MARATHI

About:

• Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
  
  
• It is the official language of Maharashtra, and a co-official language in Goa and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
  
  
• It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India, with 83 million speakers as of 2011.
  
  
• The Government of Maharashtra has submitted an application to the Ministry of Culture to grant classical language status to Marathi.
  
  
• Marathi has the third largest number of native speakers in India, after Hindi and Bengali.
  
  
• The major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi and the Varhadi dialect.
  
  
• Marathi distinguishes inclusive and exclusive forms of 'we' and possesses a three-way gender system, that features the neuter in addition to the masculine and the feminine.
  
  
• Marathi Day is celebrated on 27 February, the birthday of the poet Kusumagraj (Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar).