The Maratha caste is a community based primarily in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is traditionally said to be composed of 96 clans, known as the 96 Kuli Marathas or Shahānnau Kule. According to historians, the caste took shape in earlier centuries through the amalgamation of families drawn from the Kunbi (peasant), Dhangar (shepherd), Lohar (blacksmith), Gavli (pastoral), Sutar (carpenter), Bhandari, Thakar and Koli communities of Maharashtra.
From the 16th century onwards, many members of these communities took up military service under the Deccan sultanates and the Mughals, and were sometimes granted hereditary fiefs in return. In the 17th and 18th centuries, they formed a significant part of the armies of the Maratha Kingdom founded by Shivaji, who himself belonged to a Maratha Kunbi family. The Maratha Kingdom, which included warriors and notables from several Maharashtrian castes, was a dominant power in India for much of the 18th century. The British historian Jeremy Black has described the Maratha caste as "a coalescence of peasants, shepherds, ironworkers, etc. as a result of serving in the military in the 17th and 18th century".
The Maharashtrian historian B. R. Sunthankar and the scholar Rajendra Vora have characterised the Marathas as a "middle-peasantry" caste which, together with the Kunbi peasants, forms the bulk of Maharashtrian society. Vora notes that the community accounts for a substantial share of the state's population and holds a prominent position in the rural power structure on account of its numerical strength. Marathas are largely associated with the landed peasantry, and a large proportion of the community continues to be engaged in farming.
Three different lists of the 96 clans exist, all compiled in the 19th century, and they often vary considerably from one another. Since around the middle of the 20th century, social distinctions between the Marathas and the Kunbis have become limited, and the two communities are often considered closely related in social practice.