1648.—"... and Mahouts for the elephants...."—Van Twist, 56.
1826.—"I will now pass over the term of my infancy, which was employed in learning to read and write—my preceptor being a mahouhut, or elephant-driver—and will take up my adventures."—Pandurang Hari, 21; [ed. 1873, i. 28].
1848.—"Then he described a tiger hunt, and the manner in which the Mahout of his elephant had been pulled off his seat by one of the infuriate animals."—Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. iv.
MAHRATTA, n.p. Hind. Marhaṭā, Marhaṭṭā, Marhāṭā (Marhaṭī, Marahṭī, Marhaiṭī), and Marāṭhā. The name of a famous Hindu race, from the old Skt. name of their country, Mahā-rāshṭra, 'Magna Regio.' [On the other hand H. A. Acworth (Ballads of the Marathas, Intro. vi.) derives the word from a tribal name Raṭhī or Raṭhā, 'chariot fighters,' from raṭh, 'a chariot,' thus Mahā-Raṭhā means 'Great Warrior.' This was transferred to the country and finally Sanskritised into Mahā-rāshṭra. Again some authorities (Wilson, Indian Caste, ii. 48; Baden-Powell, J. R. As. Soc., 1897, p. 249, note) prefer to derive the word from the Mhār or Mahār, a once numerous and dominant race. And see the discussion in the Bombay Gazetteer, I. pt. ii. 143 seq.]
c. 550.—"The planet (Saturn's) motion in Açleshâ causes affliction to aquatic animals or products, and snakes ... in Pûrva Phalgunî to vendors of liquors, women of the town, damsels, and the Mahrattas...."—Bṛhat Saṇhitā, tr. by Kern, J.R. As. Soc. 2nd ser. v. 64.
640.—"De là il prit la direction du Nord-Ouest, traversa une vaste forêt, et ... il arriva au royaume de Mo-ho-la-to (Mahārāshṭra)...."—Pèl. Bouddh. i. 202; [Bombay Gazetteer, I. pt. ii. 353].
c. 1030.—"De Dhar, en se dirigeant vers le midi, jusqu'à la rivière de Nymyah on comte 7 parasanges; de là à Mahrat-dessa 18 paras."—Albirúni, in Reinaud's Fragmens, 109.
c. 1294-5.—"Alá-ud-dín marched to Elichpúr, and thence to Ghati-lajaura ... the people of that country had never heard of the Mussulmans; the Mahratta land had never been punished by their armies; no Mussulman King or Prince had penetrated so far."—Zía-ud-dín Barní, in Elliot, iii. 150.
c. 1328.—"In this Greater India are twelve idolatrous Kings, and more.... There is also the Kingdom of Maratha which is very great."—Friar Jordanus, 41.
1673.—"They tell their tale in Moratty; by Profession they are Gentues."—Fryer, 174.