Friday, February 16, 2007

Maharashtra(The Great Nation)


Maharashtra is India's 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". Both these theories did not carry much weight, as can be seen from the name of Maharashtra.

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 peroid 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.


Geography


Maharashtra encompasses an area of 308,000 km² . Maharashtra is bordered by the states of Madhya Pradesh to the north, Chhattisgarh to the east, Andhra Pradesh to the southeast, Karnataka to the south, and Goa to the southwest. The state of Gujarat lies to the northwest, with the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli sandwiched in between. The Arabian Sea makes up Maharashtra's west coast.
The Western Ghats are a hilly range running parallel to the coast, at an average elevation of 1,200 metres. To the west of these hills lie the Konkan coastal plains, which is 50 – 80 kilometres in width. To the east of the Ghats lies the flat Deccan Plateau. The Western Ghats form one of the three watersheds of India, from which many South Indian rivers originate. To the north of the state, near the Madhya Pradesh border, lies the Satpura Range. The various sections of the Western Ghats of Maharashtra are Tamhini Ghat, Varandha Ghat and Sawantwadi Ghat.
The Western Ghats form the source of several major rivers of Maharashtra, notable among them being Godavari River and the Krishna River. The rivers, along with their tributaries, flow eastwards into the Bay of Bengal, irrigating most of central and eastern Maharashtra.

Culture

Hindus form the majority of Maharashtra population & the culture of Maharashtra reflects that. There are many temples in Maharashtra some of them being hundreds of years old. These temples are constructed in a fusion of architectural styles from borrowed from North and South India. The temples also blend themes from Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cultures. The temple of Vitthala at Pandharpur may be considered the most important to the Maharashtrian Hindu population. Many of the temples are tourist attractions with the most famous amongst them being the Ajanta and Ellora Caves near Aurangabad. A famous example of Mughal architecture is the tomb of the wife of Aurangzeb called Bibi Ka Maqbara also located at Aurangabad. The landscape of Maharashtra is dotted with many forts, like Raigad and Pratapgad which played an extremely important part in the establishment of the Maratha empire and also sea forts like the one at Sindhudurg.
The folk music of Maharashtra is of various types viz. Gondhal, Lavani, Bharud, Powada, etc.


Thats Not all About Maharashtra i will be Saying more in next blog


**Data Taken from Wikipedia **

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