158-516: Kunbi (alternatively Kanbi ) ( Marathi : ISO 15919 : Kuṇabī , Gujarati : ISO 15919 : Kaṇabī ) is a generic term applied to several castes of traditional farmers in Western India. These include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Masaram, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa ( Leva Patil ), Lonare and Tirole communities of Vidarbha . The communities are largely found in the state of Maharashtra but also exist in
316-512: A Somali sultan, Abu Bakr ibn Shaikh 'Umar. He noted that Sultan Abu Bakr had dark skin complexion and spoke in his native tongue (Somali), but was also fluent in Arabic. The Sultan also had a retinue of wazirs (ministers), legal experts, commanders, royal eunuchs , and other officials at his beck and call. Ibn Battuta continued by ship south to the Swahili coast , a region then known in Arabic as
474-478: A retroflex lateral flap ळ ( ḷa ) and alveolar ल ( la ). It shares this feature with Punjabi . For instance, कुळ ( kuḷa ) for the Sanskrit कुलम् ( kulam , 'clan') and कमळ ( kamaḷ ) for Sanskrit कमलम् ( kamalam 'lotus'). Marathi got ळ possibly due to long contact from Dravidian languages; there are some ḷ words loaned from Kannada like ṭhaḷak from taḷaku but most of
632-555: A "scheduled language". The Government of Maharashtra has applied to the Ministry of Culture to grant classical language status to Marathi language, which was approved by the Government of India on 3 October 2024. The contemporary grammatical rules described by Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad and endorsed by the Government of Maharashtra are supposed to take precedence in standard written Marathi. Traditions of Marathi Linguistics and
790-701: A Dalit man and Kunbi woman was suspected in Murbad of the Thane district. In September of the same year, a 20-year-old Dalit woman alleged that she was raped by a Someshwar Baburao Kuthe of the Kunbi caste in the Sarandi (Bujaruk) village of Lakhandur taluka. The local police registered an offense. Modern research has revealed that the Marathas and Kunbi have the same origin - although the two are treated as two different communities currently on
948-616: A Judge, M.G. Gaikwad, and some others in 2018, stated that Maratha associations have submitted historical proofs and petitions to be included in the Other Backward Class . The decision for giving reservation in jobs and education for Marathas based on the petitions that Marathas and Kunbis are one and the same caste was upheld by the Mumbai court in 2019. Marathi language Marathi ( / m ə ˈ r ɑː t i / ; मराठी , Marāṭhī , pronounced [məˈɾaːʈʰiː] )
1106-401: A chief judge and married into the royal family of Omar I . Ibn Battuta took on his duties as a judge with keenness and strived to transform local practices to conform to a stricter application of Muslim law. He commanded that men who did not attend Friday prayer be publicly whipped, and that robbers' right hand be cut off. He forbade women from being topless in public, which had previously been
1264-476: A desire long-cherished in my bosom to visit these illustrious sanctuaries. So I braced my resolution to quit my dear ones, female and male, and forsook my home as birds forsake their nests. My parents being yet in the bonds of life, it weighed sorely upon me to part from them, and both they and I were afflicted with sorrow at this separation. He travelled to Mecca overland, following the North African coast across
1422-463: A feature of most Anatolian towns in the 13th and 14th centuries. The members were young artisans and had at their head a leader with the title of Akhil . The associations specialised in welcoming travellers. Ibn Battuta was very impressed with the hospitality that he received and would later stay in their hospices in more than 25 towns in Anatolia. From Antalya Ibn Battuta headed inland to Eğirdir which
1580-618: A grant by the Hoysalas . These inscriptions suggest that Prakrit was a standard written language by the 12th century. However, after the Gaha Sattasai there is no record of any literature produced in Marathi until the late 13th century. After 1187 CE, the use of Marathi grew substantially in the inscriptions of the Yadava kings, who earlier used Kannada and Sanskrit in their inscriptions. Marathi became
1738-709: A guest for three days. Ibn Battuta then sailed to a state called Kaylukari in the land of Tawalisi , where he met Urduja , a local princess. Urduja was a brave warrior, and her people were opponents of the Yuan dynasty . She was described as an "idolater", but could write the phrase Bismillah in Islamic calligraphy . The locations of Kaylukari and Tawalisi are disputed. Kaylukari might referred to Po Klong Garai in Champa (now southern Vietnam), and Urduja might be an aristocrat of Champa or Dai Viet . Filipinos widely believe that Kaylukari
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#17328489083441896-533: A higher economic status due to land-ownership, comes from one who holds pieces of land called patis . A population of Kunbi (locally called Kurumbi ) is also found in Goa, where they are believed to be descendants of the area's aboriginal inhabitants. They are largely poor agriculturalists, though some of the oldest known landowners in Goa were of this class, and claimed for themselves the Vaishya (merchant) varna. According to
2054-502: A higher status than some other local groups due to the type of meat which they consume (for example, they believe that the Warlis eat rats, and other groups eat beef). The community practices monogamous endogamy ; marriage of cross cousins is acceptable, as is remarriage by widows. Divorce is permitted and the practice of marriage around the age of 10–12 years has been abandoned. The dead are cremated. The Charotar ( Anand ) region, tilled by
2212-648: A large caravan of pilgrims returning to Iraq across the Arabian Peninsula . The group headed north to Medina and then, travelling at night, turned northeast across the Najd plateau to Najaf , on a journey that lasted about two weeks. In Najaf, he visited the mausoleum of Ali , the Fourth Caliph . Then, instead of continuing to Baghdad with the caravan, Ibn Battuta started a six-month detour that took him into Iran . From Najaf, he journeyed to Wasit , then followed
2370-508: A narrow or an inclusive definition of the caste is used. This causes the percentage of OBCs to vary between 29% and 38% of the population. According to Hansen, it is critically important for the politicians of the state to ensure a narrow definition of OBC and maximise the Maratha representation. The Maratha Mahasangha (All-Maratha Federation), fearing that the Mandal Commission would divide
2528-522: A number of towns in central Anatolia, but not in the order in which he describes. When Ibn Battuta arrived in İznik , it had just been conquered by Orhan , sultan of the Ottoman Beylik . Orhan was away and his wife was in command of the nearby stationed soldiers, Ibn Battuta gave this account of Orhan's wife: "A pious and excellent woman. She treated me honourably, gave me hospitality and sent gifts." Ibn Battuta's account of Orhan: The greatest of
2686-552: A part of the Mahabharata translation is available and the entire Ramayana translation is lost. Shridhar Kulkarni came from the Pandharpur area and his works are said to have superseded the Sanskrit epics to a certain extent. This period also saw the development of Powada (ballads sung in honour of warriors), and Lavani (romantic songs presented with dance and instruments like tabla). Major poet composers of Powada and Lavani songs of
2844-407: A peculiar way. Southern merchants brought various goods and placed them in an open area on the snow in the night, then returned to their tents. Next morning they came to the place again and found their merchandise taken by the mysterious people, but in exchange they found fur-skins which could be used for making valuable coats, jackets, and other winter garments. The trade was done between merchants and
3002-420: A place called "Mul Jawa" (island of Java or Majapahit Java) which was a center of a Hindu empire . The empire spanned 2 months of travel, and ruled over the country of Qaqula and Qamara. He arrived at the walled city named Qaqula/Kakula, and observed that the city had war junks for pirate raiding and collecting tolls and that elephants were employed for various purposes. He met the ruler of Mul Jawa and stayed as
3160-640: A platform for sharing literary views, and many books on social reforms were written. The First Marathi periodical Dirghadarshan was started in 1840. The Marathi language flourished, as Marathi drama gained popularity. Musicals known as Sangeet Natak also evolved. Keshavasut , the father of modern Marathi poetry published his first poem in 1885. The late-19th century in Maharashtra saw the rise of essayist Vishnushastri Chiplunkar with his periodical, Nibandhmala that had essays that criticised social reformers like Phule and Gopal Hari Deshmukh . He also founded
