| Sawantwadi | |
| — city — | |
|
|
|
| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Maharashtra |
| District(s) | Sindhudurg |
| Population | 22,871 (2001[update]) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
• 111.86 metres (367.0 ft) |
| Website | smcsawantwadi.in/ |
Sawantwadi (Marathi: सावंतवाडी)/(Malwani/Konkani: वाडी) (sometimes also written as Sawantvadi or Savantvadi) is a taluka (a unit of administration) in the Sindhudurg district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Sawantwadi has a municipal council, which is a local civic body. Sawantwadi was formerly the capital city of the 'Royal Kingdom of Sawantwadi'.
Sawantwadi is well known for its wooden toys (including life-like wooden models of fruits and vegetables) thanks to an active woodcraft industry. It is also becoming a major tourist attraction.
Contents |
Sawantwadi was the former capital of the erstwhile Kingdom Of Sawantwadi during the pre-independence era. It was ruled by the Bhonsale clan. In 1947, it was merged with the Independent Republic of India. Until the 18th Century the Kingdom of Sawantwadi included a major portion of today's North Goa district (Pedne, Bicholim, and Sattari), as well as the present day's Kudal and Vengurla from Sindhudurg district. Pedne, Bicholim, Sattari were later taken over by the Portuguese as a part of their New Conquest (between 1765 and 1788) and merged with their Old Conquest to form the present day's Goa.
The bulk of the people, the Marathas, Bhandaris, and Mahars were formerly known, both by land and sea, for their fierce cruelty. Even after the establishment of order under the British, Savantvadi has more than once been the scene of revolt and disturbance. But now, for nearly thirty-five years, peace has been unbroken and the old pirate and freebooting classes have settled down as quiet husbandmen. The only remaining signs of special enterprise and vigour were, until a few years ago, their readiness to cross the sea to Mauritius in search of work, and the fondness that still remains for military and police service.
Sawantwadi is located at in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.[1] It has an average elevation of 22 metres (72 ft) above mean sea level. It is the administrative headquarters of the Sindhudurg district. Sawantvadi is situated on the west coast of India, and is bounded by Arabian Sea to its west and the Western Ghats to its east. Sawantwadi town, as a municipal entity, spans an area of 132.45 km2 (51.14 sq mi). It experiences moderate to gusty winds during day time and gentle winds at night. The topography of the city ranges from plain to undulating, with several hills, valleys and flat areas within the city. The geology of the city is characterized by hard laterite in hilly tracts and sandy soil along the seashore. The Geological Survey of India has identified Sawantwadi as a moderately earthquake-prone urban centre and categorized the city in the Seismic III Zone.
The city is often used as a staging point for traffic along the Konkan Coast. Sawantwadi has a tropical climate; summer and winter months experience similar temperate conditions, with average temperatures ranging from 27 °C (81 °F) to 34 °C (93 °F). Humidity is approximately 78% on average, and peaks during May, June and July. The maximum average humidity is 93% in July and average minimum humidity is 56% in January. Under the Köppen climate classification, Sawantvadi belongs to the Tropical/megathermal zone and is under the direct influence of the Arabian Sea branch of the South-West monsoon. It receives about 90% of its total annual rainfall within a period of about six months from May to October, while remaining extremely dry from December to March. The annual precipitation in Sawantvadi is 4,242.5 millimetres (167 in).
The most pleasant months in Sawantvadi are from December to February, during which time the humidity and heat are at their lowest. During this period, temperatures during the day stay below 30 °C (86 °F) and drop to about 19 °C (66 °F) at night. This season is soon followed by a hot summer, from March to May, when temperatures rise as high as 38 °C (100 °F). The summer gives way to the monsoon season, when the city experiences more precipitation than most urban centres in India, due to the Western Ghats. Rainfall up to 4,000 millimetres (157 in) could be recorded during the period from June to September. The rains subside in September, with the occasional rainfall in October.
As of 2001[update] India census,[2] Sawantwadi had a population of 22,871. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Sawantwadi has an average literacy rate of 82%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85%, and female literacy is 79%. In Sawantwadi, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.
