Marathi people

The Marathi people (/məˈrɑːti/; Marathi: मराठी लोक, Marāṭhī lōk) or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, Marāṭhī) are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a Marathi-speaking state of India on 1 May 1960, as part of a nationwide linguistic reorganisation of the Indian states. The term "Maratha" is generally used by historians to refer to all Marathi-speaking peoples, irrespective of their caste; However, it may refer to a Maharashtrian caste known as the Maratha which also includes farmer sub castes like the Kunbis.

The Marathi community came into political prominence in the 17th century, when the Maratha Empire was established by Shivaji in 1674.

According to R. G. Bhandarkar, the term Maratha is derived from Rattas, a tribe which held political supremacy in the Deccan from the remotest time. The Rattas called themselves Maha Rattas or Great Rattas, and thus the country in which they lived came to be called Maharashtra, the Sanskrit of which is Maha-rashtra. In the Harivamsa, the Yadava kingdom called Anaratta is described as mostly inhabited by the Abhiras (Abhira-praya-manusyam). The Anartta country and its inhabitants were called Surastra and the Saurastras, probably after the Rattas (Rastras) akin to the Rastrikas of Asoka's rock Edicts, now known as Maharashtra and the Marathas.

During the ancient period, around 230 BC, Maharashtra came under the rule of the Satavahana dynasty, which ruled the region for 400 years. The Vakataka dynasty then ruled Maharashtra from the 3rd century to the 5th century AD, and the Chalukya dynasty from the 6th century to the 8th century. The two prominent rulers were Pulakeshin II, who defeated the Kannauj Emperor Harsh, and Vikramaditya II, who defeated Arab invaders (Umayyad Caliphate) in the 8th century. The Rashtrakuta dynasty ruled Maharashtra from the 8th to the 10th century. The Persian merchant and traveller, Sulaiman al-Tajir, who wrote of his many voyages to India and China in the mid-9th century CE, called the ruler of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, Amoghavarsha, "one of the four great kings of the world".

From the early 11th century to the 12th century, the Deccan Plateau was dominated by the Western Chalukya Empire and the Chola dynasty.

The Yadava dynasty of Deogiri, ruled Maharashtra from the 13th century to the 14th century. The Yadavas were defeated by the Khaljis in 1321. After the defeat of Yadavas, the area was ruled for the next 300 years by a succession of Muslim rulers including (in chronological order): the Khaljis, the Tughlaqs, and the Bahmani Sultanate and its successor states called the Deccan sultanates, such as Adilshahi, Nizamshahi, and the Mughal Empire.

The early period of Islamic rule saw the imposition of a Jaziya tax on non-Muslims, temple destruction and forcible conversions. However, the mainly Hindu population and their Islamic rulers came to an accommodation over time. For most of this period Brahmins were in charge of accounts, whereas revenue collection was in the hands of Marathas who held watans (hereditary rights) of Patilki (revenue collection at village level), and Deshmukhi (revenue collection over a larger area). A number of families such as Bhosale, Shirke, Ghorpade, Jadhav, More, Mahadik, Ghatge, Gharge and Nimbalkar loyally served different sultans at different periods of time. All watandar considered their watan a source of economic power and pride and were reluctant to part with it. The watandars were the first to oppose Shivaji because it hurt their economic interests. Since most of the population was Hindu and spoke Marathi, even the sultans such as Ibrahim Adil Shah I adopted Marathi as the court language for administration and record-keeping.

Islamic rule also led to Persian vocabulary entering the Marathi language. Per Kulkarni, for the elites of the era using Persian words was a status symbol. Surnames derived from service during that period such as Fadnis, Chitnis, Mirasdar, etc. are still in use today.