3318-580: A result of the Mongol invasion in 1220 and subsequent infighting. From there, he journeyed south to Afghanistan , then crossed into India via the mountain passes of the Hindu Kush . In the Rihla , he mentions these mountains and the history of the range in slave trading. He wrote, After this I proceeded to the city of Barwan, in the road to which is a high mountain, covered with snow and exceedingly cold; they call it
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#17328489083443476-512: A separate language dates to approximately 3rd century BCE: a stone inscription found in a cave at Naneghat , Junnar in Pune district had been written in Maharashtri using Brahmi script . The Gaha Sattasai is an ancient collection of poems composed approximately 2,000 years ago in ancient Marathi also known as Maharashtri Prakrit or simply Maharashtri . It is a collection of poetry attributed to
3634-583: A social level. Most recently, the Kunbi origin of the Maratha has been explained in detail by Professor Richard Eaton from the University of Arizona and Professor Stewart Gordon from the University of Michigan . Marathas ("Assal" or true i.e. belonging to 96 clans), who were distinguished from the Kunbi, in the past claimed genealogical connections with Rajputs of Northern India. However, modern researchers demonstrate, giving examples, that these claims are not factual. Modern scholars agree that Marathas and Kunbi are
3792-453: A special department for Marathi. Marathi Day is celebrated on 27 February, the birthday of the poet Kusumagraj (Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar). Standard Marathi is based on dialects used by academics and the print media. Indic scholars distinguish 42 dialects of spoken Marathi. Dialects bordering other major language areas have many properties in common with those languages, further differentiating them from standard spoken Marathi. The bulk of
3950-760: A stir in Marathi literature with its passionate depiction of a cruel society and thus brought in new momentum to Dalit literature in Marathi. Gradually with other writers like Namdeo Dhasal (who founded Dalit Panther ), these Dalit writings paved way for the strengthening of Dalit movement. Notable Dalit authors writing in Marathi include Arun Kamble , Shantabai Kamble , Raja Dhale , Namdev Dhasal , Daya Pawar , Annabhau Sathe , Laxman Mane , Laxman Gaikwad , Sharankumar Limbale , Bhau Panchbhai , Kishor Shantabai Kale , Narendra Jadhav , Keshav Meshram , Urmila Pawar , Vinay Dharwadkar, Gangadhar Pantawane, Kumud Pawde and Jyoti Lanjewar. In recent decades there has been
4108-520: A subset of the Maratha-Kunbi group of castes became the political elite in the state of Maharashtra in the 1960s and 1970s and have remained so to the present day. The elite Maratha-Kunbis have institutionalised their ideology of agrarian development through their control of the Congress party. The state Government of Maharashtra does not recognise a group called Maratha-Kunbi. According to Irawati Karve ,
4266-476: A treatise in Marathi on Bhagawat Gita popularly called Dnyaneshwari and Amrutanubhava . Mukund Raj was a poet who lived in the 13th century and is said to be the first poet who composed in Marathi. He is known for the Viveka-Siddhi and Parammruta which are metaphysical, pantheistic works connected with orthodox Vedantism . The 16th century saint-poet Eknath (1528–1599) is well known for composing
4424-559: A trend among Marathi speaking parents of all social classes in major urban areas of sending their children to English medium schools . There is some concern that this may lead to the marginalisation of the language. Marathi is primarily spoken in Maharashtra and parts of neighbouring states of Gujarat (majorly in Vadodara , and among a small number of population in Surat ), Madhya Pradesh (in
4582-451: A variety of offences. His plan to leave on the pretext of taking another hajj was stymied by the Sultan. The opportunity for Battuta to leave Delhi finally arose in 1341 when an embassy arrived from the Yuan dynasty of China asking for permission to rebuild a Himalayan Buddhist temple popular with Chinese pilgrims. Ibn Battuta was given charge of the embassy but en route to the coast at
4740-485: A vehicle for the propagation of religion and culture. Mahanubhava literature generally comprises works that describe the incarnations of gods, the history of the sect, commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita , poetical works narrating the stories of the life of Krishna and grammatical and etymological works that are deemed useful to explain the philosophy of sect. The 13th century Varkari saint Dnyaneshwar (1275–1296) wrote
4898-497: Is a classical Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra and is also spoken in other states like in Goa , Karnataka , Tamil Nadu , Telangana , Gujarat , Madhya Pradesh , Chhattisgarh , and the territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu . It is the official language of Maharashtra, and an additional official language in
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5056-502: Is a patronymic , literally meaning 'son of the duckling'. His most common full name is given as Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battuta. In his travelogue , The Rihla , he gives his full name as " Shams al-Din Abu’Abdallah Muhammad ibn’Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf Lawati al- Tanji ibn Battuta". All that is known about Ibn Battuta's life comes from the autobiographical information included in
5214-510: Is also spoken by Maharashtrian migrants to other parts of India and overseas. For instance, the people from western India who emigrated to Mauritius in the early 19th century also speak Marathi. There were 83 million native Marathi speakers in India, according to the 2011 census, making it the third most spoken native language after Hindi and Bengali. Native Marathi speakers form 6.86% of India's population. Native speakers of Marathi formed 70.34% of
5372-728: Is common, while sometimes in the Varhadii dialect, it corresponds to the palatal approximant y (IPA: [j]), making this dialect quite distinct. Such phonetic shifts are common in spoken Marathi and, as such, the spoken dialects vary from one region of Maharashtra to another. Zaadi Boli or Zhaadiboli ( झाडिबोलि ) is spoken in Zaadipranta (a forest rich region) of far eastern Maharashtra or eastern Vidarbha or western-central Gondwana comprising Gondia , Bhandara , Chandrapur , Gadchiroli and some parts of Nagpur of Maharashtra. Zaadi Boli Sahitya Mandal and many literary figures are working for
5530-466: Is doubtful. In all likelihood, he went directly from Ta'izz to the important trading port of Aden , arriving around the beginning of 1329 or 1331. From Aden , Ibn Battuta embarked on a ship heading for Zeila on the coast of Somalia . He then moved on to Cape Guardafui further down the Somali seaboard, spending about a week in each location. Later he would visit Mogadishu , the then pre-eminent city of
5688-404: Is not improbable that the name may be of tribal origin." Like other Maharashtrian communities such as Marathas , Dhangars Malis etc., the marriage of a man to his maternal uncle's daughter is common in the Kunbi community. Maratha and Kunbis intermarried in a hypergamous way i.e. a rich Kunbi's daughter could always marry a poor Maratha. Anthropologist Donald Attwood shows giving an example of
5846-509: Is slightly different from the Devanagari alphabets of Hindi and other languages: there are additional letters in the Marathi alphabet and Western punctuation is used. William Carey in 1807 Observed that as with other parts of India, a traditional duality existed in script usage between Devanagari for religious texts, and Modi for commerce and administration. Although in the Mahratta country
6004-533: Is still read with interest by Veerashaiva people of Marathwada. Apart from this, the Pararamrhasya, a spiritual book composed by him on Shatsthalsiddhanta, is also recited. Marathi was widely used during the Sultanate period. Although the rulers were Muslims, the local feudal landlords and the revenue collectors were Hindus and so was the majority of the population. To simplify administration and revenue collection,
6162-565: Is surrounded with a strong wall, and its founder is said to be one of the great non-Muslim kings, called Tara". Upon his arrival in Sindh , Ibn Battuta mentions the Indian rhinoceros that lived on the banks of the Indus . The Sultan was erratic even by the standards of the time and for six years Ibn Battuta veered between living the high life of a trusted subordinate and falling under suspicion of treason for
6320-516: Is the official language of Maharashtra and additional official language in the state of Goa . In Goa , Konkani is the sole official language; however, Marathi may also be used for any or all official purposes in case any request is received in Marathi. Marathi is included among the languages that are part of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India , thus granting it the status of