According to the 1851 census, the total population was 150,065 souls (males 76,956, females 73,109) or 166.73 to the square mile. Of the whole number 144,112 or 96 per cent were Hindus, and 3986 or 2.5 per cent Musalmans, that is at the rate of thirty-seven Hindus to one Musalman. There were, besides, 1959 native Christians and eight Jews.
The 1872 census showed a population of 190,814 souls or 212.02 to the square mile, an increase in twenty-one years of 40,749 souls or 27.15 per cent. Of the 1872 population 182,688[This number includes about 450 strangers who happened to be within the state limits during the census night.] or 95.64 per cent were Hindus, 4152 or 2.18 per cent Musalmans, 3954 or 2.08 per cent native Christians, and twenty ' Others'. Of the whole number 48.9 per cent were returned as males and 51.1 per cent as females.
The 1872 returns, arranged according to religion, show that of the Hindus 142 or 0.07 per cent were Madhvachari Vaishnavs, 13,345 or 7.30. per cent Shaivs, 199 or 0.10 per cent Shravaks, and 169,002 or 92.50 per cent worshippers of gods and spirits without belonging to any particular sect. Except one Shia, all the Musalmans were Sunnis. The three Parsis were Shahanshais. Of the Christians, 3945 were Catholics and nine Protestants, including six Episcopalians two Presbyterians, and one native Christian. Under the head 'Others' seventeen persons remained unclassified.
The total number of infirm persons was returned at 408 (males 265, females 143) or twenty-one per ten thousand of the whole population. Of these fifty-one (males thirty, females twenty-one), or two per ten thousand, were insane; twenty-nine (males' twenty, females nine), or one per ten thousand, idiots; 139 (males eighty-eight, females fifty-one), or seven per ten thousand, deaf and dumb; 120 (males seventy-three, females forty-seven), or six per ten thousand, blind; and sixty-nine (males fifty-four, females fifteen), or three per ten thousand, lepers.[3]
Most of the people of Sawantvadi are Malvani people as Sawantvadi falls in the Malvan region.
The food of a rich household is for every day, rice, pulse, vegetables, pepper, [All classes are fond of red pepper and spices.] clarified butter, oil, salt, and dried fish, and once or twice a month, mutton or fowls and eggs. On special occasions they eat fried cakes of rice and udid flour, vadas ; wheaten cakes staffed with gram flour and sugar, puran-polis; and though rarely, sugared and buttered wheat balls, ladus. Brahmans, Lingayats, and Gujarat Vanis, whether Vaishnavs or Shravaks, are an exception to this, as except the Gaud Brahmans or Shenvis who eat fish, they touch no animal food. The food of a middle-class household is rice, nachni bread, curry, and vegetables, for every day, with vadas on special occasions. The every day food of a poor household is nachni bread, and occasionally rice and curry with vadas. Those who drink liquor and milk, and have not a supply of their own, buy their liquor daily from a Bhandari or liquor-seller, and their milk from the milkman generally a Gavli. Except dried fish, which is usually bought in October, stores of rice, pulse, salt, and red pepper, enough to last from four to six months, are laid in during March and April. The well-to-do pay in ready money, and the poorer re-pay at harvest with twenty-five or thirty per cent interest. The supply of animal food is bought when wanted.[4]
Attire varies to some extent according to caste and creed. Except that the state servants wear a bright, [The favourite colours are red, pink, white, purple and black, and sometimes green or yellow.] tightly wound three-cornered turban of the Sindeshai or Sindia pattera, both among high and low caste Hindus the ordinary head-dress is the handkerchief. rumal, wound loosely once or twice round the head. The ordinary dress of upper class Hindus is, for the men in-doors, a waistcloth and under-jacket with or without a coat, and head scarf, rumal; out-doors a waistcloth, a waistcoat, a coat, a head scarf or turban, and a cotton shouldercloth, and Deccani shoes and sandals, vahanas. On great occasions he wears, in addition to his ordinary out-of-door clothes, a specially rich turban, and round his shoulders a woollen shawl. Upper class Hindu women wear in-doors a robe and bodice. Their ordinary out-door dress is the same, only of rich materials, and on great occasions they add a woollen shawl drawn over the head. Boys, except when very young, have a waistcloth, a coat, and a cap or turban, and girls under four have a shirt angda, a cap topi, a petticoat