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THE MAHAR REGIMENT Mahars have a long and proud tradition of bearing arms. They were the respected members of Shivaji's and later of the Maratha armies. Mahars formed part of the Bombay Presidency Army. They had particularly distinguished themselves in the battle for the defence of Koregaon in 1818. A Mahar battalion was raised in 1917 and took part in the Great War, but was later merged with another regiment. Between the two wars, the Mahars had persistently sought a regiment for themselves for service in the Army. These efforts, marked by the quality and level of arguments advanced by the Mahar leader, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, resulted in the Mahar Regiment being raised in 1941. The Regiment fought in Burma, Persia and Iraq in World War II. In 1946, the Regiment converted to the specialist role of fielding medium machine guns, and for a decade and a half rendered most effective support in combat. The medium machine gun detachments were most warmly welcomed in

THE MARATHA LIGHT INFANTRY The Maratha military qualities were brilliantly optimised in their historic campaigns against the Mughals and the British, under the leadership of Shivaji and succeeding rulers. Maratha armies, comprising both infantry and light cavalry with the Maratha naval power had dominated the military scene in India for three centuries. One of the famous regiments of the Indian Army, the Maratha Light Infantry is also one of the oldest. It's First battalion, also known as the Jangi Paltan, was raised in 1768 as part of the Bombay Sepoys. The Marathas came to special attention in the Great War (World War I) and have since maintained a record of dependability in war and peace. The quick moving Marathas with their traditions of mountain warfare were ideally suited to and were formed into a light infantry regiment. The Regiment has produced one Army Chief, General Joginder Jaswant Singh who also serves as the Colonel of the Regiment. Its Regimen

THE THANJAVUR MAHARAJA SERFOJI’S SARASWATHI MAHAL LIBRARY Saraswathi Mahal Library is located in Thanjavur, Tamilnadu, India. It is one of the oldest libraries in Asia and has on display a rare collection of palm leaf manuscripts and papers written in Tamil, Hindi, English, Telugu, Marathi and a few other languages indigenous to India. The collection comprises well over 60,000 volumes, though only a tiny fraction of these are on display. The library has a complete catalogue of holdings, which is being made available online. Some rare holdings can be viewed on site by prior arrangement. The Saraswathi Mahal library started as a Royal Library for the private pleasure of the Nayak Kings of Thanjavur who ruled 1535 - 1675 AD. The Maratha rulers who captured Thanjavur in 1675 patronised local culture and further developed the Royal Palace Library until 1855. Most notable among the Maratha Kings was Serfoji II (1798–1832), who was an eminent scholar in many branches of