Maharashtra

Maharashtra
Capital • Coordinates	Mumbai • 18.96° N 72.82° E
Largest city	Mumbai
Population (2001) • Density	96,752,247 ( 2nd) • 314.42/km²
Area • Districts	307,713 km² ( 3rd) • 35
Time zone	IST ( UTC +5:30)
Establishment • Governor • Chief Minister • Legislature (seats)	1960- 05-01 • SM Krishna ( list) • Vilasrao Deshmukh ( list) • Bicameral (289 + 78)
Official language(s)	Marathi
Website	www.maharashtra.gov.in
Abbreviation (ISO)	IN-MH
Seal of Maharashtra

Maharashtra ( Devanagari: महाराष्ट्र, literally: Great Nation) is India's third largest state in terms of area and second largest in terms of population after Uttar Pradesh. It is bordered by the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa and the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The Arabian Sea makes up the state's western coast. Mumbai (Bombay), India's largest city, is the capital of Maharashtra.

Maharashtra was known as "Rashtra" in the Rig Veda, "Rashtrik" in Ashoka's inscriptions, and "Maha rashtra" afterwards, as attested by Huein-Tsang and other travellers. The name appears to have been derived from " Maharashtri" in an old form of Prakrit, an ancient Indian language.

However, there are other theories put forward by different schools of thought. One possible derivation is believed to be the corruption of the term "Maha Kantara", which means "Great Forest". Both these theories did not carry much weight, as can be seen from the name of Maharashtra.

History

Not much is known about Maharashtra's early history, and its recorded history dates back to the 3rd century BC, with the use the Maharastri language, a Prakrit corruption of Sanskrit. Later, Maharashtra became a part of the Magadha empire, ruled by the Buddhist emperor Ashoka. The port town of Sopara, just north of present day Mumbai, was the centre of ancient India's commerce, with links to Eastern Africa, Mesopotamia, Aden and Cochin. With the disintegration of the Mauryan Empire, Maharashtra came under the rule of the Satavahanas between 230 BC and 225 AD.

During the reign of the Vakatakas ( 250 AD– 525 AD), Vidarbha, the eastern region of Maharashtra, come under their rule. During this period, development of arts, religion and technology flourished. By the 6th century, Maharashtra came under the reign of the Chalukyas. Later, in 753, the region was governed by Rashtrakutas, an empire that spread over most of peninsula India. In 973, the Rashtrakutas were overthrown by the Chalukayas, who ruled parts of Maharashtra until 1189 when it came under the hands of the Yadavas of Deogiri.

Maharashtra came under Islamic influence for the first time after the Delhi Sultanate rulers Ala-ud-din Khalji, and later Muhammad bin Tughluq appropriated parts of the Deccan in the 13th century. After the collapse of the Tughlaqs in 1347, the Bahmani Sultanate took over, governing the region for the next 150 years. By the 16th century, central Maharashtra was ruled by numerous autonomous Islamic kingdoms that owed allegiance to the Mughals, while coastal region was annexed by the Portuguese, in their quest to seize control of the spice trade.

By the early 17th century the Maratha Empire began to take root. The Marathas, native to western Maharashtra, were led by Chhatrapati Raje Shivaji Bhosle, who was crowned king in 1674. Under his successors, the Maratha Empire reached their zenith, encompassing almost the entire Deccan, central India and extending into parts of modern day Pakistan and Bangladesh. After defeating the Mughals in 1707, the Marathas became the dominant rulers of India. With death of Shahu in 1749, the Peshwa became head of Maratha empire. After suffering a heavy defeat to the Afghan chieftain Ahmad Shah Abdali, in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Maratha Confederacy broke into regional kingdoms like Gwalior (Gwalher), Pune, Nagpur, Indore, and Vadodara. With the arrival and subsequent involvement of the British East India Company in Indian politics, the Marathas and the British fought the three Anglo-Maratha wars between 1777 and 1818, culminating in the annexation of Peshwa-ruled territory in Maharashtra in 1819, which heralded the end of the Maratha empire.

The British governed the region as part of the Bombay Presidency, which spanned an area from Karachi in Pakistan to most of the northern Deccan. A number of the Maratha states persisted as princely states, retaining local autonomy in return for acknowledging British sovereignty. The largest princely states in the territory of present-day Maharashtra were Nagpur, Satara and Kolhapur; Satara was annexed to Bombay Presidency in 1848, and Nagpur was annexed in 1853 to become Nagpur Province, later part of the Central Provinces. Berar, which had been part of the Nizam of Hyderabad's kingdom, was occupied by the British in 1853 and annexed to the Central Provinces in 1903. The British rule was marked by social reforms, an improvement in infrastructure as well revolts due to their discriminatory policies. At the beginning of the 20th century, A non-violent struggle started by Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak and later led by Mahatma Gandhi began to take shape. In 1942, the Quit India Movement was called by Gandhi which was marked by a non-violent civil disobedience movement and strikes.

After India's independence in 1947, the princely states were integrated into the Indian Union, and the Deccan States including Kolhapur were integrated into Bombay State, which was created from the former Bombay Presidency in 1950. In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act reorganized the Indian states along linguistic lines, and Bombay State was enlarged by the addition the predominantly Marathi-speaking regions of Marathwada (Aurangabad Division) from erstwhile Hyderabad state and Vidarbha region ( Amravati and Nagpur divisions) from Madhya Pradesh (formerly the Central Provinces and Berar). On May 1, 1960, Maharashtra came into existence when Bombay State was split into the new linguistic states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Favourable economic policies in the 1970s led to Maharashtra becoming India's leading industrial state.