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Morè (Maratha)

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Morè clan flag

Morè/Morey is originally the surname of a Maratha warrior clan from Maharashtra, India. Mahars started to use the More surname after 1900s, just like they adopted many other Maratha surnames. They are considered as the branch of later Mauryans.[1] The totem associated with the clan is a peacock feather (Mayurpankh). [2][3] The Mores of Jävli boasted of lineal descent from the royal Maurya of konkan and the still more ancient imperial Mauryas of Magadha.[4] Chandrarāv More was the best known king of this dynasty who ruled in the seventeenth century.[5]

Subclans[edit]

Madhure, Marathe, Devkante, Dhulap, Harphale etc. are the branches or subclans of Morè Marathas.

History[edit]

The word Morè is a corrupted Maharashtrian form of the word Maurya. The Morès just like the imperial Mauryas of Pataliputra claimed their ancestry from Raja Mandhatri of the Suryavanshi lineage of the Kshatriyas. The More Maratha rulers are descendants of Mauryas of Konkan.The oldest recorded members of the Konkan Maurya branch according to the inscriptions found in Thane, Maharashtra was Suketuvarman Maurya of 4th century CE. Other inscriptions also mention Chandravarman Maurya of 5th century CE, Anirjitavarman Maurya of 6th century CE from Goa. The 7th century CE Aihole inscription of Pulakeshin Chalukya mentions the victory of Chalukyas over the Mauryas and the Nalas. They were defeated by the Chalukyas and later ended up working as their feudatories. The Jawali More Bakhar also states that Mores were also working as vassals under the Vijayanagara Empire in Telangana.

Another branch of the Morès/Mauryas was ruling from Khandesh in Maharashtra and were feudatories under Seunachandra Jadhav of Devgiri. 1069 CE Waghli inscription of Govindaraja Maurya calls his family 'Suryavanshi Maurya Kul Pradipah' giving the Suryavanshi lineage of his ancestors. North Indian scholars like Gaurishankar Ojha also agree that in the 21st century, the real Mauryas only exist in the Deccan known as Morè/Maurya Marathas. The continuity of the Maurya inscriptions and their mentions of Suketuvarman Maurya from 4th century to Manasimha Morè of the 18th century testifies to the actual descendants of the Mauryas i.e Morè Marathas of Maharashtra.

Mores of Javli[edit]

Coins issued by the Morè rulers of Javli or Jayavalli

The Maratha Morè clan of Javli or Jayavalli came to prominence early in the 16th century when the first sultan of Bijapur granted them the kingdom (Jagir) of Javli.This branch was called the Chandrarao Morè branch of Javli. The ruler of the kingdom had a title of Chandrarao. The first recognized Chandrarao was Raja Parsojiraje Bajirao More who was given the jagir of Javli due to his immense valour of killing a tiger alone in a hunt with Adilshah. Javli, near the modern day hill station of Mahabaleshwar, occupied a strategic position in the eastern foothills of the Northern Sahyadri mountain range. Within 60 miles length of the mountains there are eight passes through which trade flowed from the coastal Konkan ports of Chiplun and Colaba on their way to the inlands of Deccan.For eight generations, the Morès amassed great fortune by taxing the trade with a help of a force of 12,000 soldiers.[6][7][full citation needed]

Controversy on Conquest of Javli by Shivaji[edit]

Main article: Battle of Javali

Modern historian Dipesh Chakrabarty writes about the controversial circumstances in which Javali was obtained by Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of Maratha empire in 1656. Javli was very important to Shivaji Maharaj for the founding of his Kingdom. Upon review of the documents, prominent historian Sarkar concluded that "the acquisition of Javli was the result of deliberate murder and organized treachery on part of Shivaji". However, Chakrabarty says that this conclusion did not sit well with the nationalist historians from Maharashtra of Sarkar's time. This was despite the fact that all the old Hindu biographers agreed that it was an act of premeditated murder.[8][9] The remaining son of Chandra rao continued his fight against Shivaji by seeking refuge with the Adil shah. Other members of the clan joined the Mughals and helped the Mughal general, Jai Singh in his campaign against Shivaji.[10] Historian Gordon agrees with Sarkar and concludes based on historical documents that Shivaji had no legal rights to Javali hence this was an act of "conscious treachery" on his part.[11] and Indian historian Satish Chandra also comes to the same conclusion.[12]

Morè dynasty of Javli was thus ended by Shivaji Maharaj, after that the Morè Maratha lords served under the Maratha Empire. They played an important role in the Dakshina-Digvijay campaign as Sarlashkars of the Chhatrapati.

References[edit]

  1. ^ A Comprehensive History of India: The Mauryas & Satavahanas. Orient Longmans. 1957. p. 24. The rulers of the Maurya race are known to history up to the eleventh century A.D., but nowadays they are merged among the Rajputs as Moris, and also among the Marathas with the surname More.
  2. ^ "CENSUS OF INDIA 1961 Andhra Pradesh". Census of India 1961. 2 (Part V-B (11)): 43. 1961.
  3. ^ Kulkarni, A.R., 1990. Maratha Policy Towards the Adil Shahi Kingdom. Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, 49, pp.221-226.[1]
  4. ^ Sardesai, H. S. (2002). Shivaji, the Great Maratha. Cosmo Publications. p. 74. ISBN 978-81-7755-285-0. The popular tradition that Chandra Rao Moré despised Shivaji as an upstart. It is known from inscriptions that a family named Moria ruled over Konkan at the end of the 5th century A.D. (Bombay Gazetter, Vol. i, pt. 2, 282-284, 541.).. The Mores of Jävli boasted of lineal descent from the royal Morias of konkan and the still more ancient imperial Mauryas of Magadh.
  5. ^ Kosambi, D. D. (2022-09-01). The Culture and Civilisation of Ancient India in HIstorical Outline. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-65347-2. Such petty 'Mauryans' were known as far south as Goa, down to the tenth century. Some of the enduring lustre of Candragupta Maurya may have caused the Maratha name Candrarāv More to become the title for which it passed in the seventeenth century.
  6. ^ Kulkarni, A.R., 1990. Maratha Policy Towards the Adil Shahi Kingdom. Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, 49, pp.221-226.[2]
  7. ^ Sarkar, Jadunath (1920) [1919]. Shivaji and His Times (Second ed.). London: Longmans, Green and Co. pp. 43–47.
  8. ^ Farooqui, Salma Ahmed (2011), A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century, Pearson Education India, p. 317, ISBN 978-81-317-3202-1
  9. ^ Chakrabarty, Dipesh (2015). The Calling of History: Sir Jadunath Sarkar and His Empire of Truth. University of Chicago Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-226-24024-4.
  10. ^ Pagdi, Setu Madhav Rao (1983). Shivaji (PDF). New Delhi: National Book Trust. pp. 14–16. ISBN 81-237-0647-2.
  11. ^ Stewart Gordon (1 February 2007). The Marathas 1600-1818. Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–. ISBN 978-0-521-03316-9.
  12. ^ Satish Chandra (2005). Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part - II. Har-Anand Publications. pp. 318–. ISBN 9788124110669.
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