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 Fifth as the Eternal Charioteer leading the pilgrims on their journey through countless ages of the timeless history of mankind." "(Purvasa, Phalgun, 1354, p. 738.)" Moreover, Tagore was hailed as a patriot who wrote other songs too apart from "Jana Gana Mana" lionising the Indian independence movement. He renounced his knighthood in protest against the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. The Knighthood (i.e. the title of 'Sir') was conferred on him by the same King George V after receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature for "Gitanjali" from the government of Sweden. Two of Tagore's more politically charged compositions, "Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo"