Maharashtra’s Rich Cultural Heritage: History, Art, and Tourism

Posted on Mar 23, 2025 in Social sciences

Maharashtra’s Cultural Heritage

Powada is a dramatic narration that alternates between reciting poetry and prose. Powada narrates the deeds of heroic men and women in a forceful and inspiring style. The Powada composed by poet Adnyandas, a contemporary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, about the killing of Afzal Khan is a well-known example. During the British period, Powadas narrating the stories of Umaji Naik, the Chapekar brothers, and Mahatma Gandhi were composed. During the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, Powadas were used to create public awareness.

Samdnya Kosh (Historical Terminology)

Samdnya Kosh: Encyclopedic texts explain historical terminology. Such texts are very useful for history teachers. School, college, and university history teachers can find ample opportunities in encyclopedia publication. Encyclopedias of all types require history experts. Every subject has a developmental history. History scholars can contribute significantly to various types of encyclopedias.

Vishwakosh (Marathi Encyclopedia)

Vishwakosh: The first Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Yashwantrao Chavan, initiated the compilation of Marathi Vishwakosh through the Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya Samskruti Mandal to enhance Marathi language and literature. The work began under the guidance of Tarkteerth Lakshmanshastri Joshi. It contains knowledge about all possible subjects and includes important entries about history.

Preserving Historical Sites

Preservation of History:

  1. Follow the rules and regulations laid down by the organization when visiting any historical site.
  2. Examine historical documents with the greatest care.
  3. Reprint written sources.
  4. Organize heritage walks regularly.
  5. Make common people aware of historical sites.
  6. Establish heritage clubs to educate people and students.
  7. Handle historical sources carefully.

Islamic Architecture in India

Characteristics of Islamic Architecture in India:

  1. In the medieval period, under the patronage of Muslim Sultanates, Persian, Central Asian, Arabic, and pre-Islamic native Indian styles blended together, creating Islamic architecture in India.
  2. The Qutub Minar at Mehrauli near Delhi, the Taj Mahal at Agra, and the Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur in Karnataka are world-famous examples of Islamic architecture in India.
  3. Construction of the Qutub Minar started in the 12th century C.E. and was completed in the 13th century C.E. It is 73 meters (240 ft) in height.
  4. The Taj Mahal is considered the paramount example of the beauty of Islamic architecture.
  5. The Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur in Karnataka was built in the 17th century C.E. It houses the burial of Mohammed Adil Shah of Bijapur.
  6. Inside the dome, after which the building is named, there is a round gallery.


Marathi Theatre’s Evolution

Marathi Theatre: Previously, the Bhosale rulers of Tanjore patronized drama. Some wrote and translated Sanskrit plays. The 19th century witnessed the development of Marathi Theatre. Vishnudas Bhave, the father of Marathi Theatre, initiated historical, mythological, and farcical plays. Seetaswayamvar was the first play presented by him. Musical Marathi theatre evolved with the introduction of classical Khyal music. Balkrishnabuva Ichalkaranjikar, Ustad Alladiya Khan, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, and Ustad Rahimat Khar developed a taste for classical music among Marathi audiences.

Entertainment and Professional Opportunities in History

Entertainment and Professional Opportunities:

Students of history can avail themselves of many professional opportunities in drama and movies.

Drama

  1. Deep knowledge of the history of arts and architecture of the concerned period is essential to achieve accuracy of stage backdrops. Experts in these fields can work as art directors or consultants.

Cinema

  1. Art directors create backdrop designs, atmosphere, costumes, jewelry, makeup, hairstyles, etc., suitable to the times of the movie’s theme. History scholars can work in this field as art directors or consultants.

Maharashtra: The Heart of Indian Cinema

Cinema is a medium that brings together art and technology. Maharashtra has the honor of making and releasing the first full-length movie. Maharashtra is known as the land that nurtured the Indian film industry. The contribution of Madanrao Madhavrao Pitale, the Patwardhan family of Kalyan, and Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatvadekar, also known as Savedada, is very important in the development of Indian movies.

Bharud: Spiritual and Ethical Songs

Bharud can be described as a metaphorical song with spiritual and ethical lessons. Bharud is comparable to a road show. Bharuds composed by Saint Eknath are popular in Maharashtra because of their wide range of subjects, dramatic quality, easy rhythm, and humor. Saint Eknath composed Bharuds to educate people on various aspects of life.

Sthalakosh: Encyclopedias of Historical Places

Sthalakosh:

  1. Sthalakosh are encyclopedias providing information about historical places. Geographic information is essential for historical studies.
  2. Sthanapothi is an encyclopedic text composed by Muni Vyas of the Mahanubhav sect.
  3. It describes all the places visited by Chakradhar Swami, the founder of the Mahanubhav sect, giving us an idea about Maharashtra in those days.
  4. It also gives details about the time, place, and background of the events described in Leelacharitra.

