Write notes on Organisation of Maratha Cavalry.
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Answer:
Explanation:
The Maratha are an Indian caste, originally of Marathi-speaking peasant-warriors. They established the Maratha Empire under Shivaji Maharaj in 1674 and were the dominant power on the subcontinent for much of the following century before their downfall in 1818. They were champions of Hinduism in the face of the Islamic Mughal Empire.[1][2][3]
The term Maratha is used in three overlapping senses: within the Marathi-speaking region it refers to the single dominant Maratha caste or to the group of Maratha and Kunbi castes; outside Maharashtra, the term often loosely designates the entire regional population speaking the Marathi language. The "Maratha group of castes" is a largely rural class of peasant cultivators, landowners, and soldiers."[3]
According to the Maharashtrian historian, B.R.Sunthankar, and scholars such as Rajendra Vora, the "Maratha caste" is a "caste of peasants" which formed the bulk of the Maharashtrian society together with the other Kunbi peasant caste. Vora adds that the Maratha caste is the largest caste of India and dominate the power structure in Maharashtra, especially in the rural society.[4][5]
According to Jeremy Black, British historian at the University of Exeter, "Maratha caste is a coalescence of peasants, shepherds, ironworkers, etc. as a result of serving in the military in the 17th and 18th century".[6] According to one scholar, Marathas are dominant in rural areas and mainly constitute the landed peasantry.[7] As of 2018, 80% of the members of the Maratha caste were farmers.[8]
Territory under Maratha control in 1760 (yellow)
Robert Vane Russell, an untrained ethnologist of the British Raj period, basing his research largely on Vedic literature,[9][need quotation to verify] wrote that the Marathas are subdivided into 96 different clans, known as the 96 Kuli Marathas or Shahānnau Kule[10][11] The general body of lists are often at great variance with each other.[12]
History
See also: Maratha Empire
The term "Maratha" originally referred to the speakers of the Marathi language. In the 17th century, it emerged as a designation for peasants from Deccan who served as soldiers in the armies of Muslim rulers and later in the armies of Shivaji Maharaj. Thus the term 'Maratha' became a marker of an endogamous caste.[13] A number of Maratha warriors, including Shivaji's father, Shahaji, originally served in those Muslim armies.[14] By the mid-1660s, Shivaji had established an independent Maratha kingdom.[15] After Shivaji's death, Marathas fought under his sons and defeated Aurangzeb in the war of 27 years.[citation needed] It was further expanded into a vast empire by the Maratha Confederacy including Peshwas, stretching from central India[16] in the south, to Peshawar[17] (in modern-day Pakistan) on the Afghanistan border in the north, and with expeditions to Bengal in the east.
By the 19th century, the empire had become a confederacy of individual states controlled by Maratha chiefs such as Gaikwad's of Baroda, the Holkars of Indore, the Scindias of Gwalior, the Puars of Dhar and Dewas, and Bhonsles of Nagpur.[citation needed] The Confederacy remained the pre-eminent power in India until their defeat by the British East India Company in the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1818).[18][page needed]
By 19th century, the term Maratha had several interpretations in the British administrative records. In the Thane District Gazetteer of 1882, the term was used to denote elite layers within various castes: for example, "Maratha-Agri" within Agri caste, "Maratha-Koli" within Koli caste and so on.[13] In the Pune District, the words Kunbi and Maratha had become synonymous, giving rise to the Maratha-Kunbi caste complex.[19] The Pune District Gazetteer of 1882 divided the Kunbis into two classes: Marathas and other Kunbis.[13] The 1901 census listed three groups within the Maratha-Kunbi caste complex: "Marathas proper", "Maratha Kunbis" and Konkan Maratha.[20]
According to Steele, in the early 19th century, Kunbis, who were agriculturists and the Marathas who claimed Rajput descent and Kshatriya status - were distinguished by their customs related to widow remarriage. The Kunbis allowed it and the higher status Marathas prohibited it. However, there is no statistical evidence for this.[21]