05-01-2006, 03:15 PM
i do not know many facts about the history of the Marathis - so i am starting this thread.
I'll set the ball rolling with some choice quotes from the wikipedia page on marathis (parts of which, coloured red, got me very interested). Please add more things you know of.
"The MarÄthÄs" is a collective term referring to an Indo Aryan group of Hindu, Marathi-speaking castes of warriors and peasants hailing mostly from the present-day state of Maharashtra, who created a substantial empire, covering a major part of India, in the late 17th and 18th centuries AD.
The "Marathas" were known by that name since their native tongue was almost invariably Marathi; however, not all those whose native tongue is Marathi are Marathas. The term "Maratha" refers only to those marathi-speaking people who also belong to certain specific Hindu castes: for one available listing, refer to Maratha Clan System. Thus, the terms "Marathi people" and "Maratha people" are not interchangeable and should not be confused for each other.
However the word (Marathi) itself indicates that these people were charioters ( ma_ratha).Needless to mention that marathas were well known for their cavalry since antiquity..
The Marathas are believed to be of mixed origins. Historians, researchers and scholars are divided over the origins of Marathas. Some put their origins as Scythians, while some put their origins as Aryans. Still, others point out that their origins are mixed and the clan is mostly a mixed stock of Scythians and Indo-Aryans. However, it is believed that there are a few minority Marathas who are of stocks as varied as Dravidians, Caucasians and Hunnics.
Some of the Maratha clans are descendants of the local dynasties. There is a kunbi or kurmi kshatriyas group apart from 96 royal clans of marathas. Linguistically, they belong to exclusively Indo-Aryan linguistic group.
So in nutshell, Marathas is a wide social group. It is a social cluster which compromises 96 royal clans which sprang out of 5 tribes of Rigveda, certain sections of Kunbis and in a broader sense for certain period of history almost all marathi-speaking population. Perhaps this great flexibilty in the social structure of Marathas to accommodate vast groups explains their strength as a nation.
According to some sources, every maratha must belong to one of 96 different clans (the "96 Kuli Marathas"). The list of 96 Maratha clans is different as per different historians. An authoritative listing was apparently first attempted in 1888 and a list finalised in 1956 by the Government of India. One of several available listings of the various maratha clans are available at Maratha Clan System.
from here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_Clan_System
Every maratha belongs to one of the 96 specific clans. These 96 clans are believed to have originate from five main royal clans which were based on the Panch-Janya or five tribes of the Rig-vedic period. This branching means, for instance, that out of 96 clans, at least 18 clans are septs of the same Yadu clan. This is similar to the branching of the Gotra system from the original seven Saptarshi Gotras to the hundred or more Gotras that exist today.
Marathas are descendents of all 56 Royal houses of India. According to Arya (Hindu) religion, In India or Bharat there are 56 sub-nations. At the time of the civil war of Mahabharata all the Indian nations were badly affected.The Maratha Clan System closely linked with Mahabharat heroes.
Origin of Clan system
Apart from Marathas, a well defined clan system is found among Rajputs,Scots,Germanic Tribes and Iranians.These all groups belong to Indo-European speaking population.The cognate of clan is Kul or cul, cognate of shatriya is shah(Iranian),Shah-nav(Maratha),satrap(european).There exists a lot of similarity between names and social customs of these clans during ancient time e.g.Royal symbol of each clan, worship of Fig tree,code of valour and art of fortification.<b>It seems that before compilation of Rigveda,these clans scattered in different directions from their homeland.</b>Generally these all clans have got a long history of chivalry and have enriched their respective countries.It is a matter of research for the sociologists that these clans if even change their religion ,did not change their clan system.
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in the wiki webpage, notice how most of the 96 clans have an "original seat/kingdom" somewhere north of maharashtra. so why did they make this southward exodus?? did the marathis really get the clan system from the scythians/sakas. do marathis have scythian blood?? the other people in india who also have a clan system are the rajputs - who also carry saka blood. just who are the people who are not marathi despite their native tongue being marathi?? are marathi's exclusively ksatriyas since they get their name from ma_rathi ?? the paragraph in blue is all crap - scythians ARE aryans in any case. As as aside, which are the 56 nations of bharat??
