Kannadiga claims on Maharashtra history and the truth behind it.
- This controversy is a new one and this has its roots in the Belagavi conflict . And there are many blogs which have made certain claims ,So I decided to check whether they are true and then after a lot of research I decided to write this.
The claims of Kannadigas
1. Marathis did not have an own kingdom prior to Chatrapathi shivaji maharaj (1630-1680)
2.Kannadigas ruled Maharashtra majority of the time.
3. Maharastra as we know today was a Kannada speaking land ,
4.Marathi language has a large influence of Kannada
5.Marathi people(southern Maharashtra) as we know them today were kannadigas and they adopted Marathi later during peshwa rule
6. And there's a blog named as controversies in history by Modi sattva has made some serious claims .
So I decided to counter that bring out the truth and destroy myths
First let us have a look at the 2languages . Kannada and Marathi
Kannada is spoken by around 44 million people in India and it is a classical language in India . Kannada evolved from old Kannada 300-1200 ad but certain scholars agree that Kannada was spkoen as early as 3rd century BC .
Marathi is spoken by around 90 million people it evolved from Maharashtri prakrit around 500 ad and Maharashtri prakrit is said to be spoken form 500 BC till 500 ad . there were many types of prakrit like
Shourseni - developed into Punjabi ,Hindi
Magadhi- developed into Bengali ,oriya,Assamese
Paisakhi - developed into kashmiri
Maharashtri - developed into Marathi and Konkani.
This is the area of the Kannada speakers
above is the approximate area of Marathi speakers
Now in those pro Kannada blogs they have displayed Kannada as a much older and superior language compared to Marathi .
points to note
Kannada language was spoken from around 500-600 BCE ,the first Kannada inscription which is in Halegannada (old kannada) is dated around 350-400 AD . Modern Kannada has evolved from that
Marathi
on the other hand evolved from Maharashtri prakrit at around 1100 AD so"Marathi is just 900 years old and Kannada on the other hand is around 2600 years old " this what those blogs say . But taking into account modern Kannada it is just 800 years old! . so when Kannada is dated from its very
first form why cant Marathi also be dated in the same way?.
Maharashtri prakrit (ancestor of Marathi)
This was the ancestor of modern Marathi ,Konkani , Divehi(Maldivian language)
Maharashtri was spoken from South rajputana till the Krishna river according to many historians ex- C.V Vaidhya in his book medieval India states so. It evolved as a separate Prakrit around 500 BC.
In one of the blogs by name Controversies in history there is an article named "The myth of maharashtri prakrit" and according to modi sattva(the guy who wrote it ) Marathi never evolved from Maharashtri instead Marathi is mixture (combination of prakrit ,kannada and telugu) When i argued with him he asked me to produce words from Maharashtri and asked to prove that Maharashtri was spoken or not , I lost the argument as could not produce the things he had asked for .
He even argued that Maharashtri never existed .
So i decided to get some information about Maharashtri and how it evolved into Modern Marathi .
The Government's submission for making Marathi a classical language to the Central Government is a marvelous document which describes the history of the Marathi language here. (Or see all links at मराठी भाषा विभाग > Antargat Saunstha > Abhijaat Marathi Bhasha)
Other lines of the inscriptions can be seen here.
Gaha Sattasai (or in Sanskrit known as Gatha Saptasati) is a collection of poems written in Maharashtra Prakrit. It is dated between 200 BCE to 200 CE and the authorship is attributed to the Satavahana King Hala. Some more snippets from the above document follow:
Another extract from the document, about some indigenous Maharashtri Prakrit words:
Marathi is spoken by around 90 million people it evolved from Maharashtri prakrit around 500 ad and Maharashtri prakrit is said to be spoken form 500 BC till 500 ad . there were many types of prakrit like
Shourseni - developed into Punjabi ,Hindi
Magadhi- developed into Bengali ,oriya,Assamese
Paisakhi - developed into kashmiri
Maharashtri - developed into Marathi and Konkani.
This is the area of the Kannada speakers
above is the approximate area of Marathi speakers
Now in those pro Kannada blogs they have displayed Kannada as a much older and superior language compared to Marathi .
points to note
Kannada language was spoken from around 500-600 BCE ,the first Kannada inscription which is in Halegannada (old kannada) is dated around 350-400 AD . Modern Kannada has evolved from that
Marathi
on the other hand evolved from Maharashtri prakrit at around 1100 AD so"Marathi is just 900 years old and Kannada on the other hand is around 2600 years old " this what those blogs say . But taking into account modern Kannada it is just 800 years old! . so when Kannada is dated from its very
first form why cant Marathi also be dated in the same way?.
Maharashtri prakrit (ancestor of Marathi)
This was the ancestor of modern Marathi ,Konkani , Divehi(Maldivian language)
Maharashtri was spoken from South rajputana till the Krishna river according to many historians ex- C.V Vaidhya in his book medieval India states so. It evolved as a separate Prakrit around 500 BC.
In one of the blogs by name Controversies in history there is an article named "The myth of maharashtri prakrit" and according to modi sattva(the guy who wrote it ) Marathi never evolved from Maharashtri instead Marathi is mixture (combination of prakrit ,kannada and telugu) When i argued with him he asked me to produce words from Maharashtri and asked to prove that Maharashtri was spoken or not , I lost the argument as could not produce the things he had asked for .
He even argued that Maharashtri never existed .
So i decided to get some information about Maharashtri and how it evolved into Modern Marathi .
The Government's submission for making Marathi a classical language to the Central Government is a marvelous document which describes the history of the Marathi language here. (Or see all links at मराठी भाषा विभाग > Antargat Saunstha > Abhijaat Marathi Bhasha)
Other lines of the inscriptions can be seen here.
Gaha Sattasai (or in Sanskrit known as Gatha Saptasati) is a collection of poems written in Maharashtra Prakrit. It is dated between 200 BCE to 200 CE and the authorship is attributed to the Satavahana King Hala. Some more snippets from the above document follow:
Now have a look at these Maharashtri works and the words have similarity to Modern Marathi and go through the link above on the history of Marathi , those are not mere blogs but official documents produced and approved by the govt of India . I do not support language supremacy all languages are beautiful in their own way , This was about the language and regarding answering those blogs on history i will be doing it in part two . Hope i shared some good reliable and genuine information.
TO BE CONTINUED........................................................................................................