6478-482: Is usually appended to Sanskrit or Kannada in these inscriptions. The earliest Marathi-only inscriptions are the ones issued during the Shilahara rule, including a c. 1012 CE stone inscription from Akshi taluka of Raigad district , and a 1060 or 1086 CE copper-plate inscription from Dive that records a land grant ( agrahara ) to a Brahmin. A 2-line 1118 CE Prakrit inscription at Shravanabelagola records
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6636-539: The Ahmadnagar Sultanate . Adilshahi of Bijapur also used Marathi for administration and record keeping. Marathi gained prominence with the rise of the Maratha Kingdom beginning with the reign of Shivaji . In his court, Shivaji replaced Persian, the common courtly language in the region, with Marathi. The Marathi language used in administrative documents also became less Persianised . Whereas in 1630, 80% of
6794-613: The American Marathi mission and the Scottish missionaries led to the development of a peculiar pidginised Marathi called "Missionary Marathi" in the early 1800s. The most comprehensive Marathi-English dictionary was compiled by Captain James Thomas Molesworth and Major Thomas Candy in 1831. The book is still in print nearly two centuries after its publication. The colonial authorities also worked on standardising Marathi under
6952-567: The Arabian Desert to Mecca. Ill with diarrhoea, he arrived in the city weak and exhausted for his second hajj . Ibn Battuta remained in Mecca for some time (the Rihla suggests about three years, from September 1327 until autumn 1330). Problems with chronology, however, lead commentators to suggest that he may have left after the 1328 hajj . After the hajj in either 1328 or 1330, he made his way to
7110-560: The Bharatiya Janata Party ; Shiv Sena responded by giving more opportunities to Kunbi candidates in elections. In the 2009 elections, resentment by the Kunbis towards the Congress candidate Wamanrao Kasawar was said to benefit Sanjay Derkar, the independent NCP rebel candidate, in a triangular contest which also included Shiv Sena's Vishvas Nandekar. In the 2004 MLA elections in Murbad ,
7268-504: The Bilad al-Zanj ("Land of the Zanj ") with an overnight stop at the island town of Mombasa . Although relatively small at the time, Mombasa would become important in the following century. After a journey along the coast, Ibn Battuta next arrived in the island town of Kilwa in present-day Tanzania , which had become an important transit centre of the gold trade. He described the city as "one of
7426-719: The Devanagari character is well known to men of education, yet a character is current among the men of business which is much smaller, and varies considerably in form from the Nagari , though the number and power of the letters nearly correspond. It is written from left to right. Devanagari used to write Marathi is slightly different from that of Hindi or other languages. It uses additional vowels and consonants that are not found in other languages that also use Devanagari. Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta ( / ˌ ɪ b ən b æ t ˈ t uː t ɑː / ; 24 February 1304 – 1368/1369),
7584-503: The Golden Horde realm. He went to the port town of Azov , where he met with the emir of the Khan, then to the large and rich city of Majar . He left Majar to meet with Uzbeg Khan 's travelling court ( Orda ), which was at the time near Mount Beshtau . From there he made a journey to Bolghar , which became the northernmost point he reached, and noted its unusually short nights in summer (by
7742-538: The Indo-Aryan language family are derived from early forms of Prakrit . Marathi is one of several languages that further descend from Maharashtri Prakrit . Further changes led to the formation of Apabhraṃśa followed by Old Marathi. However, this is challenged by Bloch (1970), who states that Apabhraṃśa was formed after Marathi had already separated from the Middle Indian dialect. The earliest example of Marathi as
7900-537: The Jnanpith Award . Also Vijay Tendulkar 's plays in Marathi have earned him a reputation beyond Maharashtra . P.L. Deshpande (popularly known as PuLa ), Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar , P.K. Atre , Prabodhankar Thackeray and Vishwas Patil are known for their writings in Marathi in the fields of drama, comedy and social commentary. Bashir Momin Kavathekar wrote Lavani's and folk songs for Tamasha artists. In 1958
8058-561: The Khyber Pass and Peshawar , or further south. He crossed the Sutlej river near the city of Pakpattan , in modern-day Pakistan, where he paid obeisance at the shrine of Baba Farid , before crossing southwest into Rajput country. From the Rajput kingdom of Sarsatti, Battuta visited Hansi in India, describing it as "among the most beautiful cities, the best constructed and the most populated; it
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#17328489083448216-478: The Mappila Muslims, who were also followers of Imam Al-Shafi‘i. At that time Samudra Pasai marked the end of Dar al-Islam , because no territory east of this was ruled by a Muslim. Here he stayed for about two weeks in the wooden walled town as a guest of the sultan, and then the sultan provided him with supplies and sent him on his way on one of his own junks to China. Ibn Battuta first sailed for 21 days to
8374-496: The Marathi word kunbawa , or Sanskrit kur , meaning "agricultural tillage". Yet another etymology states that Kunbi derives from kutumba ("family"), or from the Dravidian kul , "husbandman" or "cultivator". Thus anyone who took up the occupation of a cultivator could be brought under the generic term Kunbi. G. S. Ghurye has posited that while the term may "signify the occupation of the group, viz., that of cultivation ... it
8532-532: The Sinai Peninsula to Palestine and then travelled north again through some of the towns that he had visited in 1326. From the Syrian port of Latakia , a Genoese ship took him (and his companions) to Alanya on the southern coast of modern-day Turkey. He then journeyed westwards along the coast to the port of Antalya . In the town he met members of one of the semi-religious fityan associations. These were
8690-815: The Strait of Hormuz then on to Mecca for the hajj of 1330 (or 1332). After his third pilgrimage to Mecca, Ibn Battuta decided to seek employment with the Sultan of Delhi , Muhammad bin Tughluq . In the autumn of 1330 (or 1332), he set off for the Seljuk controlled territory of Anatolia to take an overland route to India. He crossed the Red Sea and the Eastern Desert to reach the Nile valley and then headed north to Cairo . From there he crossed
8848-480: The Varhadi Marathi . Marathi was designated as a classical language by the Government of India in October 2024. Marathi distinguishes inclusive and exclusive forms of 'we' and possesses three genders : masculine, feminine, and neuter. Its phonology contrasts apico-alveolar with alveopalatal affricates and alveolar with retroflex laterals ( [l] and [ɭ] (Marathi letters ल and ळ respectively). Indian languages, including Marathi, that belong to
9006-428: The schwa , which has been omitted in other languages which use Devanagari. For example, the word 'रंग' (colour) is pronounced as 'ranga' in Marathi & 'rang' in other languages using Devanagari, and 'खरं' (true), despite the anuswara , is pronounced as 'khara'. The anuswara in this case is used to avoid schwa deletion in pronunciation; most other languages using Devanagari show schwa deletion in pronunciation despite
9164-404: The " Land of the Berbers " (بلد البربر Balad al-Barbar , the medieval Arabic term for the Horn of Africa ). When Ibn Battuta arrived in 1332, Mogadishu stood at the zenith of its prosperity. He described it as "an exceedingly large city" with many rich merchants, noted for its high-quality fabric that was exported to other countries, including Egypt . Battuta added that the city was ruled by
9322-416: The 'Kurmi' caste / community of Maharashtra is akin to the Kunbis of Maharashtra and is socially and educationally backward.. According to the Anthropological Survey of India , the term Kunbi is derived from kun and bi meaning "people" and "seeds", respectively. Conjoined, the two terms mean "those who germinate more seeds from one seed". Another etymology states that Kunbi is believed to have come from
9480-427: The 17th and the 18th century were Anant Phandi, Ram Joshi and Honaji Bala . The British colonial period starting in early 1800s saw standardisation of Marathi grammar through the efforts of the Christian missionary William Carey . Carey's dictionary had fewer entries and Marathi words were in Devanagari . Translations of the Bible were the first books to be printed in Marathi. These translations by William Carey,
9638-437: The 18th century during Peshwa rule, some well-known works such as Yatharthadeepika by Vaman Pandit , Naladamayanti Swayamvara by Raghunath Pandit , Pandava Pratap, Harivijay, Ramvijay by Shridhar Pandit and Mahabharata by Moropant were produced. Krishnadayarnava and Sridhar were poets during the Peshwa period. New literary forms were successfully experimented with during the period and classical styles were revived, especially
