Official Language of - Maharashtra
Spoken by - 71 million
Marathi is spoken mainly in Maharashtra & the Central part of India. It is the state official Language of Maharashtra
The main Marathi speaking areas are, Maharashtra, Parts of Madhya Pradesh, Parts of Andhra & Karnataka. It is also spoken & understood in the southern part of Gujrat. Outside India, Marathi speaking population is found in Mauritius, USA, UAE, South Africa, Singapore, Germany, UK, Australia & New Zealand.
The dialect situation throughout the greater Marathi speaking area is complex. Dialects bordering other major language areas share many features with those languages. Konkani, Goanese, Deccan, Varhadi, Nagpuri, Ikrani, Gowlan are various dialects of Marathi.
Marathi makes use of the Devanagri Script. We have made available many pages in Dynamic fonts, however, for reading many of the Marathi Pages linked from here, you will need to install Devanagari Fonts on your system. The instrucions for these are available on respective pages.
Marathi can be traced back far beyond the 10th century. It descends from Sanskrit through Pali, Maharashtri and Maharashtra - Apabhramsa. A gradual process of change and modification in the spoken language has led to the present Marathi. The origin and growth of Marathi literature is indebted to two important events. The first was the rise of the Jadhava dynasty whose capital was Devgiri. The Jadhava's adopted Marathi as the court language and patronized Marathi learned men. The second event was the coming of two religious sects known as Mahanubhav Panth and Warkari Panth, which adopted Marathi as the medium for preaching their doctrines of devotion. Writers of the Mahanubhav sect contributed to Marathi prose while the saint-poets of Warkari sect composed Marathi poetry. However, the latter group is regarded as the pioneers and founders of Marathi literature.
Marathi literature first made its appearance in the 10th century AD and can be grouped into two ages: Ancient or Old Marathi literature (1000-1800) and Modern Marathi Literature (1800 onwards). The former consisted mainly of poetry composed in metres and restricted to the poet's choice of words and rhythms. It was particularly devotional, narrative and pessimistic for old Marathi poets hadn't been able to develop satire, parody, irony and humor into their poetry.
Old Marathi Literature covers about eight centuries. Its pioneers and founders were Mukundaraj (Vivekasindhu) and Dnyaneshwar (Dnyaneshwari) whose younger contemporary Namdeo (1270-1350) wrote devotional verses in a simple language for the people. Two centuries later came the great saint and greater poet Eknath whose Ekanathi Bhagavata is a literary masterpiece of Marathi literature. Eknath had a simple and attractive style of composing poetry and was the founder of secular poetry in Marathi. Mukteshwar (1574-1645) later developed this style, and his version of the Mahabharata is the best example of a great narrative poem in Marathi. In the history of Marathi literature, Tukaram (1608-1651) has been given a unique stature. A real genius, Tukaram's poetry came forth from his wonderful inspirations. He was a radical reformer and is called Sant (saint) Tukaram. Terseness, clarity, vigor and earnestness were found in every line of his poetry.
Tukaram's associate Ramdas' (1608-1681) Dasabodha is an inspiring and impressive piece in Marathi. 18th century Marathi poetry is well represented by Vaman Pandit (Yathartha Dipika), Raghunath Pandit (Nala Damayanti Swayamvara) and Shridhar Pandit (Pandavpratap, Harivijay and Ramvijay). However, the most versatile and voluminous writer among the poets was Moropanta (1729-1794) whose Mahabharata was the first epic poem in Marathi. The historical section of the old Marathi literature was unique as it contained both prose and poetry. The prose section contained the Bakhars that were written after the foundation of the Maratha kingdom by Shivaji. The poetry section contained the Padavas and the Katavas composed by the Shahirs. The period from 1794 to 1818 is regarded as the closing period of the Old Marathi literature and the beginning of the Modern Marathi literature.