I'll set the ball rolling with some choice quotes from the wikipedia page on marathis (parts of which, coloured red, got me very interested). Please add more things you know of.
"The MarÄthÄs" is a collective term referring to an Indo Aryan group of Hindu, Marathi-speaking castes of warriors and peasants hailing mostly from the present-day state of Maharashtra, who created a substantial empire, covering a major part of India, in the late 17th and 18th centuries AD.
The "Marathas" were known by that name since their native tongue was almost invariably Marathi; however, not all those whose native tongue is Marathi are Marathas. The term "Maratha" refers only to those marathi-speaking people who also belong to certain specific Hindu castes: for one available listing, refer to Maratha Clan System. Thus, the terms "Marathi people" and "Maratha people" are not interchangeable and should not be confused for each other.
However the word (Marathi) itself indicates that these people were charioters ( ma_ratha).Needless to mention that marathas were well known for their cavalry since antiquity..
The Marathas are believed to be of mixed origins. Historians, researchers and scholars are divided over the origins of Marathas. Some put their origins as Scythians, while some put their origins as Aryans. Still, others point out that their origins are mixed and the clan is mostly a mixed stock of Scythians and Indo-Aryans. However, it is believed that there are a few minority Marathas who are of stocks as varied as Dravidians, Caucasians and Hunnics.
Some of the Maratha clans are descendants of the local dynasties. There is a kunbi or kurmi kshatriyas group apart from 96 royal clans of marathas. Linguistically, they belong to exclusively Indo-Aryan linguistic group.
So in nutshell, Marathas is a wide social group. It is a social cluster which compromises 96 royal clans which sprang out of 5 tribes of Rigveda, certain sections of Kunbis and in a broader sense for certain period of history almost all marathi-speaking population. Perhaps this great flexibilty in the social structure of Marathas to accommodate vast groups explains their strength as a nation.
According to some sources, every maratha must belong to one of 96 different clans (the "96 Kuli Marathas"). The list of 96 Maratha clans is different as per different historians. An authoritative listing was apparently first attempted in 1888 and a list finalised in 1956 by the Government of India. One of several available listings of the various maratha clans are available at Maratha Clan System.
from here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_Clan_System
Every maratha belongs to one of the 96 specific clans. These 96 clans are believed to have originate from five main royal clans which were based on the Panch-Janya or five tribes of the Rig-vedic period. This branching means, for instance, that out of 96 clans, at least 18 clans are septs of the same Yadu clan. This is similar to the branching of the Gotra system from the original seven Saptarshi Gotras to the hundred or more Gotras that exist today.
Marathas are descendents of all 56 Royal houses of India. According to Arya (Hindu) religion, In India or Bharat there are 56 sub-nations. At the time of the civil war of Mahabharata all the Indian nations were badly affected.The Maratha Clan System closely linked with Mahabharat heroes.
Origin of Clan system
Apart from Marathas, a well defined clan system is found among Rajputs,Scots,Germanic Tribes and Iranians.These all groups belong to Indo-European speaking population.The cognate of clan is Kul or cul, cognate of shatriya is shah(Iranian),Shah-nav(Maratha),satrap(european).There exists a lot of similarity between names and social customs of these clans during ancient time e.g.Royal symbol of each clan, worship of Fig tree,code of valour and art of fortification.<b>It seems that before compilation of Rigveda,these clans scattered in different directions from their homeland.</b>Generally these all clans have got a long history of chivalry and have enriched their respective countries.It is a matter of research for the sociologists that these clans if even change their religion ,did not change their clan system.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
in the wiki webpage, notice how most of the 96 clans have an "original seat/kingdom" somewhere north of maharashtra. so why did they make this southward exodus?? did the marathis really get the clan system from the scythians/sakas. do marathis have scythian blood?? the other people in india who also have a clan system are the rajputs - who also carry saka blood. just who are the people who are not marathi despite their native tongue being marathi?? are marathi's exclusively ksatriyas since they get their name from ma_rathi ?? the paragraph in blue is all crap - scythians ARE aryans in any case. As as aside, which are the 56 nations of bharat??