Marathi (i/m?'r??ti/;[7] ????? Mara?hi [m?'?a??i]) is an Indo-Aryan language.

It
is the official language of Maharashtra state of India and is one of the 23 off
icial languages of India. There were 73 million speakers in 2001; Marathi has th
e fourth largest number of native speakers in India.[8] The major dialects of Ma
rathi are called Standard Marathi and Warhadi Marathi.[9] There are a few other
sub-dialects like Ahirani, Dangi, Vadvali, Samavedi, Khandeshi, and Malwani. Sta
ndard Marathi is the official language of the State of Maharashtra.
Contents [hide]
1 Geographic distribution
2 Official status
3 History
3.1 Marathi Literature 12th century to 1905
3.1.1 Yadava
3.1.2 Mahanubhav sect
3.1.3 W/Varkari sect
3.1.4 Modern period
3.1.5 18th century
3.2 After 1800 to 20th century
4 Dialects
4.1 Jhadi Boli
4.2 Southern Indian Marathi
4.3 Varhadi
4.4 Others
5 Sounds
6 Writing
6.1 Devanagari
6.2 Modi
6.3 Latin
7 Consonant clusters
8 Grammar
9 Marathi organisations
9.1 Outside Maharashtra state
10 Vocabulary
10.1 Sharing of linguistic resources with other languages
10.2 Morphology and etymology
10.3 Influence of foreign languages
10.4 Forming complex words
10.5 Counting
11 Marathi on computers and the Internet
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Geographic distribution[edit]
Maharashtra, the state in India where the majority of Marathi speakers live.Mara
thi is primarily spoken in Maharashtra and parts of neighbouring states of Gujar
at, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, union-terri
tories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The formerly Maratha ruled c
ities outside Maharashtra such as Baroda,Indore, Gwalior , and Tanjore each have
sizable Marathi-speaking communities. Belgaum in the border region of Maharasht
ra and Karnataka, Surat, and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Adoni in Andhra Pradesh, and
Hyderabad in Telengana have significant number of Marathi Speakers. Marathi is a
lso spoken by Maharashtrian emigrants worldwide, especially in the United States
, Israel, Mauritius, and Canada.[10]