History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c16.s5.8

v1.c16.s5.8

The point we have further to urge is that these Aryan-Brahmins and Kshatriyas were allied to the Deccan Aryans i. e. the ancestors of the Marathas of the modern day. Not only do these Aryans i. e. Brahmins of Āndhra and Kanara intermarry with the Brahmins of the Deccan but we find from an inspection of these Prakrit records that the language therein used is allied to the Mahārāshtrī. Thus the inscription at Jagayyapetha mentions Kamakaraṭhe the Raṭra or Rāshtra of Kamaha. The word Rāshṭra belongs to the Mahārāshtras and points to this king being a Maratha Kshatriya. Again the word Apaṇo instead of Attaṇo (Sans. Ātmano) is the Marathi word Apaṇa. So again the inscription of the Bṛihatphalāyana Jayavarman uses the expression खंडरुजस for Sanskrit स्कंदरुद्रायस्य which is plainly Marathi. Here we have the Marathi word खंडोबा for स्कंद and the word अज for आर्य is not modern Telagu which uses अय्या but is plainly the parent of the Marathi आजा. The inscriptions lastly of the Pallavas and the Kadambas about this time viz. the first to the 3rd century A. D. are in Prakrit and the representatives of these are plainly the modern Maratha families Pālave and Kadam.