parkar, a bodice choli, and sometimes a robe sadi. After four years old they dress like, grown women. Among middle class Hindus, such as husbandmen and craftsmen, the man wears in-doors a loincloth, a waistcloth, and sometimes a waistcoat; out-of-doors he wears a waistcloth, a waistcoat or sleeveless smock, kanchola, with or without a head scarf, rumal, and in cold or wet weather, a blanket, kamli. On great occasions, instead of his smock, he wears a coat, angarkha, and a turban instead of the head scarf. Middle class women wear in-doors a robe, sadi, out-doors a robe with or without a bodice, and on special occasions a richer or fresher robe and bodice. Boys and girls are, for a year or two, allowed to go naked. Then for two or three years the boy has a loincloth and the girl a bodice or robe, and after five or six, they have, at least for festive occasions a suit much the same as grown men and women. Among the poorest classes, field and town labourers, men generally wear in-doors a loincloth and blanket, out-doors a waistcloth, and blanket or head scarf, and on festive occasions a waistcloth, jacket, and fresh head scarf. The women, except that fewer of them wear the bodice and that their robes are of coarser and plainer cloth and in worse repair, dress like middle-class women. The children of the poor are later in getting clothes, and less often have complete suits. Otherwise their dress does not differ from that of middle class children.[4]
Of ornaments, among men the rich wear gold earrings, bhikbalis, finger rings, angthis, and a necklace, kanthi; and middle class men wear gold earrings, mudis, a silver necklace, gop, and a wristlet, kada. Among women the rich wear, for the head, muds, rakhdis, kegads, phuls, shevtiche phuls, and chandrakors; for the neck, thushis, galsaris, putlis, saris, and tikas ; for the ears, bugdis, karabs, kudis, kaps, and ghums; for the nose, naths and motis; for the upper arm, vankis and bajubands; for the wrist, bangdis and patlis; and for the ankles, todas. A middle class woman wears almost all the ornaments worn by the rich. And a poor woman wears only the galsari and the moti, and round silver or lead and lac bangles and rings. A boy's ornaments in a rich family are gold or silver wristlets, kadas and todas, and silver anklets, valas or jhanjris ; and in middle class and poor families, mudis, gops, and kadas. A girl's ornaments in a rich family are, for the head; muds, rakhdis, chandrakors, kegads, venis, and kalepattis; for the ears, bugdis, karales, and kaps; for the neck, galsaris, thushis, saris, putalyacha hars, and javachi mals; and for the ankles, todas, valas, and jhanjris: in middle class families they are muds on the head, karalis in the ears, naths in the nose, and tikas and galsaris on the neck ; and in a poor family, bugdis for the ears, galsaris for the neck, and round silver or lead and lac bangles for the wrists.[4]
Sawantvadi City is famous for its arts and culture. It is especially known for its wooden crafts. Apart from that various traditional arts still thrive in the city.
Lacquerware - Sawantvadi is well-known for its extremely popular lacquer-ware. Earlier a languishing trade, this art form was brought in the public eye, and more importantly to foreign tourists, by Princess Satwasheela Devi. Using traditional local talent more people have been trained and the palace has proved instrumental in the production of lovely lacquer-ware furniture, chess sets, board games, candlesticks, fruit and vegetables and little dolls — all beautifully made and coloured. However, the quality of the articles render the items extremely expensive.[5]
According to the 1872 census, there were 221 towns and villages or about one village to every four square miles, containing an average of 840 inhabitants and about 197 houses. Of the 221 villages, 36 had less than 200 inhabitants; 57 from 200 to 500; 64 from 500 to 1000; 41 from 1000 to 2000; 18 from 2000 to 3000; four from 3000 to 5000; and one, Vadi, over 8000.[6]
Konkani is spoken as a local language (Malwani Konkani). Marathi, being the state language, is also understood and implemented . Urdu and English also are used in social communication.
Kirat is a local newspaper published in town.
| Sawantwadi Road (SWV) | ||||
| Next 'Small' station towards Mumbai : Zarap |
Konkan Railway : Railway (India) | Next 'Small' station from Mumbai: Madure |
||
| Distance from Mumbai(CST) = 0655 KM | ||||
| Next 'Main' station towards Mumbai: Kudal |
Konkan Railway : Railway (India) | Next 'Main' station from Mumbai: Madgaon |
||