al-Din Khilji in 1312. The Khiljis were overthrown by the Tughluqs, and they in turn by the disgruntled amirs who founded the Bahmani Empire in the Deccan in 1347. As recorded by Firishta, a medieval Persian historian, the two major ports of Konkan, Chawl in the north and Dabhol in the south became part of the Bahmani Empire and upon its breakup at the dawn of the sixteenth century, the ports came into the possession of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur kingdoms respectively. The Konkan ports flourished under Muslim rule and carried on multiple trade exchanges with other coastal and overseas ports, and with inland trade centers. In the early sixteenth century the busy port of Chawl attracted a "great concourse of ships," and served as an alternate entreport for the textiles of Cambay in Gujarat; the spices, coconuts, and areca nuts of Malabar; and grain and cloth of the Deccan. Dabhol thrived on trade not only with Cambay and Malabar, but also with the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Bassein, Thana, Danda Rajpur, and Sangameshwar were other active coastal ports.
Although the Konkan ports handled a far smaller volume of trade relative to that of Gujarat, Malabar, and Coromandel ports, they formed a convenient mid-way point on the sea route from Southeast Asia to the Red Sea. Most of the of Konkan ports had a substantial trading population of Muslims as noted by the Portuguese Barbosa in the sixteenth century. In addition to the ship-building and commercial activities at the ports, some Muslims acquired positions at Bijapur's Adil Shahi court, exemplified by the case of Mulla Ahmad Naita and the appointment of qazis and pesh imams by Adil Shahi authorities in Konkan. Archaeological research reveals traces of Muslim presence in the medieval period through Arabic and Persian inscriptions (from 14th century) in mosques, forts, and tombs dating from the mid-seventeenth century.
