Part 2

It is recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, that "the term Marathi denotes the various Marathi non-Brahman castes, who came to the south either as soldiers or camp followers in the armies of the Marathi invaders; but in South Canara, in which district the caste is most numerous, it appears to be the same as Are, a class of Marathi cultivators. Of the total number of 65,961, as many as 40,871 have returned Marathi as both caste and sub-division. The number of sub-divisions returned by the rest is no less than 305, of which the majority are the names of other castes. Some of these castes are purely Dravidian, and the names have evidently been used in their occupational sense. For example, we have Bogam, Gandla, Mangala, etc." Mr. H. A, Stuart writes further, in the South Canara Manual, that "Marathi, as a caste name, is somewhat open to confusion, and it is probable that many people of various castes, who speak Marathi, are shown as being of that caste. The true Marathi caste is said to have come from Goa, and that place is the head-quarters. The caste is divided into twelve wargs or balis, which are exogamous sub-divisions. Caste disputes are settled by headmen called Hontagaru, and allegiance is paid to the head of the Sringeri math. The favourite deity is the goddess Mahadevi. Brahmans, usually Karadis, officiate at their ceremonies. Marriage is both infant and adult. The dhare form of marriage is used (see Bant). Widows may remarry, but they cannot marry again into the family of the deceased husband--a rule which is just the reverse of the Levirate. In some parts, however, the remarriage of widows is prohibited. A husband or a wife can divorce each other at will, and both parties may marry again. Marathis are either farmers, labourers, or hunters. They eat fish and flesh (except that of cattle and animals generally regarded as unclean) and they use alcoholic liquors. They speak either the ordinary Marathi or the Konkami dialect of it." The Marathis of South Canara call themselves Are and Are Kshatri.

In the North Arcot Manual, Mr, Stuart records that the term Marathi is "usually applied to the various Maratha Sudra castes, which have come south. Their caste affix is always Rao. It is impossible to discover to what particular Sudra division each belongs, for they do not seem to know, and take advantage of being away from their own country to assert that they are Kshatriyas--a claim which is ridiculed by other castes. In marriage they are particular to take a bride only from within the circle of their own family, so that an admixture of the original castes is thus avoided. Their language is Marathi, but they speak Telugu or Tamil as well, and engage in many professions. Many are tailors. [4] Others enlist in the army, in the police, or as peons (orderlies or messengers), and some take to agriculture or trading."

Of the history of Marathas in those districts in which they are most prevalent, an account will be found in the Manuals and Gazetteers.

The last Maratha King of Tanjore, Maharaja Sivaji, died in 1855. It is noted by Mr. M. J. Walhouse [5] that "an eye-witness has recorded the stately and solemn spectacle of his funeral, when, magnificently arranged, and loaded with the costliest jewels, his body, placed in an ivory palanquin, was borne by night through the torchlit streets of his royal city amid the wail of vast multitudes lamenting the last of their ruling race. The nearest descendant, a boy of twelve, was carried thrice round the pile, and at the last circuit a pot of water was dashed to pieces on the ground. The boy then lit the pile, and loud long-sustained lament of a nation filled the air as the flames rose." Upon the death of Sivaji, the Raj became, under the decision of the Court of Directors, extinct. His private estate was placed under the charge of the Collector of the district. In addition to three wives whom he had already married, Sivaji, three years before his death, married in a body seventeen girls. In 1907, three of the Ranis were still living in the palace at Tanjore. It is recorded [6] by the Marchioness of Dufferin that, when the Viceroy visited the Tanjore palace in 1886 to speak with the Ranis, he was admitted behind the purdah, "The ladies had not expected him, and were not dressed out in their best, and no one could speak any intelligible language, However, a sort of chattering went on, and they made signs towards a chair, which, being covered with crimson cloth, Dufferin thought he was to sit down on. He turned and was just about to do so, when he thought he saw a slight movement, and he fancied there might be a little dog there, when two women pulled the cloth open, and there was the principal Rani--a little old woman who reached half way up the back of the chair, and whom the Viceroy had been within an act of squashing. He said it gave him such a turn!"

