Marathi People - History

History

The earliest records refer to the region today known as Maharashtra as Dandakaranyas which means "Forest of punishment". The ancient Hindu Epic, Ramayana, calls Dandakaranya, the home of deadly creatures and demons. Only exiled persons and sages (Rishis) typically resided here. Khara, Dushan and Shurpanakha are said to have met Rama in this region in the Epic Ramayana. Around 600 BC, the region today known as Maharashtra was one of the mahajanapadas known as Assaka. Panchavati near City of Nasik is stated in Ramayana as the place where Lakshman chopped the nose (nasik in Sanskrit) of Ravana's sister Shurpanakha. It is not known whether before the coming of the Aryans, this region was inhabited by other civilizations or not.

It is also believed that Western Kshatrapas (35-405 BC) were Saka rulers of the western part of India (Saurashtra and Malwa: modern Gujarat, Southern Sindh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan). They were successors to the Indo-Scythians. Sakas invaded Ujjain and establish the Saka era (with Saka calendar), marking the beginning of the long-lived Saka Western Satraps kingdom. Emperor Ashoka added Maharashtra and the surrounding regions to the Mauryan Empire. Around 230 BC, a local dynasty, the Sātavāhanas, rose to power in the Maharashtra. The kingdom, based in Junnar near Pune, eventually turned into an empire with the conquests of the northern part of what is today known as Karnataka as well as Andhra Pradesh. It is believed that most of the Indo-Aryan Marathi people today are descendants of this empire.

The empire reached its zenith under Gautamiputra Sátakarni, more popularly known as Shalivahan. He started a new calendar called Shalivahan Shaka which is still used by people of Deccan, i.e., Indo-Aryans Marathi and Gujarati and Kannada and Telugu people today. The empire collapsed around 300 CE. The use of Indo-Aryan Maharashtri language started during the Satavahana rule for several years. After, the region was ruled by various small kingdoms. The region was ruled by the Indo-Aryan Rashtrakuta dynasty in the 8th century. After the Rashtrakuta kingdom fell, the region was ruled by the Yadava Dynasty of Deogiri who made Marathi their official language. They ruled till 13th century after which the region fell under Islamic rule. The Deccan sultanates ruled Maharashtra for around three centuries.

In mid-17th century, Shivaji Maharaj founded the Maratha Empire by reclaiming the Desh and the Konkan region. After a lifetime of exploits and a series of conquests, Shivaji died in 1680. The Mughals who had lost a lot of ground to the Marathas under Shivaji invaded Maharashtra in 1681. Shivaji's son Sambhaji was crowned Emperor in 1681 after a brief civil war. Sambhaji led the Marathas valiantly against a much stronger opponent. But in 1689, he was betrayed by Ganoji Shirke and was captured, tortured and killed by Aurangzeb. (Ganoji’s hunger for Maratha land in the form of watan led to his enmity with Sambhaji. Sambhaji, like his father, Shivaji Maharaj, had abolished the custom of giving away watans, as this led to the people’s suffering from the hands of the watandar and there were chances of the watandars assuming kingship or taking possession of their watans.)

With their leader dead, the Marathas were demoralised, but the young Rajaram was put to the throne and then the Maratha crown prince had to retreat to Jinji in South India. But in 1707, under the leadership of Maharani Tarabai, the Marathas won the War of 27 years. Shahu, the grandson of Shivaji, with the help of capable leaders like Balaji Vishwanath and Bajirao I, saw the greatest expansion of Maratha power. After his death in 1749 the Peshwa became the real power behind the empire from 1750 to 1761. The empire was expanded by many Maratha sardars like Shinde, Gayakwad, Pawar, Bhonsale and Holkar, Pandit, Pantpratindhi, Govindpant Bundele, Sardar Gupte, etc., under the coordination of Bajirao and his son Balaji Bajirao until the Marathas ruled practically the whole sub-continent (with the exception of eastern region) from Attock in today's Pakistan to Southern India. Pune became the imperial seat with envoys, ambassadors and royals coming in from far and near. However, after the Third battle of Panipat in which the Marathas were defeated by Ahmed Shah Abdali, the Empire broke up into many independent kingdoms. Due to the efforts of Mahadji Shinde, it remained a confederacy until the British defeated Bajirao II. Still, several independent Maratha states existed until 1947 when these states acceded to the Dominion of India.