Marxist Historians

Marxist Historians: Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, Comrade Shripad Amrut Dange, Ram Sharan Sharma, and Comrade Sharad Patil have contributed notably. Comrade Dange was one of the founder members of the Indian Communist Party. His book, ‘Primitive Communism to Slavery,’ represents Marxist historiography.


Voltaire and Modern Historiography

Voltaire’s original name was François-Marie Arouet. He was French. He opined that along with objective truth and chronology of historical events, considering traditions, social trade, economy, agriculture, etc., was equally important in historiography. This gave rise to the thought that understanding all aspects of human life is important for history writing. Thus, Voltaire is considered the founder of modern historiography.

Nationalistic Historians

Nationalistic Historians: Mahadev Govind Ranade, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Rajendra Lal Mishra, and Anant Sadashiv Altekar (They were blamed for ignoring critical analyses).

Objectives of Heritage Projects

Objectives Fulfilled Through Heritage Projects:

  1. The operations necessary for the conservation, preservation, and development of the heritage site can be handled without causing any change in its original state.
  2. The local social structure and psychology of the local people, challenges faced by them in the present situations, and their expectations can be surveyed in detail.
  3. Due precautions can be taken to avoid hurting the sentiments of the local people while completing the projects of conservation, preservation, and development of a heritage site.
  4. Participation of the local people in the project can be facilitated.
  5. A systematic plan can be designed to employ local skills in a creative way and create better opportunities for livelihood.

Folk Styles of Paintings

Folk Styles of Paintings: Rock paintings dating to the Stone Age have been discovered in many countries. In India, there are rock painting sites in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Rock paintings usually depict human, animal, and geometric figures. However, the style of rock paintings seems to be changing according to the cultural changes from the Stone Age to the beginning of agriculture. With the help of rock paintings, we can understand the knowledge of ancient people about their natural surroundings and also the way they exploited available natural resources. The tradition of folk-style painting closely resembles rock-style paintings.

Saraswati Mahal Granthalay: A Historical Library

Saraswati Mahal Granthalay in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, was built in the 16th-17th century during the times of the Nayak dynasty. In 1675 C.E., Vyankojiraje Bhosale conquered Thanjavur and established his independent rule. Vyankojiraje Bhosale and his successors kept expanding ‘Saraswati Mahal Granthalay’. Sarfojiraje Bhosale contributed the most to this expansion. In 1918, the library was renamed ‘The Thanjavur Maharaja Sarfoji’s Saraswati Mahal Library’ in his honor.


Guiding Tourists: A Crucial Issue

The crucial issue in the development of tourism is providing proper guidance to national and international tourists about various aspects of the actual travel, proper social conduct during the tour, and during their stay at the destination places.

Developing Tourist Surroundings

What would you develop in your surrounding: Giving priority to ensuring safe transport and security facilities for the tourists, amenities of reasonably good standard, availability of good accommodation, and good washroom facilities on the travel routes is of great significance in promoting tourism. It is also very important to pay special attention to the special needs of handicapped tourists.

Preserving Historical Heritage Sites

It is important to take a few primary precautions in order to preserve the historical heritage sites. It is essential that a few things should be avoided at any instance, for example: vandalizing or defacing the heritage monuments and sites. In order to avoid it, everybody should refrain from activities like writing on walls, carving on trees, and painting ancient monuments in garish colors, etc. Lack of good amenities in the precincts of the heritage sites causes filthiness.

Tourism and Professional Opportunities

Tourism and Professional Opportunities: Tourism and Hospitality is an industry with the potential to create maximum employment opportunities. If managed professionally, it is a very stable industry with tremendous scope for experimentation and innovation. A good number of employment opportunities are available in the tourism and hospitality industry. The country which is a tourist destination begins to receive revenue even before a tourist arrives at the airport of that country. He has to pay for his visa. He spends for his travel, stay in hotels, food, payment to translators and guides, buying newspapers, reference books, souvenirs, etc. The market in the vicinity grows along with the development of a tourist center. Hence, the local handicrafts and cottage industries also begin to develop. The demand for locally processed food items and ethnic handicrafts increases. It results in better income for local artisans, business people, and wage earners. It would be helpful if the taxi drivers are trained to converse in more than one language. They may also be trained as tourist guides.

Art: Sharing Experiences and Emotions

Art: It is a natural human instinct to want to share his experience, wisdom, and also emotions. When that instinct results in a beautiful creation, it is acknowledged as ‘Art’. The artist’s power of imagination, sensibility, state of emotion, and his skills are the crucial factors at the root of artistic creation.

The Tradition of Traveling

Tradition of Traveling: Nowadays, it has become easier to travel because of the easy availability of a number of options for railway, marine, and air transport. Marine transport has linked the coastal regions. There is a trans-European railway route. Aviation has brought the entire world closer. Because of the economic liberalization policy of the Indian government, the number of people traveling back and forth from India has increased considerably.