A classified index to the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Tanjore palace was published by Mr. A. C. Burnell in 1880. In the introduction thereto, he states that "the library was first brought to the notice of European scholars by H.S.H. Count Noer, Prince Frederic of Schleswig-Holstein, who brought an account of it to the late Professor Goldstücker. But its full importance was not known till I was deputed, in 1871, to examine it by the then Governor of Madras, Lord Napier and Ettrick. The manuscripts are the result of perhaps 300 years' collections; firstly, by the Nayaks of Tanjore; secondly, after about 1675, by the Mahratha princes. Some of the palm-leaf manuscripts belong to the earlier period, but the greater part were collected in the last and present centuries. All the Nagari Manuscripts belong to the Mahratha times, and a large number of these were collected at Benares by the Raja Serfojee (Carabhoji) about fifty years ago."

In the Maratha Darbar Hall of the Tanjore palace are large pictures, of little artistic merit, of all the Maratha kings, and the palace also contains a fine statue of Sarabhoji by Chantrey. The small but splendid series of Maratha arms from this palace constitutes one of the most valuable assets of the Madras Museum. "The armoury," Mr. Walhouse writes, [7] "consisted of great heaps of old weapons of all conceivable descriptions, lying piled upon the floor of the Sangita Mahal (music-hall), which had long been occupied by many tons of rusty arms and weapons, in confused heaps, coated and caked together with thick rust. Hundreds of swords, straight, curved and ripple-edged, many beautifully damascened and inlaid with hunting or battle scenes in gold; many broad blades with long inscriptions in Marathi or Kanarese characters, and some so finely tempered as to bend and quiver like whalebone. There were long gauntlet-hilts, brass or steel, in endless devices, hilts inlaid with gold, and hilts and guards of the most tasteful and elaborate steel-work. There were long-bladed swords and executioners' swords, two-handed, thick-backed, and immensely heavy. Daggers, knives, and poniards by scores, of all imaginable and almost unimaginable shapes, double and triple-bladed; some with pistols or spring-blades concealed in their handles, and the hilts of many of the kuttars of the most beautiful and elaborate pierced steel-work, in endless devices, rivalling the best medieval European metal-work, There was a profusion of long narrow thin-bladed knives, mostly with bone or ivory handles very prettily carved, ending in parrot-heads and the like, or the whole handle forming a bird or monster, with legs and wings pressed close to the body, all exquisitely carved. The use of these seemed problematical; some said they were used to cut fruit, others that they had been poisoned and struck about the roofs and walls of the women's quarters, to serve the purpose of spikes or broken glass! A curious point was the extraordinary number of old European blades, often graven with letters and symbols of Christian meaning, attached to hilts and handles most distinctly Hindu, adorned with figures of gods and idolatrous emblems. There was an extraordinary number of long straight cut-and-thrust blades termed Phirangis, which Mr. Sinclair, in his interesting list of Dakhani weapons, [8] says means the Portuguese, or else made in imitation of such imported swords. A kuttar, with a handsome steel hilt, disclosed the well-known name ANDREA FERARA (sic.). Sir Walter Elliot has informed me that, when a notorious freebooter was captured in the Southern Marâthâ country many years ago, his sword was found to be an 'Andrea Ferrara.' Mr. Sinclair adds that both Grant Duff and Meadows Taylor have mentioned that Râja Sivâji's favourite sword Bhavânî was a Genoa blade [9].... Eventually the whole array (of arms) was removed to Trichinapalli and deposited in the Arsenal there, and, after a Committee of officers had sat upon the multifarious collection, and solemnly reported the ancient arms unfit for use in modern warfare, the Government, after selecting the best for the Museum, ordered the residue to be broken up and sold as old iron. This was in 1863."

