Marathi people

"As the result of these intrigues and betrayals, a Maratha’s word and promise came henceforth to be synonymous for falsehood and treachery throughout India and the race has not been able to work off the stain even in a century."

"The Marathas are the thorn of Hindostan.... by one effort we get this thorn out of our sides for ever."

"The disposition of the people is honest and simple... to their benefactors they are grateful; to their enemies ruthless. If they are asked to help one in distress, they will forget themselves in their haste to render assistance."

"They make so much progress every day that one may easily predict that before the end of the present century they will have succeeded in restoring the wisdom of ancient Hindu government wherever Mohammedan invasion has let loose the scourge of despotism and tyranny."

"The personal appearance of the Mahrattas is mean and unprepossessing. They have neither the fair stature and noble bearing of the Mussulman, nor the delicacy of feature and elegance of figure of the southern Hindoo; and they appear to greater disadvantage in our eyes, that we have just left the territories of two of the finest races of people in India, the Seikhs and the Rohillas. Their acknowledged character as brave and skilful soldiers, however, amply makes amends for their personal deficiencies. The chief weapon of the Mahratta is the spear, which is formed of the male bamboo, and from 12 to 18 feet long. He is also skilful in the use of the matchlock. The troops are for the most part mounted on mares which, although, like the cossack’s horse, lanky and ill-fed, are, like him, capable of going through a great deal of work."

"The land of the Marathas is generally open. The people are gay, strong and healthy; they depend only on their courage and their arms. Cavalry is their mainstay; hospitality their principal virtue. This land seemed to me the land of Nature. As I spoke to them I almost believed I was conversing with people of the first age. A large camp of huts Ponin [Pune], this present capital of the Maraths, is quite a flourishing town."

"The Mahrattors are the most considerable Hindoo power in Hindostan. The principal seat of their government is Sattarah, and sometimes Puna, on the coast towards Bombay. Though the genuine Mahrattors all over India do not exceed 60000 men, yet from their superior bravery and success in depredation, thousands of all tribes enlist themselves under their banners. These, instead of pay, receive a certain proportion of the plunder. By this means an army of Mahrattors increases like a river, the farther it advances: so that it is no uncommon thing for a force of ten or twelve thousand genuine Mahrattors to grow into 100,000, before they arrive in the place which they destine to plunder... The nations of the Mahrattors, though chiefly composed of Rajputs, or that tribe of Indian whose chief business is war, retain the mildness of their countrymen in their domestic government. When their armies carry destruction and death into the territories of Mahomedans, all is quiet, happy, and regular at home. No robbery is to be dreaded, no imposition or obstruction from the officers of government, no protection necessary but the shade. To be a stranger is a sufficient security. Provisions are furnished by hospitality; and when a peasant is asked for water, he runs with great alacrity, and fetches milk. This is no ideal picture of happiness. The Author of the Disseration [Dow], who travelled lately into the country of the Mahrattors, avers, from experience, the truth of his observation. But the Mahrattors, who have been represented as barbarians, are a great and rising people, subject to a regular government, the principles of which are founded on virtue."

"The measure pursued by the Mahrattas for some years, left little room to doubt that they aspired at the sovereignty of all Hindostan, or at least at the expulsion of the Mahomedan princes: and, in the course of their prosperity, some of their chiefs were so imprudent as to avow such intention. But the loss of the battle of Paniput, their frequent defeats by the English, and their late internal divisions, have affected their strength as a nation, sullied their renown as warriors, and moderated their view of conquest…If we only view the Mahrattas as engaged in war, they must necessarily appear as the most cruel of barbarians; but if we enter their country as travellers, and consider them in a state of peaceful society, we find them strictly adhering to the principles of the religion of Brihma; in harmony among themselves, and ready to receive and assist the stranger."

"The plain country, both of the Concan and the more elevated level of the Deckan, is inhabited by Maharattas, a peaceable and industrious race, among whom there should seem to be fewer remarkable crimes against society than, with a similar population, is found in most parts of India… The great body of the Maharatta people are a very peaceable and simple peasantry, of frugal habits, and gentle dispositions; there seems to be no district in India, of equal extent and population, where so few crimes are committed, and of the robberies and murders which really occur, the greatest part by far are the work of the Bheels, who on these mountains, as well as in Central India, maintain a precarious and sanguinary independence, and are found less accessible to such means of conciliation as have yet been tried with them, than any of their more northern kindred."