It is difficult to avoid confusion in the use of the term Maratha,
which signifies both an inhabitant of the area in which the
Marathi language is spoken, and a member of the caste to which
the general name has in view of their historical importance been
specifically applied. The native name for the Marathi-speaking
country is Maharashtra, which has been variously interpreted as
'The great country' or 'The country of the Mahars.' [201] A third
explanation of the name is from the Rashtrakuta dynasty which was
dominant in this area for some centuries after A.D. 750. The name
Rashtrakuta was contracted into Rattha, and with the prefix of Maha
or Great might evolve into the term Maratha. The Rashtrakutas have
been conjecturally identified with the Rathor Rajputs. The _Nasik
Gazetteer_ [202] states that in 246 B.C. Maharatta is mentioned as
one of the places to which Asoka sent an embassy, and Maharashtraka
is recorded in a Chalukyan inscription of A.D. 580 as including three
provinces and 99,000 villages. Several other references are given
in Sir J. Campbell's erudite note, and the name is therefore without
doubt ancient. But the Marathas as a people do not seem to be mentioned
before the thirteenth or fourteenth century. [203] The antiquity of
the name would appear to militate against the derivation from the
Rashtrakuta dynasty, which did not become prominent till much later,
and the most probable meaning of Maharashtra would therefore seem to
be 'The country of the Mahars.' Maharatta and Maratha are presumably
derivatives from Maharashtra.