Marathi

Marathi is an Indian language spoken by the Marathi people of Maharashtra, India. It is the official language and co-official language in the Maharashtra and Goa states of Western India, respectively. There were 73 million speakers in 2001; Marathi ranks 19th in the list of most spoken languages in the world. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India. Marathi has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indo-Aryan languages, dating from about 1000 AD. The major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi and the Varhadi dialect. Marathi is similar to Konkani, another Indian language spoken in Goa and some neighbouring states. Marathi is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, as well as in the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu. The Marathi language is derived from Maharashtri Prakrit, and ultimately from Sanskrit. It has a long literary tradition dating back to over a thousand years. The oldest Marathi literature consists of various religious texts, which date back to around the 13th century. The first Marathi book, Goraksha Paddhati, was published in 1656. Today, Marathi is spoken by over 73 million people, making it the 19th most spoken language in the world. It is the fourth most widely spoken language in India, after Hindi, Bengali and Telugu. Marathi is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of India.