Furus, Furoos or Phuroos is a small village in the Ratnagiri district

Ratnagiri District

Ratnagiri district is one of the 35 districts of Maharashtra state in western India. Ratnagiri is the district headquarters of the district. The district is 11.33% urban. The district is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west, Sindhudurg district to the south, Raigad district to the north and...

 of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 dominated by Konkani Muslims

Konkani Muslims

Konkani / Kokani Muslims is a Muslim sub-ethnic group of Maharashtrian Muslims living in the Konkan region of India. They speak the Konkani language. A good number of them live in Mumbai...

. Furus is believed to be named by Persians who came here to trade in horses (horse: فارسی Persian). The main language spoken in Furus is Konkani

Konkani language

KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...

, a blend of Bankoti, Sangameshwari and Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

 infused with words of Arabic, Urdu and Persian origin.

History

Kokni Muslims trace their ancestry back to the Arab traders who arrived on the Western coast of India during the medieval era and Persians.

Muslims first arrived in Kokan in 699, according to Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, less than 70 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632.

Location

Furus is on State Highway 47 between Khed

Khed

Khed is an industrial city with a municipal council in Ratnagiri district in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is surrounded by a number of villages, including Khopi, Savnas, Bahirwali, Furus, Karji, Tise, Rajawel, Panhalje, Lote, Kondivali, Shiv, Mani, Nandgaon, Ashti, Shirgaon, Sakhroli,...

 and Dapoli

Dapoli

Dapoli is a small town in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra in India.-Geography:Dapoli is 215 KM away from Mumbai.It is also called the "Mini Mahabaleshwar" because of its cool climate throughout the year.dapoli is also the city which gave birth to many historic idols like Lokmanya Tilak, Sane...

. The nearest Railway Station is Khed which is 11 km away. Furus is situated beside the banks of a nameless petite tributary and is surrounded on all sides by low hills. It rains in plethora during Monsoon

Monsoon

Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...

 season. The temperature in Furus varies between 20 to 35 degrees. Ratnagiri District can be physically divided into 3 zones viz. Coastal, Middle and Hilly. Furus falls under Middle Zone. Middle zone is characterized by a medium altitude. It is more accessible due to the Bombay-Goa-Highway as well as the Konkan railway.

Community

Furus consists of 5 sub-villages and over 1200 homes with a population of nearly 5600. The main religions here are Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Educational facilities

Furus was one of the first townships in the area to have a high school. S.I. High School & Junior College, Furus

S.I. High School & Junior College, Furus

Siraj-ul-Islam High School and Junior College is a primary, secondary and higher secondary school in the village of Furus, in Maharashtra, India. It is the oldest continuously operational high school in this countrified region, and one of the oldest high schools in the country...

 was founded by Mr. W. Parkar under a government initiative in 1938 (pre-independence time) and is still functional. Another school is the Ideal English School, Furus

Ideal English School, Furus

Ideal English School in Furus, India is an institution of higher education. It was established in 1981. It offers education in English.-Location:...

.

Sectors

• Katalwari (कातळवाडी) - This is the easternmost parish of Furus, where the Patoli river flows.
• Khailawari ( खैलावारी) - The old part of town, it has Jama Masjid, Furus and a Dargah
  Dargah
  A Dargah is a Sufi shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint. Local Muslims visit the shrine known as . Dargahs are often associated with Sufi meeting rooms and hostels, known as khanqah...
  
  of Sayyed Khwaja Qabullah Hussaini Chishti located near the river.
• Buddhawadi (बुद्धवाडी) - where the Buddhist community resides; it has a government hospital.
• Phanaswadi (फनसवाडी) - also called Gaothan.
• Mushafari (मुशाफरी) - it is the westernmost parish of Furus.
• Gavanachamaal (गावना चा माळ) - It is the highest location in Furus.
• Belavne (बॆलवणे) - It has an Arabic Madrasa.