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 Mahàrâshtra, 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 nowadays 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 employés 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 concerned in the extraneous achievements of that people.

In general terms the Mahrattas, as above defined, may be described under two ms 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 Ghât mountains, and the Dèshast, coming from the uplands or Deccan, on the east of the mountains. Though there have been many distinguished Dèshasts, yet the most remarkable of all have been Concanasts. For instance, the pèshwas, or heads of the Mahratta confederation 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 Ghâts, 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 generally designated as Sùdras, 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 probably 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 excitement 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 unsurpassed endurance. Born and bred in or near the Western Ghât 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 themselves, 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 Mahàrâshtra, within the main range of the Western Ghâts, and in the extreme north of Mahàrâshtra near the Sâtpura 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 sickness 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 “ryotwari.” This tenure is now established under the British Government by surveying and assessing operations comprehended under the official term “settlement.” It practically means peasant proprietorship. 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 weeding and cleaning the soil. He will also hire labour, and thus the farm-labourers become a considerable class. He pays to the Government direct the land tax, which is assessed on his holding for the long term of thirty years, so that he may have the benefit of his improvements. His property in the land is absolute; it descends according to the Hindu law of inheritance; it can be sold or otherwise transferred by private arrangement; it is pledged or mortgaged for debt, and money is largely borrowed on its security. It is liable to sale for default in regard to land revenue; and Government as a creditor has the first claim. Thus, as a peasant proprietary, the Mahrattas are in the best possible position, and have been so for many years since the completion of the British settlement. Their only fault is a disposition to live beyond their humble means. They have thus been of late years led into debt, which has produced disputes between them and the money-lenders, ending sometimes in agrarian disturbance.

In the Concan there are some superior proprietors termed Khotes. With this and perhaps some other exceptions, notably that of Nagpur, there are not in the Mahratta country many large landlords, nor many of the superior tenure-holders whose position relatively to that of the peasantry has caused much discussion in other parts of India. There are indeed many Mahratta chiefs still resident in the country, members of the aristocracy which formerly enjoyed much more wealth and power than at present. They are sometimes in the position of landlords, but often they are the assignees of the land revenue, which they are entitled under special grants to collect for themselves instead of for Government, paying merely a small sum to Government by way of quit-rent. Under them the cultivators are by British arrangements placed in the position of peasant proprietors. The village community has always existed as the social unit in the Mahratta territories, though with less cohesion among its members than in the village communities of Hindustan and the Punjab. The ancient offices pertaining to the village, as those of the headman (patèt), the village accountant, &c., are in working order throughout the Mahratta country.

The Mahratta peasantry possess manly fortitude under suffering and misfortune. Though patient and good-tempered in the main, they have a latent warmth of temper, and if oppressed beyond a certain endurable limit they would fiercely turn and rend their tormentors. Cruelty also is an element in their character. As a rule they are orderly and law-abiding, but traditions of plunder have been handed down to them from early times, and many of them retain the predatory instincts of their forefathers. The neighbourhood of dense forests, steep hill-sides, and fastnesses hard of access offers extraordinary facilities to plunderers for screening themselves and their booty. Thus gang robbery is apt to break out, gains head with rapidity, and is suppressed with difficulty. In time of peace it is kept under, but during war, or whenever the bands of civil order are loosened, it becomes a cause of anxiety and a source of danger. The women have frankness and strength of character; they work hard in the fields, and as a rule evince domestic virtue. Conjugal infidelity, however, is not unknown among them, and here, as elsewhere in India, leads to bloodshed.

