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| Mahars | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mahars |
| Region | Maharashtra; Karnataka; Goa |
| Languages | Marathi; Konkani; Kannada |
| Religions | Hinduism; Buddhism; Christianity |
Mahars are a social group historically concentrated in western India, particularly in regions of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Goa. They have been prominent in agrarian, artisanal, and military contexts and became central to social reform and Dalit activism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Mahars figured in colonial records, nationalist politics, and postcolonial legal reform debates.
The term's derivation appears in colonial ethnographies and regional chronicles that link it to Marathi and Sanskrit lexical roots. Early British administrators and ethnologists such as Edward Gibbon Wakefield-style colonial writers, H. H. Risley, James Grant Duff, and John Malcolm recorded variants. Linguists referencing William Jones-era philology and scholars in the tradition of George Abraham Grierson compared terms used in gazetteers compiled by officials like Mountstuart Elphinstone and Robert Orme. Regional historians citing archives from the Bombay Presidency, Hyderabad State, and the Portuguese India administration discuss phonetic and semantic shifts paralleling entries in the journals of Asiatic Society of Bengal and lexicons influenced by Sanskrit and Prakrit strata.
Colonial-era texts in the Bombay Presidency and princely state records from Baroda, Kolhapur, Satara, and Bhor State describe the group in connection with servile and martial roles. Maratha chronicles referencing Shivaji-era cantons, Peshwa documents, and correspondence in the Bhonsle papers indicate recruitment of local communities into militia formations alongside references in Deccan Chronicle-period records. Mughal administrative documents from the Aurangzeb epoch and Persian farmans in the Adil Shahi and Nizam of Hyderabad archives mention related castes in land revenue and garrison contexts. British ethnographers such as Sir Walter Roper Lawrence and E. J. Frere catalogued caste hierarchies in district manuals like the Poona District Gazetteer and the Thane District Gazetteer.
Traditional occupational descriptions in the Bombay Gazetteer, missionary reports by figures such as William Carey and Alexander Duff, and census returns administered by officials like H. H. Risley list roles including village watchmen, peasantry, leatherworking, and service in cavalry and infantry contingents. Estate records from Deccan jagirs, revenue ledgers of Peshwa-era polities, and accounts from the East India Company note positions as tolai soldiers, palanquin bearers, and artisans. Regional ethnographies in the Konkan and Desh highlight participation in toddy tapping, mat-weaving, and village sanitation tasks noted in the administrative correspondence of Lord Wellesley and land settlement operations overseen by Sir John Malcolm.
Military and political involvement is attested in Maratha-era enlistment lists associated with Shivaji and later Peshwa campaigns, and in British recruitment patterns evident in the records of the Bombay Army and colonial police rosters. Mahars appear in petitions and petitions compiled for the Bombay Legislative Council and in petitions presented to commissioners such as Mountstuart Elphinstone and collectors in Poona and Ahmednagar. Leaders from related communities engaged with reformers like Jyotirao Phule, and their mobilization influenced colonial legal instruments such as the Caste Disabilities Removal Act debates and municipal franchise discussions in Bombay Municipal Corporation sessions and Calcutta-based law commissions.
The group became central to 19th-century anti-caste activism connected with reformers including Jyotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule, and later leaders who engaged with figures from the Indian National Congress era. Mass conversions to Buddhism under the leadership of B. R. Ambedkar involved many from the community; proceedings from the Mahad Satyagraha are recorded alongside correspondence with Ambedkar in the Poona Pact period. 20th-century organizations like the Dalit Panthers, and later civil society groups documented in the Bombay Presidency archives and press organs such as Kesari and Kesari-era commentaries featured mobilization around temple entry, electoral representation, and land rights. Legal petitions filed in the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court of India concerning reservation and Scheduled Caste recognition cite community claims in case law emerging from debates over the Protection of Civil Rights Act and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Ritual and devotional life drew on regional Marathi and Konkani traditions, with local shrines, folk songs, and oral epics recorded in ethnographic surveys by scholars associated with the University of Bombay and the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. Participation in festivals observed at temples dedicated to regional deities such as those in Pandharpur, rites documented in village chronicles from Kolaba and Satara, and syncretic practices noted in the writings of Anandibai Joshi-era observers illustrate cultural continuity. Missionary records from Roman Catholic missions in Goa and Jesuit accounts, as well as Buddhist revivalist pamphlets distributed after the 1956 Buddhist conversion events, reflect plural religious affiliations and ritual adjustments recorded by anthropologists linked to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
Modern censuses by the Government of India, state statistical bureaus of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Goa, and reports from the National Commission for Scheduled Castes present population distributions, literacy metrics, and employment data. Legal recognition as a Scheduled Caste in various jurisdictions follows proceedings before state cabinets, the President of India notifications, and adjudication in the Supreme Court of India and regional benches of the Bombay High Court. Contemporary political representation appears in electoral rolls for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies in districts such as Pune, Kolhapur, Belgaum, and North Goa. NGOs like Pratham, Vidya Bharati, and advocacy groups documented in reports by the National Human Rights Commission and academic studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University and University of Mumbai analyze education outcomes, affirmative action impacts, and socioeconomic mobility.
Category:Social groups of India