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
Madanapalle set it to music in Madanapalle. The National Anthem was written by Rabindranath Tagore as early as in 1911 and was sung at the annual session of the Indian National Congress at Calcutta on 27 December that year. But it was actually done in Besant Theosophical College, Madanapalle, where Tagore stayed for few days in February 1919 that the now familiar tune was set. It was Margaret Cousins, wife of educationist, Dr. James Henry Cousins, who composed the tune for "Jana Gana Mana". Dr.J H Cousins was then the Principal of the Madanapalle College that was established by Dr. Annie