There have been discussions around Thanjavur Marathi as a language on my TL since afternoon. So, how did Marathi, a language spoken some 2000 km away in distant Maharashtra come to be commonly spoken in Thanjavur?

The story goes back to 1674. After successively being ruled by the Pandyas and the Nayaks after the decline of the Chola empire in the 12rh century, Thanjavur came to be ruled by the Marathas.

Ekoji (aka Venkoji), a Maratha general under the sultan of Bijapur successfully defeated the last of the Nayak rulers and established Maratha rule in Thanjavur. The rule lasted until 1855, when the last of the rulers died without an heir and the kingdom was annexed to the Empire.

Now, what is this language and how did it evolve? Admittedly, the Maratha rulers brought with them a large number of Marathi speaking people, among them the desastha Brahmins from present day northern Karnataka and Maharashtra.

I am also told (by family members) that they’ve heard of another branch of Desastha Brahmins migrating southward during Chatrapati Shivaji’s conquest of the south. Not sure which one is accurate. Probably both.

This community of Desastha Brahmins became teachers, priests, clerks and courtiers of the rulers in Thanjavur and were often patronised by the kings for their contribution to music and dance as well.

They retained their usage of Marathi within their homes even as outside, they adopted Tamil and even Telugu as languages of communication. Today, the Desastha Brahmins are scattered across the state, with major concentration in Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, north Arcot and Coimbatore.

Now, what is this language all about? When they first migrated to Tamil Nadu in the 17th century, they retained the Marathi they were used to speaking. But remember, languages evolve over time. This is why Sri Lankan Tamil sounds so different to us.

Marathi evolved in the mainland, while remaining relatively untouched in Thanjavur. Over time, the language picked up words and expressions from Tamil and Kannada (they were from Bijapur, remember?) while retaining the basic grammar and structure of Marathi.

The language as it is spoken today by thousands of Desastha families (both Madhwa and smartha) will probably be unrecognisable to native speakers of Marathi for the same reason that we fail to understand Old English or 17th century French.

It has survived generations of wear and tear, adaptations and mutations and remains to this day, an interesting variant of the language spoken in Maharashtra. There is an entire dictionary available for words that are different Thanjavur Marathi as compared to Marathi.

At this point I must reiterate:
1) Thanjavur Marathi is a dialect and not a language of its own. Its grammar is the same as Marathi and is written the same way (if someone bothers writing it that is).

2) it’s not a mishmash of languages or a pidgin. It is simply a dialect stuck in a time period far removed from the present.

3) it is far removed and completely different from Sourashtra. I won’t comment on that language because I don’t know it’s history well enough.

4) And finally, stop saying “it’s the same thing” or “it’s a weird language”. That’s plainly insulting to those who speak it. Treat linguistic minorities with a little more respect please.
/End/