The modern period has been divided into four ages. The first period starts from 1800 to 1885, the second from 1885 to 1920, the third from 1921 to 1945, and finally the last period continues till now. In this period, almost all forms of literature in prose and poetry were developed and even scientific literature was produced. Under the British rule, attempts were made to enrich both the language and literature. The Raja of Tanjore got the first English Book translated to Marathi in 1817. Several more such attempts were made and translation work was encouraged a lot. Chhatre, Bal Shastri Jambhekar, Lokahitavadi and Jotiba Phule wrote on various topics in Marathi. The first Marathi newspaper was started in 1835 and Baba Padamji's Yamuna Paryatan was the first Marathi novel written on social reform in 1857.
However, this period was a lean one for original poetry and only translations of Sanskrit poems were produced. Establishment of the University of Bombay in 1858 and the starting of the newspaper Kesari in 1880-81 gave a boost to the development of Modern Marathi Literature. Keshavasuta (1866-1905), the first Marathi revolutionary poet, launched Modern Marathi poetry with his first poem.
In this period two groups of poets, Ravikiran Mandal and Kavi Tambi, together encouraged some great poets like Ananta Kanekar (Chandarat), Kavi Anil (Phulwat) and N G Deshpande. Poetry after 1945 explores human life in all its shades. B S Mardhekar set the fashion of this trend for P S Rage, Vinda Karandikar, Vasant Bapat and Shanta Shelke.
Vishnudas Bhave was the pioneer of Marathi drama which was born in 1843. Other great dramatists were B P Kirloskar (Saubhadra), G B Deval (Sharada), R G Gadkari (Ekach Pyala), Mama Varerkar (Apporva Bangal) and P L Deshpande (Amaldar). Marathi stage is still following its rich tradition and is a very popular form of entertainment.
Novels were not far behind, and the first to be published was 'Madhali Sthiti' by Hari Narayan Apte (1864-1919). Natha Madhav, CV Vaidya, Prof V M Joshi, V S Khandekar, Sane Guruji, Kusumvati Deshpande, Kamalabai Tilak are the prominent novelists of the Marathi language. The short story and essay forms came into existence in this period through Diwakar Krishna, H N Apte and V S Gurjar. S M Mate, Durga Bhagwat, N S Phadke are well-known essayists in Marathi. Marathi occupies a distinct position in the field of Indian Literature and will continue to do so in future.
Marathi is an Indo Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western India (Maharshtrians). It serves as the official language of the state of Maharashtra, with roughly ninety million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi ranks 4th in India with respect to the number of people who claim it as their primary language. Along with Bengali, Marathi is the oldest of the regional literatures in Indo-Aryan languages, dating from about 1000 AD. Marathi is at least fifteen hundred years old, and derives its grammar and syntax from Pali and Prakrit. The Marathi language was earlier known as Maharashtri, Maharathi, Malhatee or Marthi in ancient times. Some of the peculiar features of Marathi linguistic culture include Marathi drama, with its unique style of 'Sangeet Natak', scholarly discourses called 'Vasant Vyakhyanmala', Marathi folk dance called 'Lavani', and special editions of magazines for Diwali called 'Diwali anka'.
Geographic Distribution
Marathi is primarily spoken in Maharashtra and, to a lesser extent, in the neighboring states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, union-territories of Daman-diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli. The cities of Baroda and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Belgaum, Hubli, Dharwad and Bidar in Karnataka, Indore and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh have a sizable number of Marathi speaking communities. Marathi is also spoken by Maharashtrian emigrants in USA and Europe. The Ethnologue states that Marathi is even spoken in Israel and Mauritius.
Official Status
Marathi serves as an official language of Indian state of Maharashtra. The State of Goa also recognizes Marathi as an official language, in addition to Konkani. The Constitution of India recognizes Marathi as one of India's twenty-two official languages. In addition to universities in Maharashtra, universities at Baroda (Gujarat), Osmania (Andhra Pradesh), and Panjim (Goa) all have special departments for higher studies in Marathi linguistics.
History
Marathi started on its own quite early, but literary began only in 13AD. Marathi can be traced back far beyond the 10th century. It descends from Sanskrit through Pali, Maharashtri and Maharashtra Apabhramsa. Maharashtri Prakrit was most popular amongst Prakrit languages and widely spoken in western and southern India. Today's Marathi and Kannada speaking parts were speaking Maharashtri from centuries. A gradual process of change and modification in the spoken language has led to the rise of the present Marathi.
