Marhatta (region) Marhatta (region) Marhatta or Maharatta/Maharatha (Devanagari: महाराठा) was a historical region in western Maharashtra in present-day Konkan and Desh regions. The region is invoked, along with Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Orissa, Bengal and South India as the different cultural regions of India in Rabindranath Tagore's poem which was chosen as the national anthem "Jana Gana Mana" of the newly-established Indian republic in 1950. Both the Marathas and the Marathi people originate from the place. The exact etymology of the name is uncertain. A theory is that the term is derived from "Maha" ("great") and "ratha" / "rathi" (chariot / charioteer), which
Jana Gana Mana Sarala Devi Chowdhurani, Tagore’s niece, along with a group of school students, in front of prominent Congress Members like Bishan Narayan Dhar, Indian National Congress President and Ambika Charan Majumdar. In 1912, the song was published under the title "Bharat Bhagya Bidhata" in the Tatwabodhini Patrika, which was the official publication of the Brahmo Samaj and of which Tagore was the Editor. Outside of Calcutta, the song was first sung by the bard himself at a session in Besant Theosophical College in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh on 28 February 1919 when Tagore visited the college and sung the song. The song