Maharashtra is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to the southeast and Chhattisgarh to the east, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to the north, and the Indian union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the northwest. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India, the third-most populous country subdivision in South Asia, and the fourth-most populous in the world.
The region that encompasses the modern state has a history going back many millennia. Notable dynasties that ruled the region include the Asmakas, the Mauryas, the Satavahanas, the Western Satraps, the Abhiras, the Vakatakas, the Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas, the Western Chalukyas, the Seuna Yadavas, the Khaljis, the Tughlaqs, the Bahamanis and the Mughals. In the early 19th century, the region was divided between the Dominions of the Peshwa in the Maratha Confederacy and the Nizamate of Hyderabad.
Early in the 19th century, the British East India Company defeated the Marathas and brought most of present-day Maharashtra under its control, both directly and indirectly through many princely states. After 1858, the British crown assumed control of the area from the company. During the periods of Company and British rule, the region was divided between the Bombay Presidency, the Central Provinces, Berar, and many princely states including Hyderabad.
After Indian independence in 1947, the Bombay Presidency became Bombay State in the Indian Union. Between 1950 and 1956, Berar, the Deccan states and the Gujarat states were annexed into Bombay State. Aspirations of a separate state for Marathi-speaking peoples were pursued by the United Maharashtra Movement; their advocacy eventually borne fruit on 1 May 1960, when the State of Bombay was bifurcated into the modern states of Maharasthra and Gujarat.
The state is divided into 6 divisions and 36 districts. Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra and the most populous urban area in India, with Nagpur serving as the winter capital. The Godavari and Krishna are the state's two major rivers, and forests cover 16.47% of the state's geographical area.
The economy of Maharashtra is the largest in India, with a gross state domestic product (GSDP) of and GSDP per capita of ; it is the single-largest contributor to India's economy, being accountable for 14% of all-India nominal GDP.———— The service sector dominates the state's economy, accounting for 69.3% of the value of the output of the country. Although agriculture accounts for 12% of the state GDP, it employs nearly half the population of the state.
Maharashtra is one of the most industrialised states in India. It includes 395 municipal councils and 29 municipal corporations which are urban (cities) local bodies in the state. The state capital, Mumbai, is India's financial and commercial capital.—— The Bombay Stock Exchange, India's largest stock exchange and the oldest in Asia, is located in the city, as is the National Stock Exchange, which is the second-largest stock exchange in India and one of world's largest derivatives exchanges. The state has played a significant role in the country's social and political life and is widely considered a leader in terms of agricultural and industrial production, trade and transport, and education.——— Maharashtra is the ninth-highest ranking among Indian states in the human development index.
The state is home to seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Ajanta Caves, Ellora Caves, Elephanta Caves, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus), the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai, the Maratha Military Landscapes of India (shared with Tamil Nadu) and the Western Ghats, a heritage site made up of 39 individual properties, of which four are located in Maharashtra.
Etymology
Pre-independence era writers state that the term "Maharashtra" was derived from "the country of Mahars". Irawati Karve also noted that Mahars were found in all regions of Maharashtra. The modern Marathi language evolved from Maharashtri Prakrit, and the word Marhatta (later used for the Marathas) is found in the Jain Maharashtrian literature. The term Maharashtra along with Maharashtrian, Marathi, and Maratha may have derived from the same root. However, their exact etymology is uncertain.
Another theory among the linguistic scholars is that the words Maratha and Maharashtra ultimately derived from a combination of Mahā and Rāṣṭrikā, the name of a tribe or dynasty of chiefs ruling in the Deccan region. An alternate theory states that the term is derived from mahā ("great") and ratha/rathi ("chariot"/"charioteer"), which refers to a skilful northern fighting force that migrated southward into the area.
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 Maharastra and the Marattas.
An alternative theory states that the term derives from the word mahā ("great") and rāṣṭra ("nation/dominion"). However, this theory is somewhat controversial among modern scholars who believe it to be the Sanskritised interpretation of later writers.
History
Numerous Late Harappan or Chalcolithic sites belonging to the Jorwe culture (–700 BCE) have been discovered throughout the state.Upinder Singh (2008), A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century , p. 232P. K. Basant (2012), The City and the Country in Early India: A Study of Malwa, pp. 92–96 The largest settlement discovered of the culture is at Daimabad, which had a mud fortification during this period, as well as an elliptical temple with fire pits. In the Late Harappan period there was a large migration of people from Gujarat to northern Maharashtra.
Maharashtra was ruled by Maurya Empire in the fourth and third centuries BCE. Around 230 BCE, Maharashtra came under the rule of the Satavahana dynasty which ruled it for the next 400 years.India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic: p. 440 The rule of Satavahanas was followed by that of Western Satraps, Gupta Empire, Gurjara-Pratihara, Vakataka, Kadambas, Chalukya Empire, Rashtrakuta Dynasty, and Western Chalukya and the Yadava dynasty. The Buddhist Ajanta Caves in present-day Aurangabad display influences from the Satavahana and Vakataka styles. The caves were possibly excavated during this period.