The peasantry preserve a grave and quiet demeanour, but they have their humble ideas of gaiety, and hold their gatherings on occasions of births or marriages. They frequently beguile their toil with carols. They like the gossiping and bartering at the rural markets and in the larger fairs, which are sometimes held in strikingly picturesque localities. They are utterly superstitious, and will worship with hearty veneration any being or thing whose destructive agency they fear. They will even speak of the tiger with honorific titles. They are Hindus, but their Hinduism is held to be of a non-Aryan type. They are sincerely devout in religion, and feel an awe regarding “the holy Brahmans,” holding the life and the person of a Brahman sacred, even though he be a criminal of the deepest dye. They of course regard the cow as equally sacred. There are two principal sects among the modern Hindus— those who follow Vishnu, and those who follow Siva. The Mahrattas generally follow Siva and his wife, a dread goddess known under many names. The Mahratta warcry, “Hur Hur Mahadeo,” which used to be heard above the din of battle urging the soldiers to onset with victorious élan, referred to Siva. All classes high and low are fond of the religious festivals, the principal of which, “the Dasserah,” occurs in October, when the first harvest of the year has been secured and the second crops sown. This has always been held with the utmost pomp and magnificence at every centre of Mahratta wealth and power. The people frequently assemble in bowers and arbours constructed of leafy boughs to hear “kathas” recited. These recitations are partly religious, partly also romantic and quasi-historical. After them national resolves of just resistance or of aggressive ambition have often been formed.

Apart from the Mahratta Brahmans, as already mentioned, the Mahratta nobles and princes are not generally fine-looking men. Their appearance, notwithstanding jewellery and rich apparel, is still that of peasants. There certainly are some exceptions, but there is general truth in what was once said by a high authority to the effect that, while there will be something dignified in the humblest Râjpût, there will be something mean in the highest Mahratta. Bluff good-nature, a certain jocoseness, a humour pungent and ready, though somewhat coarse, a hot or even violent disposition, are characteristics of Mahratta chieftains. They usually show little aptitude for business or for sedentary pursuits; but, on the other hand, they are born equestrians and sportsmen. As a rule they are not moderate in living, and are not unfrequently addicted to intemperance. Instances of licentiousness and debauchery have always been found among them. They have generally sprung from a lowly origin, and they have been proud of this fact even after attaining greatness. For instance, three Mahratta chiefs, each of whom established a large kingdom—Sindhia, Holkar, and the gaekwar— declared the lowliness of their birth. Holkar was the descendant of a shepherd; Sindhia boasted of having begun life by keeping his master’s slippers; and by his very title the gaekwar perpetuates the memory of his progenitor having tended the cow (gàe). Mahratta ladies and princesses have often taken a prominent part in public affairs and in dynastic intrigues; in some instances their conduct has been of the highest type, in others their influence has been exerted for evil.

Though they have produced some poetry, the Mahrattas have never done much for Oriental literature. Nor have they been distinguished in industrial art. Their architecture in wood, however, was excellent; and the teak forests of their country afforded the finest timber for building and for carving. They had also much skill in the construction of works for the supply of drinking water on a large scale, and for irrigation.

On the whole the Mahrattas will hardly be regarded by Europeans as being among the most interesting of the Indian races. The admirable History of the Mahrattas, by Captain Grant Duff (1826), may possibly awaken enthusiasm, as written under personal advantages and with a living knowledge which will never again be possessed by a historian of the later Mahratta times. At all events, a strange interest gathers itself around the Mahratta history.

In the first place the Mahratta country is for the most part strategically important as well as highly picturesque. Some parts of the Deccan are indeed almost irretrievably ugly. The stretches of k>w hill have long been disforested, and even laid bare of lesser vegetation, and the champaign tracts are treeless as far as the eye can reach. Still much of the Mahratta country lies in the bosom or near the skirts of mountains. The geological formations may be popularly described as consisting of trap, basalt, and indurated lava in magnificent layers. The black precipices, scarped for thousands of feet, and striped with marks of the layers, are superb. The summits, though generally flat with horizontal outlines, are often broken into towers and cones. The vapours from the Arabian Sea are propelled by the south-west monsoon against these mountain tops, and produce an excessive rainfall. Hence arise a luxuriant vegetation and the surprising spectacle (at certain seasons) of cascades tumbling down the perpendicular flanks of the mountains. The forests have suffered during ages from wasteful cutting; but of late years a system of conservancy has been established, and many great forests remain.

