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CHAPTER 1—MAHARASHTRA—THE LAND

THE LAND WHERE MARATHI IS SPOKEN TODAY occupies a significant position in India. It is the
southernmost region where a Sanskritic language is spoken. Its four sides are: 825 km. in the
west, bounded by the Arabian Sea; 1725 km. in the north, bounded by the States of Gujarat and
Madhya Pradesh where Gujarati and Hindi are spoken respectively; 750 km. in the east, bounded
also by Madhya Pradesh, but inhabited predominantly by the jungle tribes; and 1875 km, in the
south, bounded by Andhra and Karnatak (Mysore State) where Telugu and Kannada are spoken.
These boundaries are also those of Maharashtra State. If Goa, where Marathi is spoken, is added,
then the western boundary must be extended southwards by about 100 km. Two of its boundaries
touch linguistic areas belonging respectively to the northern Sanskritic family and the southern
Dravidian family (see map). It is thus a culture-contact region par excellence and this fact gives a
peculiar character to the culture of the Maratha people. Maharashtra State represents about 1/10th
of the area of India (in sq. miles, India-1,228,435; Maharashtra-118,280) and about 1/11th of India’s
total population, i.e., India—439,234,771; Maharashtra— 39,553,718.
MAHARASHTRA IN BHARAT
1/10th Land area of India = Maharashtra
1/11th Population of India = Maharashtra
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2 MAHARASHTRA STATE GAZETTEER

The river Narmada flowing from Amarkantak hills in the east to the Arabian sea in the west
can be considered as the dividing line between North India drained by the Gangetic basin, and
Peninsular India. Only a few miles of the Narmada form part of the north-western boundary of
Maharashtra. The southern slope of the hill ranges which divides valleys of the Narmada and the
Tapi bound Maharashtra in the North central region. On the coastal side of this region we have the
narrow coastal strip of Western India, divided between four linguistic regions from North to South,
namely Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnatak and Kerala. The Tapi meets the Arabian sea in the coastal
area belonging to Gujarat. In this strip where north-south access is easy, the linguistic boundaries
between Maharashtra and Gujarat are none too clear. Towards the northeast, Maharashtra again
merges into a plain called the Chhattisgadh plateau before reaching the southern hills which divide it
from Orissa and Andhra. This Eastern plain also has given free access to people from the north to
south and vice versa. At both these ends of Maharashtra, that is, north-western and north-eastern
there are relatively thick jungles inhabited by primitive tribes. Though superficially there are certain
similarities between north-west and north-east Maharashtra, there are some very fundamental
differences, geographically and also from the point of view of cultural history. In the west the
Sanskritic languages have penetrated down the coast southward almost upto Mangalore. This point
is the southernmost extension of the Sanskritic languages on the Indian mainland.This apparently
represents the cultural fact that people speaking northern languages did not find any great
resistance to their penetration southward in the west. The eastern forested plain lies mainly inland
separated from the eastern coastal plain by low hill ranges called the Eastern Ghats. The Marathi-
speaking people and, further eastward, the Uria-speaking people do not seem to have penetrated
beyond the Godavari.This may be due to the fact that the jungle on this side offered a greater
resistance to the movement towards the south. The story of the Ramayana and the inscription of
Samudragupta show that great resistance was offered to the northern Sanskritic people by
southern kingdoms of civilized people and a jungle-folk. It is the middle boundary which is difficult
and offers rather formidable barriers. The Vindhyan ranges in the north, the single deep gorge of
the river Narmada and the Satpuda ranges of the south constitute a triple barrier. This barrier,
however, contains many passes, the most famous being the Burhanpur 1 Pass on the Tapi and the
Bhedaghat Pass further eastwards on the Narmada The Burhanpur Pass is well-marked by
Buddhist caves (the Bagh Pittalkhora and Ajanta Caves). Very probably, this was the great road to
the south (Dakshinapatha) mentioned in the Nala story of Mahabharata. As one comes southwards,
it is flanked on the west by a great massif called Asirgarh (Ahirgarh) and further to the east
Gwalgarh (Gawilgarh). One enters straight into
1
The name Burhanpur of the township is derived from the name Burhan-ud-din Sharib, a Sufi Saint,
d. 1337-38.
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MAHARASHTRA – LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 3

