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Marathi people
Sign in to saveIndo-Aryan ethnic group native to western India
Key facts
- India
- 82,801,140 ( 2011 )
- United states
- 127,630
- Israel
- 60,000 ( Bene Israel )
- Mauritius
- 25,200
- Australia
- 13,055
- Canada
- 9,755
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- ethnic group
- Subclass of
- Indo-Aryan peoples
- Native language
- Marathi
- Religion
- Jainism
- Country
- Australia
- Population
- 80000000
Show 2 more facts
- Commons category
- Marathi people
- topic's main category
- Category:Marathi people
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Marathi people (/məˈrɑːti/; Marathi: मराठी लोक, Marāṭhī lōk) or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, Marāṭhī) are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a Marathi-speaking state of India on 1 May 1960, as part of a nationwide linguistic reorganisation of the Indian states. The term "Maratha" is generally used by historians to refer to all Marathi-speaking peoples, irrespective of their caste; However, it may refer to a Maharashtrian caste known as the Maratha which also includes farmer sub castes like the Kunbis.
The Marathi community came into political prominence in the 17th century, when the Maratha Empire was established by Shivaji in 1674.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Marathi people” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.