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FAMILY HOME
On
the way to the famous Adiware Mahakali temple, in the district of Ratnagiri, a
palatial building along the road attracts your attention. It is ‘Tawde Sadan’,
the home to the stock of the Tawdes. Being erected by ‘Kshatriya Maratha Tawde Hitwardhak Mandal’, under the
leadership of Mr. Santosh Tawde, eminent architect, the huge building is aimed
to be the home of the Tawdes on Konkan tour, their community programmes and the
shrine of their community goddess, Lord Saptkoteshwara.
The marvelous
structure stands on a spacious piece of land. It is built of locally available
red laterite stone. Constructed in north Indian style the building is erected
without using cement concrete and fitting the load bearings with traditional
technique of wedging perfectly measured key stones. The arches, the walls and
even the roofs are absolutely free from any cementing material. Several windows
decorated with specially designed banisters and large doors with dual wooden
frames are evident enough not only to reflect its prodigy but also the
painstaking long term labour of the grand team of skillful artisans.
The two
storied mansion houses a spacious hall at its centre, eight decent residential
rooms on each floor, and a cooking space with a dining hall in the backside
basement. In front of the stately home an artistic garden provides the visitor a
delightful mood and the back corners of the avenue put on the views of lovely
sunset.
PAST
AND PRESENT
Having their
roots in Rajasthan the Tawdes belonged to the warrior Rajput race. With the
decline of Jainism in the early 11th century aroused the Kshatriya
dynasties such as Kadam-Tawde. During the Mogul rule Adiware division
had been administered from Pune. The Tawdes had their dwellings in Adiware and
fourteen surrounding hamlets. They stamped out the coercive recovery campaigns
of the Mogul officials. Failed to curb the brave community, the emperor’s
lieutenants once caught men of Tawdes enjoying sea bathing and slaughtered them
all. Their wives ended their lives on the pyres of sacred sati. An only woman escaped as she was moved to
another place for the period of her pregnancy, which brought forth a son that
sustained the stock of the Tawdes. Due to the fear of the oppressive rulers’
dread she perhaps never returned to Adiware and the signs of the community had
been annihilated from the neighbourhood of the famous place of goddess Kali.
Although not a
single house of a Tawde exists in the area, a few persons of the community
being intent of the affinity to their very native place, sought to create a
noble monument of their brave ancestors at Adiware. It was Mr. Santosh Govind
Tawde who stated the idea of a FAMILY HOME that would resort all Tawdes under
its grand roof and would create a strong band of fraternity. An architect by
occupation Mr. Santosh Tawde thoroughly studied the structures of monumental
buildings in the country and abroad and prepared the plan of this prodigious
mansion.
The half hector
plot to the north of Adiware village is being carefully utilized to accommodate
this majestic building of ‘Tawde Atithi Bhavan’ with sizable open space
around. It would be a splendid blend of historic and modern architecture, as
the community strives to trace their prosperous past; and a combination of
Rajasthan grace as they had their origin in that state and local building
material as they hold intense affection to Adiware, the land of their
accomplishment.
