 S. B. Joshi traced the ancestry of Hatkars (Hattikaras) to the "Patti-Jana" people who were settled to the south of Narmada river in the middle ages.He also traced the etymology of the word "Maratha" to "Mara-hatta", and theorized that the region was originally known as "Hatta-desa".The Ain-i-Akbari mentions a Hatkar force of 1,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry.