Konkan
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The Konkan (Marathi: कोकण), also called the Konkan Coast or Karavali, is a rugged section of the western coastline of India from Raigad to Mangalore. It includes Mumbai Region and Thane District. The sapta-Konkan is a slightly larger region described in the Skanda-purana.
Konkan Division is also one of six administrative sub-divisions of the state of Maharashtra, comprising of its costal districts.
Residents of Konkan and their descendants are called Konkanis. The name may also refer specifically to the Konkani people, an ethnic group of the region; most of them speak the Konkani language, which is from the Indo-European family of languages.
The Sanskrit term Konkanastha (कोंकणस्थ), meaning "Resident of Konkan".
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[edit] Boundaries
The precise definition of Konkan varies, but most include Maharashtra's districts of Raigad, Mumbai, Thane, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, the state of Goa, and the Uttar Kannada, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka. The cities of Mumbai and Mangalore are geographically a part of the Konkan.
The sapta-Konkan as depicted in Skanda-purana stretches from Maharashtra to Karnataka . This is actually logical since there are a lot of similarities in the food-habits (rice and fish), crops cultivated (rice, mangoes, cashews and jackfruit) and the physique (tall and well-built) of people dwelling in this area.
[edit] The Konkan division
The Konkan division of Maharashtra comprises the entire coastal region of the state, including Mumbai.
- Area: 30,746 km²
- Population (2001 census): 24,807,357
- Districts: Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Thane
- Literacy: 81.36%
- Area under irrigation: 4,384.54 km²
[edit] History of administrative districts in Konkan Division
There have been changes in the names of Districts and has seen also the addition of newer districts after India gained Independence in 1947 and also after the state of Maharashtra was formed.
- Notable events include the creation of the Sindhudurg from the southern areas of the Ratnagiri district.
- Second event include the renaming of the erstwhile Kolaba district as Raigad, district.
- The Thane district is under proposal to be divided and a separate Jhawar (Tribal) district be carved out of existing Thane district
[edit] Political Konkan
Politically, the Konkan vibhag (division) is one of six divisions of the state of Maharashtra on the western coast of South Asia or the Indian subcontinent. Maharashtra Konkan is divided into the districts of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Thane, Bombay Urban and Bombay Suburban.
The actual Konkan, however, is much larger than the Maharashtra Konkan, with its far north included in Gujarat, Daman, Dadra & Nagar-Haveli, and its far south forming the entirety of Goa and part of Uttara Kanara district of Karnataka state of India.
[edit] Geography
The Sahyadri Mountain range ("Western Ghats") forms the eastern boundary of the Konkan, and the Arabian Sea marks the western boundary. The southern boundary is the Gangavali River. The Mayura River forms the northern boundary.
The Gangavali flows in the district of North Canara ("Uttara Kannada") in present-day "Karnataka State"; the cis-Gangavali portion (seen from Bombay) of this district is the southern-most part of the Konkan. The towns of Gokarn, Guhagar, Honavar, and Karwar fall within the Konkan.
The exact identity of the Mayura River, the northern limits of the historic Konkan, is indeterminate.
[edit] Ethnology
The Gramit or Gamit tribals of the Maharashtra Konkan (districts of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad or Alibag or Colaba, Mumbai Urban, Mumbai Suburban and Thane in "Maharashtra State") are the original Konkani proletariat of the Maharashtra Konkan, who have been driven into forest lands and reduced to tribal and "low caste" status by Marathi and Gujarati colonists in the Konkan.
Gamit is the Prakritic form of the Sanskrit Gramit, which means a legal constituent of a Grama or a village-commune. By definition of the Hindu social order, a forest-dweller, Adivasi or "low-caste" person cannot be a Gramit. Therefore, that the Gamits are today of a low status is proof that they have suffered social, political and economic degradation as a result of dispossession or displacement.
It is also certain that the "Konknni", "Konkna", "Konknni", "Koknni" and "Kunkna" tribals native to the territories of Maharashtra Konkan, Dadra & Nagar-Haveli, Daman and Cis-Narmada Gujarat, are also descended from displaced Konkani proletariat driven into forest lands and reduced in status by Marathi and Gujarati colonists.
The "Greater Konkan" or "Sapta-Konkan" (literally, "Seven Konkans") of ancient Hindu records is the Konkan plus the further ethnic homelands of Haiva (trans-Gangavali part of "Uttara Kannada"), Tuluva (largely "Dakshina Kannada" or the Districts of Udipi and South Canara, and lastly the "Keralapatti", which is Kerala or Malabar District.
It is probable that the northern-most boundary of the Konkan, the "Mayura" River, is identical to the Narmada River, but there is no concrete evidence. However, the Dangs prove that the historic Konkan extends at least close to the Narmada.
According to claims made based on the ancient Hindu records, the Konkan originally extended until the Gulf of Cambay. The matter is uncertain, and will remain so until the present identity of the Mayura River is determined.
[edit] The Dangs
The Dangs, meaning "rugged or difficult country", is a country in the Konkan populated by natives speaking the Dangi dialect of Konkani. It was ruled by several petty kings, but after 1947, it was integrated into the Bombay Presidency province, and later into the state of Gujarat, to which it belongs administratively at present.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- कोकण, Konkan Maharashtra State Information
- History of the konkan
- Konkan Online
- Complete Guide to Konkan Tourism
- A description of the land, people and culture.
- Konkan Railway
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