Maharashtra

"Subject to influences from both north and south, Maharashtra had been the meeting ground of many cultures. Its marriage customs followed the pattern of the south, but its language belonged to the Indo-Aryan family of the north. Yet despite these influences Maharashtra and its people had remained distinct from their neighbours. They were united by a language which was a tongue with few variations between the high and the low and between place and place."

"The houses of this country (Maharashtra) are exceedingly strong and built solely of stone and iron. The hatchet-men of the Government in the course of my marching do not get sufficient strength and power (i.e., time) to destroy and raze the temples of the infidels that meet the eye on the way. You should appoint an orthodox inspector (darogha) who may afterwards destroy them at leisure and dig up their foundations."

"Places of pilgrimage have been destroyed, homes of the Brahmans have been desecrated, the whole earth is agitated; Dharma is gone. Therefore, Marathas should be mobilized; Maharashtra Dharma should be propagated."

"I think you are unnecessarily blaming Maharashtrians. The battle of Shivaji was not just for the Marathas, but for the whole Bharatvarsha. From the last two decades and more, the flag of struggle that we have unfurled is also for the country. Have Ranade, Gokhale or Tilak fought only for Maharashtra? All the major political and revolutionary movements in the country in the last fifty years have come from this soil. Bengal was partitioned. But did Maharashtra not stand in strong protest and suffer that as though she herself had been vivisected? We protested and grieved with Punjab when the tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh happened. These are no favours that we have done; it is our sacred duty to stand with all our brethren and countrymen wherever and whenever they are in peril. Hence it is utterly ungrateful of you to not acknowledge this and rather make such atrocious allegations against Maharashtra."