It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Bellary district, that "in 1790 Lord Cornwallis, then Governor-General of India, entered into an alliance with the Marathas and the Nizam to reduce Tipu to order, and it was agreed that whatever territories should be acquired by them from Tipu should be equally divided between them. Certain specified poligars, among whom were the chiefs of Bellary, Rayadrug and Harpanahalli, were, however, to be left in possession of their districts. Tipu was reduced to submission in 1792, and by the treaty of that year he ceded half his territories to the allies. [10] Sandur was allotted to the Marathas, and a part of the Bellary district to the Nizam." The present Maratha chief of the little hill-locked Sandur State is a minor, whose name and titles are Raja Venkata Rao Rao Sahib Hindu Rao Ghorpade Senapati Mamalikat Madar. Of the eleven thousand inhabitants of the State, the various castes of Marathas number over a thousand. "Three families of them are Brahmans, who came to Sandur as officials with Siddoji Rao when he took the State from the Jaramali poligar. Except for two short intervals, Siddoji's descendants have held the State ever since. The others are grouped into three local divisions, namely, Khasgi, Kumbi, and Lekavali. The first of these consists of only some eight families, and constitutes the aristocracy of the State. Some of them came to Sandur from the Maratha country with Siva Rao and other rulers of the State, and they take the chief seats at Darbars and on other public occasions, and are permitted to dine and intermarry with the Raja's family. They wear the sacred thread of the Kshatriyas, belong to the orthodox Brahmanical gotras, have Brahmans as their purohits, observe many of the Brahmanical ceremonies, burn their dead, forbid widow re-marriage, and keep their womankind gosha. On the other hand, they do not object to drinking alcohol or to smoking, and they eat meat, though not beef. Their family god is the same as that of the Raja's family, namely, Martanda Manimallari, and they worship him in the temple in his honour which is in the Raja's palace, and make pilgrimages to his shrine at Jejuri near Poona. [It is noted by Monier-Williams [11] that 'a deification, Khando-ba (also called Khande-Rao), was a personage who lived in the neighbourhood of the hill Jejuri, thirty miles from Poona. He is probably a deification of some powerful Raja or aboriginal chieftain, who made himself useful to the Brahmans. He is now regarded as an incarnation of Siva in his form Mallari. The legend is that the god Siva descended in this form to destroy a powerful demon named Mallasura, who lived on the hill, and was a terror to the neighbourhood. Parvati descended at the same time to become Khando-ba's wife. His worship is very popular among the people of low caste in the Maratha country. Sheep are sacrificed at the principal temple on the Jejuri hill, and a bad custom prevails of dedicating young girls to the god's service. Khando-ba is sometimes represented with his wife on horseback, attended by a dog. A sect existed in Sankara's time, who worshipped Mallari as lord of dogs.'] At the marriages of the Khasgis, an unusual custom, called Vira Puja, or the worship of warriors, is observed. Before the ceremony, the men form themselves into two parties, each under a leader, and march to the banks of the Narihalla river, engaging in mock combat as they go. At the river an offering is made to Siva in his form as the warrior Martanda, and his blessing is invoked. The goddess Ganga is also worshipped, and then both parties march back, indulging on the way in more pretended fighting. The second division of the Marathas, the Kunbis, are generally agriculturists, though some are servants to the first division. They cannot intermarry with the Khasgis, or dine with them except in separate rows, and their womanfolk are not gosha; but they have Brahmanical gotras and Brahman purohits. Some of them use the Raja's name of Ghorpade, but this is only because they are servants in his household. The third division, the Lekavalis, are said to be the offspring of irregular unions among other Marathas, and are many of them servants in the Raja's palace. Whence they are also called Manimakkalu. They all call themselves Ghorpades, and members of the Raja's (the Kansika) gotra. They thus cannot intermarry among themselves, but occasionally their girls are married to Kunbis. Their women are in no way gosha." [12]

The cranial type of the Marathas is, as shown by the following table, like that of the Canarese, mesaticephalic or sub-brachycephalic:--

Cephalic Index Av. Max.

