Sandor is a census town falling within the Vasai (Bassein) municipality of the Palghar district (previously Taana district), in the Konkan division of Maharashtra, India. Sandoris, the natives of Sandor, are predominantly Roman Catholic Kshatriyas of the Christian Bombay East Indian community, they converted in the colony centred around Bassein, the richest possession of the former Portuguese East Indies with the capital at Velha Goa, in the southern edge of the Konkan region. Prior to the arrival of Portuguese Armadas, there had also been some Nestorians descended from Jewish converts, by the efforts of the apostles Thomas or Bartholomew. History The natives of the Bassein (Vasai) are predominantly people whose culture derives from a composite of the Konkani substrate, overlaid by the Portuguese, Marathi& British rulers. The Sandoris are predominantly of the Vadval sub-ethnic group, and speak the Vadvali dialect, which is considered by the government as a dialect of Marathi, although this view is disputed. Following the conversions of 1564, a Portuguese noblewoman, Donna Irina, had a chapel, Our Lady of Help (Nossa Senhora da Ajuda) built in the village for the converts. The first Holy Mass was held in this chapel on 11 November 1566 by the Jesuit missionaries. A Sandorian tradition states that St Gonsalo Garcia, who was martyred in Shogunate era Japan, was present as a young boy at the foundation laying ceremony of the chapel. The chapel was renamed after Thomas the Apostle, when in 1565, his picture was brought from the fort and enshrined in the chapel. It seems that sometime or the other a new church was built a little further towards the north occupying the actual site on which the present edifice stands. The church was destroyed by invaders from Sultanate of Guzerat in 1571, and was reconstructed in 1573. Pedro de Almeida, a Jesuit was appointed the 'Pai dos Cristaos' for 1574–1576, with charge of the Christians of Sandor and Papdy parishes. In 1679, Arabs from Gujarat once again attacked and damaged the church. In 1690, a certain invader by name of 'Kakaji' also attacked and damaged the church. The Mahratta Invasion of Bassein in 1739 did not destroy the chapel, although the Jesuits were forced to leave and it was thereafter served by the secular priests. The chapel was enlarged in 1889. The three altars of the chapel are from one of the original churches in the Fort San Sebastian