HISTORY

During the pre-independence era, "Sawantwadi City" or "Kingdom of Sawantwadi" as it was then called was ruled by the Bhosale clan. In 1947, it was merged with the Independent Republic of India. Since then, it has been the capital town of the Sawantwadi Taluka.

THE CITY

The Sawantwadi City has gradually developed around the lake called Moti Talav. This lake is surrounded by the Mumbai-Goa Highway on one side and small lanes on the other side. The town as such started spreading around this lake.  The "Khaskilwada" is at the north-east of the lake, the "Royal Palace Complex" at the north, and newly developed housing complexes at the south. The sprawling Queen's College Of Medicine is at the west. The city is enclosed with green mountains on all sides which gives us a splendid view.
Sawantwadi City is 57 km from Goa and 450 km from Mumbai. The nearest hill station is Amboli, which comes under the Sawantwadi Taluka jurisdiction.

PEOPLE

The people of Sawantwadi are ethnic Malvanis. Prior to being a separate principality, Sawantwadi was a bastion of the Maratha Empire. All religions, castes and clans live here in harmony. Majority of the population is composed of ethnic Marathas. The population also includes Konkanhast Brahmins, Dalits and Malvani Muslims. Other small communities of Christians, Deshis and Jews make up a minority.

CUISINE

The cuisine of the city is the predominantly non-vegetarian Malvani cuisine.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN

Most of the population speaks in Malvani, which is a mix of Marathi and Konkani. However, shuddha Marathi is also spoken by a minority, especially by those who have been brought up in other parts of Maharashtra. Portuguese & Konkani are also spoken in this region.

ART & CULTURE

Sawantwadi City is especially known for its wooden crafts. Apart from that, various traditional arts still thrive in the city.

Lacquer Ware
 

Sawantwadi is well known for its products made of lac, like furniture, chess sets, board games, candlesticks, fruit and vegetables and little dolls all beautifully made and coloured.  Princess Satwasheela Devi played an instrumental role in reviving this art and trade. On her orders, the people of the village were called and given training in the palace itself.

Ganjifa Cards

Sawantwadi is well known for its production of ganjifa cards. History says that these cards arrived in Sawantwadi 350 years ago, when Bhosle, Royal Family of Goa settled here after fleeing from Portuguese regime there.

The ganjifa card is a card featuring painted pictures of the dasavatara, planets, and other folklore. The brightly painted cards are produced by applying layers of cloth together with tamarind seed paste, then coating the surface with chalk, before polishing it with a stone, to make a smooth base for painting with natural dyes. The back is stiffened with lacquer. These cards are displayed and sold in the shop situated in the palace.
 

The playing cards or the ganjifa cards as they are called in India, Nepal and some Arab countries, were said to be first brought in India by the moghul emperors in the early 16 the century. These cards were later popularized in other parts of India under different versions: . 

The moghul Ganjifa consists of eight suits of 12 cards each.

The Moghul pattern cards are brightly coloured, quite thin and flexible. They are found in a simple bazaar style and also in an elaborate durbar (court) style, with many shades of quality in between, ranging in size from 55 mm to 112 mm. The largest cards often have a small figure in the centre of every numeral card, known as 'darchitri' format.
 

The dashavatara Ganjifa consists of ten suits of 12 cards each. The face of these cards depicts the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu

The navagraha Ganjifa, which signifies the nine planets consisting of 108 cards (9 suits of 12 cards)

The game was pass-time for the Brahmins. But it is said in Shri Bhagwat Purana that the game helped washing off the sins through repeated chanting of the Lord’s name.  During the game, one has to say, “Your Rama did this», «Your Matsya lost” and thus the name of the God is repeatedly invoked.