Source: TW
mahAraTThi-s
Etymology
Ironically, the name of the mahArAShTra state probably began with a title that was observed throughout what is today mahArAShTra, Andhra, tela~NgAnA and karNATaka (maybe TN): mahArAShTrika > mahAraTThi = a military leader of a rAShTra (province) or a governor under a monarch. It might have been equivalent to the IA-Dr portmanteau mahAtalavara emanating from the tamiL or the kaNNaDa countries.
shAtavAhana
The andhra (shAtavAhana) kings seem to have begun their careers as mahAraTThi-s under the overlordship of the maurya-s. They appear to have acquired greater autonomy under the shu~Nga-s and subsequently emerged as an independent imperial power. The title mahAraTThi is mentioned in inscriptions from antiquity in the heartland of the marahaTTa country, the modern Pune district, at beDsA, bhAjA, and nAnAghAT. Several mahAraTThi clans continued under andhra rule – some likely old and others new.
In a general sense, the marahaTTa-s of medieval history could claim some continuity with these “late antiquity” clans at least in the marahaTTa country.
noblewoman
A fragment of a ChAyAstambha from Dharanikota was reported by the ASI, showing a noblewoman with two attendants. It bore the fragmentary inscription
paputarakAna mahAr[Thi]bAlikAya hAtanaviniyA ChAyAtha[bho] |
Memorial pillar of hAtanavinI, the mahAraTThi’s daughter, of the paputaraka-s.
This indicates that at least one mahAraTThI woman with a peculiar name had attained sufficient prominence to have her own ChAyAstambha comparable to the mahAgrAmika v1 we discussed above. Unfortunately, this memorial seems to have been lost.
Similar to this mahAraTThI woman, we also come across a pillar with a woman named mahAtalavarI aDavi-chAntisirI, who was a daughter of the ikShvAku monarch chAntamUla, and the wife of the chief justice named khanda-visAkhaNNaka (<skanda-viShAkha). It indicates the presence of female mahAtalavarI-s among the ikShvAku-s (note her husband was not a mahAtalavara but the chief justice).
kaumAras
As an aside, khanda-visAkhaNNaka’s clansmen bear multiple theophorous kaumAra names, suggesting that they were one of several clans from that period with a kaumAra inclination. Their main temple seems to have been a now lost kumAra-gR^iha at nAgArjunakoNDa.
A coin of the mahAraTThi sivakhanda (<shiva-skanda) of Veerapuram with elephant and 6-arched hill.