A History of the Mahrattas v1.c5.s3.11

v1.c5.s3.11

There is some ground for the view that the name of the people is derived from certain (Mahā) Rāshtrikas or Mahārathis who occupied a political position of importance in ancient times, and that the name of the country may have been an altered form of their tribal or official appellation.⁴ The point is, however, not free from doubt; and future research may possibly show that the Rāṣṭrikas of the Mauryan epoch and the ‘Mahārathis’ of the inscriptions were so called merely because they lived in a country known as Mahārāṣṭra and spoke Mahārāṣṭri.