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 also played on certain occasions. It reads as follows Translation by Tagore, dated 28 February 1919 at the Besant Theosophical College. Refer to for the translation of the full poem. Primary sources available in the "Gallery" section. In Kerala, students belonging to the Jehovah's Witnesses religious denomination were expelled by school authorities for their refusal to sing the national anthem on religious grounds, although they stood up respectfully when the anthem was sung. The Kerala High Court concluded that there was nothing in it which could offend anyone's religious susceptibilities, and upheld their expulsion. On 11 August 1986, the Supreme