128 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [March, 1912. 
e Rajaptr of this note is to-day the capital of the 
ta’alluga of the same name in the Ratnagiri Collectorate. It 
stands at the head of a tidal creek, 30 miles south-east of 
Ratnagiri town and about 15 miles from the sea. Mandelslo 
bears testimony to the importance of this place in his time 
(1639). Speaking of Ceitapour (Jaitapur), the haven at the 
mouth of the creek, he declares: ‘‘ it is no doubt the best in all 
**the coast, for, casting anchor behind the island which 
‘* Rasapour, which is one ~ the chiefest Maratime Cities of 
‘the Kingdom ncam 
Some meer years oe ‘*Captain ’? Alexander Hamilton 
write 
“There is an excellent Harbour for shipping 8 Leagues 
**to the southward of Dabul [Dabhol], called Sanguseer 
’ Pe Sac: one iri but the country about being inhabited by 
Rap : : 
Here in 1637 Courten’s Association settled an English 
Agency, and here’ too in 1670 Joseph Deslandes* founded a 
Factory in the interests of the French Company. 
Vessels used to sail direct from Rajapir to Persia and 
Arabia, and for this reason doubtless that port received the 
name of Islambandar ; just as Sirat had come to be called 
Bandar Mubarak, ‘ the blessed port.’ Orme tells of Aurangzéb’s 
rebellious son, the Sultan Akbar, that he hired at Rajapir a 
ship com manded by an Englishman named Bendal, and, as 
as the monsoon was changed in October, embarked on her 
for Muscat, arriving there safely the following month.* 
According to the New Edition (1908) of the Imperial 
Gazetteer of India, Rajapiir ‘‘is also peculiar as the on nly 
‘* Ratnagiri port to which Arab boats still trade direct, though 
‘* vessels of any size cannot approach within three miles of the 
‘‘old stone quay.’’ This statement is significant for its bear- 
ing on Rajapur’s quondam name of Isla mbandar 
It is interesting to note that at the period when the 
{slambandar mint was striking rupees in the name of Auranzéb 
(Cir. A.H. 1112), that monarch was cam mpaigning in the 
neighbourhood of Rajapir. In his Muntakhab al lubab Khafi 
Khan - a detailed account of the sh! cope in A.H. 1112 
' Voyages and Travels of J. Albert Sot dels] d t lish 
by os —— of Kidwelly (1662), p vdelslo, rendered into Englis 
oo ei dies, b a 
Heouiiiea ¢ (1727), Vol. I, p ndies, by Captain Alexander 
oy Wen do Mogor, ae ‘Niesaleo Manucci, translated by Wm. Irvine, 
oO 
+ Historical Fragments by Robert Orme (1808), p. 150. 