Khandesh and goes into the heart of Maharashtra over a Ghat (hill road) to Ajanta caves and then
onwards to Pratishthan (Modern Paithan, near Aurangabad), the capital of ancient Maharashtra. In
historical times, Alauddin Khilji penetrated southwards. Alauddin avoided the straight road from
Burhanpur, went eastwards to Gawilgarh, then through Ellichpur and the Purna valley and to Devgiri
(Daulatabad), the capital of the Yadava Kingdom. It was through the Burhanpur Pass that the
Marathas later reached and conquered Dhar, Dewas, Indore, Gwalior and Jhansi and through this
Pass the Peshwas reached Delhi. The Central Railway the former Great Indian Peninsula Railway)
from Delhi through Mathura, Jhansi, Gwalior, Khandwa to Jalgaon is simply a modern
transformation of an ancient line of communication. The railway was established in British times
when the centre of gravity had shifted from ancient Pratishthan to the west coast of Bombay; and so
the terminal is Bombay and not ancient Pratishthan. The eastern boundary of Maharashtra is the
shortest, very heavily forested and inhabited mostly by primitive people.
The southern boundary is really a south-eastern boundary. It slopes continuously southward
from north-east to south-west. On the whole length of this boundary there is easy access between
Andhra and Karnatak on the one side and Maharashtra on the other.

The rivers Krishna, Bhima and Godavari which flow from west to east are divided in such a
way that a very small portion of the krishna flows through Maharashtra and then enters into
Karnatak. About two-thirds of the Bhima flows through Maharashtra and then sheets Krishna
outside of Maharashtra in Andhra. About half of the ‘’Godavari flows through Maharashtra and then
through Andhra. The Maharashtra border in the south cannot be explained by any natural
geographical barriers, but must represent a cultural barrier in the form of very flourishing Dravidian
languages like Kannada And Telugu.
In this context it is well to remember that the land ruled over by different dynasties from
Pratishthan, contained parts of Andhra, Karnatak and Maharashtra. Does this represent the region
Trai-Maharashtra (Three Maharashtras) mentioned in the Aihole inscription1? This easy accessibility
between Maharashtra and the Dravidian south explains the many southern features of Maharashtra
culture, in spite of Marathi being a northern language. It also explains how the Marathas’ struggle
with Aurangzeb in the 17th century was mostly confined to the southern region and how Marathas in
their guerilla fights could always retreat southwards to hit back again in Maharashtra. One of the
most famous fights of the Marathas was at Jinji, a stronghold in Tamilnad

1
Date about 700 A.D.
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4 MAHARASHTRA STATE GAZETTEER

INDIA
An old route of migration over which a modern railway is built.

MAHARASHTRA
River basins and regions
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MAHARASHTRA – LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 5

The river basins and mountains divide the land into sub-regions which are important
historically and culturally. In the north, from west to east, is the narrow valley of the rivers Tapi and
Purna comprising Khandesh and Berar. This is a deep fault valley. A shallow ridge divides this in
the east from the combined Vardha-Vainganga valley, which is part of the eastern Godavari basin.
This is the Nagpur region.
At the extreme western boundary of the Tapi-Purna valley and almost perpendicular to it is
the north-south range of the Sahyadri mountains which divides the coastal plain of Maharashtra
from its eastern portion. This coastal plain, called Konkan, is bounded on the west by the Arabian
Sea and on the east by the Sahyadri. The northern narrow portion abuts on Gujarat and the
southern on Karnatak. The remaining portion of Maharashtra is part of the high plateau of the
Deccan which starts from the Sahyadri ranges in the west and slopes gradually eastwards to the
eastern coast of India where it meets a smaller north-south range called the Eastern Ghats.
The Marathi speaking area of the plateau does not reach anywnere near the eastern ranges
but its river systems form the upper portion of the river systems which drain the northern two thirds
of peninsular India and then meet the Bay of Bengal. The northernmost river of these systems
flowing eastwards in peninsular India is the Godavari. It rises in the Sahyadri not far from the city of
Nasik. The Ajanta ranges in the north divide the Godavari from the Tapi-Purna. It is divided from
the Krishna basin in the south by the Balaghat ranges. The Godavari meets the combined Vardha-
Vainganga on the border of Telangana (north Andhra). The Godavari is joined by the Pravara and
the Penganga. It waters central Maharashtra and northern Andhra. The Bhima and the Neera are
the two rivers which flow from west to east to the south of the Balaghat ranges. Neera meets Bhima
within the boundaries of Maharashtra. Krishna is the southernmost river of Maharashtra. It rises in
south Maharashtra and is divided from the Bhima and the Neera by the Mahadev ranges. It flows
through Maharashtra for a very short stretch and meets the Bhima outside Maharashtra. Krishna
waters south Maharashtra, north Karnatak and central Andhra.
The six sub-regions in which Maharashtra is divided because of these rivers and mountains
are as follows: The first is the narrow Purna valley called Vidarbha in Sanskrit and Varhad in
Marathi1. The second region is a continuation of the former. It is the Tapi valley called Khandesh.
The third region is Nagpur in the Vardha-Vainganga valley. It is bounded on the west by Vidarbha,
on the north and east by the hills and forests of Madhya Pradesh and on the south by the Godavari
forests of Telangana. The fourth region is Konkan, the narrow coastal strip and the western slope of
Sahyadri. The fifth region is the long and wide upper basin of the Godavari divided into a hilly
western part and a high and dry
1
Also called Berar during British times.
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6 MAHARASHTRA STATE GAZETTEER

