A tiny town on the coast of Karnataka is gearing up to celebrate legendary Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s first and only naval expedition.

The celebrations coincide with Tanhaji, the reel replay of Shivaji’s most eventful ‘mohim’ that seized the fort of Kondhana from the Mughals, and which is continuing to rule theatres inching close to the Rs 300 crore mark.

Basrur is a tiny port town today in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district in Karnataka. It finds mention in works of various historical scholars and chroniclers as Barcelor, Barcalor, Basnur, Bares, Abu-Sarur and Barsellor.

A historically important harbour and trade centre, it has today lost most of its ancient glory and all that remains are tales of the past. But less than four centuries ago it was a bustling town that was a centre of trade, commerce and art. For those who revere the ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’, this town is the one to which their ‘raze’ led his first naval expedition.

Shortly after establishing the fort of Sindhudurg, which was to serve as the base of his naval forces, Shivaji took to the sea with a fleet of 88 ships. It included three mammoth ones with 4,000 infantry, and demonstrated the strength of his forces on the waters too.

In a bid to ensure this town and its tales are not relegated to the pages of history, followers of Shivaji in this town along with those who trace their origin to the city, backed by the Karnataka Itihasa Sankalana Samiti have been celebrating 13 February as Basruru History Day for the past four years.

“The expedition checked the exploits of the enemies in the region and marked the beginning of the battle against the Portuguese,” say the organisers, who are celebrating this day as the Basruru Swatantrya Diwas this year.

“When local rulers informed Shivaji Maharaj of the oppression by the foreign traders who had settled down in Basrur, he led his forces and helped our town gain freedom and hence we would like to celebrate it as Basrur's Swatantrya (Independence) Diwas," says a Samiti member.