Dialects of Marathi language
The major dialect divisions have been:
Ahirani
Ahirani is spoken in the west Khandesh, North Maharashtara region. Ahirani is a language today spoken in the Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Dhule and Nashik (Baglan, Malegaon and Kalwan tehsils) districts of Maharashtra, India. It is further divided into languages, such as Chalisgaon, Malegaon and Dhule group. Borrowing & bending the words from Hindi and Gujarati, Ahirani has created its own words which are never found in these languages. Ahirani is a colloquial form and uses the Devnagari script for its writing. Though it is the written form of devnagari but it is very difficult to write rather than to speak.
Khandeshi
Khandeshi is spoken in East Khandesh specifically in Yawal and Raver Talukas. Khandeshi is also called as Tawadi which is specifically spoken by Leva Patils dominant cast of east Khandesh. Bahinabai Chaudhari is well known poet in Khandeshi, the study of her literature is studied and included in Marathi language. It is often misquoted that Bahinabai is an ahirani poet.
Konkani
Although the constitution of India and Sahitya Academi considers Konkani as one of the 21 official languages, in Maharashtra Konkani is considered a dialect of Marathi. The Britannica Encyclopedia 1911 reported Konkani as only one real dialect of Marathi. Maharashtrians and Konkanis in Goa have had bitter fights over the official language issue. The Marathi-Konkani feud and inclusion of Konkani in scheduled languages was mostly because of political reasons and status as Konkani as a separate language is disputed. The claims of Dnyaneshwari being in Konkani and Marathi itself being a dialect of Konkani have not been proved. Marathi linguists and Maharashtrians in Goa and Maharashtra consider Konkani as a boli (dialect) of Marathi. Most Konkani people in Maharashtra speak and write fluent Marathi.
Wadvali
This language may not be named though, but was primarily spoken by Wadvals which essentially means agricultural plot owners, of the Naigaon, Vasai region . This language is preserved by Roman Catholics native to this region and is also spoken by the Hindus. But due to external influence ordinary Marathi is now more popular among the Hindus.
Samavedi
Samavedi is spoken in the interiors of Nala Sopara and Virar region to the north of Mumbai in the Vasai Taluka, Thane District of Maharashtra. The name of this language correctly suggests that its origins lie with the Samavedi Brahmins native to this region. Again this language too finds more speakers among the Roman Catholic converts native to this region who are known as East Indians. This language is very different from the other Marathi languages spoken in other regions of Maharashtra, but resembles Wadvali very closely. Both Wadvali and Samavedi have relatively higher proportion of words borrowed from Portuguese as compared to ordinary Marathi, because of direct influence of the Portuguese who colonized this region till 1739.
Thanjavur Marathi & Namdev Marathi
Thanjavur and Namdev Marathi is spoken by many Southern Indians. This language has evolved from the time of occupation of the Marathas in the Thanjavur in southern Tamil Nadu. It has speakers in parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Others
Dangii (spoken near the Maharashtra-Gujarat border)
Judaeo-Marathi (spoken by the Bene Israel Jews)
Malvani (spoken in southern Konkan near Malvan)
Kadodii (spoken near Vasai)
Other languages having considerable Marathi influence
Dakhini and Hyderabadi Urdu spoken in Hyderabad and some parts of Deccan are considerably influenced by Marathi. The grammar of Hyderabadi Urdu is loaned from Marathi. In fact, it is also called a creole between Marathi and Urdu with some Telugu loan words.
Kannada: especially the northern Karnataka Kannada has been heavily influenced by Marathi.e.g The feature of aspiration quite non-native to any Dravidian language is found in norhtern Kannada.Also loan kinship terms like vahini(brother's wife)etc are also borrowed from Marathi.
Learn Marathi
http://www.punediary.com/learn_marathi.html
http://www.languageshome.com/English-Marathi.htm
http://www.worldlanguage.com/Languages/Marathi.htm
http://www.languageshome.com/
http://www.google.com/intl/mr/
Wiki Link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathi_language