Marathi is language spoken by the Marathi people from Mharashtra state of India and is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. Marathi is the oldest of the regional literatures in Indo-Aryan languages, dating from about 1000 AD.

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 in Marathi language 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'.


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.

The major dialect divisions of Marathi language have been Ahirani, Khandeshi, Konkani, Wadvali, Samavedi, Thanjavur & Namdev Marathi

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.

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.

Konkani
The constitution of India considers Konkani as one of the 21 official languages. In Maharashtra Konkani is considered a dialect of Marathi. 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.