Marathas are a blend of the Warrior and Agrarian classes, speaking Marathi and generally having their roots in Maharashtra. They are also found in large No.
Professor Madhav Gadgil (1983) has described the reality of self-governing, closed communities, which are called Jatis, in India, based on his research in rural Maharashtra: "The Indian society is even today an agglomeration of numerous castes, tribes and religious communities. The tribal and caste groups are endogamous, reproductively isolated populations traditionally distributed over a restricted geographical range. The different caste populations, unlike tribes, have extensive geographical overlap and members of several castes generally constitute the complex village society. In such a village society, each caste, traditionally self regulated by a caste council, used to lead a relatively autonomous existence. Each caste used to pursue a hereditarily prescribed occupation; this was particularly true of the artisan and service castes and the pastoral and nomadic castes. The several castes were linked to each other through a traditionally determined barter of services and produce (Ghurye 1961, Karve 1961). These caste groups retained their identity even after conversion to Islam or Christianity. Each of the caste groups was thus the unit within which cultural and perhaps genetic evolution occurred, at least for the last 1500 years when the system was fully crystallized and probably much longer. Over this period the various castes had come to exhibit striking differences in cultural traits like skills possessed, food habits, dress, language, religious observances as well as in a number of genetic traits." [1]
Sikhism is a religion that combines aspects of both Hinduism and Islam, in that they believe in one powerful, all loving God but don't believe in an actual afterlife but rather reincarnation. For this, they hope to eventually be joined with God.
Most of the teachings came from Guru Nanak who wrote the teachings down as poems and are in their holy book.
The Ahoms, who ruled Assam for six centuries are the descendants of ethnic Tai people who accompanied the Tai prince Sukaphaa into Assam. And for this reason people of this community call themselves the Tai-Ahom. Sukaphaa established the Ahom kingdom (1228-1826) and the Ahom dynasty ruled and expanded the kingdom for about 600 years. Many of those who accompanied Sukaphaa were unaccompanied males who married into the local communities. Some ethnic communities, like the Tibeto-Burman speaking Borahi people, were completely subsumed into the Ahom community. Members of other communities, based on their allegiance to the Ahom kingdom and their talents, were accepted as Ahoms. The kingdom the Ahom people established gave Assam its name.
