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HISTORY OF MAHARASHTRA

Message by rajendra on 12 December 2008 at 1:55 pm
Location: mumbai Joined: 12 December 2008 Posts: 17

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Maharashtra
Alternate names
Great Nation
Mahārāshtra

Type
State
Coordinates
19.5°N 75.0°E
Located in
India     (1960 - )

Contained Places




District
Ahmednagar
Akola
Amravati
Aurangabad
Beed
Belgaum
Bhandara
Buldhana
Chandrapur
Dhule
Gadchiroli
Gondia
Hingoli
Jalna
Kolhapur
Mumbai City
Mumbai suburban
Nagpur
Nanded
Nandurbar
Nashik
Osmanabad
Parbhani
Pune
Raigad
Ratnagiri
Sangli
Satara
Sindhudurg
Solapur
Thane
Wardha
Washim
Yavatmal

Inhabited place
Achalpur ( 1000 - )
Adai
Adauli
Afaspida
Agasan
Airoli
Ajanta
Akalkot
Akot
Akurli
Alandi
Alibag
Amalner
Amarnāth
Ambajogai
Amboshe
Anjangaon
Argaon
Armori
Arvi
Ashta
Aundh
Badlapur
Badnera
Balapur
Bale
Ballālpur
Bambāvi
Baramati
Barsi
Basmat
Belapurpāda
Belpāda
Bhaja
Bhal
Bhendkhal
Bhilkati
Bhimashankar
Bhiwandi
Bhokardan
Bhopar
Bhusawal
Bhutali
Bir
Bokad
Bonsari
Buldana
Burdul
CBD Belapur
Chal
Chalisgaon
Chikhli
Chincholi
Chirad
Chirle
Chopda
Chāndvad
Dabhol
Damotapāda
Darave
Darwha
Daryāpur
Dativli
Daule
Daund
Dayghar
Dehu
Deolali
Deūlgaon Rāja
Dhansar
Dharangaon
Dharmābād
Dhārni
Dighode
Diglur
Digras
Diva
Dive
Dombivli
Dondaicha
Dwarli
Eirauli
Ellora ( 200 - )
Funde
Gangapur
Ganpatipule
Gethaoli
Ghafe
Ghansoli
Ghesar
Ghārāpuri
Gokak
Gāvanpāda
Harnai
Hedutne
Hinganghat
Ichalkaranji
Igatpuri
Jalgaon
Jasai
Jaskhar
Jui
Kalamb
Kalamboli
Kalhe
Kalyan
Kalyan-Dombivali
Kannad
Kanpoli
Kantalvi
Karad
Karanja
Karave
Karjat
Karli
Karmala
Kashid
Katai
Katol
Kausa
Khairna
Khamgaon
Khandala
Khed
Khoni
Khārghar
Kirkee
Kirloskarwadi
Kopar Khairane
Kopargaon
Koparkhairna
Koparpāda
Kopri
Koyna Nagar
Kurduvadi
Kālundri
Kālva
Kāmthi
Latur
Lonar
Lonavala
Lonāvale
Mahabaleshwar
Mahabaleswar
Mahad
Mahape
Mahur
Malegaon
Malkapur
Malvan
Mangalvedha
Mangrul Pir
Manmad
Manwat
Matheran
Mehekar
Mhasvad
Miraj
Mora
Morsi
Mukhed
Mul
Mumbai
Mumbra
Murtajapur
Murud
Nandura
Nanoshi
Narayangaon
Narhan
Nashik Road
Naude
Navi Mumbai
Navāpur
Nerul
Nerur
Nevali
New Panvel
Nitalas
Nāndgaon
Owe
Pachora
Padeghar
Padghe
Padle
Pagote
Palghar
Panchavati
Panchgani
Pandharpur
Panje
Panvel
Parli Vaijnāth
Patipāda
Patur
Pauni
Pavne
Pendhar
Phaltan
Pimpri
Pisarve
Pulgaon
Pusad
Pāndharkawada
Pārgaon
Pārola
Pātnoli
Rahimatpur
Rajapur
Ramtek
Ravalgaon
Raver
Rohinjan
Rānsai
Rānvād
Sabe
Sagaon
Sakoli
Sakri
Sangamner
Sanpāda
Saoner
Sarsol
Satana
Selghar
Sendhwa
Sendurjana
Sevagram
Shahpur
Shegaon
Shet Bandar
Sheva Nhava
Sheva
Shil
Shiraone
Shirpur
Sholapur
Shāhābād
Sinnar
Sonari
Srivardhan
Srīrampur
Sāngole
Sāngurli
Sāvantvādi
Taloda
Taloje
Tasgaon
Thākurvādi
Tondhre
Tumsar
Turambhe
Turbhe
Udgi
Ulhasnagar
Ulva
Umargān
Umbroli
Umrer
Uran
Urun-Islāmpur
Vaijapur
Vaklan
Vala Ull
Valap
Vani
Vasai
Vasai-Virar
Vasar
Vashi
Velapāda
Vengurla
Vite
Vādi
Wani
Warud
Yeola
Yeshvi
Yāval

