Tulaji

Tulaji Angre, also known as Tulaji Angria, was an 18th-century Maratha naval commander who headed a coastal force that formed part of the Angre maritime leadership, the dominant naval power on the Konkan coast during that period. He belonged to the Angre family, which built and maintained a network of forts and ships along the western Indian coast, including areas around the Kolaba Fort near present-day Alibag.

Tulaji’s career unfolded in the context of the Maratha attempt to project naval strength against rival powers and competing factions within the Maratha realm. He oversaw coastal defenses and naval operations against rival European powers and other regional polities, and his authority at times operated with a degree of autonomy from the central Maratha court. This autonomy brought him into tensions with the emerging authority of the Peshwas in Pune, who sought to consolidate control over maritime affairs.

In the late 1730s and early 1740s, the central Maratha leadership faced a decisive campaign aimed at curbing Tulaji’s influence along the Konkan coast. A major action during this period was the siege of Vasai Fort (Bassein) by Chimaji Appa against the Portuguese, which culminated in 1739–1740 and significantly weakened Tulaji’s position by undermining coastal power dynamics and marshalling regional resources against him.

The exact details of Tulaji’s death are unclear, but he is generally thought to have fallen from prominence by the mid-1740s. His era marks a key phase in the Marathas’ coastal strategy and the broader balance of maritime power in western India, with the Angre family continuing to influence naval affairs in the region for years thereafter.