Pre-British Era

Kasheli before British rule

Many of the village’s pre-British landmarks remain plainly visible today.

Ancient and mythological roots

By tradition the Sun-god himself chose Kasheli for his shrine, and Adi Shankaracharya visited the village. The copper-plate grant at the Shri Kanakaditya temple establishes more than 800 years of recorded history; the Shilahara king Gandaraditya endowed land for the temple’s upkeep. The Shri Lakshminarayan temple is considered older still.

The Maratha connection

Both Shivaji Maharaj and Sambhaji Maharaj are said to have set foot in the village. The Shri Lakshminarayan temple was restored during Sambhaji’s reign.

The Desai Khar Bund — c. 400 years ago

During a famine in pre-British times, the Ramajipant Thakur Desai landowner family of Kalswali employed local labour to build a seawater-blocking dam at the mouth of the Poornagad creek within Kasheli’s bounds. The bund freed 300–400 acres for paddy farming; its wooden gates open and close with the tide. The state repaired the dam in 1952, but the basic 400-year-old structure remains in service.

Foreign attacks

At one point Pavanan (foreign raiders — possibly Portuguese) attacked the Kanakaditya temple. The quick-thinking priests hid the principal idols inside the temple well. Mistaking one idol for a hidden villager, the attackers cut off the thumb of its foot, and broke the trunk off the Ganesha idol. Seven centuries later those same damaged idols can still be seen.

Nana Shankar Sheth’s gift

The Mumbai philanthropist Nana Shankar Sheth, in thanksgiving for the birth of his son, built the imposing 80′ × 40′ assembly hall at the Kanakaditya temple — an important gift to the village’s heritage during the colonial era.

Before schooling

For many years before the government-recognised Marathi school was set up in 1861, the village children were taught privately by Late Bhikajipant Naphade as a village pantoji.

Source: V.S. Gurjar Vidyamandir Smaranika (1987), “Amchi Kasheli” chapter.