Region
Berar

Watching Page

Maharashtra (Marathi: महाराष्ट्र , IPA:) is India's third largest state in terms of area and second largest in terms of population after Uttar Pradesh. It is bordered by the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa and the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The Arabian Sea makes up the state's western coast. Mumbai, India's largest city, is the capital of Maharashtra where as Nagpur serves as the second capital or winter capital of the state.
Maharashtra was known as Rashtra in the Rig Veda, Rashtrik in Ashoka's inscriptions, and Maha rashtra afterwards, as attested by Huein-Tsang and other travellers. The name appears to have been derived from Maharashtri, in an old form of Prakrit, an ancient Indian language.
However, there are other theories put forward by different schools of thought. One possible derivation is believed to be the corruption of the term Maha Kantara, which means "Great Forest".

Medieval history and Islamic rule
Not much is known about Maharashtra's early history, and its recorded history dates back to the 3rd century BC, with the use the Maharastri language, a Prakrit corruption of Sanskrit. Maharashtra was known as Dandakaranya, i.e. the jungle (aranya) which bound by rules (dandakas). Later, Maharashtra became a part of the Magadha empire, ruled by the Buddhist emperor Ashoka. The port town of Sopara, just north of present day Mumbai, was the centre of ancient India's commerce, with links to Eastern Africa, Mesopotamia, Aden and Cochin. With the disintegration of the Mauryan Empire, a local dynasty called Satavahanas came into prominence in Maharashtra between 230 BC and AD 225. The period saw the biggest cultural development of Maharashtra. The Satavahana's official language was Maharashtri, which later developed into Marathi. The great ruler Gautamiputra Satkarni (also known as "Shalivahan") ruled around 78 AD. He started the Shalivahana era, a new calendar, still used by Maharashtrian populace. The empire gradually disintegrated in the third century.
During the reign of the Vakatakas (AD 250–525), Vidarbha, the eastern region of Maharashtra, come under their rule. During this period, development of arts, religion and technology flourished. By the 6th century, Maharashtra came under the reign of the Chalukyas from Badami. Later, in 753, the region was governed by Rashtrakutas, an empire that spread over most of peninsula India. In 973, the Chalukayas of Badami expelled the Rashtrakutas, and ruled parts of Maharashtra until 1189 when the region came under the hands of the Yadavas of Deogiri.
Maharashtra came under Islamic influence for the first time after the Delhi Sultanate rulers Ala-ud-din Khalji, and later Muhammad bin Tughluq appropriated parts of the Deccan in the 13th century. After the collapse of the Tughlaqs in 1347, the Bahmani Sultanate of Bijapur took over, governing the region for the next 150 years. By the 16th century, central Maharashtra was ruled by numerous autonomous Islamic kingdoms that owed allegiance to the Mughals, while coastal region was annexed by the Portuguese, in their quest to seize control of the spice trade.

