Thanjavur Marathi people

Thanjavur Marathi people
	Portrait of Sir T. Madhava Rao, a Thanjavur Maharashtrian of 19th Century
Total population
	~70,000 (2001)
Regions with significant populations
	India (Tamil Nadu region of Chennai, Dharmapuri district, Kerala)
Languages
	Thanjavur Marathi, Tamil
Religion
	Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
	Marathi people, Deshasta Brahmin, Tamil people

Last updated September 12, 2023

Thanjavur Marathi people (colloquially called Rayar), are a Thanjavur Marathi-speaking ethno-linguistic group, who reside in the central and northern parts of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. They are the descendants of Marathi administrators, soldiers and noblemen who migrated to this region during the rule of the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom. Thanjavur was a Maratha kingdom in Tamil Country, until the British East India Company dethroned the last Thanjavur Maratha king, Shivaji of Thanjavur. It was founded by Maratha Warrior King Chatrapati Shivaji's half-brother, Ekoji alias Venkoji Rajē Bhonsalē.^[1]^[2] The Kshatriyas use Maratha, while the Brahmins use the surname Deshastha.^[3]

Demographics and distribution

According to the 2001 census, Marathi is spoken as a mother tongue by about 0.1% of the total population of Tamil Nadu.^[4] Exact districtwise statistics are not available, but according to estimates, Marathi people are mostly concentrated in the city of Chennai and the Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Dharmapuri, Tirupatttur, Krishnagiri, Vellore, Ranipet, Salem, Thiruvannamalai, Tiruvarur, Kanchipuram and Tiruchirappalli districts of Tamil Nadu. The Marathi population in Tamil Nadu has dwindled recently due to migrations to Maharashtra, Bangalore, North India and foreign countries.^[5]

Language

The mother tongue of the Thanjavur Marathi people is Thanjavur Marathi, a Tamilized dialect of the Marathi language.^[2]^[6]

Organizations

There are many organisations that support the cause of Thanjavur Marathi people across various parts of India. One of the prominent ones is The Mahratta Education Fund (MEF), a non-profit organisation working for the spread of education to poor and deserving students of the South Indian Marathi-speaking community.^[7]

In popular culture

The fictitious RSS Swayamsevak Shriram Abhyankar, in the 1999 movie Hey Ram , played by Atul Kulkarni, is a Thanjavur Marathi person.

Notable people

Anandarayar Sahib, Diwan of the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom during the reigns of Shahuji I, Serfoji I and Tukkoji
Reddy Row, Diwan of Travancore from 1817 to 1821 and 1843 to 1845.
R. Venkata Rao, Diwan of Travancore from 1821 to 1829 and 1838 to 1839.
Sir T. Madhava Rao (1828–1891), Diwan of Travancore from 1857 to 1872 and an early leader of the Indian National Congress. He was also Dewan of two other princely States, Indore & Baroda.
Thanjavur Subha Rao, Diwan of Travancore in the 1830s.
T. Rama Rao (1831–1895), Indian civil servant. Served as Diwan of Travancore from 1887 to 1892.
T. Ananda Rao (1852–1919), Indian administrator. Diwan of Mysore from 1909 to 1912. Son of Sir T. Madhava Rao.
V. P. Madhava Rao (1850–1934), Indian administrator. Diwan of Mysore from 1906 to 1909 and Baroda from 1910 to 1913.
N. Vittal (born 31 January 1938), belonging to the Indian Administrative Service 1960 batch, is one of the eminent public servants of India, who has held important positions in the Government of India, most prominent of which was that of the Central Vigilance Commissioner.
T. Gopala Rao (1832–1886), Indian educator. Was one of the pioneers of Government Arts College, Kumbakonam. Gopal Rao Public Library in Kumbakonam is named after him.
Palladam Sanjiva Rao (1882–1962), Indian flautist and carnatic musician.
R. Balaji Rao (1842–1896), Indian politician and Indian independence activist. First Secretary of the Madras Mahajana Sabha. Represented Tanjore along with S. A. Swaminatha Iyer at the first session of the Indian National Congress.
R. Raghunatha Rao (1831–1912), Indian civil servant, administrator, politician and Indian independence activist. Diwan of Indore 1875–88.
K. Krishnaswamy Rao (1845–1923), Diwan of Travancore 1898–1904.
R. Ramachandra Rao (1871–1936), Indian civil servant and Indian independence activist. Served as District Collector of Kurnool, Nellore and Madras.
T. Ramachandra Rao (1825–1879), First Deputy Commissioner of Police, Madras.
C. R. Krishnaswamy Rao Sahib, IAS ( 1927– 2013) a distinguished administrator and civil servant who was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2008. Krishnaswamy Rao Saheb distinguished himself by becoming the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Charan Singh and then becoming the Cabinet Secretary when Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister.
Sundar Narayana Rao, Reputed singer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Notes

