Athani

Athani was a market town in the country between Bijapur and the western coast. In 1639 the traveller Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo described it as a principal inland market on the road, and the English factory at Karwar dealt with merchants here. The town also housed Gacchinamatha, a Lingayat religious house founded in the sixteenth century.

In 1679 Athani suffered during the campaigns of the Mughal commander Diler Khan. Shivaji’s son Sambhaji, who had joined the Mughal camp after quarrelling with his father, was present in the area. He left Diler Khan’s camp at Athani in November and travelled by way of Bijapur to rejoin Shivaji. The episode occurred amid fighting that brought heavy suffering to settlements along the armies’ route.