Marathas and Peshwas
By the early seventeenth century the Maratha Empire began to take root. The Marathas, native to western Maharashtra, were led by Chhatrapati Raje Shivaji Bhosale, who was crowned king in 1674. Shivaji Maharaj (as he was referred to by his subjects) fought many battles with Mughal empire which was then ruled by Aurangzeb. He also fought several battles with King of Vijapur, Adilshah. Later he was engaged in few small battles with British army who were then in the early stages of their long and exhaustive control over Maharsahtra. Shivaji Raje was the most able, successful, popular and respected king Maharashtra ever had.
Shivaji's son and successor, Sambhaji Bhosale was captured and executed by Aurangzeb, the Mughal in the late 1680s. The Mughals forced Sambhaji's younger brother, Rajaram Bhosale to flee into the Tamil-speaking countryside. He retreated to the great fortress of Jinji (sometimes anglicised to Ginjee) to barely recover in the early 18th century, in somewhat changed circumstances.
Rajaram's nephew & Sambhaji's son, Shahu Bhosale considered himself to be the legitimate heir to the Bhosale throne. In 1714, Shahu's Peshwa (chief minister) Balaji Vishwanath, helped him seize the Maratha throne in 1708, with some acrimony from Rajaram's widow, Tara Bai.
In the following four decades, the Peshwas virtually took over central authority in the Maratha state, reducing Shivaji's Bhosale dynasty to figureheads. After defeating the Mughals, the Peshwas became the dominant rulers of India. Peshwas not only ruled Maharashtra, but their empire was also covering Delhi (Panipat)- Gujarat ( Mehsana) - Madhya Pradesh (Gwalior, Indore) and to south till Thanjaur.
The Peshwas, Balaji Vishwanath and his son, Baji Rao I, bureaucratized the Maratha state. They systematized the practice of tribute gathering from Mughal territories, under the heads of sardesmukhi and chauth (the two terms corresponding to the proportion of revenue collected). They also consolidated Mughal-derived methods of assessment and collection of land revenue and other taxes. Much of the revenue terminology used in Peshwa documents derives from Persian, suggesting a far greater continuity between Mughal and Maratha revenue practice than may be politically palatable in the present day.
The years under Peshwa rule, saw the development of sophisticated networks of trade, banking, and finance; the rise of substantial banking houses based at Pune, with branches extending into Gujarat, the Ganges Valley, and the south; and an expansion of the agricultural frontier.
At the same time, Balaji Vishwanath cultivated the maritime Angre clan, which controlled a fleet of vessels based in Kolaba and other centres of the west coast. These ships posed a threat not only to the new English settlement of Bombay, but to the Portuguese at Goa, Bassein, and Daman.
On the other hand, there also emerged a far larger domain of activity away from the original heartland of the Marathas, which was given over to subordinate chiefs as fiefs. Gwalior was given to Scindia, Indore to Holkar, Baroda to Gaekwad and Dhar to Pawar.
After suffering a heavy defeat to the Afghan chieftain Ahmad Shah Abdali, in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Maratha Confederacy broke into regional kingdoms.
Post-Panipat, the Peshwa's ex-generals looked after the little kingdoms they had been given. Pune continued to be ruled by what was left of the Peshwa family.
Branches of the Bhosale family itself, relocated to Kolhapur, while the main line remained in the Deccan heartland, at Satara. The Kolhapur Bhosales derived from Rajaram and his wife, Maharani Tara Bai, who had refused in 1708 to accept Shahu's rule. The Kolhapur Bhosales remained in control of minuscule territory into the early 19th century.
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British Rule and Post-Independence
With the arrival and subsequent involvement of the British East India Company in Indian politics, the Marathas and the British fought the three Anglo-Maratha wars between 1777 and 1818, culminating in the annexation of Peshwa-ruled territory in Maharashtra in 1819, which heralded the end of the Maratha empire.
The British governed the region as part of the Bombay Presidency, which spanned an area from Karachi in Pakistan to most of the northern Deccan. A number of the Maratha states persisted as princely states, retaining local autonomy in return for acknowledging British sovereignty. The largest princely states in the territory of present-day Maharashtra were Nagpur, Satara and Kolhapur; Satara was annexed to Bombay Presidency in 1848, and Nagpur was annexed in 1853 to become Nagpur Province, later part of the Central Provinces. Berar, which had been part of the Nizam of Hyderabad's kingdom, was occupied by the British in 1853 and annexed to the Central Provinces in 1903. A large part of present day Maharashtra called Marathwada remained part of the Nizam's Hyderabad state during British rule. The British rule was marked by social reforms, an improvement in infrastructure as well revolts due to their discriminatory policies. At the beginning of the 20th century, A non-violent struggle started by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and later led by Mahatma Gandhi began to take shape. In 1942, the Quit India Movement was called by Mahatma Gandhi which was marked by a non-violent civil disobedience movement and strikes.
After India's independence in 1947, the princely states were integrated into the Indian Union, and the Deccan States including Kolhapur were integrated into Bombay State, which was created from the former Bombay Presidency in 1950. In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act reorganized the Indian states along linguistic lines, and Bombay Presidency State was enlarged by the addition the predominantly Marathi-speaking regions of Marathwada (Aurangabad Division) from erstwhile Hyderabad state and Vidarbha region (Amravati and Nagpur divisions) from Madhya Pradesh (formerly the Central Provinces and Berar). On May 1, 1960, Maharashtra came into existence when Bombay Presidency State was split into the new linguistic states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. There was widespread discontent among the people of Vidarbha when it was included in Maharashtra. The people of Vidarbha consider themselves to be of a distinct culture which is different from the culture of the rest of Maharashtra. These people have ever since demanded a separate state in the union.

RAJENDRA (MUMBAI)

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