↑ "The Maharashtrians of TN". The Hindu . 7 July 2003. Archived from the original on 28 October 2003. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
1 2 "Marathi identity, with Tamil flavour". The Indian Express. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
↑ Ramesh N. Rao; Avinash Thombre (23 April 2015). Intercultural Communication: The Indian Context. SAGE Publications India. p. 221. ISBN 9789351505075 . Retrieved 23 April 2015.
↑ "Census of India – DISTRIBUTION OF 10,000 PERSONS BY LANGUAGE". Government of India. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
↑ Gopal, Ashok (August 1986). "Shivaji's Forgotten Cousins" (PDF). Poona Digest.
↑ B. N. Krishnamurti Sarma (2000). A history of the Dvaita school of Vedānta and its literature: from the earliest beginnings to our own times. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 544. ISBN 978-81-208-1575-9.
↑ http://mef.4mg.com/

Related Research Articles

Kumbakonam, or Kudanthai, is a city municipal corporation in the Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located 40 km (25 mi) from Thanjavur and 282 km (175 mi) from Chennai and is the headquarters of the Kumbakonam taluk of Thanjavur district. It is the second largest city in the district after Thanjavur. The city is bounded by two rivers, the Kaveri River to the north and Arasalar River to the south. Kumbakonam is known as a "Temple town" due to the prevalence of a number of temples here and is noted for its Mahamaham festival, which happens once in 12 years, attracting people from all over the country.

Rao is a title and a surname native to India. It is used mostly in states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Telangana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chola Nadu</span> Region of Tamil Nadu

Chola Nadu is a cultural region of the Tamil Nadu state in southern India. It encompasses the lower reaches of the Kaveri River and its delta, and formed the cultural homeland and political base of the Chola Dynasty which ruled large parts of South India and parts of Sri Lanka between the 9th and 13th centuries CE. Uraiyur served as the early Chola capital, then medieval Cholas shifted to Thanjavur and later cholas king Rajendra Chola I moved the capital to Gangaikonda Cholapuram in Ariyalur in the 11th century CE.

Raja Sir Tanjore Madhava Rao, KCSI, also known as Sir Madhava Rao Thanjavurkar or simply as Madhavarao Tanjorkar, was an Indian statesman, civil servant, administrator and politician who served as the Diwan of Travancore from 1857 to 1872, Indore from 1873 to 1875 and Baroda from 1875 to 1882. He was the nephew of the former Diwan of Travancore T. Venkata Rao and the son of T. Ranga Rao who was also the former Diwan of Travancore.

Thanjavur Marathi, also spelled as Tanjore Marathi, is a dialect of Marathi spoken by Thanjavur Maharashtrians who migrated south, along with Shivaji's half brother Venkoji, to the areas surrounding the city of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, India back in the 17th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. Seshayya Sastri</span> Indian administrator

Sir Amaravati Seshayya Sastri, or Sashiah Sastri, was an Indian administrator who served as the Diwan of Travancore from May 1872 to 4 May 1877 and as the Diwan of Pudukkottai from 1878 to 1894. He is credited with having modernized the city of Pudukkottai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T. Ananda Rao</span> Indian statesman

SirTanjore Ananda Rao was an Indian administrator and statesman who served as the 18th Diwan of Mysore from 1909 to 1912. He was the eldest son of Sir T. Madhava Rao.

SirVishwanath Patankar Madhava Rao was an Indian administrator and statesman who served as the 17th Diwan of Mysore from 1906 to 1909 and that of Baroda from 1910 to 1913.

Rai Raya Rai Venkata Rao, was an Indian administrator and statesman who served as Diwan of Travancore 1821–1829 and 1838–39. He was the father of R. Raghunatha Rao, brother of R. Ranga Rao and paternal uncle of Sir T. Madhava Rao.

Rai Bahadur Thandalam Gopala Rao was an Indian educator who, along with William Archer Porter, was responsible for the growth of the Government Arts College, Kumbakonam in its early stages.

