Hatkar

The Hatkars were an ancient people who inhabited the land of Marhatta in South India (present-day Karnataka-Maharashtra) of India. The group was documented at least as early as the empire of Satavahana dynasty (c. 230 BC), And 8th c.The earliest mention of spoken Marathi and Marhatta people is found in a literary work (Kuvalaymala by Udyotansuri). Hatkars are archaically transliterated as HattiKara or Barhatta, BaraHatti in Local languages.

Etymology

The word Hatkar is popularly derived from the Marathi hat (हठ, "obstinacy") and kar (कर, "doer"), meaning "obstinate" or "stubborn"; In 1342, the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta referred to all the native inhabitants of Deogiri region as belonging collectively to the "tribe" of 'Marhatas'. (Maratha (Singular) / Marathe (Plural)/ Bar-hatta, i.e. Hatkar) (Hatkars of Western Maharashtra and Konkan are also called Maratha Dhangar).

In Arthashastra by Chanakya Kautilya Hatak means Spear/Bhala. The Arthashastra (Sanskrit: अर्थशास्त्र; IAST: Arthaśāstra) is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy, written in Sanskrit. It identifies its author by the names "Kauṭilya" The Hatkar formerly when going on any expedition, took only a blanket seven hands long and a bear-spear (Barcha/Barchi in Marathi), and that on this account they were called Bargir, or Barga Dhangars or Bargi.Bargi is corruption of a Marathi word Bargir which meant Horsemen who were provided with horses and arms by the Maratha Empire who were exclusively Hatkar in contrast to the Shiledar, who had their own horses and arms.