The Chalukya dynasty ruled the region from the sixth to the eighth centuries CE, and the two prominent rulers were Pulakeshin II, who defeated the north Indian Emperor Harsha, and Vikramaditya II, who defeated the Arab invaders in the eighth century. The Rashtrakuta dynasty ruled Maharashtra from the eighth to the tenth century.Indian History, p. B-57 The Arab traveller Sulaiman al Mahri described the ruler of the Rashtrakuta dynasty Amoghavarsha as "one of the four great kings of the world".A Comprehensive History of Ancient India (3 Vols. Set): p. 203 Shilahara dynasty began as vassals of the Rashtrakuta dynasty which ruled the Deccan plateau between the eighth and tenth centuries. From the early 11th century to the 12th century, the Deccan Plateau, which includes a significant part of Maharashtra, was dominated by the Western Chalukya Empire and the Chola dynasty. The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 by Romila Thapar: pp. 365–366 Several battles were fought between the Western Chalukya Empire and the Chola dynasty in the Deccan Plateau during the reigns of Raja Raja Chola I, Rajendra Chola I, Jayasimha II, Someshvara I, and Vikramaditya VI. Ancient Indian History and Civilization by Sailendra Nath Sen: pp. 383–384
In the early 14th century, the Yadava Dynasty, which ruled most of present-day Maharashtra, was overthrown by the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. Later, Muhammad bin Tughluq conquered parts of the Deccan, and temporarily shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in Maharashtra. After the collapse of the Tughluqs in 1347, the local Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga took over, governing the region for the next 150 years. After the break-up of the Bahamani sultanate in 1518, Maharashtra split into five Deccan Sultanates: Nizamshah of Ahmednagar, Adilshah of Bijapur, Qutubshah of Golkonda, Bidarshah of Bidar and Imadshah of Elichpur. These kingdoms often fought with each other. United, they decisively defeated the Vijayanagara Empire of the south in 1565. The present area of Mumbai was ruled by the Sultanate of Gujarat before its capture by Portugal in 1535 and the Faruqi dynasty ruled the Khandesh region between 1382 and 1601 before finally getting annexed in the Mughal Empire. Malik Ambar, the regent of the Nizamshahi dynasty of Ahmednagar from 1607 to 1626, increased the strength and power of Murtaza Nizam Shah II and raised a large army.Ambar is said to have introduced the concept of guerrilla warfare in the Deccan region.ANWAR, M. S. (1994). MALIK AMBAR AND THE MUGHALS, 1601-26. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 55, 355–367. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44143374 Malik Ambar assisted Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in Delhi against his stepmother, Nur Jahan, who wanted to enthrone her son-in-law. Both Shivaji's grandfather, Maloji and father Shahaji served under Ambar.J. J. Roy Burman. (2001). Shivaji's Myth and Maharashtra's Syncretic Traditions. Economic and Political Weekly, 36(14/15), 1226–1234. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4410485
In the early 17th century, Shahaji Bhosale, an ambitious local general who had served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the Mughals and Adil Shah of Bijapur at different periods throughout his career, attempted to establish his independent rule. This attempt was unsuccessful, but his son Shivaji succeeded in establishing the Maratha Empire. Shortly after Shivaji's death in 1680, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb launched a campaign to conquer Maratha territories as well as the Adilshahi and Govalkonda kingdoms. This campaign, better known as Mughal–Maratha Wars, was a strategic defeat for Mughals. Aurangzeb failed to fully conquer Maratha territories, and this campaign had a ruinous effect on Mughal Treasury and Army. Shortly after Aurangzeb's death in 1707, Marathas under Peshwa Bajirao I and the generals that he had promoted such as Ranoji Shinde and Malharrao Holkar started conquering Mughal Territories in the north and western India, and by 1750s they or their successors had confined the Mughals to city of Delhi.
After their defeat at the hand of Ahmad Shah Abdali's Afghan forces in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Maratha suffered a setback. However, they soon reclaimed the lost territories and ruled central and north India including Delhi until the end of the eighteenth century. The Marathas also developed a potent Navy circa in the 1660s, which at its peak under the command of Kanhoji Angre, dominated the territorial waters of the western coast of India from Mumbai to Savantwadi. It resisted the British, Portuguese, Dutch, and Siddi naval ships and kept a check on their naval ambitions. Charles Metcalfe, British Civil servant and later Acting Governor-General, said in 1806:
The British East India Company slowly expanded areas under its rule during the 18th century. The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1818) led to the end of the Maratha Empire and the East India Company took over the empire. The Maratha Navy dominated till around the 1730s, was in a state of decline by the 1770s and ceased to exist by 1818.