Canarese 50 Holeyas 79.1 87.4 Marathi 30 Rangaris 79.8 92.2 Canarese 50 Vakkaligas 81.7 93.8 Marathi 30 Suka Sales 81.8 88.2 Marathi 30 Sukun Sales 82.2 84.4

Maravan.--"The Maravans," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, [13] "are found chiefly in Madura and Tinnevelly, where they occupy the tracts bordering on the coast from Cape Comorin to the northern limits of the Ramnad zemindari. The proprietors of that estate, and of the great Sivaganga zemindari, are both of this caste. The Maravars must have been one of the first of the Dravidian tribes that penetrated to the south of the peninsula, and, like the Kallans, they have been but little affected by Brahmanical influence. There exists among them a picturesque tradition to the effect that, in consequence of their assisting Rama in his war against the demon Ravana, that deity gratefully exclaimed in good Tamil Maraven, or I will never forget, and that they have ever since been called Maravans. But, with more probability, the name may be connected with the word maram, which means killing, ferocity, bravery and the like, as pointing clearly to their unpleasant profession, that of robbing and slaying their neighbours. In former days they were a fierce and turbulent race, famous for their military prowess. At one time they temporarily held possession of the Pandya kingdom, and, at a later date, their armies gave valuable assistance to Tirumala Nayakkan. They gave the British much trouble at the end of last (eighteenth) century and the beginning of this (nineteenth) century, but they are now much the same as other ryots (cultivators), though perhaps somewhat more bold and lawless. Agamudaiyan and Kallan are returned as sub-divisions by a comparatively large number of persons. Maravan is also found among the sub-divisions of Kallan, and there can be little doubt that there is a very close connection between Kallans, Maravans, and Agamudaiyans." This connection is dealt with in the article on the Kallans. But I may here quote the following legend relating thereto. "Once upon a time, Rishi Gautama left his house to go abroad on business. Devendra, taking advantage of his absence, debauched his wife, and three children were the result. When the Rishi returned, one of the three hid himself behind a door, and, as he thus acted like a thief, he was henceforward called Kallan. Another got up a tree, and was therefore called Maravan from maram, a tree, whilst the third brazened it out, and stood his ground, thus earning for himself the name of Ahamudeiyan, or the possessor of pride. This name was corrupted into Ahambadiyan." [14]

"Some say the word Maravan is derived from marani, sin; a Maravan being one who commits sin by killing living creatures without feeling pity, and without fear of god." [15]

The Maravans claim descent from Guha or Kuha, Rama's boatman, who rowed him across to Ceylon. According to the legend, Rama promised Guha that he would come back at a fixed time. When he failed to return, Guha made a fire, whereon to burn himself to death. Hanuman, however, prevented him from committing suicide, and assured him that Rama would shortly return. This came to pass, and Rama, on learning what Guha had done, called him Maravan, a brave or reckless fellow. According to another legend, the god Indra, having become enamoured of Ahalya, set out one night to visit her in the form of a crow, and, seating himself outside the dwelling of the Rishi her husband, cawed loudly. The Rishi believing that it was dawn, went off to bathe, while Indra, assuming the form of her husband, went in to the woman, and satisfied his desire. When her husband reached the river, there were no signs of dawn, and he was much perturbed, but not for long, as his supernatural knowledge revealed to him how he had been beguiled, and he proceeded to curse Indra and his innocent wife. Indra was condemned to have a thousand female organs of generation all over his body, and the woman was turned into a stone. Indra repented, and the Rishi modified his disfigurement by arranging that, to the onlooker, he would seem to be clothed or covered with eyes, and the woman was allowed to resume her feminine form when Rama, in the course of his wanderings, should tread on her. The result of Indra's escapade was a son, who was stowed away in a secret place (maravuidam). Hence his descendants are known as Maravan. [16]

