Bhimthadi
horse breed from India
The Bhimthadi or Deccani horse is an almost extinct breed of Indian horses. It was used in Pune district in 17th and 18th centuries during the Maratha rule. In december 2023 it is recognised as Maharashtra’s indigenous breed by ICAR.
History
The "Bhimthadi", also known as Deccani or "Deccan breed" gets its name from the vast Deccan Plateau in India. A major trade in Arabian horses in the ports of Deccan began after the Bahamani Sultanate revolted against the Delhi Sultanate. Later in the period also the heavy war horses, sought by the Mughals and the Sultans of the Deccan, were always imported, especially from Iran.
The breed was developed in Pune district in 17th and 18th centuries during the Maratha rule by crossing Arabian and Turkic breeds with local ponies,However recent studies claim that Bhimthadi is a separate indigenous breed. These horses proved excellent for Maratha forces in fighting the Mughal army in the hilly terrains of Western Maharashtra.
During their conquests in the 18th century, the Marathas were proud to claim that the Deccan horses had quenched their thirst with waters of the Indus
The warrior and Maharajah Maratha Yashwantrao Holkar (1776-1811) is reputed to have always battle mounted a mare named Mahua, of Bhimthadi breed.
It seems that the Marathas raised a specific breed from the end of 18th century. According to local oral tradition from early 19th century, the breed was crossed with 500 Arabian horses and mares, obtained by the Nizam and nobles of Hyderabad directly Arabia.
The public source identifies “Bhimthadi” as horse breed from India. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Bhimthadi, horse and breed.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q22009243. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2023, 1776 and 1811.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bhimthadi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.