plateau to the east; the former comprises Nasik district, and the latter Ahmednagar, Aurangabad,
Parbhani and Nanded districts. The sixth region is the Krishna basin. Its northern portion is the
valleys formed by the Bhima and the Neera, the northern tributaries of the Krishna, comprising the
Poona, Sholapur and part of the Satara districts. The southern portion of this region is drained by
the Krishna and its southern tributaries and comprises the districts of Satara, Kolhapur and Sangli.
A schematic map of Maharashtra showing main rivers, basins and mountain
ranges

This schematic map shows certain features of Maharashtra which have affected its history
and the nature of its population.
The rainfall in the coastal strip is over a hundred inches (250 cm.) per year. It is between
150-200 inches (350-500 cm.) on the Sahyadri ranges and then it decreases rapidly eastwards so
that 40 miles eastward from the Sahyadri range is an area where the rainfall is between 10 and 15
inches per year and there are very often years without any rain at all. From north to south, the
eastern portion of the Nasik district, the whole of the Nagar1 and Sholapur
1
The town and district of Ahmednagar are very often referred to as Nagar.
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MAHARASHTRA – LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 7

districts, eastern portions of the Poona, Satara and Kolhapur districts and parts of the Sangli district
come into this region of insufficient rainfall. The soil in these districts is very fertile but they have
famines every two or three years because of a lack of rain. From the earliest Marathi literature,
migration of people westward during the famine years is mentioned. There is an yearly cycle of
migration of certain communities from east to west. The largest of such communities are the
shepherds who migrate every year in November and December from these eastern regions right
down to Konkan1. The agricultural population, however, has been helped in recent years by
facilities of irrigation made possible by dams on. the big rivers and their tributaries. Just as
irrigation has mitigated the scarcity of rainfall, new motives of migration have arisen in the shape of
industrial cities and their opportunities so that inter-regional migrations can no longer be interpreted
purely in geographical or climatic terms. Modern communications, techniques and materials
minimise to a great extent the effects of geographical and climatic factors, but these factors have, in
the past and even today to a large extent, influenced people’s habits of eating and house-building,
modes of cultivation, even construction of whole villages.

The easternmost region made up of the Vainganga plains right up to Vardha and Nagpur is a
rice cultivating region. The western coastal strip with 100" of rain is also a rice growing region; but
geographically and climatically these two ends of Maharashtra are very different. The western strip
is a very narrow strip between the Arabian Sea and the Sahyadri, and “is traversed by east-west
spurs of the Sahyadri. The rice cultivation depends entirely on the heavy monsoon rain. On the
other hand, the eastern region is a great plain with the broad Vainganga river flowing through it and
there are many big man-made lakes which irrigate the rice fields. The rainfall is between 40” and
50". The lakes are made possible by the rolling country where an earthwork dam impounds water in
natural hollows. This type of lake-building spread southwards and westwards into Telangana and
then into Mysore, but not into Western Maharashtra. Eastern Maharashtra lends itself to lake-
building, an activity which might perhaps represent a feature of an old rice cultivating culture.

The various sub-regions divided by mountains and forming different river valleys have slightly
different cultural features and dynastic histories. These will be described later in chapter 3.

1
T. N. Walunjkar, Social organisation, migration and change in a village community, Deccan
College, Dissertation Series, No. 28 ; Poona, 1966.
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