1534

Abandoned church.

 

Interior of the church.

Structure in the fort.

Structures in the fort.

Bassein waterfront near the fort.

Another abandoned church.

Boats wait at the jetty.

Lads play cricket amid the ruins.

-Brian Mendonca 

The basalt church

towers in the deep blue sky

as lads play cricket 

-a catch on the boundary.

At the unused altar

Jesus reflects

in the garden of Gethsemane.

Hospitals, homes, 

barracks and stones

the port of Bassein

ransom for a king.

Mango trees belie

The sack of a city

as boats anchor

in the Vasai creek.

(Vasai Fort

17 May 2026)

Notes 

Vasai fort was ceded to the Portuguese by Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat in 1534. This Treaty of Bassein was signed on a ship. 

For a period of almost 200 years this fort was a stronghold of the Portuguese empire.  The fort was stormed by the Marathas, led by Timoji Appa, in 1739.

To weaken the Gujarat sultanate, the Portuguese set fire to the city of Vasai in 1530, 1531 and 1533.