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#17328489083449796-418: The 1990s. A literary event called Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (All-India Marathi Literature Meet) is held every year. In addition, the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Natya Sammelan (All-India Marathi Theatre Convention) is also held annually. Both events are very popular among Marathi speakers. Notable works in Marathi in the latter half of the 20th century include Khandekar's Yayati , which won him
9954-495: The 20th century was marked by new enthusiasm in literary pursuits, and socio-political activism helped achieve major milestones in Marathi literature , drama, music and film. Modern Marathi prose flourished: for example, N.C.Kelkar 's biographical writings, novels of Hari Narayan Apte , Narayan Sitaram Phadke and V. S. Khandekar , Vinayak Damodar Savarkar 's nationalist literature and plays of Mama Varerkar and Kirloskar. In folk arts, Patthe Bapurao wrote many lavani songs during
10112-436: The Eknāthī Bhāgavat, a commentary on Bhagavat Purana and the devotional songs called Bharud. Mukteshwar translated the Mahabharata into Marathi; Tukaram (1608–49) transformed Marathi into a rich literary language. His poetry contained his inspirations. Tukaram wrote over 3000 abhangs or devotional songs. Manmathswamy (1561-1631) wrote a large volume of poetry and literature in Marathi. The Shivparv Ambhag composed by him
10270-528: The Hindu Kush, that is Hindu-slayer, because most of the slaves brought thither from India die on account of the intenseness of the cold. Ibn Battuta and his party reached the Indus River on 12 September 1333. From there, he made his way to Delhi and became acquainted with the sultan, Muhammad bin Tughluq . Muhammad bin Tughluq was renowned as the wealthiest man in the Muslim world at that time. He patronised various scholars, Sufis, qadis , viziers , and other functionaries in order to consolidate his rule. On
10428-408: The Karekars of Ahmednagar that this trend continues even in recent times indicating that the social order between the two is fluid and flexible. Very little information was recorded prior to the 19th century regarding the significantly large group of Maharashtrian agricultural castes, known as Maratha-Kunbis . Both individual terms, Kunbi and Maratha are equally complex. In the fourteenth century,
10586-419: The Kunbi community. In 2009, the NCP president Sharad Pawar chose Anil Deshmukh over Rajendra Shingane as party candidate from the Vidarbha region because he represented the huge Kunbi-Marathi community there. According to Thomas Blom Hansen , a commentator on religious and political violence in India, the failure of political parties to consolidate OBC votes in Maharashtra, despite calls for "Kunbi-zation" of
10744-402: The Kunbi vote was said to be the deciding vote in favour of Digambar Vishe, a BJP candidate belonging to the Kunbi community. According to the Indian Express , soon after its inception in May 1999 the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) worked hard to get rid of its "Kunbi Only" image. Sharad Pawar found, after breaking away from the Congress, that it was not possible to win elections with just
10902-450: The Kunbi vote. In order to attract the non-Kunbi OBC vote, estimated to form 40% of the electorate, Pawar recruited Chhagan Bhujbal (a Mali), and Pandurang Hajare (a Teli). Even though Pawar recruited other Telis like Pandurang Dhole, the Indian Express wondered if it would be enough to counter the age-old and keen Kunbi versus Teli rivalry. A closer look at local and regional leaders in the NCP revealed that almost all of them belonged to
11060-420: The Kunbis and others grow wealthy, they try to pollute our caste. If this goes on, dharma itself will not remain. Each man should stick to his own caste, but in spite of this these men are trying to spread money around in our caste. But make no mistake, all Kshatriyas will look to protect their caste in this matter." Later, in September 1965, the Marathi Dnyan Prasarak newspaper published a piece which addressed
11218-502: The Lewa Kunbis, had been well-known since the 15th century for high productivity levels which produced potentially high-revenue crops like cotton and food grains. The Lewa community of the region were regarded among the most industrious by colonial officials. By the 18th century, Gujarati Kunbis distinguished themselves by two sub-categories: those who continued their traditional occupation as agriculturists, and those who had taken up revenue collection. The former were known as Kunbis and
11376-617: The Mahakavya and Prabandha forms. The most important hagiographies of Varkari Bhakti saints were written by Mahipati in the 18th century. Other well known literary scholars of the 17th century were Mukteshwar and Shridhar . Mukteshwar was the grandson of Eknath and is the most distinguished poet in the Ovi meter. He is most known for translating the Mahabharata and the Ramayana in Marathi but only
11534-477: The Maldives, Ibn Battuta took four wives. In his Travels he wrote that in the Maldives the effect of small dowries and female non-mobility combined to, in effect, make a marriage a convenient temporary arrangement for visiting male travellers and sailors. From the Maldives, he carried on to Sri Lanka and visited Sri Pada and Tenavaram temple . Ibn Battuta's ship almost sank on embarking from Sri Lanka, only for
11692-740: The Marata-Kunbi form over 40% of the population of Western Maharashtra. Later in 1990, Lele records that the Maratha-Kunbi group of castes account for 31% of the population, distributed over the whole of Maharashtra. According to a report in 2009, the Ghatole Kunbi community in the Akola and Washim areas of Vidarbha prefer the Shivsena political party. Dowry is not practiced in the Leva community today. Based on evidence from an old Marathi document, Karve concludes that
11850-430: The Maratha caste, was because Maharashtra had, as early as 1967, identified 183 communities as "educationally backward classes". By 1978 there were 199 communities in this category, and the government implemented a policy of reserving 10% of educational seats and government jobs for them. The official data used by the government for the definition of the Maratha-Kunbi castes puts them between 30% and 40%, depending on whether
12008-549: The Maratha-Kunbis into Kunbis and high Marathas, took an anti-Mandal stance and tried to attract marginalised Maratha-Kunbis by propagating martial and chauvinistic myths, which in turn stigmatized Muslims and Dalits. While the organization never received success outside of Mumbai, it showed that political leaders were willing to counter the rising OBC assertiveness. There are several communities in Maharashtra that have been trying to pass themselves off as depressed in order to reap
12166-650: The Satavahana King Hala. A committee appointed by the Maharashtra State Government to get the Classical status for Marathi has claimed that Marathi existed at least 2,300 years ago . Marathi, a derivative of Maharashtri Prakrit language , is probably first attested in a 739 CE copper-plate inscription found in Satara . Several inscriptions dated to the second half of the 11th century feature Marathi, which
12324-616: The Tirole Kunbi differ significantly from the Kubis west of Nagpur, and that they did not formerly claim to be Kshatriyas. G. S Ghurye states that Karve's statement is either esoteric or wrong. In Gujarat , Kunbi communities are found in the Dangs , Surat and Valsad districts. In 2003, Singh and Lal described the Kunbi of Gujarat as being non-vegetarian and consumers of alcoholic drinks such as mohua . That particular community believes itself to be of
12482-652: The Varna hierarchy. Karve says that the Maratha caste precipitated from the Kunbi through the Sanskritisation process, the two were later consolidated due to social reforms as well as political and economic development during British rule in the early 20th century. The British installed Chatrapati Pratapsinh Bhonsle , a descendant of Shivaji, noted in his diary in the 1820s–1830s that the Gaekwads (another powerful Maratha dynasty) had Kunbi origins. He notes further "These days, when
12640-943: The above-mentioned rules give special status to tatsamas , words adapted from Sanskrit . This special status expects the rules for tatsamas to be followed as in Sanskrit. This practice provides Marathi with a large corpus of Sanskrit words to cope with the demands of new technical words whenever needed. In addition to all universities in Maharashtra, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in Vadodara , Osmania University in Hyderabad , Karnataka University in Dharwad , Gulbarga University in Kalaburagi , Devi Ahilya University in Indore and Goa University in Goa have special departments for higher studies in Marathi linguistics. Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi) has announced plans to establish
