_Maratha, Mahratta._--The military caste of southern India which manned
the armies of Sivaji, and of the Peshwa and other princes of the
Maratha confederacy. In the Central Provinces the Marathas numbered
34,000 persons in 1911, of whom Nagpur contained 9000 and Wardha
8000, while the remainder were distributed over Raipur, Hoshangabad
and Nimar. In Berar their strength was 60,000 persons, the total for
the combined province being thus 94,000. The caste is found in large
numbers in Bombay and Hyderabad, and in 1901 the India Census tables
show a total of not less than five million persons belonging to it.