The head of the Maravans is the Setupati (lord of the bridge), or Raja of Ramnad. "The Sethupati line, or Marava dynasty of Ramnad," the Rev. J. E. Tracy writes, [17] "claims great antiquity. According to popular legendary accounts, it had its rise in the time of the great Rama himself, who is said to have appointed, on his victorious return from Lanka (Ceylon), seven guardians of the passage or bridge connecting Ceylon with the mainland.... Another supposition places the rise of the family in the second or third century B.C. It rests its case principally upon a statement in the Mahawanso, according to which the last of the three Tamil invasions of Ceylon, which took place in the second or third century B.C., was under the leadership of seven chieftains, who are supposed, owing to the silence of the Pandyan records on the subject of South Indian dealings with Ceylon, to have been neither Cheras, Cholas, or Pandyans, but mere local adventurers, whose territorial proximity and marauding ambition had tempted them to the undertaking.... Another supposition places the rise of the family in the eleventh or twelfth century A.D. There are two statements of this case, differing according to the source from which they come. According to the one, which has its source in South India, the rise of the family took place in or about 1059 A.D., when Raja Raja, the Chola king, upon his invasion of Ceylon, appointed princes whom he knew to be loyal to himself, and who, according to some, had aided him in his conquest of all Pandya, to act as guardians of the passage by which his armies must cross to and fro, and supplies be received from the mainland. According to the other statement, which has its source in Sinhalese records, the family took its rise from the appointment of Parakrama Bahu's General Lankapura, who, according to a very trustworthy Sinhalese epitome of the Mahawanso, after conquering Pandya, remained some time at Ramespuram, building a temple there, and, while on the island, struck kahapanas (coins similar to those of the Sinhalese series). Whichever of those statements we may accept, the facts seem to point to the rise of the family in the eleventh or twelfth century A.D., and inscriptions quoted from Dr. Burgess by Mr. Robert Sewell [18] show that grants were made by Sethupati princes in 1414, again in 1489, still again in 1500, and finally as late as 1540. These bring the line down to within two generations of the time when Muttu Krishnappa Nayakka is said, in 1604, to have found affairs sadly disordered in the Marava country, and to have re-established the old family in the person of Sadaiyaka Tevar Udaiyar Sethupati. The coins of the Sethupatis divide themselves into an earlier and later series. The earlier series present specimens which are usually larger and better executed, and correspond in weight and appearance very nearly to the well-known coins of the Sinhalese series, together with which they are often found, 'These coins' Rhys Davids writes, [19] 'are probably, the very ones referred to as having been struck by Parakrama's General Lankapura.' The coins of the later series are very rude in device and execution. The one face shows only the Tamil legend of the word Sethupati, while the other side is taken up with various devices."

A poet, in days of old, refers to "the wrathful and furious Maravar, whose curled beards resemble the twisted horns of the stag, the loud twang of whose powerful bowstrings, and the stirring sound of whose double-headed drums, compel even kings at the head of large armies to turn their back and fly." [20] The Maravans are further described as follows. "Of strong limbs and hardy frames, and fierce looking as tigers, wearing long and curled locks of hair, the blood-thirsty Maravans, armed with the bow bound with leather, ever ready to injure others, shoot their arrows at poor and defenceless travellers, from whom they can steal nothing, only to feast their eyes on the quivering limbs of their victims." [21] In a note on the Maravans of the Tinnevelly district, it is recorded [22] that "to this class belonged most of the Poligars, or feudal chieftains, who disputed with the English the possession of Tinnevelly during the last, and first years of the present (nineteenth) century. As feudal chiefs and heads of a numerous class of the population, and one whose characteristics were eminently adapted for the roll of followers of a turbulent chieftain, bold, active, enterprising, cunning and capricious, this class constituted themselves, or were constituted by the peaceful cultivators, their protectors in time of bloodshed and rapine, when no central authority, capable of keeping the peace, existed. Hence arose the systems of Desha and Stalum Kaval, or the guard of a tract of country comprising a number of villages against open marauders in armed bands, and the guard of separate villages, their houses and crops, against secret theft. The feudal chief received a contribution from the area around his fort in consideration of protection afforded against armed invasion. The Maravars are chiefly the agricultural servants or sub-tenants of the wealthier ryots, under whom they cultivate, receiving a share of the crop. An increasing proportion of this caste are becoming the ryotwari owners of land by purchase from the original holders."