12798-778: The account of his travels, which records that he was of Berber descent, born into a family of Islamic legal scholars (known as qadis in the Muslim traditions of Morocco ) in Tangier on 24 February 1304, during the reign of the Marinid dynasty . His family belonged to a Berber tribe known as the Lawata . As a young man, he would have studied at a Sunni Maliki school, the dominant form of education in North Africa at that time. Maliki Muslims requested that Ibn Battuta serve as their religious judge, as he
12956-519: The accounts of his travels to Sultan Öz Beg Khan (r. 1313–1341). Then he continued past the Caspian and Aral Seas to Bukhara and Samarkand , the latter of which he praised as "one of the grandest and finest cities, and the most perfect of them". Here he visited the court of another Mongol khan, Tarmashirin (r. 1331–1334) of the Chagatai Khanate . He also noted the ruined state of the city walls,
13114-573: The armies of various rulers underwent a process of Sanskritisation and began to identify themselves as Marathas . The boundary between the Marathas and the Kunbi became obscure in the early 20th century due to the effects of colonisation, and the two groups came to form one block, the Maratha-Kunbi. Tensions along caste lines between the Kunbi and the Dalit communities were seen in the Khairlanji killings , and
13272-626: The banks of the Sharavathi river next to the Arabian Sea . This area is today known as Hosapattana and lies in the Honnavar Taluk of Uttara Kannada . Following the overthrow of the sultanate, Ibn Battuta had no choice but to leave India. Although determined to continue his journey to China, he first took a detour to visit the Maldive Islands where he worked as a judge. He spent nine months on
13430-470: The benefits of the reservation . An issue of candidates of the Maratha caste (a non-backward caste) running for elections in wards reserved for OBC candidates got centre-stage attention in the 2007 civic polls after the Maharashtra state government amended the OBC list on 1 June 2004 to retain the Kunbis and include Kunbi-Marathas. In 2010, the independent corporator, Malan Bhintade, who claimed to be Kunbi-Maratha but
13588-577: The boundaries of the Islamic world. Arriving in Constantinople towards the end of 1332 (or 1334), he met the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos. He visited the great church of Hagia Sophia and spoke with an Eastern Orthodox priest about his travels in the city of Jerusalem. After a month in the city, Ibn Battuta returned to Astrakhan, then arrived in the capital city Sarai al-Jadid and reported
13746-452: The changing meaning of the term Maratha , the social mobility of the day, the origins of the Maratha-Kunbi castes, the eating habits and the living conditions of the people of Maharashtra. The author of the piece claims that only a very small circle of families, like those of Shivaji Bhonsale, can claim the Kshatriya status. He also states that these Kshatriya families have not been able to stop
13904-432: The colonial era led to the ascendency of the Kunbis in central Gujarat. The Kunbis and the fishermen Kolis were not too different in their socio-economic position until the end of the 19th century. With the aid of favourable policies, the Kunbis were able to transform themselves into a prosperous caste by the time of the 1931 census, in which they had renamed themselves Patidars . The etymology of term Patidar , which implied
14062-428: The confederacy. These excursions by the Marathas helped to spread Marathi over broader geographical regions. This period also saw the use of Marathi in transactions involving land and other business. Documents from this period, therefore, give a better picture of the life of common people. There are a number of Bakhars (journals or narratives of historical events) written in Marathi and Modi script from this period. In
14220-479: The conservation of this dialect of Marathi. Thanjavur Marathi तञ्जावूर् मराठि, Namadeva Shimpi Marathi, Arey Marathi (Telangana), Kasaragod (north Kerala) and Bhavsar Marathi are some of the dialects of Marathi spoken by many descendants of Maharashtrians who migrated to Southern India . These dialects retain the 17th-century basic form of Marathi and have been considerably influenced by the Dravidian languages after
14378-493: The custom. However, these and other strict judgements began to antagonise the island nation's rulers, and involved him in power struggles and political intrigues. Ibn Battuta resigned from his job as chief qadi , although in all likelihood it was inevitable that he would have been dismissed. Throughout his travels, Ibn Battuta kept close company with women, usually taking a wife whenever he stopped for any length of time at one place, and then divorcing her when he moved on. While in
14536-530: The districts of Burhanpur , Betul , Chhindwara and Balaghat ), Goa , Chhattisgarh , Tamil Nadu (in Thanjavur ) and Karnataka (in the districts of Belagavi , Karwar , Bagalkote , Vijayapura , Kalaburagi and Bidar ), Telangana , union-territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli . The former Maratha ruled cities of Baroda , Indore , Gwalior , Jabalpur , and Tanjore have had sizeable Marathi-speaking populations for centuries. Marathi
14694-589: The dominant language of epigraphy during the last half century of the dynasty's rule (14th century), and may have been a result of the Yadava attempts to connect with their Marathi-speaking subjects and to distinguish themselves from the Kannada-speaking Hoysalas . Further growth and usage of the language was because of two religious sects – the Mahanubhava and Varkari panthan s – who adopted Marathi as
14852-769: The early spring of 1326, after a journey of over 3,500 km (2,200 mi), Ibn Battuta arrived at the port of Alexandria , at the time part of the Bahri Mamluk empire . He met two ascetic pious men in Alexandria. One was Sheikh Burhanuddin, who is supposed to have foretold the destiny of Ibn Battuta as a world traveller and told him, "It seems to me that you are fond of foreign travel. You must visit my brother Fariduddin in India, Rukonuddin in Sind, and Burhanuddin in China. Convey my greetings to them." Another pious man, Sheikh Murshidi, interpreted
15010-473: The eighteenth century, they were ignorant of the caste connotations of the term. The dividing line between the Maratha and Kunbi was obscure, but there was evidence of certain families who called themselves Assall Marathas or true Marathas. The Assal Marathas claimed to be Kshatriyas in the Varna hierarchy and claimed lineage from the Rajput clans of north India. The rest, the Kunbi, accepted that they came lower in
15168-481: The finest and most beautifully built towns; all the buildings are of wood, and the houses are roofed with dīs reeds". Ibn Battuta recorded his visit to the Kilwa Sultanate in 1330, and commented favourably on the humility and religion of its ruler, Sultan al-Hasan ibn Sulaiman , a descendant of the legendary Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi . He further wrote that the authority of the Sultan extended from Malindi in
15326-593: The holy places that lay along the way, including Hebron , Jerusalem , and Bethlehem , the Mamluk authorities kept the route safe for pilgrims. Without this help many travellers would be robbed and murdered. After spending the Muslim month of Ramadan , during August, in Damascus, he joined a caravan travelling the 1,300 km (810 mi) south to Medina , site of the Mosque of the Islamic prophet Muhammad . After four days in
15484-510: The inroads made by the wealthy and powerful Kunbis, who had bought their way into Kshatriya status through wealth and inter-marriages. Of the most powerful Maratha dynasties, the Shindes (later anglicised to Scindia) were of Kunbi origin. A "Marathaisation" of the Kunbis was seen between the censuses of 1901 and 1931, which shows a gradually declining number of Kunbis resulting from more of them identifying themselves as Marathas. Lele notes in 1990 that
15642-510: The islands, much longer than he had intended. When he arrived at the capital, Malé , Ibn Battuta did not plan to stay. However, the leaders of the formerly Buddhist nation that had recently converted to Islam were looking for a chief judge, someone who knew Arabic and the Qur'an. To convince him to stay they gave him pearls, gold jewellery, and slaves, while at the same time making it impossible for him to leave by ship. Compelled into staying, he became
15800-536: The kings of the Turkmens and the richest in wealth, lands and military forces. Of fortresses, he possesses nearly a hundred, and for most of his time, he is continually engaged in making a round of them, staying in each fortress for some days to put it in good order and examine its condition. It is said that he has never stayed for a whole month in any one town. He also fights with the infidels continually and keeps them under siege. Ibn Battuta had also visited Bursa which at
