Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/307

Rh MAHRATTAS 289 Satpura mountains in the north, comprises a good part of western and central India, including the modern provinces of the Concan, Khandesh, Berar, the British Deccan, part of Nagpur, and about half the Nizam s Deccan. Its area amounts to about 120,000 square miles, and its population to about 12 millions of souls, or 100 to the square mile. The population has increased greatly in the 19th century under British rule ; but there had been much decrease during the 17th and 18th centuries owing to war and devastation. Frightful depopulation occurred from the famine which was at its height in 1400 A.D., and was called the Durga De vi or the goddess of destruction. Much mortality was also caused by famine between 1801 and 1803. There was probably a period of high prosperity during the first centuries of the Christian era, under a number of petty indigenous sovereigns, among whom these wide territories had become parcelled out before the first invasion of the Deccan by the Moslems about 1100. The etymology of the word Mahratta (or Marhatta, as it is written in the vernacular) is uncertain. The name does not indicate a social caste, or a religious sect ; it is not even tribal. It embraces the people of all races who dwell in the region of Maharashtra, both high-caste and low-caste Hindus ; it is applied, of course, to Hindus only. Thus there are Mahratta Brahmans, next Mahratta Kumbis or cultivators, and Mahratta Rajputs or warriors, though the latter have but a small infusion of real Rajput blood. The Mahrattas, then, are essentially Hindus in religion and in caste ordinances, not differing in these respects from the Hindus in other parts of India. They have a language of their own, called the Mahratti, a dialect of the Sanskrit, a copious, flexible, and sonorous tongue. But the Mahrattas have always been a separate nation or people, and still regard themselves as such, though now adays they are almost all under British or Mohammedan jurisdiction ; that is, they belong either to British India or to the Nizam s Dominions. A few states or principalities purely Mahratta, such as Kolhapur and some lesser states clustering round it in the southern Deccan, still survive, but they are under close supervision on the part of the British Government. There are indeed still three large native states nominally Mahratta, namely, that of Sindhia near the borders of Hindustan in the north, that of Holkar in Malwa in the heart of the Indian continent, and that of the gaekwar in Gujerat on the western coast. But in these states the prince, his relatives, and some of his ministers or employe s only are Mahrattas ; the nobility and the mass of the people are not Mahrattas at all, but belong to other sections of the Hindu race. These states then are not to be included in the Mahratta nation, though they have a share in the Mahratta history, and are con cerned in the extraneous achievements of that people. In general terms the Mahrattas, as above defined, may be described under two mp in heads, first the Brahmans, and secondly the humble or low-caste men. The Mahratta Brahmans possess, in an intense degree, the qualities of that famous caste, physical, intellectual, and moral. They have generally the lofty brow, the regular features, the spare upright figure, the calm aspect, the commanding gait, which might be expected in a race maintained in great purity yet upon a broad basis. In modern times they have proved themselves the most able and ambitious of all the Brahmans in the Indian empire. They are notably divided into two sections the Concanast, coming from the Concan or littoral tract on the west coast below the Western Ghat mountains, and the Deshast, coming from the uplands or Deccan, on the east of the mountains. Though there have been many distinguished Deshasts, yet the most remarkable of all nave been Concanasts. For instance, the peshwas, or heads of the Mahratta confedera tion which at one time dominated nearly all India, were Concanast Brahmans. The birthplaces of these persons are still known, and to this day there are sequestered villages, nestling near the western base of the Ghats, which are pointed to as being the ancestral homes of men who two centuries ago had political control over the Indian empire. Apart from the Brahmans, the Mahrattas may be gene rally designated as Siidras, or men of the humblest of the four great castes into which the Hindu race is divided. But, as indicated above, the upper classes among the Mahrattas claim to be Kshattriyas or Rajputs. They prob ably are aborigines fundamentally, with a mixture of what are now called the Scythian tribes, which at a very early time overran India. They have but a slight admixture of the Aryans, who victoriously immigrated from Central Asia and established the Hindu system. These ordinary Mahrattas, who form the backbone of the nation, have plain features, an uncouth manner, a clownish aspect, short stature, a small but wiry frame. Their eyes, however, are bright and piercing, and under excite ment will gleam with passion. Though not powerful physically as compared with the northern races of the Punjab and Oudh, they have much activity and an unsur passed endurance. Born and bred in or near the Western Ghat mountains and *the numerous tributary ranges, they have all the qualities of mountaineers. Among their native hills they have at all times evinced desperate courage. Away from the hills they do not display remarkable valour, except under the discipline which may be supplied by other races. For such organization they have never, of them selves, shown any aptitude. Under civilized authority, however, they are to be reckoned among the good soldiers of the empire. In recent times they enter military service less and less, betaking themselves mainly to cultivation and to the carrying business connected with agriculture. As husbandmen they are not remarkable; but as graziers, as cartmen, as labourers, they are excellent. As artisans they have seldom signalized themselves, save as armourers and clothweavers. Those Mahrattas who dwell in the extreme west of Maharashtra, within the main range of the Western Ghats, and in the extreme north of Maharashtra near the Satpura mountains, are blessed with unfailing rainfall and regular seasons. But those who dwell at a distance from these main ranges, or among the lower or subsidiary ranges, are troubled with variable moisture and uncertain seasons, frequently, too, with alternations of drought and of flood. Periodically they are afflicted by scarcity, and sometimes by severe famine. They have within the last half century largely extended their area of cultivation. Their industry, which is chiefly agricultural, has grown apace. Their tendency is undoubtedly to increase in numbers ; and, despite occasional depopulation from disasters of season, they have increased considerably on the whole. But in some districts, owing to the famine of 1877, and the sick ness which ensued when excessive rainfall followed the drought, the population has been stationary, while in others it has actually retrograded because epidemics and plagues of vermin were added to the misfortunes of season. Among all the Mahrattas the land is usually held on the tenure technically known as &quot;ryotwari.&quot; This tenure is now established under the British Government by surveying and assessing operations comprehended under the official term &quot;settlement.&quot; It practically means peasant pro prietorship. The proprietor, or ryot, is a cultivator also. His holding may be on the average 20 or 30 acres, divided into small fields. Of these fields he cultivates some, himself working at the plough, and his family weed ing and cleaning the soil. He will also hire labour, and thus the farm-labourers become a considerable class. He XV. 37