History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c59.s1: § 1. Maharashtra: the land and its produce.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c59.s1
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§ 1. Maharashtra: the land and its produce.
v4.c59.s1.1
The dominating feature of the Deccan land is the Western Ghat or Sahyadri range, forming a towering wall along the entire western edge of the peninsula. Between the Ghats and the Indian Ocean lies a long narrow strip of land of varying breadth, called Konkan (between Bombay and Goa) and Kanara (south of Goa.) It is an area of certain and heavy rainfall,—from 100 to 120 inches in the year,—with rice for the predominant crop, and dense mango-groves, plantain orchards and coconut-palms adding to the beauty of the landscape and the wealth of the inhabitants. Here the districts of Thana, Kolaba and Ratnagiri (with the State of Savant-vadi),—a total area of over 10,000 miles,—are now predominantly Marathi-speaking.
v4.c59.s1.2
After crossing the Ghats eastwards we have a belt of land, some 20 miles in breadth, called Dang or Maval in the north and Mallad in the south (i.e., Kanara.) "It is extremely rugged, a series of table-lands cut on every side by deep winding valleys. From the valleys, hills of various heights and forms arise, terrace above terrace, with steep sides often strewn with black basalt boulders......Here and there are patches of ancient evergreen forests." (Bomb. Gaz., xviii. pt. 1, pp. 2, 13.)
v4.c59.s1.3
The Western Ghats have thrown off a large number of short spurs eastwards, every two of which enclose a valley, the bed of some stream rolling east to add its waters to the mighty Godavari or Krishna. Towards the east the spurs sink, the valleys widen out and form Desh or the vast rolling black-soil plain of the Central Deccan.
v4.c59.s1.4
This land, almost locked among the hills and open only in the east, is the cradle of the Maratha kingdom. Originally Maharashtra was formed by the Nasik, Puna and Satara districts, parts of Ahmadnagar and Sholapur, and the western corner of Aurangabad,—a rough total of 28,000 square miles. East of the Ghats the rainfall decreases rapidly, and is uncertain and insufficient for agriculture, while the soil is naturally sterile and broken up by low ranges of bare rocky hills which neither store water for cultivation nor attract the rainfall. "The Deccan, generally speaking, yields to much labour a bare measure of subsistence."