Maharashtra is the only state in India, with a name that incorporates the idea of a nation, indeed a "Great Nation". "Maha" is "Great" and "Rashtra" is "Nation". The linguists and historians have gone deep into the past to understand as to how the name "Maharashtra" got entrenched in the psyche. These experts discuss elaborately how the words "Marhata" or "Marahatta" got transformed into "Maratha" and their mothertongue as "Marathi".
Somewhere in the course of history, the "Maratha" became a caste and yet, till the last century, the History of the Marathas meant the history of the Marathi people, irrespective of caste. The Peshwas, for instance, were Chitpavan Brahmins by caste, but their efforts of expansion of the state power were described as the rise and spread of the Maratha empire. But there is a caveat. The Peshwas were ruling in the name of Chhatrapati Bhosle, who obviously was Maratha, descendant of Shivaji Maharaj.
There is a legend and also a historical fact attached to the greatness of Shivaji Maharaj. He established the first independent and sovereign welfare state in the Indian subcontinent. "Raj Bhadray Jayate", meaning that the state has been created for the welfare of the people.
Shivaji Maharaj could have engraved on the stone "Raj Dharmay Jayate", meaning a state carved out for the Dharma-religion, ie. Hindus. But for the visionary Shivaji Maharaj, the idea of the "People" was larger than the notion of "Dharma". This was because, with him as well as under him, there were many Muslims. They were loyal to him as well as to the people in the then Shivshahi--which included about four of five districts of today's Maharashtra. Parts of Konkan and south and western region. Therefore, if one was to identify the state of Maharashtra to the legacy and rule of Shivaji Maharaj, it would be a very small area, in today's comparison. Be that as it may. The historical legacy and legend of Shivaji is still the spirit of the Marathi people. Shivaji's 400th birth centenary is just about 23 years away. Despite this long journey, the image has survived and has provided some kind of historical legitimacy to the Marhatas and therefore to Maharashtra. Shivaji Maharaj did not name the area he ruled as Maharashtra. So the idea and the name of Maharashtra have different origins.
The idea of the linguistic states was born of the struggle for independence from the British. Really speaking, the idea of the modern Indian Nation was also a product of that freedom struggle. Indian civilization is several thousand years old, but the idea of India as a nation is very recent. The Hindu religion as understood today, is older than the idea of nation, but the idea of Indian civilization is much older than the religion.
Indeed, the Vedas or the great epics like Mahabharata or Ramayana do not have the word "Hindu". Some historians say that the Vedic period should not confused with the so called Hindu period. Some others say that Brahminical ethos has got mixed up with the Hindu ethos. Then there are those who say that it was Indus Civilization and not Hindu (as in religion)civilization. (it is ironical that the excavated sites of the Indus and Mohen-jo-daro are in Pakistan today). Again one must understand that the idea of Hindu Nation is also less than two centuries old. In that too, the idea of Hindu Rashtra as understood by Swatantryaveer Savarkar and as interpreted by Guru Golwalkar are not same. The idea of the political Hindutva as popularised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (formerly Bharatiya Jan Sangh) is again a different variation. Philosphies of Ramkrishna Paramahansa, Raman Maharshi, Ravindranath Tagore or Mahatma Gandhi draw hugely from the Great Indian civilization, which is larger and even abstract than the narrow idea of Hindutva.
All Indians have multiple identities. On different occasions they use different identities. Quite often their first identity is caste (which includes sub-caste), sometimes followed by their "kuldaivat", ie. the God or Godess of the family and tradition, then there is the language (and dialect), followed by village or region, no less important is profession (sometimes even more important than income), then of course the class and the hierarchical position in caste and class terms. In fact, relgion and nationality are quite below in their ranking of psychological identity. Indians unite as "Indians", only when there is a threat to the nation (from Pakistan or China mainly), or when the Indian team is playing cricket. Bollywood has of course created a sepearate Indian identity which transcends religion, caste and region, even language.
Mahatma Gandhi had set up his branches for carrying out "satyagraha" in different parts of India on the basis of languages. This was mainly to spread the message of independence effectively through mother tongue. Such being the socio-political scenario, the only way to mobilise people for a cause of freedom and later nation building, was to use the language as the means. The idea of fedearation of linguistic states was thus a necessity as well as political utility. The first sovereign democratic elections were held in March 1952, about two years after the Republic came into existence. Those two years were essential for newly set up election commission to take charge and organise world's such first gigantic democratic operation. In that election, the issues were primarily democracy and development. It was also a sort of referendum on the Congress party and the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. People came out in huge numbers and expressed their faith in Panditji's leadership. The question of linguistic states did exist but did not influence the course of election or propaganda by different parties.
It is only after the Indian Republic came into its own, that the people began to raise the issues which were there at the back of their mind. One of them was reorganisation of states on the basis of language, geography and culture. The linguistic assertiveness (which sometimes degenerated into chauvinism) was one such manifestation. A proud Telugu common man-turned-activist, Sree ramalu, went on fast unto death to demand a seperate state for the Telugu people. Ramalu died after a prolonged fast and that provoked a mass movement of the Telugu people. It was truly infectious, as the linguistic movements sprung up all over.The central government was forced to create a state called Andhra Pradesh.
Soon the Marathi people launched their movement for the state of seperate Maharashtra. It was a spirited movement and as many as 105 people were killed in police firing, ordered to suppress it. The movement, instead of getting suppressed, spread in other parts. Finally, the central government conceded and a state of Maharashtra was created. Mumbai has always been a multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-religious melting pot. Though Marathi way of life dominated Mumbai, the city had Gujarati, Marwari and Parsi business, Punjabi/Sikh trades, Tamil amd Malyali localities, north Indian-Bihar and Uttar Pradesh- bastis, even Bengali clusters. Mumbai never had more than 50 per cent Marathi speaking population and yet the Marathi ethos had its hegemony. Later a misconception grew that the Marathi majority in the city was reduced to minority. That is not the case. Mumbai's personality is shaped by its cosmopolitanism and Maharashtriayanism, by its liberalism and secularism. Indeed Maharashtra became to be identified by these attributes.
It is this magnificent multi-cultural dance that makes Maharashtra truly "Maha". Indeed, India's Great State with attributes of a nation.