Mahar is an important social group within the Indian state of Maharashtra and surrounding states. A grouping of related endogamous castes, the Mahar are the largest scheduled caste group in Maharashtra,[1] in which they comprise ten percent of the population (in the early 1980s, the Mahar community was estimated to make up about nine percent of the population of Maharashtra).[1]
On October 14, 1956, at Dikshabhumi in Nagpur, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the most notable leader of the Mahars, converted to Buddhism along with thousands of his followers. Since then, almost the whole caste has converted to Buddhism; they are no longer Mahars after the conversion.
The Mahars traditionally were made to live on the outskirts of villages and their duties included those of village watchman, messenger, wall mender, adjudicator of boundary disputes, street sweeper, and remover of carcasses. They also worked as agricultural labourers and held some land, though they were not primarily farmers[1] In the twentieth century, as the collective consciousness of the Mahar grew, significant numbers of Mahars began to leave their traditional villages and move into the urban centers of India in search of better employment and educational opportunities.[1]
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The Mahar regiment is one of the renowned infantry arm of independent India's army.
While invading India the British faced fierce resistance in some regions while easily conquering others. The British officials sought 'martial races' accustomed to hunting or agricultural cultures from hilly or mountainous regions with a history of conflict, here the Mahars came in handy. Other castes who consider themselves martial and upper caste were excluded due to their 'ease of living' or branded as seditious agitators.[3] The doctrine of 'martial races' postulated that the qualities that make a useful soldier are inherited and that most Indians, with the exception of the specified groups, did not have the requisite genes that would make them warriors.[4]It is a notable fact that 'marital races' places the Mahar's warrior inheritance and usefulness as soldier above many other 'warrior' races of the Hindusthan region.
The Mahars have excelled in military services for the last several centuries and Shivaji recruited a large number of Mahars into his army in the 17th century.[2]. Shivaji's one of bodyguard was belonged to Mahar community, his name was Jiva Mahale. He had saved Shivaji's life when Afzal Khan's private secretary, Krishnaji Bhaskar Kulkarni attacked Shivaji with his sword. During the colonial period, a large number of Mahars were recruited for military duties by the East India Company and the British Raj. This martial tradition has continued and has found expression in the organization of a Mahar Regiment by the Indian Army in 1941.[3]
The Imperial Gazetteer of India, writing about Nagpur district, India, described the social status of the Mahars in the early 1900s:
“Mahars form a sixth of the whole population, the great majority being cultivators and laborers. The rural Mahar is still considered impure, and is not allowed to drink from the village well, nor may his children sit in school with those of the Hindu castes. But there are traces of decay of this tendency, as many Mahars have become wealthy and risen in the world, with their tenacity and adaptive ability”[4]
The Battle of Koregaon took place on January 1, 1818, at the bank of river Bhima in Koregaon (Maharashtra State, India), situated on the north west of Pune. A small force of 500 men of the 2nd Battalion 1st Regiment of the Bombay Native Light Infantry mostly Mahar under the command of Capt. F. F. Staunton fought without rest or respite, food or water continuously for twelve hours against a large force of 20,000 horse and 8,000 infantry of Maratha Leader Peshwa Baji Rao II who was threatening the British garrisons at Kirkee and Poona.
In the month of November 1817 Peshwas devastated the Regency of Pune giving no scope for the British army to retaliate successfully. The British commanding officer in Pune called the Chief of the second Battalion-first Regiment Native Infantry for help which was encamped in the Shirur Taluka of Pune district. This contingent, with only 500 foot soldiers and 250 cavalry both predominantly consisting of Mahars defeated the mighty Peshwa army of 8,000 foot soldiers and 20,000 cavalry.
This battle had unusual significance for many reasons. First, British army fought this battle with a minuscule army expecting the worst, especially after their experience of the Pune Regency. Secondly, the battle of Koregaon was one of the most important events which helped tear down the Peshwa Empire and subsequently the Peshwa had to abdicate. Thirdly and most importantly, it was an attempt by the untouchables of Maharashtra to break the shackles of the age-old caste order.
The Peshwa's troops had to withdraw that evening, despite their overwhelming numbers, giving the British an important victory. The men of the 2/1st Regiment Bombay Native Infantry, who fought in this battle, were honored for their bravery. The official report to the British Residents at Poona recalls the "heroic valour and enduring fortitude" of the soldiers, the "disciplined intrepidity" and "devoted courage and admirable consistency" of their actions.
