Marathi people

"Maratha" redirects here. For other uses, see Maratha (disambiguation).
"Maharashtrian people" redirects here. For other uses, see Maharashtrian.

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.