15958-485: The language's name was saṃskṛtam , while in day-to-day Marathi it is saṃskrut . In other Indic languages, it is closer to sanskrit ). Spoken Marathi allows for conservative stress patterns in words like शब्द ( śabda ) with an emphasis on the ending vowel sound, a feature that has been lost in Hindi due to Schwa deletion . A defining feature of the Marathi language is the split of Indo-Aryan ल /la/ into
16116-680: The last Mongol ruler of the unified Ilkhanate, leaving the city and heading north with a large retinue. Ibn Battuta joined the royal caravan for a while, then turned north on the Silk Road to Tabriz , the first major city in the region to open its gates to the Mongols and by then an important trading centre as most of its nearby rivals had been razed by the Mongol invaders. Ibn Battuta left again for Baghdad, probably in July, but first took an excursion northwards along
16274-523: The late colonial period. After Indian independence , Marathi was accorded the status of a scheduled language on the national level. In 1956, the then Bombay state was reorganised, which brought most Marathi and Gujarati speaking areas under one state. Further re-organization of the Bombay state on 1 May 1960, created the Marathi speaking Maharashtra and Gujarati speaking Gujarat state respectively. With state and cultural protection, Marathi made great strides by
16432-494: The latter as Patidars . While these two sub-communities resided in the same villages, they did not inter-dine or inter-marry. There was some confusion in the nomenclature of the community during the second half of the 19th century when colonial officials referred to elites simply as Kunbis . On other occasions the two sub-communities were collectively referred to as the Patidars . The changes implemented to land tenure policy during
16590-612: The leaders of the Uttara Kannada district Kunabi Samaj Seva Sangh , the population of their community in the region is 75,000. The Kunbis, along with the Teli and the Mali, play a major role in the politics of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. The three groups compose 50% of the electorate and are known to influence election outcomes. The Kunbis, being landlords, hold the upper-hand in the politics of
16748-540: The leadership of Molesworth and Candy. They consulted Brahmins of Pune for this task and adopted the Sanskrit dominated dialect spoken by the elite in the city as the standard dialect for Marathi. The first Marathi translation of the New Testament was published in 1811 by the Serampore press of William Carey. The first Marathi newspaper called Durpan was started by Balshastri Jambhekar in 1832. Newspapers provided
16906-477: The least-traveled, which involved a journey up the Nile valley, then east to the Red Sea port of ʿAydhab . Upon approaching the town, however, a local rebellion forced him to turn back. Ibn Battuta returned to Cairo and took a second side trip, this time to Mamluk-controlled Damascus . During his first trip he had encountered a holy man who prophesied that he would only reach Mecca by travelling through Syria . The diversion held an added advantage; because of
17064-507: The meaning of a dream of Ibn Battuta as being that he was meant to be a world traveller. He spent several weeks visiting sites in the area, and then headed inland to Cairo , the capital of the Mamluk Sultanate . After spending about a month in Cairo, he embarked on the first of many detours within the relative safety of Mamluk territory. Of the three usual routes to Mecca, Ibn Battuta chose
17222-746: The media have reported sporadic instances of violence against Dalits. Other inter-caste issues include the forgery of caste certificates by politicians, mostly in the grey Kunbi-Maratha caste area, to allow them to run for elections from wards reserved for OBC candidates. In April 2005, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the Marathas are not a sub-caste of Kunbis. Maharashtra's Kunbi community shares links with North and Eastern India's Kurmi . Both are farming communities. Both communities have deep roots in agriculture, with "Kunbi" itself meaning "farmer" in Marathi. The Indian government in 2006 recognized them as synonymous and NCBC issued notification that
17380-469: The medium for preaching their doctrines of devotion. Marathi was used in court life by the time of the Yadava kings. During the reign of the last three Yadava kings, a great deal of literature in verse and prose, on astrology, medicine, Puranas , Vedanta , kings and courtiers were created. Nalopakhyana , Rukminiswayamvara and Shripati's Jyotisharatnamala (1039) are a few examples. The oldest book in prose form in Marathi, Vivēkasindhu ( विवेकसिंधु ),
17538-786: The meeting in 1345 CE, Ibn Battuta noted that Shah Jalal was tall and lean, fair in complexion and lived by the mosque in a cave, where his only item of value was a goat he kept for milk, butter, and yogurt. He observed that the companions of the Shah Jalal were foreign and known for their strength and bravery. He also mentions that many people would visit the Shah to seek guidance. Ibn Battuta went further north into Assam , then turned around and continued with his original plan. In 1345, Ibn Battuta travelled to Samudra Pasai Sultanate (called "al-Jawa") in present-day Aceh , Northern Sumatra , after 40 days voyage from Sunur Kawan. He notes in his travel log that
17696-404: The migration. These dialects have speakers in various parts of Tamil Nadu , Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka . Other Marathi–Konkani languages and dialects spoken in Maharashtra include Maharashtrian Konkani , Malvani , Sangameshwari, Agri , Andh , Warli , Vadvali and Samavedi . Vowels in native words are: There is almost no phonemic length distinction, even though it is indicated in
17854-578: The miracle-filled the life of Chakradhar Swami of the Mahanubhava sect compiled by his close disciple, Mahimbhatta, in 1238. The Līḷācarītra is thought to be the first biography written in the Marathi language. Mahimbhatta's second important literary work is the Shri Govindaprabhucharitra or Ruddhipurcharitra , a biography of Shri Chakradhar Swami's guru, Shri Govind Prabhu. This was probably written in 1288. The Mahanubhava sect made Marathi
18012-494: The mysterious people without seeing each other. As Ibn Battuta was not a merchant and saw no benefit of going there he abandoned the travel to this land of darkness. When they reached Astrakhan, Öz Beg Khan had just given permission for one of his pregnant wives, Princess Bayalun, a daughter of Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos , to return to her home city of Constantinople to give birth. Ibn Battuta talked his way into this expedition, which would be his first beyond
18170-612: The nineteenth century, economic prosperity rather than marital service to the Muslims replaced the mobility into Maratha identity. Eaton gives an example of the Holkar family that originally belonged to the Dhangar (Shepherd) caste but was given a Maratha or even an "arch-Maratha" identity. The other example, given by Professor Susan Bayly of Cambridge University , is of the Bhonsles who originated among
18328-574: The north to Inhambane in the south and was particularly impressed by the planning of the city, believing it to be the reason for Kilwa's success along the coast. During this period, he described the construction of the Palace of Husuni Kubwa and a significant extension to the Great Mosque of Kilwa , which was made of coral stones and was the largest mosque of its kind. With a change in the monsoon winds, Ibn Battuta sailed back to Arabia, first to Oman and
18486-399: The original diphthong qualities of ⟨ऐ⟩ [əi] , and ⟨औ⟩ [əu] which became monophthongs in Hindi. However, similar to speakers of Western Indo-Aryan languages and Dravidian languages, Marathi speakers tend to pronounce syllabic consonant ऋ ṛ as [ru] , unlike Northern Indo-Aryan languages which changed it to [ri] (e.g. the original Sanskrit pronunciation of
18644-525: The pioneer of printing in Indian languages, was only able to print in Devanagari. He later tried printing in Modi but by that time, Balbodh Devanagari had been accepted for printing. Marathi is usually written in the Balbodh version of Devanagari script, an abugida consisting of 36 consonant letters and 16 initial- vowel letters. It is written from left to right. The Devanagari alphabet used to write Marathi
18802-546: The popular Marathi periodical of that era called Kesari in 1881. Later under the editorship of Lokmanya Tilak , the newspaper was instrumental in spreading Tilak's nationalist and social views. Phule and Deshmukh also started their periodicals, Deenbandhu and Prabhakar , that criticised the prevailing Hindu culture of the day. The 19th century and early 20th century saw several books published on Marathi grammar. Notable grammarians of this period were Tarkhadkar , A.K.Kher, Moro Keshav Damle, and R.Joshi The first half of