Further, the battle is commemorated by an obelisk, known as the Koregaon pillar, which featured on the Mahar Regiment crest until Indian Independence. The monument has names inscribed of twenty two Mahars killed there, erected at the site of the battle and by a medal issued in 1851. Today, the monument still "serves as a focal point of Mahar heroism".
Though of lower status, during the Bhakti Era of Hinduism several Mahar saints were popularized. For example the most popular Mahar saints are:
According to Saint Balakdas, the Mahars were originally of Chandravanshi lineage from Marwar and desccended from Samaji (the first Mahar) and that the Rishi of the Mahars is Markendeya and God was Shiva.[9]
Traditionally considered lower in the Hindu caste system, during the 20th century a number of Mahars converted to Buddhism, including one of the most prominent of Mahars Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. Ambedkar, the first individual from a traditionally so called untouchable caste to receive a university education, encouraged Mahars to leave Hinduism in protest of their caste status. Mahars who have transformed back to Buddhism are referred to as 'Ancient Buddhist- Buddha people of Naga decent- solar race' (Buddhists). Some Buddhist leaders among the population have expressed a desire for the 'Mahar' label to no longer be applied to Buddhist converts.[10] Dr.B.R.Ambedkar written a book the untouchable in which he told that Mahars were the naga people of India who were Buddhist by their religion in ancient India. There are many evidence that one could still find in Maharastra that the Mahar people were originally buddhist people of India.
Although the majority have converted to Buddhism, some converted to Christianity earlier than the Buddhist conversion of B. R. Ambedkar. Many got converted to Christianity after evangelicization by British and American missionariesin the nineteenth century; these Christian Mahars are found in largely in Ahmednagar. Mahar Christians are found also in many parts of Maharashtra such as Solapur, Kolhapur, Raigad, and Aurangabad, though most still may be encountered in Ahmednagar.
The Mahars found in Nanded district of Maharashtra were also converted to Sikhism in small amounts. Some of the Mahars also converted to Islam during Islam kings rule on India, particularly in Nizam's Hyderabad.
Presently major portion of Mahar Community are Neo-Buddhists and follow Therigatha/ Theravada Buddhism. Many old, ritualistic, orthodox and traditional Hindu practices are abandoned by the Neo-Buddhists though some Hindu festivals (like Diwali and Holi) and cultured practices are still followed by the Neo-Buddhists. Use of Mahar word as a representation of society is generally avoided instead Buddhist orientations are favoured.
Mahar Tribe living in Sindh, Pakistan is entirely different from the Mahar (Caste-Presently Neo Buddhists) living in Maharashtra, India. Both the Mahar Tribe and Mahar Caste have different origins and historical backgrounds. The Famous and Fierce British Regiment, the Mahar Regiment was constituted by the Mahar (Caste) people living in Maharashtra. The Mahar Regiment is presently functional in India and constitute of soldiers and personnel from different castes and creeds.
It is clear that Mahars were among the earliest inhabitants of the Marathi-speaking area of India, if not the original dwellers. Their myths reinforce the epithet bhumiputra, "son of the soil," which implies original ownership of the land. The first Mahar to figure in history is Chokhamela, a fourteenth-century poet-saint in the devotional religious tradition that allowed participation by all castes. Chokhamela, the Untouchable Mahar, along with his wife, her brother, and their son are all historic figures in the Warkari cult. The sixteenth-century Brahman poet, Eknath, wrote more than forty poems as if he were a Mahar, underlining their importance to the everyday world of that time. There is mention of Chokhamela even in the Guru Granth Sahib of the Sikhs. In the seventeenth century, Mahars were part of the armies of the Maratha king Shivaji, and in the late eighteenth century and the nineteenth Century, Mahars joined the British armed forces and served until the army was reorganized on a "martial people" basis in the late nineteenth century. Former army Mahars were the first to petition the British government for redress and for equal treatment.
Mahars who worked on the railways or in the ammunition factories, who were thus free from traditional village work, created a receptive body of urban workers who were ready to join a movement for higher status and equality.
There were a number of local leaders in Poona and Nagpur, but Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is still seen by Mahars, Buddhists, and many other educated untouchables as the supreme example of untouchable achievement. Statues of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar dot the landscape of Maharashtra, UP and all dalit dominated states in India, and in those statues he is often shown with a book in his hand, symbolizing the constitution of India, for his crowning achievement was to serve as chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution and as law minister in independent India's first cabinet.
