Rediscovering a lost city

Not far away from this modern city lies an ancient city inside a fort. Built by the Portuguese in 1536, the Vasai Fort was a well-built city once. From hospitals, community places to colleges, the fortified city spread over 110 acres and was home to 3000 residents and soldiers. Currently, in ruins, the heritage site and its rich history had been neglected for a very long time. However, computer engineer Pascal R. Lopes’ curiosity is helping people discover the forgotten tales of this forgotten city through a heritage walk in the area.

Since his childhood, Lopes had heard the fort-city to be referred to only as a ‘ruin’, which didn’t settle well with him. An engineer by profession and numismatist by passion, it was during his Masters in Archaeology that he came across the history of Portuguese coins minted in the Vasai Fort. Hence, began his quest. “I have collected over 3000 ancient Indian coins. During my study on coins, I read about the Portuguese coins that were minted in Vasai Fort apart from Daman and Diu and Goa. I was curious to know how one would recognise coins made in this fort. But this also meant there is a lot more to the fort than just the ruins,” he recalls.

St. Anthony Church Bassein Fort

Since the fort is just 25 minutes away from his home, Lopes went looking for the mint but couldn’t find it. To find his treasure, he set out on a trail searching through documents in Asiatic Library and even visited scholar Dr. Rajin D’Silva who has done extensive research on the fort. “Thankfully the documents are very well maintained academically. The mint-marks on coins made in the Vasai fort have the inscription ‘BB’ and ‘FB’,” shares Pascal.

Now Lopes along with Allwyn Lemos conduct heritage walks in the fort with the aim of acquainting people with the bygone city. Although the fort has a rich history, the historian in his three-hour walk comprising 25 people tries his best to not make it boring. Lopes begins by making the people read a Portuguese inscription on the cathedral built on the order of the ninth Governor of Goa. “Even though it is in another language, it sparks excitement in the people. Then there is also a church that was meant only for soldiers,” informs Lopes.

The numismatist further in his expedition discovered seven other churches inside the fort, each having had a different function. “One of them was just to take care of the spirituality of the soldiers, one for the orphanages, and one for education among others. One of the churches was of John of God, an expert in hospitals. I figured it was not just a fort but a fortress city,” he adds. Now, only one church is permitted to run.

Besides the churches, the fort houses three temples as well. While Nageshwar Temple was built before the Portuguese took over, Shree Vajreshwari Yogini Devi Mandir was built when the Marathas won Vasai from the Portuguese in 1739 and later was built a Hanuman Temple.

To keep the walk enticing, the historian narrates anecdotes related to the fort. Narrating one such incident he laughs, “There is a Mother Church also known as St. Joseph Church in the fort. On top of it there are three-four vases. People thought these were filled with gold coins and had gone looking for it. They had to be rescued.”