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About Maharastra
 A region as diverse and rich in geography, biology and
people and customs, naturally has a long and varied tradition
of art and crafts. Maharashtra is the proud home to various
different artistic techniques which have flourished under the
many rulers including the Marathas, the Mughals and the
British. From the paintings at Ajanta, so many hundreds of
years ago, to today's Warli paintings, Maharashtra's ties with
the Arts have always remained strong and nurturing. Although
some paleolithic remains have been discovered, Maharashtra
enters recorded history in the second century BC, with the
construction of its first Buddhist caves.
These lay, and still
lie, in peaceful places of great natural beauty, but could
never have been created without the wealth generated by the
nearby caravan trade routes between north and south
India.
The name Maharashtra first appeared
in a 7th century inscription and in a Chinese traveler's
account.
Its name may have originated from rathi, meaning "chariot driver" and referring to builders and drivers of
chariots who formed a maharathis, a "fighting force." This
region seems to have attained prominence as early as 90 A.D.,
when king Vedishri made Junnar the capital of his kingdom,
thirty miles north of Pune.
For the 900 years ending in the
early fourteenth century, with the overthrow of the Devgiri
Yadavs by the northern Muslim powers, no historical
information in this region is available. In 1526, first Mughal
king, Babar, established his prominanace in Delhi and soon the
Mughal power spread to the southern India. The Mughals were to
dominate India till the early eighteenth century.
FORTS
 Standing as silent
sentinels to history are the 350-odd forts of Maharashtra.
Beaten by the sea waves, lashed at by the torrential Deccan
rains, or scorched in the blazing sun, stand imposing ramparts
and crumbling walls ? the last lingering memories of
Maharashtra's martial times. Nowhere in the country would you
encounter such a profusion of forts. And such variety. Sited
on an island, as at Murud-Janjira or guarding the seas as at
Bassein, or among the Sahyadri hills, as at Raigad, whose
zig-zag walls and rounded bastions sit like a sceptre and
crown amidst hills turned mauve.
Most of the forts in Maharashtra whether up in the hills or
near the seas are associated with Shivaji --the great Maratha
warrior and an equally great fort builder. Moreover, these
forts were treated as mini-cities, such as Panhala, which is
now a hill station. The concept of the fort-city was, however,
not peculiar to Shivaji alone. The Portuguese who came to
India as traders and missionaries, built within a century of
their coming, Bassein, a garden city to rival many a European
capital.
Today, these forts numbed by sun and sleet, have
not only been witness to changing times, but have also shaped
them and within their walls throb the heart-beat of history. |
