writing maharashtrian characters
Because apparently we all are mumbaikars who are atleast the rich bitches or thugs
Most of the desi characters in entertainment section outside India are in the Big Fat Punjabi Wedding or in a religious temple. That's the least of representation we get, or none at all.. It's interesting once or twice, seeing an indian representated, but then the same lehengas with sparkles and kurtas with dupatta wrapped around the head gets boring over time. I think this is the time people can get in depth with Indian culture, how different north eastern people in the lap of Himalayas are from the south indians with their coastlines.
I am writing this as an mumbai-based maharashtrian myself, hometown in satara, so if you feel like pointing out something wrong, please do!
who exactly are maharashtrians?
Well, it's pretty clear that people living in the state of Maharashtra are called Maharashtrians, but Marathi people is a much different term. Though many times used for caste discrimination, it means people living in Maharashtrian and people speaking Marathi from whichever part of the world, both of whom are rooted in the state itself.
Maharashtra as a state itself has different cultures, the Vidarbhan traditions may differ a little from the Konkani. I will explain this as we move on
Traditionally, the women of Maharashtra wore a nauvari (nine yards saree). Wore a lot different than six yard saree, this saree took a lot of time to tie. While bindi of kumkum was applied by girls of all ages, the jodawis (rings wore on toes) were a indication of marriage, along with the cultural mangalsutra.
The younger unmarried girls wore lehenga choli, though it was much less decorated and usually made of the same material as saree.
The men wore dhoti kurta, and it is said that dhoti is a smaller version of saree, breaking the stereotype that sarees are to be worn by women only. The boys over all ages usually wore the same kind of clothes.
In the modern period, the older women have been accustomed to the normal six yard saree, while the working class wears punjabi suit (kurti, pants, dupatta). We do wear tshirts and dresses daily, if that was ever in question. The men wear shirt and trousers like every where else.
As I mentioned, different geographical regions means a slight difference of traditions, and it applies to food at a great level. The konkan region, near the arabian sea, has coastal cultures, hence abundance of rice and fish. As we turn eastwards in the deccan plateau, jowar and sugarcane are grown in a huge amount. The northern Maharashtra, bordering Madhya Pradesh cultivates a lot of wheat.
Hence, there's different food in each region, rice oriented in the west, jowar oriented in the southwest and wheat oriented in the north. Although I may say that bhakri is very popular all over, and are made of different types, of rice or nachni or jowar. Another popular food is puranpoli, made on festivals. Ukdiche modak made in Ganpati and the diwali faral is important too.
A great part of indian culture is that the languages changes every state, sometimes even between states. Maharashtra's native language is ofcourse Marathi. But even the Marathi has it's own dialects. Konkani Marathi is very different from Vidharbhan Marathi and all in between. People can even tell which district others come from just by listening to their accent [even my own mother, so as soon as she recognizes an accent, "tumhi satarkadche ka?" (Are you from Satara) question is inevitable]. Now ofcourse we can't write the accent, but people still do recognize the familiar ones.
The maharashtrian naming system is like the one on official name papers, first name-father's name-surname. The meaning of the name is important, so keep that in mind before naming the character something like Nakushi (unwanted, and yes it's a name). The surnames are again too important, based on that the older people can guess the person's caste (which is totally unnecessary when you look at it, but if you want to go historically accurate, this is a point). Surnames based on caste divisions like Kunbi, Sutaar, still exist. Jahagirdar, Patil, etc surnames are meant to be for the people in control of the village in past, have a look at them too.
Maharashtra is situated in the middle-west of India, thus the people have every skin tone, dark hair colour as the characteristic of Indian which turn white as they grow old, and eyes mostly dark brown, though they can vary and be a little lighter or grey from person to person.
Maharashtra has so much cultural diversity, but I am going to include the things that are popular everywhere. Ganeshotsav is celebrated across Maharashtra, worshipping the idol of Lord Ganesha. The celebration was started during the freedom fight by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Pune. Also celebrated are popular festivals like Diwali, Gudi Padwa, Raksha Bandhan etc. Lavani is a huge form of dance, performed wearing nauvari. The theatre is a big business and has always been in Maharashtra. The film industry in India itself was started by Dadasaheb Phalke, a marathi man, so it is popular all over too.
Writing such a diverse community may be hard, but if you're choosing a character to live in one of the two big cities, remember that Mumbai has an impact of the Konkani culture while Pune has the impact of the Deccan Plateau, mostly Satari culture.
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