18960-720: The population in Maharashtra, 10.89% in Goa, 7.01% in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, 4.53% in Daman and Diu, 3.38% in Karnataka, 1.7% in Madhya Pradesh, and 1.52% in Gujarat. The following table is a list of the geographic distribution of Marathi speakers as it appears in the 2019 edition of Ethnologue , a language reference published by SIL International , which is based in the United States . Marathi
19118-505: The populations of the Deccani tiller-plainsmen who were known by the names Kunbi and Maratha. Professor Dhanmanjiri Sathe from the University of Pune states that "The line between Marathas and Kunbis is thin and sometimes difficult to ascertain". Iravati Karve , Anthropologist, University of Pune , showed how the Maratha caste was generated from Kunbis who simply started calling themselves "Maratha". She states that Maratha, Kunbi and Mali are
19276-464: The port of Chittagong in modern-day Bangladesh intending to travel to Sylhet to meet Shah Jalal , who became so renowned that Ibn Battuta, then in Chittagong, made a one-month journey through the mountains of Kamaru near Sylhet to meet him. On his way to Sylhet, Ibn Battuta was greeted by several of Shah Jalal's disciples who had come to assist him on his journey many days before he had arrived. At
19434-645: The port of Jeddah on the Red Sea coast. From there he followed the coast in a series of boats (known as a jalbah, these were small craft made of wooden planks sewn together, lacking an established phrase) making slow progress against the prevailing south-easterly winds. Once in Yemen he visited Zabīd and later the highland town of Ta'izz , where he met the Rasulid dynasty king ( Malik ) Mujahid Nur al-Din Ali. Ibn Battuta also mentions visiting Sana'a , but whether he actually did so
19592-453: The presence of schwa in the written spelling. From the 13th century until the beginning of British rule in the 19th century, Marathi was written in the Modi script for administrative purposes but in Devanagari for literature. Since 1950 it has been written in the Balbodh style of Devanagari. Except for Father Thomas Stephens' Krista Purana in the Latin script in the 1600s, Marathi has mainly been printed in Devanagari because William Carey ,
19750-676: The pronunciations of English words such as of /æ/ in act and /ɔ/ in all . These are written as ⟨अॅ⟩ and ⟨ऑ⟩ . The default vowel has two allophones apart from ə . The most prevalent allophone is ɤ , which results in कळ ( kaḷa ) being more commonly pronounced as [kɤːɺ̢ ] rather than [kəɺ̢ ] . Another rare allophone is ʌ , which occurs in words such as महाराज ( mahārāja ): [mʌɦaˈrad͡ʒ] . Marathi retains several features of Sanskrit that have been lost in other Indo-Aryan languages such as Hindi and Bengali, especially in terms of pronunciation of vowels and consonants. For instance, Marathi retains
19908-415: The region and can decide the outcome of at least 22 seats, since they are dominant in every village of the region. The Kunbis, who are known to have a more tolerant attitude and are more secular than the Telis, prefer the Congress Party. As a result, the Party has held a dominant position in the region for several decades. However, in the last decade or so, Congress has ignored the Kunbis and other parties like
20066-489: The river Tigris south to Basra . His next destination was the town of Isfahan across the Zagros Mountains in Iran. He then headed south to Shiraz , a large, flourishing city spared the destruction wrought by Mongol invaders on many more northerly towns. Finally, he returned across the mountains to Baghdad, arriving there in June 1327. Parts of the city were still ruined from the damage inflicted by Hulagu Khan 's invading army in 1258. In Baghdad, he found Abu Sa'id ,
20224-424: The river Tigris. He visited Mosul , where he was the guest of the Ilkhanate governor, and then the towns of Cizre (Jazirat ibn 'Umar) and Mardin in modern-day Turkey. At a hermitage on a mountain near Sinjar , he met a Kurdish mystic who gave him some silver coins. Once back in Mosul, he joined a "feeder" caravan of pilgrims heading south to Baghdad, where they would meet up with the main caravan that crossed
20382-459: The ruler of Samudra Pasai was a pious Muslim named Sultan Al-Malik Al-Zahir Jamal-ad-Din, who performed his religious duties with utmost zeal and often waged campaigns against animists in the region. The island of Sumatra , according to Ibn Battuta, was rich in camphor , areca nut , cloves , and tin . The madh'hab he observed was Imam Al-Shafi‘i , whose customs were similar to those he had previously seen in coastal India , especially among
20540-412: The same family were paraded naked in the village and then raped. Eight villagers were sentenced to life imprisonment, with the court declaring the killings motivated by revenge and not racism or casteism. An appeal against the High Court judgement to have the crime declared as casteism is still pending in the Supreme Court of India. The Times of India reported in February 2011 that an honour killing of
20698-546: The same. Anthropologist J.V.Ferreira, from the University of Mumbai states: "The Maratha claim to belong to the ancient 96 Kshatriya families has no foundation in fact and may have been adopted after the Marathas became with Shivaji a power to be reckoned with". Eaton shows how the Maratha caste was generated from the Kunbis who served the Muslim rulers, prospered, and over time adopted different customs like different dressing styles, employed genealogists, started identifying as Maratha, and caste boundaries solidified between them. In
20856-444: The script. Some educated speakers try to maintain a length distinction in learned borrowings ( tatsamas ) from Sanskrit. There are no nasal vowels, although some speakers of Puneri and Kokni dialects maintain nasalisation of vowels that was present in old Marathi and continues to be orthographically present in modern Marathi. Marathi furthermore contrasts /əi, əu/ with /ai, au/ . There are two more vowels in Marathi to denote
21014-426: The standards of the subtropics). Then he returned to the Khan's court and with it moved to Astrakhan . Ibn Battuta recorded that while in Bolghar he wanted to travel further north into the land of darkness. The land is snow-covered throughout ( northern Siberia ) and the only means of transport is dog-drawn sled. There lived a mysterious people who were reluctant to show themselves. They traded with southern people in
21172-481: The start of the journey to China, he and his large retinue were attacked by a group of bandits . Separated from his companions, he was robbed, kidnapped, and nearly lost his life. Despite this setback, within ten days he had caught up with his group and continued on to Khambhat in the Indian state of Gujarat . From there, they sailed to Calicut (now known as Kozhikode), where Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama would land two centuries later. While in Calicut, Battuta
21330-496: The state of Goa , where it is used for replies, when requests are received in Marathi. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India , with 83 million speakers as of 2011. Marathi ranks 13th in the list of languages with most native speakers in the world . Marathi has the third largest number of native speakers in India, after Hindi and Bengali . The language has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indian languages. The major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi and
21488-477: The states of Madhya Pradesh , Gujarat (now called Patidar ), Karnataka , Kerala and Goa . Kunbis are included among the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Maharashtra. Most of the Mavalas serving in the armies of the Maratha Empire under Shivaji came from this community. The Shinde and Gaekwad dynasties of the Maratha Empire are originally of Kunbi origin. In the fourteenth century and later, several Kunbis who had taken up employment as military men in
21646-436: The strength of his years of study in Mecca, Ibn Battuta was appointed a qadi (judge) by the sultan. However, he found it difficult to enforce Islamic law beyond the sultan's court in Delhi , due to lack of Islamic appeal in India. It is uncertain by which route Ibn Battuta entered the Indian subcontinent but it is known that he was kidnapped and robbed by rebels on his journey to the Indian coast. He may have entered via
21804-409: The sultanates of Abd al-Wadid and Hafsid . The route took him through Tlemcen , Béjaïa , and then Tunis , where he stayed for two months. For safety, Ibn Battuta usually joined a caravan to reduce the risk of being robbed. He took a bride in the town of Sfax , but soon left her due to a dispute with the father. That was the first in a series of marriages that would feature in his travels. In
