1883 Perron map MUMBAI BOMBAY & MARATHA COUNTRY, INDIA (#107) |
Nice small map titled Pays des Mahrattes, from wood engraving with fine detail and clear impression, nice hand coloring. Overall size approx. 15 x 13.5 cm, image size approx. 10.5 x 7.5 cm. From La Nouvelle GĂ©ographie universelle, la terre et les hommes, 19 vol. (1875-94), great work of Elisee Reclus. Cartographer is Charles Perron.
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Maratha
also spelled Mahratta or Mahratti, a major people of India, famed
in history as yeoman warriors and champions of Hinduism. Their homeland is the
present state of Maharashtra, the Marathi-speaking region that extends from
Mumbai (Bombay) to Goa along the west coast of India and inland about 100 miles
(160 km) east of Nagpur.
The term Maratha is used in three overlapping senses: within the
Marathi-speaking region it refers to the single dominant Maratha caste or to the
group of Maratha and Kunbi (descendants of settlers who came from the north
about the beginning of the 1st century CE) castes; outside Maharashtra, the term
often loosely designates the entire regional population speaking the Marathi
language, numbering some 80 million; and, used historically, the term denotes
the regional kingdom founded by the Maratha leader Shivaji in the 17th century
and expanded by his successors in the 18th century.
The Maratha group of castes is a largely rural class of peasant cultivators,
landowners, and soldiers. Some Maratha and Kunbi have at times claimed Kshatriya
(the warrior and ruling class) standing and supported their claims to this rank
by reference to clan names and genealogies linking themselves with epic heroes,
Rajput clans of the north, or historical dynasties of the early medieval period.
The Maratha and Kunbi group of castes is divided into subregional groupings of
coast, western hills, and Deccan Plains, among which there is little
intermarriage. Within each subregion, clans of these castes are classed in
social circles of decreasing rank. A maximal circle of 96 clans is said to
include all true Maratha, but the lists of these 96 clans are highly varied and
disputed.
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