From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Marathi is one of the many languages of India, and has a long literary history. It is the language spoken in the state of Maharashtra. Marathi is supposed to be derived from Sanskrit (like many other languages in India). It is spoken by about 90 million people and is about 1000 years old.
The oldest evidence of written Marathi is found at the base of a thousand year old gigantic statue in southern Indian town of Shrawana-belagola. The inscription is about the king Gangaraya who funded the effort, and his general Chamundaraya, who erected the statue for the king.
Dialects of Marathi include Konkani, Ahirani, Manadeshi. Marathi uses the Devanagari script for writing and is of the Indo-European family of languages.
It partly preserves the locative case in noun declension as follows:
Sanskrit:
prabhaat: dawn grha: house
prabhaate: at dawn grhe: at/in house
Marathi:
pahaat: dawn ghar: house
pahaate: at dawn ghari: at/in/to house
It is mostly spoken in the state of Maharashtra.Marathi has a long literary tradition, and a huge literature has been written in Marathi in the last seven centuries. The saint-poet Dnyaneshwar is considered the first major literateur in the Marathi language. Prominent contemporary Marathi authors include P.L. Deshpande, Jaywant Dalawi, V. P. Kale, Wyankatesh Madgoolkar and D. M. Mirasdar.
See also: Languages of India and Pakistan
