Chapter MADURA FOOT to MAHRATTA of M by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

word from the Mhar or Mahar, a once numerous and dominant race. And see the discussion in the Bombay Gazetteer, I. pt. ii. 143 seq.]

c. 550.—“The planet (Saturn’s) motion in Açleshâ causes affliction to aquatic animals or products, and snakes…in Pûrva Phalgunî to vendors of liquors, women of the town, damsels, and the Mahrattas.…”—Brhat Sanhita, tr. by Kern, J.R. As. Soc. 2nd ser. v. 64.

640.—“De là il prit la direction du Nord-Ouest, traversa une vaste forêt, et…il arriva au royaume de Mo-ho-la-to (Maharashtra).…”—Pèl. Bouddh. i. 202; [Bombay Gazetteer, I. pt. ii. 353].

c. 1030.—“De Dhar, en se dirigeant vers le midi, jusqu’à la rivière de Nymyah on comte 7 parasanges; de là à Mahrat-dessa 18 paras.”—Albirúni, in Reinaud’s Fragmens, 109.

c. 1294–5.—“Alá- ud-dín marched to Elichpúr, and thence to Ghati-lajaura…the people of that country had never heard of the Mussulmans; the Mahratta land had never been punished by their armies; no Mussulman King or Prince had penetrated so far.”—Zíá-ud-dín Barní, in Elliot, iii. 150.

c. 1328.—“In this Greater India are twelve idolatrous Kings, and more.…There is also the Kingdom of Maratha which is very great.”—Friar Jordanus, 41.

1673.—“They tell their tale in Moratty; by Profession they are Gentues.”—Fryer, 174.

1747.—“Agreed on the arrival of these Ships that We take Five Hundred (500) Peons more into our Service, that the 50 Moratta Horses be augmented to 100 as We found them very usefull in the last Skirmish.…”—Consn. at Ft. St. David, Jan. 6 (MS. Record in India Office).

1748.—“That upon his hearing the Mirattoes had taken Tanner’s Fort …”—In Long, p. 5.

c. 1760.—“…those dangerous and powerful neighbors the Morattoes; who being now masters of the contiguous island of Salsette …”—Grose, ii. 44.

„ “The name of Morattoes, or Marattas, is, I have reason to think, a derivation in their country-language, or by corruption, from Mar-Rajah.”—Ibid. ii. 75.

1765.—“These united princes and people are those which are known by the general name of Maharattors; a word compounded of Rattor and Maahah; the first being the name of a particular Raazpoot (or Rajpoot) tribe; and the latter, signifying great or mighty (as explained by Mr. Fraser). …”—Holwell, Hist. Events, &c., i. 105.

c. 1769.—Under a mezzotint portrait: “The Right Honble George Lord Pigot, Baron Pigot of Patshul in the Kingdom of Ireland, President and Governor of and for all the Affairs of the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies, on the Coast of Choromandel, and Orixa, and of the Chingee and Moratta Countries, &c., &c., &c.”

c. 1842.—

“…Ah, for some retreat Deep in yonder shining Orient, where my life began to beat;
Where in wild Mahratta battle fell my father evil starr’d.”

—Tennyson, Locksley Hall.

The following is in the true Hobson-Jobson manner:

[1859.—“This term Marhatta or Mârhutta, is derived from the mode of warfare adopted by these men. Mar means to strike, and hutna, to get out of the way, i.e. those who struck a blow suddenly and at once retreated out of harm’s way.”—H. Dundas Robertson, District Duties during the Revolt in 1857, p. 104, note.]

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