English
Fort
Tarapur (Tarapor/Trapor), Maharashtra, India
Military Architecture
The fort of Tarapur is located about 60 km south of Daman on the south bank of the bar of a small stream. It is the main entrepôt of the Tarapur pragana, one of the most productive areas of the Daman district occupied by the Portuguese from 1559 to 1739. As in other Província do Norte coastal areas, the Portuguese fortification resulted from a number of ad hoc interventions depending on successive threats and needs. The Marathas in turn did considerable work on the defence perimeter, building walls on the south side which can be distinguished from the older stonework on the north side. The fort is currently private property; its interior contains a grove of coconut palms. After the initial sack in 1531, the Portuguese occupied Tarapur pragana in 1559 and began establishing themselves in the settlement. They soon built a stockade which served as the captain’s residence. In the words of João de Barros in his Décadas da Ásia, it was “made of wild palms placed deep in the ground and very close together, lined inside with thick bamboo matting, with scaffolding and various bartizans”. Based on this structure, Viceroy Matias de Albuquerque ordered in 1593 the construction of an artilleryequipped fortification made of lasting material able to effectively defend Tarapur. This initiative was also associated to the establishment of a mission of Dominican friars, followed by the arrival of other religious personnel. The structure was finished in 1595 and thenceforward served as the residence of Tarapur’s captain, who accumulated the position of rent-collector (tanadar). The name of the chronicler Diogo de Couto stands out on the list of captains. The territory of Tarapur exported bate (rice with husk) and cotton to Daman and other areas. As elsewhere in the district, many of the Tarapur pragana villages paid tribute to a neighbouring Indian potentate known as the King of Sarceta. Tarapur was one of the Província do Norte’s most productive areas, despite the pragana’s exposed location, subject to frequent attacks by its neighbours. When the Viceroy Count of Sandomil arrived in India in October 1733 an attempt was made to shore up the defence system of the Província do Norte. The Tarapur Fort was renovated, but the Marathas nevertheless captured it in February 1739. Besides the north side of the structure, where a bastion and closed gate joined by a curtain wall remain, it is not clear which parts are Maratha constructions and which are Portuguese walls rebuilt after being knocked down in the 1739 siege. According to the 1728 description by André Ribeiro Coutinho, the Tarapur fortification was heptagonal and besides the bastion comprised four redoubts and three cubelo turrets. It was garrisoned by only 25 able soldiers and was imperfectly built, with low walls and no parapets. The gate which is now closed is marked by decorative motifs as well as a statue niche. The relatively intact bastion has artillery emplacements and a vertical access to the parapets. The stonework on the south and southeast sides is arranged differently, perhaps due to Maratha constructions or reconstructions after 1739. On the fortification’s northeast side two inscriptions are found on the outside of the walls. One refers to the aforementioned founding of the fort in 1593 and the other is a reused gravestone.