A century of the Mahratta(Maharashtrian) presence in Malaysia.
New Strait Times, Malaysia
Heritage: A legacy of Mahratta discipline.
A century of the Mahratta(Maharashtrian) presence in Malaysia.
THIS year marks just over a century of the Mahratta presence in Malaysia. A minority among the Indians in the country, there are at present only about 250-300 Mahrattas and people of part-Mahratta descent spread over the Federal Territory, Selangor, Perak and Negri Sembilan, with a few families in the extreme north and south of the peninsula.
(The figure does not include recent arrivals, all professionals, who came from India during the last decade to serve on a contract basis in governmental and non-governmental agencies).
The early Mahrattas came from Tanjore City (now called Thanjavur) in south India. How, one may ask, did Mahrattas from the western Indian state of Mahrashtra come to live in Tanjore? To understand this phenomenon, one has to go back a little into Indian history.
During the glory days of the Mahrattas, from the early 17th century to the late 19th century, they ruled almost the whole of India from New Delhi in the north to Tanjore in the south. Their great warrior-king Shivaji Bhonsle (Bhonsle is a clan name) ruled the larger northern region while the south, including Tanjore City, was ruled by his brother, Vyankoji Bhonsle.
Maharaja Vyankoji Bhonsle started the Mahratta dynasty in Tanjore when he conquered it on Jan 12, 1676. His successors all lived in the palace that still stands to this day. The last Maharaja of Tanjore died in 1855. The city and principality were then taken over by the British.
And so it was that from the start of Maharaja Vyankoji Bhonsle's rule, Tanjore became home to the conquering Bhonsle clan and other Mahratta clans like the Mohite (who were well-known for their military prowess), the Savant, the Dhamanya, the Doipade, the Gaekwad and the Jadhav. They gave up soldiering and, as conquerors, they became land-owners in Tanjore.
Prior to their arrival in the then Malaya, the Maharattas lived in and around the palace (`Rajwadaa') in Tanjore City. They prayed at the Vittobha Temple there. Many attended the Marathi school in the palace grounds but switched to English schools later.
The earliest Tanjore Mahrattas to arrive in Malaya were those from the Bhonsle and Mohite clans. They made up the largest group arrival.
First among them were clansmen S. Sundar Rao Bhonsle and T.A. Krishnaji Rao Mohite. They arrived in 1895 when the F.M.S. Railways (Federated Malay States Railways) opened its line from Ipoh to Teluk Anson. Later, they brought over their sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law and the rest of their extended families. All of them settled in Ipoh. (Later, some left for Kuala Lumpur due to job postings). The sprawling railway bungalow in which Sundar Rao Bhonsle and his family lived still stands in Falim, Ipoh, though it has fallen into disuse now.
(It is pertinent to mention here that some Mahrattas like the Gokhales and Patels came over as individual families from Bombay and Pune but not in large numbers like the clansmen mentioned above).
Since the early Mahrattas were all the English-educated, most of the men were absorbed into the clerical services of the F.M.S. Railways. Others joined the private sector as clerks.
The Bhonsle brothers (sons of Sundar Rao Bhonsle) - S. Ramdass Rao, S. Mahalinga Rao and S, Janardhan Rao - joined the Railways. Laxman Rao Mohite was employed by Wearne Brothers. Viswanath Rao Mohite became a clerk at United Engineers, one of the earliest British companies in Ipoh. Mohite cousins T.G. Somanath Rao and Rajaram Rao joined the printing line.
Other early Mahrattas were Shantram Rao Savant, A Pathmanath Rao, Govindasamy Rao Dhamanya, Dasarath Rao Doipade (they all joined the Railways), Ramchander Rao Gaekwad (he enlisted in the army), Vasu Rao Jadhav (he joined the police force), and Raghunath Rao Mohite (he was a pioneer official of the NUPW).
All these men lived by the creed of `discipline and devotion to duty'. And their hard work did not go unrewarded.
Sundar Rao Bhonsle was the first Asian to be promoted to the post of Grade A Locomotive Engineer in the F.M.S. Railways (a top post hitherto held only by the British). His son Mahalinga Rao Bhonsle had the rare honour of becoming Office Supervisor to the British Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Railways. Vasu Rao Jadhav rose to become a Police Inspector, a post normally held by the colonials. And Shantram Rao Savant had the distinction of being awarded the title of O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by the then British monarch.
The womenfolk among the early Mahrattas were well-known for their culinary skills. They used the same recipes as those of the Tanjore Maharaja's Palace and prepared scrumptious dishes like gola rassa (mutton- ball curry); sunti (spicy mutton balls wound in banana-stem fibre and roasted over hot embers); jhunka (a savoury bengal-gram side-dish); and biranji (a rich mutton briyani baked with embers below and above the covered cooking-pot). Obviously, their dishes were fit for a king. It is said that when the menfolk set out to office, their wives gave them flasks filled with water boiled with fenugreek or cumin to boost their health.
The women usually wore light cotton saris and light silk ones for special occasions. But their wedding reception saris were eight metres long and of gold brocade, like those of the Tanjore Palace.
For recreation, the women engaged themselves in doing crochet, embroidery, smocking and beadwork. A strange quirk among them was to photograph their toddlers dressed in nothing else but jewellery - chunky bangles, bracelets, neck-chains, hip-chains and anklets - all in solid gold (which should dispel the popular misconception that all immigrants came here only to look for riches. Many, in fact, brought along their own "pot of gold".) The Tanjore Mahrattas, like some other Indians who came to Malaya, were part of the well-off zamin (land) owners in British India. They only came because they were English-educated and their colonial masters needed their services to develop Malaya).
Being a very small minority and mostly related to each other, the Mahrattas were very close-knit - a trait still apparent to this day. Major functions - be they birth or death ceremonies, weddings or coming- of-age ceremonies - were (and are) attended by all members of the community.
When the first-generation Mahrattas retired from service between 1915 and 1920, they returned to Tanjore to administer their property. Some of the second generation stayed behind, selling off their land in Tanjore, as their sons were no longer interested in being land-owners (they preferred office jobs). From the third generation on, the Mahrattas became Malaysian citizens. Out of the political mainstream, they now quietly contributed to the economy of the country.
Though the early Mahrattas did not leave their descendants much by way of riches in Malaya, they did leave an invaluable legacy of honesty, discipline and hard work.
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