Tanjore Rama Rao, was an Indian administrator who served as the Diwan of Travancore from 1887 to 1892. V. Nagam Aiya, in his 1906 Travancore State Manual calls him "the most popular Diwan in recent times". Rama Rao was a cousin of Rajah Sir T. Madhava Rao and Diwan Bahadur R. Raghunatha Rao. All three were grandsons of Gundopanth. Rama Rao's mother Sonamma Bai was Gundopanth's daughter, while Diwan Bahadur R. Raghunatha Rao's father R. Venkata Rao and T. Madhava Rao's father R. Ranga Rao were Gundopanth's sons.

Reddy Row,, was an Indian administrator who served as the Diwan of Travancore from 1817 to 1821 and 1843 to 1845.

Diwan Bahadur Rai Raghunatha Rao was an Indian civil servant, administrator, politician and Indian independence activist who served as the Diwan of Indore from 1875 to 1880 and 1886 to 1888. He was related to Indian statesman Sir T. Madhava Rao.

Thanjavur District was one of the districts in the erstwhile Madras Presidency of British India. It covered the area of the present-day districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Aranthangi taluk, Karambakkudi taluk of Pudukkottai District in Tamil Nadu. Apart from being a bedrock of Hindu orthodoxy, Tanjore was a centre of Chola cultural heritage and one of the richest and most prosperous districts in Madras Presidency.

Diwan Bahadur Raghunatha Rao Ramachandra Rao was an Indian civil servant, mathematician and social and political activist who served as District Collector in British India.

Dewan Bahadur or Diwan Bahadur was a title of honour awarded during British rule in India. It was awarded to individuals who had performed faithful service or acts of public welfare to the nation. From 1911 the title was accompanied by a special Title Badge. Dewan literally means Prime Minister in Indian context and Bahadur means brave.

Krishnaswamy is an Indian name and may refer to:

Rai Ranga Rao was was an Indian administrator and statesman who served as Diwan of Travancore 1837–1838. He was the father of Sir T. Madhava Rao, brother of R. Venkata Rao and paternal uncle of R. Raghunatha Rao.

References

M. Vinayak (15 January 2000). "Struggle for survival". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 20 January 2012.
S. Muthiah (7 July 2003). "The Maharashtrians of T. N." The Hindu . Archived from the original on 23 October 2003.
Robert Eric Frykenberg (1968), Elite Formation in Nineteenth Century South India, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Tamil Culture and History, Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaysia Press
South Indian Maharashtrians (Cultural and Economic Studies), Silver Jubilee Souvenir, Mahratta Education Fund, 1937

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "The Maharashtrians of TN". The Hindu . 7 July 2003. Archived from the original on 28 October 2003. Retrieved 12 November 2018.

[:0-2] 1 2 "Marathi identity, with Tamil flavour". The Indian Express. Retrieved 12 November 2018.

[3] Ramesh N. Rao; Avinash Thombre (23 April 2015). Intercultural Communication: The Indian Context. SAGE Publications India. p. 221. ISBN 9789351505075 . Retrieved 23 April 2015.

[4] "Census of India – DISTRIBUTION OF 10,000 PERSONS BY LANGUAGE". Government of India. Retrieved 23 September 2009.

[pdigest1986-5] Gopal, Ashok (August 1986). "Shivaji's Forgotten Cousins" (PDF). Poona Digest.

[dvaitap544-6] B. N. Krishnamurti Sarma (2000). A history of the Dvaita school of Vedānta and its literature: from the earliest beginnings to our own times. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 544. ISBN 978-81-208-1575-9.

[7] ttp://mef.4mg.com/

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

v t e Chola Nadu
State	Tamil Nadu Puducherry
Districts	Ariyalur Karaikal Nagapattinam Perambalur Pudukkottai Thanjavur Tiruchirapalli Tiruvarur
Towns	Kumbakonam Mayiladuthurai Nagapattinam Pudukkottai Thanjavur Tiruchirappalli
Culture	Aadi Perukku Bharatanatyam Carnatic Music Poikkal Kudhirai Swamimalai Bronze Icons Thanjavur painting Thanjavur doll Tyagaraja Aradhana
Rivers	Arasalar Kaveri Kollidam Pambar
Languages	Tamil Central Tamil dialect Thanjavur Marathi