Boundary Commission's Decision
Belgaum historically has been a part of the Kannada region and has seen many such dynasties ruling over it. But the scenario in the region changed in 18th century as in other parts of India. This was the period which saw the expansion of the Maratha empire under the Peshwas which culminated in realising the famous saying of "Attock to Cuttack". Hence a large chunk of Karnataka region formed a part of the then Maratha empire and was called the "Southern Maratha Country" (most of North Karnataka). By the time the British came to power, this region was dotted by the remnants of Maratha empire ruling over their jagirs and states. But the language of the land essentially remained Kannada. This has been summed up by historian and civil servant of the Bombay presidency John Faithfull Fleet in his book The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency (1894), which forms a part of the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency (Vol-1, Part-II, Book-III). The first page of the book explains the ground realities of the time, which goes as,
| “ | In defining the limits of the Kanarese language, on the west and north may be designated "by a line drawn from Sadashivgad (Karwar), to the westward of Belgaum, Hukkeri through Kagal and Kurundwad, passing between 'Keligaon' and 'Pandegaon' through Brahmapuri on Bhima and Sholapur and thence east, to the neighbourhood of Bidar. This however wrongly excludes Kolhapur. As for Sholapur which now officially counts as a Marathi District, Kanarese is still, to a great extent the vernacular of south east corner of it. And there are Kanarese inscriptions of the Western Chalukyas, Kalachurya and Devagiri Yadavas of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and some later ones, at Sholapur itself, and at Kudal and Mohol in that district, and at Karajgi, Kudal, and Tadwal in the Akalkot state. ...In official language the four recognised Kanarese districts of this presidency viz. Belgaum, Bijapur and Dharwar collectorates together with the Kolhapur, Miraj and other Native states called the "Southern Maratha Country". A more misleading appellation, however it originated, could not well have been devised. It is true that, in one of the earliest inscriptions of Pulakesin II, this part of the country is included in what was known then and even many centuries before his time as Maharashtra. But this term meaning literally "the great country", does not inherently imply any of the racial and linguistic peculiarities which are now naturally attached to the terms 'Maratha' and 'Marathi', derived from it. In the whole area of so-called Southern Maratha country, not a single Marathi inscription has been discovered, of a greater age than two or three centuries. With the exception that two Prakrit records have been obtained at Banawasi in North Kanara and 'Malavalli' in Mysore, and that a few Prakrit words occur here and there in other records, the inscriptions are all either in pure Sanskrit or pure Kanarese, or in the two languages combined. This fact speaks of itself, as to what the vernacular of the country was in early times. In the present day, the people and the language of British districts are essentially Kanarese; and the Kanarese people and language have been displaced, to a certain extent, by the Marathi people and language in the Native States, only because those States were established by the aggressions of the Marathas from the north, whose local influence proved to be greater than that of the native rulers whom they dispossessed. Even in the Native States, and in Marathi official correspondence, the Political Agent at Kolhapur is, to the present day always addressed as the Political Agent, not of the "Dakshina Maharasthra" or "Southern Maratha Country, but of the "Karavira Ilakha and the Karnataka Prant |
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Hence when linguistic reorganisation of states was decided upon, this was the background available to the Commission as a part of official records and language was the basis. As a result, the resultant Maharashtra didn't include the 'Maratha'-ruled areas of Baroda, Indore or Gwalior except for Kolhapur as the Commission took into consideration all the changes in the region over a long period of time and not just recent changes in demography.
Read more about this topic: Belgaum Border Dispute
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