Portuguese Bells in Hindu Temples

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Chimaji Appa, the younger brother of Bajirao Peshwa started the famous campaign of Bassein in March 1737, and it ended in victory for the Marathas after 26 months, on 12 May 1739, when they captured the seemingly unconquerable fort of Bassein.

During this time the Marathas confiscated huge bells from the Portuguese churches. They were mesmerized by the huge size and melodious sound of these bells. Later, the Marathas offered these bells to the temples of their favourite deities, as war trophies.

These bells are the victory symbols of the campaign of Bassein, something that every Maharashtrian can be proud of.

This book tells you about these bells from the Portuguese churches, their size, their melodious sound, and how they were different from the locally made bells in the Hindu temples.

Today, these bells are in a sad state.

This book is a sincere attempt to correct the neglect of these war trophies...

Mahesh Mangesh Tendulkar, an electronics engineer by profession, is passionate about history and forts and has spent more than three decades researching both. He has visited more than 350 forts across eight states of India, and has delivered more than 160 lectures on forts.

He regularly contributes to Marathi newspapers and magazines and has more than 375 articles to his credit. He has studied the Portuguese and Farsi languages.

He has authored more than 40 books in Marathi, the prominent among them being Ranzunjar Senapati Santaji Ghorpade, Shivkaleen Durga va Durga Vyavastha, Gadmandiratil Dwarshilpe, Sarnaubat Prataprao Gujar, Shivkaleen Durgapatre, Killyanchya Dantakatha, and Itihasatil Prani Vishwa (2 vols.).

Mahesh Tendulkar is also the recipient of prestigious awards like the late Vasantrao Kane Karyasmruti Sahitya Puraskar 2008, the Dr Datto Vaman Potdar Puraskar 2009, instituted by the Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, and the late Lakshmibai Bendre Puraskar 2010, instituted by the Maharashtra Granthottejak Sanstha.

Till date, all my writing has followed the same pattern. I would first choose the subject and then I would gather the relevant historical references about it, and present it. But in case of this book, things were a bit different. This subject came up during the course of my journeys to the various forts all over Maharashtra. I kept on collecting the information, and once there was sufficient information, I gave the book a name.

Twenty four years ago I had gone on a trek with my friends to some forts in the Satara district, Vairatgad, Pandavgad, and Kamalgad. After visiting Vairatgad, we came to Menavli, near Wai and decided to spend the night on the ghats there. On the gently flowing waters of the river Krishna, Nana Phadnis had built the Shri Meneshwar Shiva temple. After some refreshments, when we stepped out to explore the surroundings, we came across a huge bell. I took some photographs, noted down the writing on it, and went ahead. After that we visited two other forts, and returned home. A few days after that we set out on the famous Khandas- Bhimashankar trek. At that time, we spent the night in the Bhimashankar temple. There too I saw a huge bell. I made notes of the images, Cross, etc., that I saw on the bell and took photographs.