Marathi people

Marathi people
मराठी लोक
Flag of the Maratha Empire Cultural flag of the Marathi people
Total population
c. 83 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
 India82,801,140 (2011)[2]
 United States127,630[3]
 Israel60,000 (Bene Israel)[4]
 Australia13,055[5]
 Canada9,755[6]
 Pakistan500[7]
Languages
Marathi
Religion
Majority:
Hinduism
Minority:
Related ethnic groups
Other Indo-Aryan peoples

The Marathi people (/məˈrɑːti/;[8] 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;[9] However, it may refer to a Maharashtrian caste known as the Maratha which also includes farmer sub castes like the Kunbis.[10][11][12]

The Marathi community came into political prominence in the 17th century, when the Maratha Empire was established by Shivaji in 1674.[13][14][15]

  1. ^ Marathi people at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Statement 1 : Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2011" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 February 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  3. ^ "US Census Bureau American Community Survey (2009–2013)". Census.gov. Retrieved 17 August 2018. See Row #63
  4. ^ "Bene Israel of Mumbai, India". Beit Hatfutsot. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Marathi people in Australia".
  6. ^ "Total – Mother tongue for the total population excluding institutional residents - 100% data". Census Profile, 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Statistique Canada. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  7. ^ Desai, Shweta (22 October 2015). "Why create problems when we live in peace: Marathi-speaking community from Karachi to Shiv Sena". DNA India. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  8. ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
  9. ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon (2002). Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India. Cambridge University Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-521-52308-0.
  10. ^ "Maratha (people)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  11. ^ Phadke, Manasi (6 November 2023). "Related communities with agrarian roots — why Marathas are claiming to be Kunbis amid quota stir". ThePrint. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  12. ^ Patil, Abhijeet (1 November 2023). "Researcher says 1881 survey recorded Marathas as Kunbis". The Times of India. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  13. ^ Pearson, M. N. (February 1976). "Shivaji and the Decline of the Mughal Empire". The Journal of Asian Studies. 35 (2): 221–235. doi:10.2307/2053980. JSTOR 2053980. S2CID 162482005.
  14. ^ Capper, John (2017). Delhi, the Capital of India. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-8120612822. Retrieved 11 August 2017 – via Google Books.
  15. ^ Sen, Sailendra Nath (2017). An Advanced History of Modern India. Macmillan India. ISBN 978-0230328853. Retrieved 11 August 2017 – via Google Books.