The mountains stand in the midst of a fertile and populous country; on both sides of them are rich valleys, cultivated plains, numerous villages, and large towns. Thus insurgents or warriors had here a complete military base, with sources whence supplies could be drawn, and strongholds for organizing power or for securing refuge. This hill country has been regarded by strategists as one of the strongest, in a military sense, to be found in India. It extends over nearly 500 miles from north to south, and has at least twenty fortresses which in uncivilized warfare were virtually impregnable if resolutely defended, and which, though of course unable to resist a scientific attack in these times, would yet prove difficult of approach. Several of these are surrounded with historic traditions. In former times there was no road worthy of the name across these mountains. No means of passage existed save steep rugged pathways for footmen and pack animals. Within the last generation the British Government has, in Oriental phrase, lifted up the veil of these mountains, piercing them with well-made roads and with railways. There are now seven of such roads, and two lines of railway open, a third being projected. Guns and troops as well as goods and produce can now be moved up and down these once impassable mountains.

It is the range of the Western Ghats which enabled the Mahrattas to rise against their Mohammedan conquerors, to reassert their Hindu nationality against the whole power of the Mogul empire, and to establish in its place an empire of their own. It is often held that in India British conquest or annexation succeeded Mohammedan rule; and to a considerable extent this was the case. But, on the other hand, the principal power, the widest sovereignty, which the British overthrew in India was that of the Mahrattas.

During the earlier Moslem invasions in 1100 and in subsequent years, the Mahrattas do not seem to have made much resistance. They submitted to several Mohammedan kings under the changing circumstances of those times. They were despised by their conquerors, and were called “mountain rats” in derision. It was against the Mohammedan king of Bijapur in the Deccan that Sivaji, the hero of Mahratta history, first rebelled in 1657. Sivaji and his fighting officers were Mahrattas of humble caste, but his ministers were Mahratta Brahmans. When the Mogul empire absorbed that kingdom he defied the emperor. He imparted a self-reliant enthusiasm to his countrymen, formed them into an army, and organized them as a political community; his mountaineer infantry, though limited in numbers, proved desperately courageous; his cavalry was daring and ubiquitous. Having once overcome the Hindus in almost all parts of India, often after heroic resistance, the Moslems had not for centuries met with any noteworthy uprising. Sivaji, however, planned their expulsion, and before the end of his restless life made much progress in the execution of that design. The new Mahratta state which he founded was maintained under various vicissitudes after his death. Still Mahratta resistance, once aroused by him, was never extinguished, and the imperial resources were worn out by ceaseless though vain efforts to quell it. The great Mogul emperor’s impoverished and enfeebled successor was fain to recognize the Mahratta state by a formal instrument. The Mahratta king, a descendant of Sivaji, was a roi fainéant, and the arrangement was negotiated by his Brahman minister, whose official designation was the pèshwa. The office of pèshwa then became hereditary in the minister’s family, and grew in importance as the Mahratta kingdom rose, while the king sunk into the condition of a puppet. Thus the Mahratta power was consolidated throughout nearly the whole of Mahàrâshtra under the Brahman pèshwa as virtual sovereign, with his capital at Poona, while the titular Mahratta raja or king had his court at the neighbouring city of Sattara. Despite his political importance, however, the raja was still venerated as the descendant of Sivaji.

Then several chiefs carved out principalities of their Oλvn from among the ruins of the Mogul empire. Thus Raghoji Bhônsla established himself in the tracts lying underneath the southern base of the Satpura range (namely, Nagpur and Berar), overran Orissa, and entered Bengal. Dammaji Gaekwar descended from the Western Ghats upon the alluvial plains of Gujerat around Baroda; Takaji Holkar subdued the uplands of Malwa beyond the Vindhya range on the north bank of the Nerbudda; and Madhaji Sindhia obtained possession of large tracts immediately south of Agra and Delhi, marched into Hindustan, and became virtually the master of the Mogul emperor himself. Princes of Sivaji’s own...