21962-498: The sultans promoted use of Marathi in official documents. However, the Marathi language from the era is heavily Persianised in its vocabulary. The Persian influence continues to this day with many Persian derived words used in everyday speech such as bāg (Garden), kārkhānā (factory), shahar (city), bāzār (market), dukān (shop), hushār (clever), kāḡaḏ (paper), khurchi (chair), jamin (land), jāhirāt (advertisement), and hazār (thousand) Marathi also became language of administration during
22120-418: The term Maratha (among other meanings) referred to all speakers of the Marathi language. An example of this is the record of the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta whose use of the term included multiple castes who spoke Marathi. Several years later, as the Bahamani kings started employing the local population in their military, the term Maratha acquired a martial connotation. Those who were not associated with
22278-444: The term Maratha and were not untouchables began to identify themselves as Kunbi. According to Stewart Gordon, the so-called Marathas now differentiated themselves from the others such as the cultivators (Kunbi), iron-workers and tailors. At lower status levels, the term Kunbi was applied to those who tilled the land. It was possible for outsiders to become Kunbi, an example of which was recorded by Enthoven. Enthoven observed that it
22436-514: The term " Dalit literature " was used for the first time, when the first conference of Maharashtra Dalit Sahitya Sangha (Maharashtra Dalit Literature Society) was held at Mumbai , a movement inspired by 19th century social reformer, Jyotiba Phule and eminent dalit leader, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar . Baburao Bagul (1930–2008) was a pioneer of Dalit writings in Marathi. His first collection of stories, Jevha Mi Jat Chorali ( जेव्हा मी जात चोरली , " When I Stole My Caste "), published in 1963, created
22594-425: The three main farming communities of Maharashtra - the difference being that the marathas and Kunbis were "dry farmers" whereas the Mali farmed throughout the year. Professor Cynthia Talbot from the University of Texas quotes a saying in Maharashtra, "when a Kunbi prospers he becomes Maratha". Kunbi origin has been one of the factors on the basis of which the head of Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC),
22752-421: The time was the capital of the Ottoman Beylik, he described Bursa as "a great and important city with fine bazaars and wide streets, surrounded on all sides with gardens and running springs". He also visited the Beylik of Aydin . Ibn Battuta stated that the ruler of the Beylik of Aydin had twenty Greek slaves at the entrance of his palace and Ibn Battuta was given a Greek slave as a gift. His visit to Anatolia
22910-438: The town, he journeyed on to Mecca while visiting holy sites along the way; upon his arrival to Mecca he completed his first pilgrimage, in November, and he took the honorific status of El-Hajji . Rather than returning home, Ibn Battuta decided to continue travelling, choosing as his next destination the Ilkhanate , a Mongol Khanate , to the northeast. On 17 November 1326, following a month spent in Mecca, Ibn Battuta joined
23068-423: The variation within these dialects is primarily lexical and phonological (e.g. accent placement and pronunciation). Although the number of dialects is considerable, the degree of intelligibility within these dialects is relatively high. Varhadi (Varhādi) (वऱ्हाडि) or Vaidarbhi (वैदर्भि) is spoken in the Western Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. In Marathi, the retroflex lateral approximant ḷ [ ɭ ]
23226-407: The vessel that came to his rescue to suffer an attack by pirates. Stranded onshore, he worked his way back to the Madurai kingdom in India. Here he spent some time in the court of the short-lived Madurai Sultanate under Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad Damghani, from where he returned to the Maldives and boarded a Chinese junk , still intending to reach China and take up his ambassadorial post. He reached
23384-459: The vocabulary was Persian, it dropped to 37% by 1677. His reign stimulated the deployment of Marathi as a tool of systematic description and understanding. Shivaji Maharaj commissioned one of his officials, Balaji Avaji Chitnis , to make a comprehensive lexicon to replace Persian and Arabic terms with their Sanskrit equivalents. This led to production of 'Rājavyavahārakośa', the thesaurus of state usage in 1677. Subsequent Maratha rulers extended
23542-444: The words are native. Vedic Sanskrit did have /ɭ, ɭʱ/ as well, but they merged with /ɖ, ɖʱ/ by the time of classical Sanskrit. The Kadamba script and its variants have been historically used to write Marathi in the form of inscriptions on stones and copper plates. The Marathi version of Devanagari , called Balbodh , is similar to the Hindi Devanagari alphabet except for its use for certain words. Some words in Marathi preserve
23700-657: Was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of thirty years from 1325 to 1354, Ibn Battuta visited much of Africa , the Middle East , Asia , and the Iberian Peninsula . Near the end of his life, he dictated an account of his journeys, titled A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling , but commonly known as The Rihla . Ibn Battuta travelled more than any other explorer in pre-modern history, totalling around 117,000 km (73,000 mi), surpassing Zheng He with about 50,000 km (31,000 mi) and Marco Polo with 24,000 km (15,000 mi). "Ibn Battuta"
23858-430: Was common for Kolis (fishermen) to take up agriculture and become Kunbis. In the eighteenth century, under the Peshwas , newer waves of villagers joined the armies of the Maratha Empire . These men began to see themselves as Marathas too, further obscuring the boundary between the Marathas and Kunbi, giving rise to a new category: Maratha-Kunbi . While this view of the term was common among colonial European observers of
24016-535: Was from an area where it was practised. On 2 Rajab 725 AH (14 June 1325 AD), Ibn Battuta set off from his home town at the age of 21 on a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca , a journey that would ordinarily take sixteen months. He was eager to learn more about far-away lands and craved adventure. He would not return to Morocco again for 24 years. I set out alone, having neither fellow-traveler in whose companionship I might find cheer, nor caravan whose part I might join, but swayed by an overmastering impulse within me and
24174-448: Was later found to be of Maratha caste, lost her membership of the Pune Municipal Corporation after it was established that she had submitted a false caste certificate, claiming to be Kunbi-Maratha in order to run for elections in wards reserved for OBC candidates. Subsequently, all candidates who lost to Kunbi-Maratha candidates registered complaints against their opponents by claiming falsification of certificates. A similar case of forgery
24332-420: Was reported in 2003 when the former Shiv Sena corporator, Geeta Gore, was sent to jail for falsely claiming to be a Kunbi-Maratha. Gore won in elections from ward 18 of Andheri (west) by claiming to be a member of the Kunbi-Maratha caste. In 2006, four members of a Dalit family were tortured and murdered by members of the Kunbi caste from the Khairlanji village in the Bhandara district. Two female members of
24490-527: Was the capital of the Hamidids . He spent Ramadan (June 1331 or May 1333) in the city. From this point his itinerary across Anatolia in the Rihla becomes confused. Ibn Battuta describes travelling westwards from Eğirdir to Milas and then skipping 420 km (260 mi) eastward past Eğirdir to Konya . He then continues travelling in an easterly direction, reaching Erzurum from where he skips 1,160 km (720 mi) back to Birgi which lies north of Milas. Historians believe that Ibn Battuta visited
24648-416: Was the first time in his travels he acquired a servant; the ruler of Aydin gifted him his first slave. Later, he purchased a young Greek girl for 40 dinars in Ephesus , was gifted another slave in İzmir by the Sultan, and purchased a second girl in Balikesir . The conspicuous evidence of his wealth and prestige continued to grow. From Sinope , he took a sea route to the Crimean Peninsula , arriving in
24806-435: Was the guest of the ruling Zamorin . While Ibn Battuta visited a mosque on shore, a storm arose and one of the ships of his expedition sank. The other ship then sailed without him only to be seized by a local Sumatran king a few months later. Afraid to return to Delhi and be seen as a failure, he stayed for a time in southern India under the protection of Jamal-ud-Din, ruler of the small but powerful Nawayath Sultanate on
24964-451: Was written by Mukundaraja , a Nath yogi and arch-poet of Marathi. Mukundaraja bases his exposition of the basic tenets of the Hindu philosophy and the yoga marga on the utterances or teachings of Shankaracharya . Mukundaraja's other work, Paramamrta, is considered the first systematic attempt to explain the Vedanta in the Marathi language Notable examples of Marathi prose are " Līḷācarītra " ( लीळाचरित्र ), events and anecdotes from
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